Automan

Automan
Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz, Jr.) and Automan (Chuck Wagner).
Format	Science Fiction, Superhero
Created by	Glen A. Larson
Written by	Sam Egan (4 eps) Douglas Heyes, Jr. (3 eps) Larry Brody (2 eps)
Directed by	Kim Manners (4 eps) Winrich Kolbe (3 eps) Lee H. Katzin (1 ep)
Starring	Desi Arnaz, Jr. Chuck Wagner Heather McNair Robert Lansing Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Composer(s)	Stu Phillips Billy Hinsche
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Glen A. Larson Larry Brody
Producer(s)	Donald Kushner Peter Locke
Running time	50 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	December 15, 1983 – April 2, 1984

Automan is an American science fiction superhero television series produced by Glen A. Larson. It aired for only 12 episodes (although 13 were made) on ABC between 1983 and 1984.

Synopsis

Automan (the "Automatic Man") followed the adventures of a police officer and computer programmer named Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz, Jr.), who had created an artificially intelligent crime fighting program that generated a hologram^[1] (Chuck Wagner) able to leave the computer world and enter reality to help fight crime.

While in the real world, Automan posed as a government agent who helped Walter by the name of "Otto J. Mann." This was a secret to all the regular characters, except Walter's close associate, Roxanne Caldwell (Heather McNair).

Nebicher could merge with Automan to become one being, sharing both consciousness and skills, while retaining Automan's invulnerability to such things as gunshots and explosions. During the "merges" only Automan's form, a human head atop a glowing body made of circuit patterns and flickering light, could be seen.

Automan had a sidekick named Cursor, a free-floating, glowing, shifting polyhedron-shaped, mote of energy which could three-dimensionally "draw" and generate physical objects as they were needed, generally becoming the object in the process. Cursor could not become another object until dissolving the current object (usually a reversal of the "drawing" effect) and reassuming "his" normal form. Exceptions to this included the fabrication of more conventional outer clothing to hide Automan's unusual body appearance, and a variable dark colored vehicle lined in glowing blue piping. Jokingly referred to as the "Auto car" in one of its earliest appearances, the most common forms taken were a car, a plane, and a helicopter, all of which could defy the laws of physics such as making a 90-degree-angle turn.

Cursor could make the vehicle appear or, by making contact with it, cause it to change from one form into another, such as shifting from a car into a helicopter, and could then detach in order to perform other tasks. Cursor could create vehicles with a more conventional appearance but could not then separate from them as he did the unusual-looking forms without the object dissolving. It is also notable that Cursor was always the first to appear from a computer, after which he immediately "created" Automan's physical body. Automan and Cursor were generally only able to become corporeal at night, since running both had enormous power requirements.

Automan was the only TV program to feature the use of a Lamborghini Countach as transport; the Auto car's most common form was such a car. When driving, Automan turned his car at 90 degree angles (a result of Nebicher's programming). Automan was unaffected, but his passengers were generally knocked from one side of the car to the other.

The show also starred Robert Lansing as the often-drunken Lieutenant Jack Curtis and Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Captain of Detectives E. G. Boyd, Walter's superiors. Both believed that Automan was a friend of Walter's from the FBI. Captain Boyd, a technophobe who had no use for computers, often held up Lieutenant Curtis as the kind of cop he was convinced was the ideal for police--an ideal to which he believed Walter could never rise.

Influences

Automan was inspired by Steven Lisberger's film Tron, which had come out a year earlier. In order not to seem to be plagiarizing Tron, Glen A. Larson involved Donald Kushner, who had been an operating producer of Tron, and his partner, Peter Locke, as operating producers of Automan. This alone lent credibility to the program.

Although similar in appearance, the special effects used to create the Automan look were completely different from the hand-painted effects used in Tron. Automan cinematographer Charles "Chuck" Barbee reports that what they actually did was use reflective material and portable projectors, though the end result looks simply like some kind of blue/green screen chromakey overlay.

Cast

• Desi Arnaz, Jr. - Walter Nebicher
• Chuck Wagner - Automan / Otto J. Mann
• Robert Lansing - Lieutenant Jack Curtis
• Gerald S. O'Loughlin - Police Captain E. G. Boyd
• Heather McNair - Roxanne Caldwell

International broadcasters

•  Australia - Network Ten
•  Brazil - Rede Globo (Dubbed)
•  India - STAR Plus (English)
•  Pakistan - NTM
•  Portugal - RDP
•  United Kingdom - BBC One
•  Taiwan - TTV (Dubbed) Chinese Title: 電幻天龍
•  Indonesia - TVRI
•  Germany - RTL Plus (dubbed)

Episodes

* "Club Ten" has been broadcast (years later) on The Sci-Fi Channel, and on BBC1 and Bravo in the UK.

See also

• Airwolf
• Blue Thunder
• Knight Rider
• Street Hawk
• Stingray
• The Highwayman
• Thunder in Paradise
• Viper

References

1. ^ called that at the start of pilot episode one

External links

• Automan Online - Fansite
• Automan at the Internet Movie Database
• Automan at TV.com
• Chuck Wagner / Automan Page
• Automan collectibles and memorabilia exhibit
• Cinematographer Chuck Barbee page on how the Automan effects were done.