Automan

Let me be the first one to say AYE! Bring this wonderful series to life again, and release it on DVD. I've been missing it since forever... Curser was THE coolest sidekick (if you can call it that) ever, and Chuck Wagner as the handsome, dashing and supercool Automan... *sniff*

This series, along with ALF (the little furry cat-eater from outer space with a girlfriend named Rhonda) and the British comedy "The Young Ones" (with the hilarious punk-rocker dude named Vivian) are by far the greatest things ever to appear on television.

I get so sentimental when I think of all the great TV shows that appeared in the 80's and then just disappeared without a trace. And the kids today think "Everybody loves Raymond" and "CSI" are cool...they don't know what they're missing...

This program was on for a brief period when I was a kid, I remember watching it whilst eating fish and chips.

Riding on the back of the Tron hype this series was much in the style of streethawk, manimal and the like, except more computery. There was a geeky kid who's computer somehow created this guy - automan. He'd go around solving crimes and the lot.

All I really remember was his fancy car and the little flashy cursor thing that used to draw the car and help him out generally.

When I mention it to anyone they can remember very little too. Was it real or maybe a dream?

I saw this series also and thought it was fantastic !

In the light of recent FX technologies and computer animation effects in the film industry over the last few years, I feel that the idea of this series would transfer very well to the big screen !

Of course a great script/story/acting and direction would need to be part of the concept !

I'm not sure why I'd only ever heard of "Automan" just recently. With its inherent mashing of "Knight Rider" and "TRON", this would be right up my alley. Visually, it's superb; the set design's futuristic, it's got toyetic potential, and c'mon that's a laser-outlined Lamborghini.; this is a feast for the eyes. I guess if this is lacking in any department, it's in the characters. The pilot hits every cop cliche in the book, right down to the cartoonish police captain, and the two leads are adequate for an entry episode. I realize I'm selling the show short by not forging ahead, but it needs some more Hasselhoff-esque charm.

6/10

Although very formulaic like most action shows of the 70's and 80's, I remember seeing the show a number of times (and liking it) but I think it never even made it through a full season if I remember right, because I think it bombed in the ratings department. I actually still have a recording of the main theme music (along with sound effects) from the opening credits! The Automan Character was supposed to be a computer generated "Automatic Man" (hence the name Automan)zapped into the real world in the same but opposite way that Jeff Bridges was zapped into the computer world of Disney's "Tron" made the previous year.

Despite the fact that it was meant to copy the kind of computer generated imagery seen in "Tron", the visual effects were actually done optically using more traditional means, as CGI was still very much in it's infancy and very expensive back then. The costume that the Automan character wore was made to scintillate by substituting an optical effect into matted out portions of the suit, likely covered with bluescreen material which allowed for the VFX department to replace it with a blueish purple glitter and an optically enhanced glow. This was also very similar to how the costumes for "Tron" were also able to glow.

I remember that the "computer generated" car was a real black Lamborghini Countach which had reflective pin striping applied to give the effect of a blue vector-line style glow, again an homage to "Tron". Also, the car, driven by Automan would make exact 90 degree turns (again, exactly like the Lightcycles in "Tron") which resulted in passenger Desi Arnaz Jr's face being splashed against the side window! Of course, the 90 degree turning effect was simply done by two cuts of the car going in the different directions and editing the film together to suit.

Having seen so few episodes I'm surprised that I remember so much about it. Back then, I absolutely ate this stuff up, even though a lot of these things were so unoriginal and made in a very assembly-line type of format. Despite it's apparent bombing in the ratings I hope nevertheless that it someday appears on DVD. I'll buy it for sure! Nostalgia is a lot of fun, even when the subject is so poorly done.

Did I mention that it has a lot of things in it that bear a striking resemblance to "Tron"?

EjIMBo.