Von Leer Brothers

ERICH Christopher Neame NICOLAS Kai Wulff   Two wealthy, dastardly treasure-hunting brothers. Erich used MacGyver and his friend Zoe Ryan in a plot to recover the Holy Grail and met his end instead. Nicolas, seeking revenge on MacGyver for his brother's death, met his own demise in the search for the Eye of Osiris.

Ah- two of MacGyver's premiere recycleable actors- but good ones, so that's cool. (Christopher Neame and Kai Wulff)

I enjoyed both Erich and Nicholas Von Leer as characters. They made for good villians that greedily went after treasure without letting anyone get in their way. "Legend of the Holy Rose" (Parts 1 and 2) was a great episode and so was "Eye of Osiris".
Hmm- what else is there to say about them? They fulfilled their roles in the episodes well. Pretty much the stereotypical villian in any treasure-hunting type episode of MacGyver (or any other show for that matter- or movies like the Indiana Jones movies or National Treasure, etc.) They always want to get the treasure and can't let go of it. And in the end, the hero sometimes gets the treasure out safely- but a lot of times winds up deciding it's best left where it is and it's better just to get out alive and live to tell about the adventure. And the greed always makes the villian risk setting off the deadly booby-traps, and ultimately it takes him to his doom. They generally serve to prove that the love of money is the root of all evil- some lusting after it, go and do crazy things they never would do otherwise. And in the end, we see- unlike what Michael Douglas tells us in the 1987 classic- "Wall Street"- Greed is, for lack of a better word, NOT good.

I love the Van Leer brothers!

Despite the lousy accent they added some extra spice to the show.
Die hard crooks that have a grudge against our Mac, bt aren't as psychotic as Murdoc.
Well, they are, but to another level.


I loved Legend of the Holy Rose and also Eye of Osiris!!

The Von Lear brothers were suitably nasty villians. They were both believable as bad guys and the actors portraying them did a good job with the characters.

It would have been interesting if the writers hadn't been so quick to kill them off. I wouldn't mind seeing them again, going up against MacGyver together. Hmm.....possible fanfic idea, big adventure, double the bad dudes.......yeah there's some potential here.

Overall, I think the Von Lears are decent foes for Mac. They were both ruthless in their pursuit of their ambitions, fairly intelligent, and willing to take MacGyver headon. I liked the episodes they appeared in well enough and watch them when I am looking for a good action/adventure evening.

I voted excellent. I truly like the Von Leer brothers. They're actually in contrary with other villains more villains of MacGyver's level, just like MacGyverGrrl said.

I like Erich Von Leer for what he tried to do to MacGyver with that pendulum torture. I like Nikolaus for how he figured his plan out, using Beth Webb and allowing Hakim to participate in his plan.

I did with Lost Gold in the Ocean. Than again it's not an adventure in that sense of the word.

Why are they lumped together?

They weren't in the same episode where they?

No, but they're brothers. They each had 1 episode apiece (though Erich's was a two-parter). I think the reason they're lumped together is because one reason they're memorable characters is that they're brothers- and one came after MacGyver for revenge after his brother died.
If it was just a one-shot villian named Erich Von Leer- he might be memorable, but he probably wouldn't be as memorable as knowing that he also had a brother named Nicholas who showed up in a later episode as a nemesis to MacGyver.

They weren’t very memorable to me at all. I had to re-watch the holy rose and eye of Osiris again before commenting. Overall I guess they were ok as bad guys.
How did Nicolas know MacGyver was there as his brother died? The type of backstabbing partners those brothers dealt with – it could have been one of them. The fact he was a greedy murderer would have been enough motive for him to go after the eye. I don’t know why he had to be a brother of Erich. It didn’t bring much to the plot really as he didn’t exactly go out of his way to especially punish MacGyver anymore than the others. He was just ultimately interested in the treasure.
I didn’t mind these two characters but they are pretty forgettable for me.

You got a point though. Everybody died in Legend of the Holy Rose but than again I guess someone dealing on the black market sure got his connections. But I liked the fact used as a brother, they make a nice duo of villians.

Indeed he was ultimately interested in the treasure but than again they all are. Maybe he should've tried more to kill MacGyver.

I always wondered too how Nicholas Von Leer in Eye of Osiris knew that MacGyver was there when his brother, Eric Von Leer died in France searching for the Holy Rose. Maybe Zoe blabbed to someone who blabbed to someone...you know like a twisted game of telephone where somehow Mac got blamed for Eric's death. Or Nicholas heard through the channel's (I still say Zoe blabbed) and in his own twisted warped way concluded that Mac was blame and asked for him on his quest to find Alexander the Great's tomb.

I liked the brothers as villains, they added a little excitement to the plot. Instead of one adversary to deal with Mac had his hands full with trying to outwit two.