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PREMISE A human-looking Extraterrestrial in a one-man spaceship crash-lands near Los Angeles . The ship's pilot is, in fact, from Mars and is now stranded on Earth . Tim O'Hara, a young newspaper Reporter for ''The Los Angeles Sun'', is on his way home from Edwards Air Force Base (where he had gone to report on the flight of the X-15 ) back to Los Angeles when he spots the spaceship coming down. Tim takes the and can read minds; he can levitate objects with the motion of his finger; and he can communicate with animals. Martin also builds several advanced devices, such as a Time Machine which transports Tim and the Martian back to Medieval England and other times and places, such as St. Louis in 1849 , the early days of Hollywood , or bring Leonardo Da Vinci and Jesse James into the present. Another device he builds is a "molecular separator" which can take apart the Molecule s of a physical object, or rearrange them (a squirrel was made into a human). Another device can take memories and store them in Pill form to "relearn" them later. Another device can create temporary duplicates. Tim and Uncle Martin live in an apartment house run by a congenial but scatterbrained landlady, Mrs. Brown, who often shows up when not wanted. She later dates a Plain-clothes Police Officer , Detective Brennan, who dislikes Uncle Martin and is highly suspicious of him. While the first two seasons were filmed in black-and-white, the final season was shot in color, resulting in minor changes in the set and the format of the show. In addition to the extraterrestrial powers indicated in the first two seasons, Martin seemed to be able to do much more in the final season, such as stimulating facial hair to provide him and Tim with a quick disguise, and levitating with his nose. Brennan's boss, the police chief, was involved in many episodes in the third season, generally as a device to humiliate the overzealous detective. Martin's real name, Exigius 12 1/2 (revealed in "We Love You, Mrs. Pringle") was heard again when his real nephew, Andromeda, crash-landed on Earth in the show's third season. Andromeda, originally devised to bring younger viewers to the aging show, disappeared without explanation after a single episode and was never referred to again in the two episodes filmed after it, or six episodes already filmed but aired afterward. The first two complete seasons are available on DVD from Rhino Home Video. The third season exists in its entirety on VHS (appropriately on green tapes), and is expected to be released by Rhino on DVD in 2006. CHARACTERS
SPIN-OFFS Animated series An Animated Series , ''My Favorite Martians'', was made by Filmation in 1973 . The series features Tim, Martin, Mrs. Brown and Detective Brennan (Brennan is considerably different). To appeal to a younger audience, Uncle Martin is joined by his Martian nephew named Andromeda, nicknamed "Andy", who only has one antenna and thus lesser powers than Uncle Martin. The pair also have a Martian pet named Okey, a sort of bouncing sheepdog with antennae. None of the characters were voiced by the original actors; Jonathan Harris voiced Martin. Feature film The series was also remade as a Feature Film in 1999 starring Christopher Lloyd as Martin and Jeff Daniels as Tim. Ray Walston also featured in the film. However, the premise was changed: Martians are three-armed, three-legged, three-eyed, and use a "gumball", which will also work on humans, to assume human form. TRIVIA Ray Walston appeared in a television commercial, a Long Distance service promotion for AT&T , circa 2000 . The conversation makes it evident to those who remember the TV series that he is playing the role of Uncle Martin, still on Earth. He asks if the rates AT&T offers also apply for phoning fellow Martians living in the United States. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK
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