The short-lived 1980s science fiction TV series Automan only ran for a single 13-episode season on ABC during the 1983-84 TV season. However, it is one that I fondly remember from my childhood.

Police detective Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz, Jr.) always wanted to fight crime on the streets of LA, but after he crashes his squad car, captain Boyd (Gerald S. O’Loughlin) decides he’s better off behind a desk—as part of the force’s new computer crime fighting initiative. Walter creates an intelligent computer program that takes the form of a hologram named Automan (Chuck Wagner), “the world’s first Automatic Man”. Automan can travel outside the computer world to help Walter fight crime in the real world. He is joined by sidekick Cursor, a Tinkerbell-like ball of light who can draw anything out of vector graphics. Cursor is primarily deployed to create the autocar, autocopter, autoplane or some other vehicle to help Automan and Walter get around.

The Captain doesn’t trust or like computers, so Walter keeps his crime-fighting creation to himself. Only rookie colleague Roxanne Caldwell (Heather McNair) knows the truth about Automan. To the captain and Walter’s Lieutenant Jack Curtis (Gerald S. O’Loughlin) Automan goes under disguise as FBI Special Agent Otto J. Mann from Washington.

The series takes the idea of Tron but flips it—instead of a man entering the computer world, it has a computer world entity live in the real world. I really enjoyed Chuck Wagner portrayal of Automan—he mixes slightly robotic with childlike innocence and curiosity. Automan can learn any skill just by observing another’s actions, and then can immediately improve upon these skills. He is invulnerable and can even walk through walls, but he needs power to stay in the outside world. Walter can merge with Automan, becoming a part of his body. This gives Walter the same abilities and provides a way for him to get out of some sticky situations, while also being a source of levity in some scenes—it’s always fun when Wagner has to mimic Arnaz Jr.’s speech and actions. Desi Arnaz Jr. is entertaining as the bumbling, nerdy Walter, and the two really play off one another nicely. I also appreciate the addition of Roxanne to the crime-fighting team, and that she is more of a friend/partner and less of a romantic interest for Walter (though I don’t doubt that’s likely where the show was headed had it continued).

While the cases are often serious and action-packed, there is also plenty of humor mixed into each episode. I really enjoy the fish-out-of-water stuff with Automan misunderstanding some human trait or colloquialism, or when Automan talks to his electronic friends like slot machines and video games. And there’s a running gag with Walter getting pressed up against the car window as the Lamborghini autocar rockets down the street and makes a 90 degree turn. The show knows when it is having a fun-but-cheesy moment and even adds a trombone in the scoring to highlight the punch line—in true 80s fashion, each episode usually ends with one of these moments.

The series reminded me a lot of the original Mission: Impossible series at times. It makes use of the same kind of horns-and-snare drum scoring in the tense action scenes, and there are these elaborate plans that ultimately end with tricking the bad guys. The series also makes use of a lot of foreign locations—which I enjoyed as a viewer, but found a bit odd seeing as these are LAPD officers who seem to spend more than half their time working on cases outside of their jurisdiction.

I was really impressed by the show’s soundtrack—it seems like they were able to clear the original soundtrack for the DVD. There are so many great 80s songs throughout the season. Laura Branigan guest stars in an episode as a pop star and sings two of her hits (“Hot Night” and “Gloria”). Other songs that appear in the episodes include “Beat It”, “Stayin’ Alive”, “Maniac”, “The Tide is High”, “I Come From a Land Down Under”, “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, “Sweet Dreams”, “Love is a Battlefield”, “Heart and Soul” (Huey Lewis), “Born To Be Wild”, “Let’s Dance”, “Human Touch”, “Why Don’t You Do Me That Way”, “Karma Chameleon” and “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”.

The first and only season is comprised of 13 episodes, including the extended-length pilot:

• Automan
  The Lieutenant disappears while investigating a series of kidnappings of top engineers. The men are being tricked into boarding a private jet and are then brought to a private Swiss island. (This episode kind of feels like a mini Bond film.)
• Staying Alive While Running A High Flashdance Fever
  A witness in a mafia case goes missing, and the lead suspect is the corrupt judge at whose home the victim was last seen. However, Walter believes there may be a bigger conspiracy in play to frame the judge. Meanwhile, Walter wants Automan to learn to be more human, so he has him watch tapes of Saturday Night Fever, Flashdance and Staying Alive—and gets a chance to show off his new-found dance moves.
• The Great Pretender
  Automan goes undercover as a criminal in order to catch a money counterfeiter, basing his persona off of a series of Humphrey Bogart films he binged.
• Ships In The Night
  A drug kingpin is hiding out on the Caribbean island of San Cristobal where there is no extradition treaty. The man has been luring investors to the island, taking their money, and then dropping them into the ocean from his airplane. Walter and Automan head to the island to investigate, however, it is during the annual Festival of Lights, which is using up the energy that Automan needs to function.
• Unreasonable Facsimile
  An airline parts distributor tries to cover up the fact that his company is selling used parts as new, and that these second-rate parts are responsible for several crashes. When an employee tries to expose the fraud, he winds up dead. Meanwhile, Automan accidentally watches tapes of primetime soap Abiline, thinking they are criminal behavior study material, and starts acting like a soap character.
• Flashes And Ashes
  Some dirty cops steal guns from the armory kill the officer who tries to stop them and then frame him for the guns. The deceased was one of Walter’s police academy classmates, and so he and Automan set out to clear the officer’s name—which involves Automan posing as an psychic investigator.
• The Biggest Game In Town
  A series of bombs go off in the city, knocking out power. A mysterious computer programmer claims ownership of the crime, threatening to literally open the flood gates and destroy the city unless his demands are met. Walter and Automan head to a local video game convention to look for clues.
• Renegade Run
  The corrupt sheriff of a small Arizona town threatens a pair of siblings to sign over their parents’ land to him so he can use it to smuggle Mexicans across the border. One of the siblings is an old college friend of Roxanne’s, so Automan and Walter go on a road trip to help out. However, they quickly discover the just how bad the corruption is when Walter finds himself arrested on false drug charges.
• Murder MTV
  A young pop star is filming her music video when a bomb goes off on the stage. She is told that was just a warning, and the next time someone would be killed unless a $50K ransom is paid. Automan does undercover as her bodyguard as he and Walter investigate who is behind the threat.
• Murder, Take One
  A gossip columnsist who was writing an expose about a film being funded by drug money is found dead. Automan goes undercover as an actor on the film to investigate from the inside.
• Zippers
  Automan goes undercover as an exotic dancer in order to take down a team of strippers/cat burglars who rob the club’s patrons while they are away.
• Death By Design
  Jack and his old colleague Nate are on a stakeout, waiting for a professional killer to show his face. However, things go awry and both Nate and a fashion mogul end up dead. Automan, who has been binging Dirty Harry-like “Nasty Eddie” films, goes undercover as tough guy “Mad Dog”.
• Club Ten
  Roxanne’s friend, travel writer Laura, calls her saying that she may be in danger. At the time, she had been working on a story about the exclusive Club Ten, which only admits folks considered to be 10s. Automan arranges for Otto J. Mann to get invited to the club, where he soon finds himself mixed up in a diamond smuggling operation.

As to the quality of the DVD presentation, the picture is definitely weaker in the pilot. The colors are inconsistent—even with the same scene—the picture is grainy and sometimes a bit blurry. However, the episodes that follow fare much better, which a much clearer and consistent picture. The special effects are a bit hit or miss. While the Cursor drawing sequences really hold up, some of the other scenes where Automan walks through walls or appears/disappears show their age. At the time these were probably cutting edge effects—the show cost a whopping $1M per episode, which was unheard of at the time—however, by today’s standards they look pretty weak. The audio track is sufficient for the dialogue and effects, but pales in comparison to today’s surround sound.

The DVD set contains a nice collection of bonus material, especially given the age of the series. There are some text articles, production notes and photo galleries, but the highlight of the supplemental material is the 42-minute interview with the cast and creator of the series, which was recorded a few years ago for the UK DVD release of the show. I really enjoyed this nostalgic look back at the series by those who created it—I wish more older shows would do this for their DVD releases.

What’s Included:
Episodes: (11:18:43)

• All 13 Episodes of the series:
  “Automan”, “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”
• Full Frame 1.33:1
• Audio: English
• Subtitles: None
• No Closed Captions

Extras:

• Calling Automan: The Auto Feature (42:03)
  In this documentary, which was originally recorded for the 2012 UK DVD release, series stars Chuck Wagner (“Automan”), Desi Arnaz Jr. (“Walter Nebicher”) and Heather McNair (“Roxanne Caldwell”), and series creator Glen A. Larson reminisce about how they first got involved with the series as well as the characters, plots, effects, stunts, costumes, sets and guest stars. The documentary is presented in widescreen format.
• The Story of Automan
  Three-page press kit description of the series.
• Feature Story
  Two-page article/interview with star Chuck Wagner entitled “Chuck Wagner on Being a Non-Corporal Being”.
• Original Cast And Crew Biographies
  Read the cast/crew biographies that were part of the original press kit for the series. Select from Chuck Wagner, Desi Arnaz Jr., Heather McNair, Robert Lansing, Gerald S. O’Laughlin, Glen A. Larson and Larry Brody.
• Collectables Gallery (2:24)
  Self-playing gallery of photos of Automan merchandise and memorabilia. Pictures automatically cycle every 2-3 seconds.
• Stills Gallery (1:23)
  Self-playing gallery of production stills. Pictures automatically cycle every 2-3 seconds.
• Manimal Trailer (:36)

Final Thoughts:

Rewatching Automan 30+ years later, I was quickly reminded of why I loved this show as a kid. It’s got the perfect mix of action, adventure, sci-fi and humor. The cases of the week are interesting, and the main cast work well together on screen, providing an entertaining hour of TV. The cheesiness of some of the effects and the classic 80s TV tropes help add to the fun and nostalgia of the show. The DVD presentation is quite good, especially given the show’s age, and the original soundtrack seems to be in tact. I definitely recommend this show to any child of the 80s, or anyone interested in seeing this entertaining and unique time capsule from a previous era of TV.