Black Mesa Science Team

For other uses, see Black Mesa (disambiguation).

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Black Mesa Science Team
Political information
Type of faction / organization	Corporate science team
De facto leader	Wallace Breen
Affiliation	Black Mesa Personnel
Societal information
Capital / Headquarters	Black Mesa Research Facility
Technology	Syringes Clipboards Sticks HEV Suits Clean suits
Vehicles	SUVs Trams
Gender	Male / female
Historical information
Era(s)	Black Mesa Incident
Date of fragmentation	Black Mesa Incident
Game information
Designer(s)	Chuck Jones Marc Laidlaw
Voiced by	Harry S. Robins Michael Shapiro See individual characters for their respective voice actors
Entity / spawn codes(ies)	monster_scientist monster_scientist_cleansuit monster_rosenberg monster_scientist_dead monster_hevsuit_dead monster_sitting_scientist

 

 

"Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?"

―Black Mesa scientist

 

The Black Mesa Science Team is the overwhelming majority of Black Mesa's population. With the Black Mesa Security Force, it is one of the most important bodies of the Black Mesa personnel.

Overview

Each scientist is granted a different security clearance specific to his or her duty, with an average clearance of Level 5. Like other employees, scientists have an assigned uniform, consisting of a blue shirt, white lab coat, red striped tie and white (or beige) slacks. In Opposing Force, a cleansuit-wearing variation of the normal scientist appears in limited areas. Some scientists are trained in the use of the MP5 submachine gun as part of Hazard Course training, but most have little or no combat skills or experience.

In the Half-Life Audio Script, the scientists are described as follows: The scientists are brisk and businesslike; faced with the stress of fantastically improbable situations, they either devolve into hysterical panic and shock, or shield themselves with hyperrational analysis. They are your coworkers, mentors, and allies; although occasionally they are too busy to even notice you. When you are injured, they will inject healing agents, making them extremely important to your existence.

Positions

• Research and Development - The largest portion of the scientists are assigned to research and development positions, where they conduct experiments and create new technologies. The research conducted ranges in focus from particle physics to biological study to space travel. Most R&D scientists have a limited knowledge of first aid, and can heal some wounds.

• Research Associate - Research Associates work alongside R&D scientists, but with a lower status in the employment hierarchy. They are usually required to conduct the more mundane or less desirable portions of a given experiment. Dr. Gordon Freeman and Dr. Colette Green are notable research associates.

• Hazardous Environment Supervisor - Supervisors act in a similar role to research associates in that they assist in experiments, but they are primarily concerned with maintaining a safe work environment. Dr. Gina Cross works in this position.

• Instructor - Scientists will often take on additional work training employees and conducting simulations in the Sector A Training Facility, as themselves or their hologram counterparts.

• Survey Team - Survey Teams were organized soon after the first teleportation labs were constructed in Black Mesa. Their assignment is the most dangerous, as they are tasked with entering the borderworld Xen to collect samples and conduct experiments. Because of the danger, Survey Team members are highly trained in the use of the HEV Suit and a variety of weapons. Many Survey Team scientists have died on Xen.

Notable members

Gordon Freeman.

• Gordon Freeman
• Rosenberg
• Richard Keller
• Gina Cross
• Colette Green
• Wallace Breen (Administrator)
• Isaac Kleiner
• Eli Vance
• Arne Magnusson
• Complete list

In-game

Although cowardly and clumsy at times, scientists can assist the player with certain tasks such as using retinal scanners to open doors, but they also tend to be physically weak, dying within a few shots, as well as having no combat capabilities. Scientists have some first aid skills and will administer a 25-point medicine boost to a wounded player with a health level under 50. Cleansuit scientists do not have this ability.

Scientists are also notable to say random, sometimes humorous sentences, most of the time when they are triggered.

Behind the scenes

• Originally, all Black Mesa employees were to be hostile to the player. The Barney NPC was then used by Valve's AI programmer Steve Bond to run experiments in enemy squad behavior. By putting the player in the role of squad leader, and forcing Barney to follow instead of fight the player, Bond hoped for an easy way to test navigation rules. The unexpected result of this experiment was a working companion character, which instantly appealed to every playtester who saw Barney in action. This caused the team to rethink large portions of the story and Gordon's role in it, and the game was completely overhauled in late 1997. In that process of converting enemies to allies, the team also came to think about characters that were neither allies nor enemies to the player, leading to the creation of the G-Man.

• Security guards and scientists were also to have a much more frightened, almost cartoonish face.

• Originally, the four original scientist types were simply named from 01 to 04 in the Half-Life textures files. When the Half-Life High Definition Pack was released, they were given actual names. "Scientist 01" was named "Walter", a nod to Walter's World, a popular fan fiction set in the Half-Life universe created by Kevin "Fragmaster" Bowen on Planet Half-Life. It had been previously nodded to in Opposing Force, when a scientist using the same model, Walter Bennet, was mentioned, before appearing at the end of Blue Shift. "Scientist 02" was named "Einstein", for his likeliness to Albert Einstein. "Scientist 03" was named "Luther", probably a nod to Martin Luther King. "Scientist 04" was named "Slick", referring to his slicked back hair.

Female scientists

Composite image of the texture files for the cut female scientist from the Half-Life: Source files. As with most of the textures files, they appear slightly deformed, while their size always appear correctly in-game. Therefore the head should be slightly narrower. She appears frightened, as most of the old scientist face textures.

• In the Half-Life introduction, Black Mesa is said to be an equal opportunity employer, while no women other than the Holographic Assistant are seen during the game. Marc Laidlaw stated they all stayed at home that day; they knew there was something going on. This may be a tongue-in-cheek comment, as the real reason is that while the Half-Life team wanted the game to feature a wider range of characters, such as female scientists that would be found scarcely along the journey, they simply didn't have the needed texture read memory. The texture files for the female scientist model can be found in the folder "f_science" in the Half-Life: Source texture folder, but not in that of the original Half-Life.

• Gearbox fixed the "equal opportunity employer" issue in Decay by introducing the first female scientists as Gina Cross and Colette Green and a disabled scientist as Richard Keller (although Cross gave her likeless to the Holographic Assistant and is mentioned in a Black Mesa Announcement System message at the start of Half-Life).

• In Half-Life 2, Valve was able to finally introduce a female scientist the way they wanted to in Half-Life, as Judith Mossman. The whole relationship with her in Half-Life 2 is a scene they tried to do in Half-Life: they had done a lot for this scene where there was a betrayal by a woman scientist (using the generic female scientist model); at that point in the story Freeman was being hunted and the player would think that the scientists were all friends, so this scientist would say she is going to get help and would tell Gordon to stay in the room he was in - and then she would call the guards. They were unable to do that properly in Half-Life - they didn't really have characters on that level, and Half-Life 2 was a good opportunity to finally implement the traitor female scientist concept.

• Half-Life 2 also features another yet unidentified female scientist, seen in the photograph in Kleiner's Lab.

Scientists list

The scientist NPC features four standard models, with a cleansuit variant and the dead Survey Team members in HEV Suits found on Xen, as well as the Zombie version. Each four standard version has two HD versions (one introduced in the High Definition Pack, the other in PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life).

Most of the time, scientist models are used randomly by the game. However, in many specific instances the same model is used each time.

Early game models	Game models	HD game models	Models	Names	Comments
			scientist 01	Walter; Glasses	Was turned into Walter Bennet, used for Smithers and Harold, and was the basis for Isaac Kleiner. It also has a player model for the Half-Life multiplayer version. It also has a HD civilian version, with or without his lab coat on his arm, and another civilian reading The Mesa Times.
			scientist 02	Einstein	Was used for S. Reardon. He is featured on Kleiner's Lab photo; he still has to be turned into a standalone character. He also has a HD civilian version, with or without his lab coat on his arm, and another civilian reading The Mesa Times, although it is not seen in-game.
			scientist 03	Luther	Was used for S. Jones and Simmons and was the basis for Eli Vance.
			scientist 04	Slick Egon	Is featured on Kleiner's Lab photo; he still has to be turned into a standalone character. His original model, nicknamed "Egon" before being changed to "Slick", had brighter hair and a quiff. "Egon" is a nod to the Ghostbusters character Egon Spengler, who had a similar appearance in the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. The Gluon Gun also nods to Spengler with its alternative name "Egon Gun".
			cleansuit scientist		Was introduced in Opposing Force, in the chapter Welcome to Black Mesa. In the HD model, only the head is changed. It also has a player model for the multiplayer version.
				player / helmet	Its Half-Life model is "player.mdl" and features Gordon's head or a suit helmet. Used for the dead Survey Team members found around Xen. A different model is featured in the multiplayer version.

Trivia

• Through a security camera in the Blue Shift chapter Insecurity can be seen a scientist briefly dancing to himself, while another is watching, skeptical. The dancing animation was originally in the Gonome model, under the name "veryhappy" in the original model, and "sohappy" in the Steam version. In the original scientist model, it is named "sohappy", and "hambone" in the Steam version.

Gallery

Pre-release

• 

  Concept of an Alien Slave eating a scientist.

• 

  Concept art for a scientist, with a rat.

• 

  Scientist near a blue Panther Eye in an early Test Lab C-33/a.

• 

  White Bullsquid about to attack a scientist.

• 

  Early Bullsquid eating Black Mesa employees.

• 

  HECU soldiers beating up a scientist.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ichthyosaur attacking a scientist in an early version of the CenCom Reservoir. There are no scientists there in the final version.

• 

  Panther Eye about to eat a scientist.

• 

  Scientists and crates.

• 

  The same scene from above.

• 

  Ironic sign and killed scientist in the same room.

• 

  Closer view.

• 

  Scientist about the be attacked by a Panther Eye.

• 

  Scientists and MP guards.

• 

  Scientists in the outside, including their shadows, a removed feature.

• 

  Shattered glass falling on a scientist.

• 

  Possible early scientist model beating a soda machine.

• 

  360° view (APNG; click on the image to see the animation).

• 

  Scientist with an unused wound texture found in the Half-Life: Source files.

• 

  Concept art for the clean suit scientist from Opposing Force.

Retail

Half-Life

• 

  Scientist and security guard in the Sector C entrance hall.

• 

  Scientists in Sector C.

• 

  Scientist and the G-Man discussing behind a window.

• 

  Scientists in the upper Anti-Mass Spectrometer Control Room.

• 

  Scientist attempting to revive a security guard right after the Resonance Cascade.

• 

  Eli Vance helping a scientist up after the Resonance Cascade.

• 

  Eli Vance telling Gordon to reach the outside.

• 

  A Headcrab and a dead scientist in the Black Mesa Office Complex.

• 

  Tentacle taking away a scientist in Silo D.

• 

  Scientist operating a retinal scanner at the entrance of the Lambda Complex.

• 

  Vortigaunts "communicating" over a scientist corpse in the Lambda Complex.

• 

  The shotgun scientist and a security guard, mirrored in Half-Life 2.

• 

  Scientist introducing the Long Jump Module.

• 

  Dead Survey Team member in Gonarch's Lair.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Zombie scientist.

Half-Life: Uplink

• 

  HECU soldiers killing scientists.

Half-Life: Opposing Force

• 

  Scientist examining a Headcrab.

• 

  A scientist fears for his life at the hands of the HECU.

• 

  Holographic scientist.

• 

  S. Jones's corpse.

• 

  S. Reardon's corpse.

• 

  Clean suit scientist rescued by Adrian Shephard.

• 

  Clean suit sign.

• 

  Black Mesa logo as seen on the clean suits.

Half-Life: Blue Shift

• 

  Scientist hindering Barney's ride to work.

• 

  Several scientists in a modern laboratory along the Transit System.

• 

  Security guard and scientist playing Prax Wars 2: Dante's Revenge in a laundromat along the Transit System.

• 

  Scientist in civilian clothes reading The Mesa Times while waiting for his laundry in a laundromat along the Transit System.

• 

  Scientist shirts waiting to be picked up in a laundromat along the Transit System.

• 

  Scientist threatening a security guard.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Scientist seen dancing through a security camera.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Scientists working on a malfunctioning computer.

• 

  Scientist reading The Mesa Times on a Transit System platform in Sector C.

• 

  Abandoned Black Mesa SUV, with a dead scientist and security guard.

• 

  Dead Survey Team scientist on Xen.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ditto, underwater.

• 

  Survey team equipment on Xen.

• 

  Ditto, with crystal being studied.

Half-Life: Decay

• 

  The "Walter" scientist model in a frightened pose.

Half-Life 2

• 

  The Anomalous Materials team posing in the Black Mesa Anomalous Materials lobby before the Black Mesa Incident, as seen in Kleiner's Lab.

Advertisement

• 

  "Working as a team!". Black Mesa Science Team advertisement.

• 

  "Success!". Black Mesa Science Team advertisement.

• 

  "Do your part!". Clean suit advertisement.

List of appearances

• Half-Life: Day One (First appearance)
• Half-Life
• Half-Life: Uplink (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life: Opposing Force
• Half-Life: Blue Shift
• Half-Life: Decay
• Half-Life 2 (As former members)
• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
• Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (As former member Gordon Freeman) (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Episode One (As former members)
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two (As former members)

References

Combine OverWiki has a list of quotes for Black Mesa Science Team.