Shout! Factory has announced that it will be bringing two short-lived classic 1980s sci-fi TV series to DVD on November 10. Both Automan and Manimal were produced by the prolific TV master Glen A. Larson (Battlestar Galactica), but each only lasted a single season.
Automan is one of my all-time favorite shows from when I was a kid and I’m really excited that it is finally making it’s way onto DVD. And Manimal is one of those show’s I’ve always heard of, and am excited that I will finally be able to check it out.
Here are the full details on both titles:
Automan
Synopsis
I AM AUTOMAN. Walter Nebicher is the police department’s resident computer geek… his immediate superiors think Walter’s place is behind the desk and not on the streets. However, Walter has other ideas.
Walter’s expertise in computer programming is unparalleled and he creates a special program, “Automan,” an artificially intelligent computer hologram that looks real, sounds real and given enough power can physically exist in the real world. Together, Walter and Automan along with Cursor, a small floating droid that creates any object Automan needs to, battle crime on the city streets.
CAST: Chuck Wagner, Desi Arnaz Jr., Gerald S. O’Loughlin, Heather McNair, Robert Lansing
Enjoy all 13 action-packed episodes of this long lost 1980’s gem.
Bonus Features
- “Calling Automan” – The Auto Feature – An All-New Documentary Featuring Interviews With Chuck Wagner, Glen A. Larson, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Heather McNair (42 mins)
- The Story of AUTOMAN
- Feature Story
- Original Cast And Crew Biographies
- Collectables Gallery
- Stills Gallery
- MANIMAL Trailer
Product Information
DISCS: 4
RUN-TIME: 11.5 hrs
ASPECT RATIO: 1.33:1
COLOR: Color
LANGUAGE: English
REGION: 1
RATING: NR
PRODUCTION DATE: 1983-1984
CLOSED-CAPTION: No
SUBTITLES: None
EPISODES:
- Staying Alive While Running A High Flashdance Fever
- The Great Pretender
- Ships In The Night
- Unreasonable Facsimile
- Flashes And Ashes
- The Biggest Game In Town
- Renegade Run
- Murder MTV
- Murder, Take One
- Zippers
- Death By Design
- Club Ten
Manimal
Synopsis
Dr. Jonathan Chase, wealthy, young and handsome. A man with the brightest of futures, a man with the darkest of pasts. From Africa’s deepest recesses to the rarefied peaks of Tibet, heir to his father’s legacy and the world’s darkest mysteries. Jonathan Chase, master of the secrets that divide man from animal, animal from man. Partnered with a young policed detective and a former army corporal from the fields of Vietnam. A trio that stands against the crime that breeds in the concrete jungles and stretches its deadly tentacles to the fascinating but dangerious world beyond, the world of MANIMAL!
Jonathan Chase (Simon MacCorkindale), famed Professor of Criminology, with the inherited powers to transform himself into any animal he wishes, uses that power to assist the New York Police Department in solving major crimes. He is assisted by Brooke McKenzie (Melody Anderson), an intelligent and beautiful detective with the NYPD, and Tyrone “Ty” Earl (Michael D. Roberts), a former intelligence officer with whom he served in Vietnam.
CAST: William Conrad, Melody Anderson, Michael D. Roberts, Simon MacCorkindale, Reni Santoni
Bonus Features
- Man To Animal: An Interview With Glen A. Larson
- Concept & Production Notes
- Biographies
- Galleries
- Automan Trailer
Product Information
DISCS: 3
RUN-TIME: 7 hrs
ASPECT RATIO: 1.33:1
COLOR: Color
LANGUAGE: English
REGION: 1
RATING: NR
PRODUCTION DATE: 1983
CLOSED-CAPTION: No
SUBTITLES: None
EPISODES:
- Manimal
- Illusion
- Night Of The Scorpion
- Female Of The Species
- High Stakes
- Scrimshaw
- Breath Of The Dragon
- Night Of The Beast
