Microkhan has to jet downtown to beg The Man for affordable health insurance (prognosis: grim), so no Bad Movie Friday this week. But we’ve got the next-best thing to reward you for a work week well-done—Manimal, dude, Manimal. How Microkhan loved this cheese back in his grade-school days, and how we wept when NBC unceremoniously killed it before Season One even ended. The opening narration alone is a pulp classic:
Dr. Jonathan Chase… wealthy, young, handsome. A man with the brightest of futures. A man with the darkest of pasts. From Africa’s deepest recesses, to the rarefied peaks of Tibet, heir to his father’s legacy and the world’s darkest mysteries. Jonathan Chase, master of the secrets that divide man from animal, animal from man… Manimal!
Given what’s been going on in Hollywood these days, shouldn’t be long before they turn this one into a big-budget movie. If they can do frickin’ Land of the Lost on the big screen, why not a far superior show like Manimal?
mfwillis // May 8, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Maybe Broadway can get a hold of it first and adapt it into a musical.
Brendan I. Koerner // May 8, 2009 at 9:22 pm
@mfwillis: You just gave away a million-dollar idea for free, my friend. Coming to Times Square, 2011…
Jordan // May 9, 2009 at 7:07 pm
That may have been a horrifically bad concept, but I’ll at least give them a few points for some fairly interesting pre-CG special effects.
Brendan I. Koerner // May 10, 2009 at 3:18 pm
@Jordan: Yeah, not the worst effects I’ve ever seen–definitely several notches better than, say, Clash of the Titans. The blue screen’s a little obvious at times, but they gave it a go.
Still, how long did they think this could work? Seems like they tried to introduce a different bad-ass animal every week, but that could only get ’em so far. Doubt anyone would want to see Dr. Chase turn into an armadillo or parakeet.
nolo // May 12, 2009 at 11:18 am
Oh good lord — I know I watched that as a kid, and I know the effects actually weren’t bad for the time, but my disbelief wouldn’t just have to suspend itself for this one — it would have to hang itself. His HANDS turn into feet. HANDS. And that’s just the start.
Chili // May 12, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Let’s not let “Manimal” elbow its way in front of “Tales of the Gold Monkey” on the list of cheesy vintage television in line for a big budget movie remake.