'' is a
Television Series that ran from
September 30 1983 to
December 17 1983 on
NBC . It is about a
Shape-shifting man who can turn himself into any
Animal .
For every episode except for the pilot, actor
William Conrad recites the opening narration that tells of Chase's wealthy present life and his early days in Africa with his missionary father.
''"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."''
By modern standards its special effects, though plentiful, are relatively low-quality, not surprising given the time period and other constraints. While Dr. Chase is meant to have the ability to change himself into ''any'' animal, in practice his onscreen transformations are almost always into a
Hawk or
Black Panther , with the exact same backdrops each time, presumably to save on the budget, though he does become a snake once. In the episodes when Dr. Chase turns into a bull, dolphin, and horse, the actual transformations occur off-screen.
The show was cancelled after only eight episodes.
David Letterman may have had a role in its swift cancellation by mercilessly hammering the show in his typical ironic style. In the years since, its name is often invoked by
Science Fiction fans when asked to name the worst series ever made for
American television, though it still has a very small cult following.
Glen Larson , the creator, resurrects Chase briefly for a crossover with his
1990s underground classic ''
Nightman ''.
- The often derided transformation sequences were designed and created by Academy Award -winning SFX artist Stan Winston .
- In the episode "Breath of the Dragon," Walter Nebicher from '' Automan '' can be seen walking outside the Chinese restaurant. Both ''Manimal'' and ''Automan'' were filmed back to back with the same scene, at a different angle, appearing in the episode of ''Automan''.
- In the episode "High Stakes," Dr. Chase alludes to the episode title at least three times. At the bar he says both, "The stakes seem high," and "These are some high stakes... almost too high." Later that night in the restaurant he remarks, from off camera, "How about those stakes back there? Pretty high, huh?"
- In the pilot episode, Chase's sidekick Tyrone "Ty" C. Earl was played not by Michael D. Roberts, but by Glynn Turman.
- The show is referenced in the song "Wind Up" by Foo Fighters on their 1997 album '' The Colour And The Shape ''.
- In the 2006 film '''', John C. Reilly's character Cal Naughton, Jr. makes a brief reference to ''Manimal''.
- In the first commercial promotion of ''Manimal'', a great white shark's dorsal fin, Manimal, attacks J.R. Ewing; the show premiered opposite Dallas . Previously, McCorkindale starred in Jaws 3 and his character was killed by the shark.
- Online comedy show '' The Bill Binkley Show! '' references the series in their short, The Hunt for Billy Dee. Binkley's sidekick Ed believes Billy Dee Williams has become a Manimal in order to elude and ambush the duo.
- '' Psych '', a detective show on the USA Network , references the show in the episode "Meat is Murder, But Murder is Also Murder".
