M. C. Brennan (penelopedanger) Is there, in the whole English language, a better word than "Manimal"? I think not. And should you be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of this show, you'll never be the same again. Putting the "high" in "high concept," Glen Larson's crime-fighting shape-shifter was a man who could turn into ANY ANIMAL. Any animal at all. As long as that animal is a panther. OK, in a pinch, he can do a hawk, but can we stick with the panther please? It's not so much that special effects technology didn't exist in 1983, it's just that network TV could not afford them. Production costs were high for all that Manimalization, and when low ratings did not quickly morph into Neilsen success, Manimal was hastily euthanized. Simon MacCorkindale does fine work as the Manimal, but to modern eyes this show plays more like an extended Saturday Night Live skit, when the promise of a man who can be any animal turns into the reality of a guy being swapped out for the same piece of stock panther transformation footage week after week. Still, I sincerely hope Manimal is reissued, because for all its faults, it's a priceless slice of ridiculous 80s fun.

Victor Field Short-lived and watchable (well, it was when I was a teen) but pretty embarrassing to remember, Glen A. Larson and Donald R. Boyle's "Manimal" cast Simon MacCorkindale as a criminologist with the ability to tranform into any animal he chose; his assistant and his girlfriend were the only ones who knew, and if only more people - as in viewers - had known, it might have gone to a full season.Due to a) budgetary concerns and b) this being before morphing, viewers only ever saw him change into THREE animals - usually a panther or a hawk (both realised quite well by Stan Winston), but for the episode "Scrimshaw" we saw him turn into a snake to rescue Brooke (the show's token female) from a sinkhole. This repetition and the need to hide other changes as a result (in the show where he became a horse we had to make do with sound effects) must have bored viewers, though the actual scripts can't have helped... safe to say we won't be seeing a movie version of this one.This is, however, not as painful to watch as some of Glen Larson's other shows after leaving Universal. Or would you really rather see "NightMan" than this? Thought not.

raysond What mindconcept NBC executives were thinking? This wasn't the worst of several pathetical shows that were shown on the network. I can think of several that was made during the 1980's("Here's Boomer!","Father Murphy","Hello Larry","Voyagers","The Raymond Burr Show","The Master","She's The Sheriff","Casablanca" and etc.)but this one takes the cake as being one of the worst shows ever made. The concept was so silly that it went off the air after 8 episodes(count em' eight!). Come on here? There was one episode where our hero(Professor Chase played by Simon MacCorkindale who discovers the secrets that divide man from animal which he can changed into a beastly figure to fight evil doers)that was shown recently on the Sci-Fi channel where he changes into a venomous cobra to save a damsel from great danger.

Matt-337 everyone thinks i'm crazy when i talk about this show, because they don't remember it and they think i am delusional. but now i have proof! i used to love this show when i was 3... i really do remember it. -mm