Talking Robots Kick Ass
Now Playing: GEMINI MAN
My GEMINI MAN reference in my previous post reminded me that I had some episodes of that 1976 TV series around someplace. GEMINI MAN aired only five times on NBC in the fall of ‘76 before it was cancelled. Eleven episodes were shot, which were later aired in syndication and on the Sci-Fi Channel. Several years ago, I taped a mini-marathon of six GEMINI MAN episodes on Sci-Fi, but never watched them. Who knows if this shortlived series will ever see a DVD release (doubtfully) or be telecast on TV again, so I transferred my (cut for more commercials) Sci-Fi episodes to DVD-R.

GEMINI MAN should have been better, considering the talented men who brought it to the screen. It was created for television by Leslie Stevens, who created the magnificent OUTER LIMITS anthology of the early 1960’s; Harve Bennett, who produced many entertaining shows, such as RICH MAN, POOR MAN and THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN; and a young Steven Bochco, who had gotten his start as the story editor on COLUMBO (and contributing one of its finest episodes, “Murder By the Book”, which was directed by an even younger Steven Spielberg). Bochco had also produced THE INVISIBLE MAN, a shortlived series for NBC in 1975 that failed after just a few episodes, but was undoubtedly the inspiration for GEMINI MAN.

THE INVISIBLE MAN starred David McCallum (THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.) as Dr. Daniel Westin, a scientist who discovered an invisibility formula. He tested it on himself, but was unable to make himself visible again. So he created a remarkably lifelike mask, hands and wig that he wore to make himself appear normal, and became an agent for the KLAE Corporation, a government thinktank. At KLAE, he was assisted by a pretty doctor (Melinda Fee) and worked for gruff, middle-aged Walter Carlson (Craig Stevens of PETER GUNN).

THE INVISIBLE MAN was cancelled in January 1976 after 13 weeks, but in March of that year, NBC telecast GEMINI MAN, a 90-minute pilot that starred Ben Murphy (ALIAS SMITH AND JONES) as Sam Casey, another agent for a government thinktank, this time called Intersect. On an underwater mission, Casey was caught in an explosion and rendered invisible through mysterious radiation. Another pretty doctor (Katherine Crawford) came up with a super wristwatch that made him visible again, but only when it was attached to his wrist. By pressing a button on the watch, Sam could make himself invisible again, but only for up to 15 minutes during a 24-hour period. Under the watchful eye of gruff, middle-aged boss Leonard Driscoll (William Sylvester, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY), Sam used his invisibility powers to undertake secret missions for Intersect. As you can see, THE INVISIBLE MAN and GEMINI MAN were exactly the same show, and I wouldn’t even be surprised if unused scripts for INVISIBLE MAN turned up as GEMINI MAN episodes, especially considering both were produced by Universal Television for NBC.

I have a weird attraction for stupid-looking robots, and GEMINI MAN delivers big time in its episode, “Minotaur”, one of the few episodes that were actually seen on NBC. Ross Martin (THE WILD, WILD WEST) guest-stars as Carl Victor, a mad scientist and vengeful ex-employee of Intersect who builds a killer robot and demands $500 million from the U.S. Secretary of Defense or else he’ll use the robot, named “Minotaur”, to zap a skyscraper with its built-in laser and level it. To prove he’s not kidding, Victor lures Sam to an abandoned warehouse and uses Minotaur to blow it up. Following Victor’s daughter (Deborah Winters from BLUE SUNSHINE) to his secret laboratory, which appears to be located at the Department of Water and Power, Sam spends the episode dodging Minotaur’s laser blasts and sensor probes.

“Minotaur”’s story was co-written by Robert Bloch, a noted horror author whose book PSYCHO inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1960 motion picture. Staff producers Frank Telford (THE VIRGINIAN) and Robert F. O’Neill (QUINCY, M.E.) wrote the teleplay, and Alan J. Levi, who later replaced director Richard A. Colla during filming of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA pilot for Universal, helmed the episode, which closely resembles a segment of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN in terms of story, structure, look and tone. It’s not really all that great, but it does have a clunky-looking robot that talks and shoots lasers. So what’s not to love?