Many a series has debuted only to find an audience lacking. With low ratings far too often a series would get canceled before being allowed time to develop and find an audience. Other times a series would just be too expensive to continue being produced. This is the case with the original “Battlestar Galactica” (which got retooled to feature fewer special effects) and then “Automan” which debuted in 1983 – both from Glen Larson Productions. Shout Factory now has Automan: The Complete Series available on DVD for audiences to catch up on a series that perhaps was ahead of its time.
Alright, so the film Tron is obviously an influence. I loved that film. Still do. On top of that influence you have the standard police drama. Here Desi Arnaz Jr. (yes, the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz) is a computer expert with the police department – one which is resisting an update to the modern age. Arnaz Jr. is Walter Nebicher, creator of the program and hologram Automan. Automan is portrayed by Chuck Wagner, and if the names of Wagner and Arnaz Jr. don’t ring a bell, you aren’t alone.
Because the Glen Larson Productions formula almost always had a beautiful woman, and “Automan” would be no different. We have Heather McNair as Roxanne Caldwell. Of course there is the police Captain who doesn’t like computers or Nebicher, but there is Lieutenant Curtis, portrayed by Robert Lansing who doesn’t know the secret, but is on Nebicher’s side for the most part.
A number of notable guest stars showed up, starting with the pilot episode featuring Patrick MacNee. Then there was Delta Burke, John Vernon, Richard Lynch, Richard Anderson, Michelle Phillips, and several others (including Laura Brannigan).
Over the course of 13 episodes we get fantastical solutions to what seem to be ordinary crimes. And that is the appeal of “Automan” where it relies on the audience’s general technological ignorance to convey the fantastical. Even today some of the gobbled-gook they come up with almost seems plausible given the right spin.
“Automan” was given a decent run but was cut short because it couldn’t find an audience. Part of it was do to the fact it was ahead of its time. Sure, Glen Larson produced “Knight Rider” which was a hit, but a sentient car seemed a bit easier to take than a being made up of electrical impulses. It might have just been too much for audiences to take at the time.
The series has stuck with me in the more than 30 years since it first aired. There is a sequence of Automan and Nebicher in the computer generated car which of course can make 90 degree turns. This forces Nebicher, who isn’t wearing a seatbelt, to fly into the passenger door. That image for some reason came to exemplify the series throughout my adult life. I’m glad to finally have the opportunity to watch the whole of the series and move past that recurring image.
Special features are all on the final disc, which means we have no audio commentary. Still, for a series of this nature the fact we are getting any at all is something to celebrate. Desi Arnaz Jr., Heather McNair and Chuck Wagner show up along with Glen Larson in a new (well, from 2012 because Larson died in 2014) documentary looking back on the series. This is a great feature for fans that has plenty of information and lasts almost 45 minutes. The rest are either text or galleries, but fans will at least want to peruse these – including a glimpse at the Automan slot car set.
“Automan” was a fun series that I enjoyed watching when it was first broadcast, and am now glad to finally see it again. While it is a product of its time, “Automan” was also very ahead of its time and both sentiments are clearly visible when you watch this complete series DVD set.