Russ

Russ

Background

Russell Arthur McNeil is a swinging 70's display actor for the Statemuseum of Nature. He is married to Carol. Russ' father thought he would be a professional soccer player.

During the events of Z.P.G. (1972) played by Oliver Reed

At Baby Land, Russ and Carol wait in line to get an electronic baby. A Baby Shop Salesman shows a father and Mother in Baby Shop a mechanical baby. He tells them how the mechanical baby will also suffer from fake sickness. Mother in Baby Shop asks if they have a younger model, but the Baby Shop Salesman tells her they are sold out. A Father in Baby Shop tells the Mother in Baby Shop to make up her mind. The Mother in Baby Shop accepts the doll and names her Bonnie. Baby Shop Salesman calls for the next couple and Carol tells Russ she wants to leave. They go to a restaurant where they eat processed food stored in tubes. Russ and Carol walk to the Statemuseum of Nature. Tour Guide sees Russ and Carol walking past the line and tells them to stand in line. A worker sees Daughter smelling a fake flower and yells at her and Daughter runs into Russ, who picks her up and stares at her before putting her down. Russ and Carol continue into the part of the museum which mimics the houses people used to live in. George and Edna sit in the living room of their mock home along with Russ and Carol as they enact swinging couples. The crowd claps and 1st Guide tells the crowd that it is the last show from the 1970's for the day. Informer yells out baby over and over as a woman and her baby are taken away. Russ and Carol stand by and watch as an Edict Examiner and the others nearby also chant baby! The parents, Thomas and Alice Johnson along with their child are covered in a clear dome dropped by a machine and executed. Russ and Carol have sex and afterwards, Carol goes into the abortion room.

Carol and Russ go to dinner as a Headwaiter serves food and a crowd gathers to watch. A Thief sees the vegetables Carol and Russ have and grabs them and takes them. Carol tells Russ she wants a Christmas Tree and as she is about to order a blue spruce from the Metromart Salesman, Russ cancels the call and accuses the Metromart Salesman of flirting with Carol. Russ then promises to give Carol a real tree. While in bed, Carol tells Russ that she is four months pregnant and she and Russ tell each other Merry Christmas. He tells her she will have to leave him for a few months and suggests she hide in a nearby bomb shelter. Carol and Russ go into the bomb shelter and she finds an old newspaper with the headline, "Los Angeles Killer Smog 90,000 Dead". Russ tells George and Edna that Carol left him and after Carol sends George home, she comes over and kisses Russ and the museum crowd claps. Russ visits with Carol and they come up with a name for their child, Jesse. While she is getting up, Carol accidentally hits a button and the Telescreen Operator asks how they can help. Russ tries to cover Carol, but they don't know if the Telescreen Operator noticed Carol is pregnant. Russ looks up premature birth at the central library and an alarm goes off and he is brought into a room and is questioned by the Library Security Chief, Department of State Security. Russ lies and is let free.

Carol gives birth and Russ buys a mechanical child from Baby Shop Salesman 2. Later both Edna and George stop by and tell Russ and Carol that they want to help take care of Jesse. Carol at first refuses to let them hold Jesse, but Russ tells her to let them. As time goes on, Edna and George push the boundaries and at one point Edna calls Jesse "our" baby to Carol. One day Carol finds Edna with Jesse in Edna and George's house. Russ starts to chisel a tunnel to the underground sewer system underneath the nearest extermination center. Eventually George and Edna demand to keep Jesse every other day. At one point, George tells Russ that he and Edna are keeping Jesse and Russ and Carol will only have one more day with him. When Edna and George come to retrieve Jesse, Russ and Carol refuse to give him to them. Edna and George run into the streets yelling baby and a crowd gathers. Guards break into the house and take, Russ, Carol and Jesse away to the extermination center. A clear dome is placed over them as they are prepared for suffocation that will begin in 12 hours. Russ digs into the ground until he digs into the sewer system and he, Carol and Jesse crawl through a tunnel and then get into an inflatable raft. Russ, Carol and Jesse pass through an old car junkyard and make it out into a lake. They pass a jetty that warns not to go past and arrive at a beach at Complex 13 and a plaque declaring Polaris missiles were buried there on 17 July 1978 in the interest of peace. Carol, Russ and Jesse exit the raft and walk across their new home.