Manimal

Buzz

Manimal ranks 7,239 out of the 18,228 shows on TV.com.

The 83 users who count themselves as Manimal fans have written a total of 8 reviews.

Status

Premiered

Ended

Genre

Theme

Jonathan Chase was a British college professor at New York University who had the unusual ability to transform into any kind of animal. He used his powers to battle crime alongside pretty policewoman Brooke and Vietnam-war pal Ty.

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Runtime: 60 min (8 episodes), plus... more »

Jonathan Chase was a British college professor at New York University who had the unusual ability to transform into any kind of animal. He used his powers to battle crime alongside pretty policewoman Brooke and Vietnam-war pal Ty.

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Runtime: 60 min (8 episodes), plus pilot (90 mins)
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color (DeLuxe)
Sound Mix: Mono

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From the series intro:

"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 rarest peaks of Tibet. Heir to his father's legacy and the worlds darkest mysteries...Jonathan Chase, master of the secrets that divide man from animal, animal from man, Manimal."

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CREW:

Directed by
Charles Bail Georg Fenady Daniel Haller Sidney Hayers Leslie H. Martinson Russ Mayberry Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Berk writer
Larry Brody writer
Sam Egan writer
Joseph Gunn writer
Glen A. Larson writer
Paul Mason writer
Douglas Schwartz writer

Produced by
Donald R. Boyle .... supervising producer
Glen A. Larson .... producer Original Music by
Paul Chihara Alan Silvestri Film Editing by
Al Breitenbach Neil MacDonald Joe Morrisey Gene Ranney Production Management
Barry Stern .... production manager Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
S. Michael Formica .... first assistant director Special Effects by
Stan Winston .... special effects designer Stunts
Sherry Peterson .... stunts Other crew
John Burnett .... first assistant camera: "a" camera, second unit
Gregory B. Peña .... costumer: preparation

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Transformations Hawk (Episode: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)(Times: 7)
Black Panther (Episode: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)(Times: 8)
Parrot (Episode: 3)(Times: 1)
Dolphin (Episode: 4)(Times: 1)
Horse (Episode: 5, 8)(Times: 2)
Snake (Episode: 6)(Times: 1)
Bull (Episode: 7)(Times: 1)
Bear (Episode: 8)(Times: 1)

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Release dates: USA --> 30 September 1983 UK --> 4 June 1984 France --> 26 June 1985 --------------------------

Broadcast History:

Sep83-Nov83: Friday 9:00
Dec83-Dec83: Saturday 9:00

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Production Companies * 20th Century Fox Television

Distributors * National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

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Bio:

Real Name: Professor Jonathan Chase
Identity/Class: Human, either mutant or mystically altered.
Occupation: Professor of Behavioural Science
Affiliations: Nightman
Enemies: Unknown
Known Relatives: Teresa Chase (daughter)
Aliases: None known
Base of Operations: Unknown
First Appearance: Manimal (NBC TV Series, September 30th 1983 - December 31st 1983)

Powers/Abilities: Jonathan is able to transform into a (seemingly unlimited) variety of animals. Size and mass are no limitations, as he has become animals far smaller and far larger than his human form.

History: Jonathan Chase, a wealthy professor at New York University teaching animal behavioural sciences, had inherited an extremely unusual ability from his father. Somehow he could transform himself into a wide variety of animals, most commonly a black panther or a hawk. Using these abilities he would secretly help the police, tracking down and capturing criminals. He was often assisted by his friend Ty Earle whom he had served with in Vietnam, and police detective Brooke McKenzie, who had discovered his secret.

Years later Jonathan Chase encountered the superhero Nightman, and it was discovered that his daughter had also inherited the shapeshifting powers.

Comments: Played by Simon MacCorkindale. Manimal ran for only thirteen episodes. The character of Jonathan Chase, still played by MacCorkindale, made an unexpected return to TV on 15th November 1998, in episode #28 of NightMan.

CLARIFICATIONS: None
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'Manimal' Named in Top 10 Worst U.S. Show Ever by U.K. TV Execs
26 November 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Readers of the British trade weekly Broadcast have named the ten worst television shows ever exported by the U.S. to the U.K. 1. Baywatch
2. Anna Nicole Show
3. Dukes of Hazzard
4. Wild Palms
5. Manimal
6. The Jerry Springer Show
7. Knots Landing
8. Falcon Crest
9. The Bold and the Beautiful
10. Extreme Makeover. The list of the best U.S. television shows:
1. The Simpsons
2. Dallas
3. M*A*S*H
4. 24
5. The Larry Sanders Show
6. Hill Street Blues
7. The X-Files
8. I Love Lucy
9. Twin Peaks
10. Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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From the Forums

•  

  7.7 Good

  Manimal, a british playboy/detective, also had the power to morph into animals. This was no easy feat - he had to concentrate very hard and breathe deeply until his skin started to bubble and he began growing a beak, fur or snakeskin. Great special FX! hide « show »

  This is one of those shows you can't believe even existed. Manimal is one of those things (like Automan, or Hardcastle & McCormick) that are buried deep within the dumpster regions of our brains, and occasionally, the winds of random memories (or drugs) give us a whiff of them. Manimal came out in the extremely fertile Knight-Rider 80's, where there was no such thing as "ridiculous" in a TV-show. The makers apparently thought it would be cool to have a Magnum-PI type character who could turn into an animal. This show was a huge hit in Italy for years.

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  Mikeybillz Added Jan 31, 2007 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  Man morphs into any animals he wants to fight crime. hide « show »

  Heh, this show is so bad now that i think about it but it was also20 years ago the best most repeated show ever, in Colombia. All of my friends would be pretending to be Manimal and we would change forms and he would be our hero. It didn't matter if it was the same 7 episodes over and over again, all we wanted was to see the cool (for that time) morphing of jonathan into these wild animals. As i was saying, now that i think about it, this show is BAD, it is lame and i see why i got the axe only after 7 episodes, IT SUCKED!

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  twilightboy Added Dec 31, 2006 All my reviews
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  1.5 Abysmal

  Whoever created this disaster should be in prison. hide « show »

  Ok, I barely remember it but I do remember feelings of feeling like I was going to hurl chunks. Ok, I need another 80 words since the minimum number of words for a review is 100. Its not as bad as My Mother The Car, but that doesnt rally matter. Only 50 words to go! Make that 43. Ok, well what more is there to say? "Surf Nazis Must Die" was Oscar material compared to MANIMAL. Maybe they could make a series about SNMD? It could star Kurt Russell as Adolf and Madonna as Eva Braun. Well, ok I finally made it to 100 words. Tootaloo.

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  SoylentYellow Added Nov 10, 2006 All my reviews
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  5.1 Mediocre

  barely remember it hide « show »

  i was like nine or ten years old when this show came out. it was one of the worst shows from the 80's but i remember it fondly. but what the hell did i know, i was only nine or ten years old. the actor that played the lead, i don't remember his name, but i remember seeing him in things later on, so i'm glad to see this show didn't ruin his career.

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  CAPNDEL Added Jul 5, 2006 All my reviews
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  3 Bad

  This is simply a dreadfully bad show. Acting, writing, and special effects are all painfully bad. hide « show »

  I remember when this show premiered back in 1983. At the time there was a bit of a trend of stories about humans who turned into animals, and there was actually a lot of hype surrounding this show's debut.
  
  I was 9 years old and certainly tuned in on the first night. At the time, I thought it was pretty cool and developed a picture in my mind of what the show looked like. I especially had created an image of what the guys animal transformations were like.
  
  Over the years, I must have embellished my memory a bit, because recently I finally managed to get my hands on a VHS copy of the show to finally see it one more time.
  
  Unfortunatly, I discovered that the show is actually horrendously bad. So bad, that most of us in the room watching it were laughing at its ineptness.
  
  On just about every level the show was a disappointment. Acting, and writing were especially bad. But even the animal transformation scenes, which I had remembered being pretty cool, were just horrible. Even by the standards of when they were done, the special effects were bad. Not only bad from a technical standpoint, but bad from an artistic standpoint as well.
  
  Its an ugly trainwreck of a show. Without a doubt, there are others like me who have a nice memory of this show. Hunt it down if you must, but be prepared to find a show that is much worse than your childhood memories would lead you to believe.

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  konky2000 Added May 11, 2006 All my reviews