The short-lived 1980s action-adventure series Manimal only ran for a single 8-episode season on NBC during the 1983 TV season. The series had the unfortunate challenge of premiering up against the huge “Who Shot J.R.?” reveal on Dallas, and was never able to gain momentum with viewers.

Dr. Jonathan Chase (Simon MacCorkindale) is an independently wealthy professor of criminology at the Police Sciences department at NYU, who also moonlights as a consultant for the NYPD. At an early age, Jonathan learned the ability to shape-shift, and can change himself into any animal at will. He now uses this power to help the police solve crimes. The only person who knows his secret is friend/Vietnam veteran Tyrone “Ty” C. Earl (Glynn Turman/Michael D. Roberts), but once Jonathan finds himself working cases with police detective Brooke Mackenzie (Melody Anderson), she quickly figures out his secret as well. Lt. Nick Rivera (Reni Santoni) also works cases with Jonathan, but manages to remain clueless.

Jonathan’s primary animals of choice are a black panther and a hawk. When the investigative team needs to sneak into a building and gather intel, Jonathan often transforms into a stealthy black panther. Or if he needs to follow bad guys who are getting away, he’ll become a hawk and track them from the air. Over the course of the series we see him become a snake, a dolphin, a horse, a bear, a bull and more. Each of his transformations is always preceded by heavy breathing as he concentrates on the animal he wants to become. When he’s changing into the panther or the hawk, we also get closeups as his hands bubble, hair and teeth grow, and jawline changes.

This series was obviously created before binging was a thing because you can tell a lot of the same animal footage is used over and over again. In each of the first three episodes there is a big warehouse fight and the same footage of the panther crawling through the rafters and diving down crates is used in all three episodes. And the same close-up transformation footage is used over and over again—Jonathan may be transforming in the middle of the day, but the nighttime transformation footage from the pilot is used every time. They do sometimes try to green screen in an appropriate background for the profile shot of the transformation. The transformation shots were originally created by effects master Stan Winston. While they look horrible by modern standards, this does add a level of camp and fun to the series when watching today. When Jonathan changes into anything other than the panther or the hawk, this always happens off screen, and so there are really only two different sequences.

At times the show gets so ridiculous that I found myself laughing out loud (but in an enjoyable way). I’m not sure if this campy tone was what was intended when the show was first released, or if they were going for something completely serious. Either way, I found it highly entertaining to watch. Some of the more absurd sequences include seeing the panther sneak into an office, open the desk drawer and flip though a file (obviously a stuffed paw is being used for the effect); or when Chase turns into a hawk and pulls the rip cord of a passed out skydiver who is plummeting towards the ground. In another fun sequence a father and son catch hawk Jonathan in their net and plan to keep him as a pet. So he plays dead and then flies away when they remove the net to check on him—and there’s an Aw, Shucks type of reaction from the father and son afterwards. And another scene finds bird Jonathan fighting some bullies with knives who are harassing the “Wolf Girl”.

Another campy aspect of the series is that every time Jonathan reverts back from his transformation, he is magically fully-clothed in the same (usually debonair) outfit he was wearing beforehand—even if he was seen previously ripping those clothes during the initial transformation. And Jonathan often has a cheesy one-liner, such as “I must have taken a catnap.”

Cheesiness aside, the show does have some very interesting and action-packed cases of the week. The eight episodes are as follows:

• Manimal
  Professor Jonathan Chase teams up with police detective Brooke McKenzie after her partner Simmons, a 20-year-veteran, is murdered while investigating the illegal sale of weapons. However, Brooke soon suspects that Jonathan is hiding a secret.
• Illusion
  When a magician is seemingly-murdered backstage by the tiger used in his act, Jonathan and Brooke set out to prove the tiger’s innocence and arrest the true murderer.
• Night Of The Scorpion
  A man aboard a cruise ship is tied up and questioned as to the location of a case holding $2 million and a mysterious list, but he has a bad reaction to the truth serum being used on him and dies. The killers try to cover this up by placing a poisonous spider on the man, but this doesn’t fool Jonathan. He heads to the Bahamas to follow clues left by the dead man for his daughter.
• Female Of The Species
  The “Wolf Girl”—a young woman raised by wolves in India—is brought to New York to be studied, but her life quickly appears to be in danger from a would-be assassin. Jonathan has the unique ability to communicate with the girl and agrees to protect and assimilate her (My Fair Lady style) while investigating who is after her and why.
• High Stakes
  Some horse thieves stage a pre-race distraction so that they can swap a prize-winning racehorse for a lookalike. Jonathan goes undercover as a horse and Brooke as a breeder in order to get the horse back.
• Scrimshaw
  Jonathan flies Brooke and the precocious 12-year-old grandson of a sea captain friend on his seaplane to a small cove an hour outside the city. They come across the skeleton of a man who was murdered by a boomerang, and in his hand is a walrus tusk with a scrimshaw treasure map. They soon discover that others are also looking for the treasure map and will stop at nothing to get it.
• Breath Of The Dragon
  Underground casino operator Yoon Quan has been terrorizing the merchants of Chinatown by leaving “the mark of the dragon” on their doors. Those who refuse to pay him protection money will receive a follow-up visit from Quan and his young kung fu disciples for “the breath of the dragon”, meaning their business is set aflame. Jonathan must use everything he knows about animals and their fighting styles to challenge Quan and prove to his followers that their master is just a bully, and not some supernatural dragon of a man.
• Night Of The Beast
  After making a big narcotics bust, Jonathan, Brooke and Ty head on a camping trip for a well-earned vacation. However their car breaks down and they find themselves in a small town that is being hostilely taken over by a greedy casino developer.

It’s a shame that they didn’t also include the episode of 1990s series NightMan on this DVD, in which Dr. Jonathan Chase makes a return appearance.

Overall, I really enjoyed the series, as cheesy as it got sometimes. The cast works so great together. There’s always this playful nature between the characters. The flirting between Jonathan and Brooke is more like that of Moneypenny and Bond rather than anything truly romantic. After the pilot episode, there was a cast change for the character of Ty, and I think this was an excellent decision—Michael D. Roberts steals his scenes with perfect comedic timing and humorous reactions. There are also some recognizable guest stars such as Ursula Andress, Ed Lauter, Richard Lynch, David Hess, Michael McGuire, David Sheiner, Meeno Peluce, Keenan Wynn, Mary-Margaret Humes, Doug McClure, Terry Kiser, Tracy Scoggins, Anne Ramsey and James Hong.

As with the Automan DVD I reviewed earlier, the video quality is a bit poor in the pilot episode, but vastly improves for the rest of the series. However, the animal/human morphing effects definitely show their age. The audio track provides clear dialogue and effects, but certainly pales in comparison to today’s action-adventure series. As for bonus material, there’s a detailed episode guide booklet with color photos, as well as text bios and other production notes from the original press kit, some photo galleries and a trailer for Automan. The highlight is an 18-minute interview with series creator Glen A. Larson, which was originally recorded for the 2012 UK DVD release.

What’s Included:
Episodes: (7:06:22)

• All 8 Episodes of the series:
  “Manimal”, “Illusion”, “Night Of The Scorpion”, “Female Of The Species”, “High Stakes”, “Scrimshaw”, “Breath Of The Dragon”, “Night Of The Beast”
• Full Frame 1.33:1
• Audio: English
• Subtitles: None
• No Closed Captions

Extras:

• Man To Animal: An Interview With Glen A. Larson (17:58)
  In this interview, which was originally recorded for the 2012 UK DVD release, executive producer Glen A. Larson talks about how the show came about, the unfortunate launch against the “Who Shot J.R.?” reveal, the casting of the series, the effects, a possible feature film, working with the animals, the reception of the series, and how the TV landscape has changed.
• Concept & Production Notes
  Read through the production notes that were included in the original press kit for the series, which includes a description of the show as well as the biography of the producer.
• Biographies
  Read the cast/crew biographies that were part of the original press kit for the series. Select from Simon MacCorkindale, Melody Anderson, Michael D. Roberts and Donald R. Boyle.
• Galleries
  Manually advance through three galleries of production photos. Select between “Action Shots” (5 photos), “Behind The Scenes” (8 photos) and “Publicity Shots” (42 photos).
• Automan Trailer (:41)

Final Thoughts:

Manimal is a short-lived, action-adventure series from the early 1980s. With interesting characters and cases of the week, the show provides hours of entertainment. The dated special effects help add to the campy, fun nature of the series, and make the show even more enjoyable to watch 30+ years later. The DVD provides decent quality audio and video given the age of the source, and the retrospective interview with the series creator included in the bonus features is a nice addition. I definitely recommend checking this out as an entertaining and unique piece of TV history.