Excellent, a classic 70s TV series comes to DVD, 4 stars chaps, jolly well done!
The truth can’t always be seen.
This version of The Invisible Man was first aired in 1975-1976 and is brilliant, a great take on the H.G.Wells idea.
The story revolves around Dr. Daniel Westin (David McCallum – The Man From Uncle, Sapphire and Steel), a scientist working on molecular disintegration, who accidentally happens upon a method of rendering objects invisible for a limited period of time. When he discovers that the company he works for, The Klae Corporation, wishes to use this new technology for military applications, he does the only thing he can to prevent it, he makes himself invisible and destroys the machinery.
Unfortunately, he finds himself permanently invisible, relying on a new formula called “Dermaplex“, which gives him a visible face and hands and can be removed with ease.
And so is born the Klae Resource. With the help of his wife, Dr Kate Westin (Melinda O. Fee – The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives) and his boss, the wonderful Walter Carson (Craig Stevens – Fantasy Island, The Love Boat), he becomes a secret weapon, working on behalf of the Klae Corporation in return for help to try and rebuild his technology and become visible again.
And quite fabulous technology it is too, all tape decks and enormous plastic buttons. It looks hilarious to us now, the idea that a cassette could hold enough information to run all these experiments, but I suppose at the time it seemed anything was possible.
The Invisible Man was created by Harve Bennett (The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man) and Steve Bochco (NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues) and directed by five different people, although you can’t tell when watching it, it all flows very nicely. The actors all seem to be having a great time too, which makes it even more enjoyable to watch.
The conversion is, for the most part, pretty good, the picture is clear and a lot of the green screen has been tidied up, making it stand up well nearly 40 years later (except of course that the technology and the clothes and the hair are a bit of a giveaway!). My only complaint would be that in sharpening up the picture, they have made all the wires more visible, but in many ways that simply helps to illustrate the amount of work that went into the making of The Invisible Man.
All in all this is really good fun to watch, one to come back to again and again and a crying shame that they didn’t get to make a second season. Any sci-fi enthusiast would welcome this as an addition to their collection.
The Invisible Man is available to buy on DVD from 8th July 2013
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