Automan

Opening narration

This is the story of Walter Nebicher, doing what he likes best: fighting crime in the streets. You see, Walter's a policeman. Unfortunately, the Chief doesn't want Walter on the streets.

Walter: Captain.
The Chief: Get back to your cage, boy. Now!

So Walter must fight crime in his own way – in the computer room. That's where he's an expert. Fortunately for me, Walter's advanced knowledge of electronics led him to experiment with what is called a hologram. That's a very fancy word for a three-dimensional picture that, when perfected, can be made to look real, sound real. As a matter of fact, given enough power, it can even be made to feel real. That's kind of what got me into this world. My name is Automan.

Automan: You must be Walter Nebicher.
Walter: How did you know that?
Automan: It's on the programming you fed into my system. I must say, Walter, you're very good. Very good, indeed. I look wonderful.
Walter: If you do say so yourself.
Automan: You programmed me to be honest, but tell me: Why did you call me Automan?
Walter: It means that you're the world's first truly automatic man. You can do anything because you're not real.
Automan: Oh, but I am. I'm as real as you are; just different. And thanks to you – perfect.
Walter: Nobody's perfect, Automan.
Automan: That's not true, Walter. You've programmed me to observe other people and do whatever they can do as well as they can do it. Jimmy Connors playing tennis. John Travolta dancing. In fact, on a scale of one to ten, think of me as an...eleven.
Walter: I've created a monster!

No...what Walter really created was a wonderful force for good. Automan. That's me.

Synopsis

Automan (the "Automatic Man") follows the adventures of a police officer and computer programmer named Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz, Jr.), who has created an artificially intelligent crime fighting program that generated a hologram (Chuck Wagner) able to leave the computer world at night and fight crime.

While in the real world, Automan posed as a government agent by the name of "Otto J. Mann." This was a secret to all except Walter's close associate, Roxanne Caldwell (Heather McNair).

Nebicher could merge with Automan to become one being, sharing consciousness and skills, while retaining Automan's invulnerability.

Cursor was his sidekick, a floating, shifting polyhedron which could "draw" and generate physical objects as needed. The most common forms taken were a car (the Auto Car), an airplane, and a helicopter, all of which could defy the laws of physics.

The show also starred Robert Lansing as Lieutenant Jack Curtis and Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Captain of Detectives E. G. Boyd, both Walter's superiors. Both believed Automan was a friend of Walter's from the FBI. Captain Boyd, a technophobe who had no use for computers, often held up Lieutenant Curtis as the kind of cop he was convinced was the ideal for police – an ideal to which he believed Walter could never rise.

Features

The Automan costume appeared to glow on screen due to its reflective fabric designed by 3M. The fabric was made up of tiny reflective balls, and it was able to reflect nearly 100 percent of the light shone at it (the technique had been used several years earlier for the Kryptonian costumes in Superman). The costume also had highly polished plates attached to it to provide the holographic appearance, all enhanced in post-production through chromakey effects.

The Autocar and Autochopper were the most common vehicles created for transport. Each vehicle would appear or disappear as a sequence of wireframes drawn by Cursor, and were black with strips of reflective tape stuck on them. The Autocar was a Lamborghini Countach LP400, which was capable of making 90-degree turns without losing control and overtaking merely by strafing, rather than turning. However, human passengers not properly secured in their seats would often be thrown around inside with the momentum from the sudden position change. The Autochopper was a Bell Jetranger capable of landing anywhere. The show also featured a futuristic airplane and motorcycle, while other episodes featured a distinctive handgun and a guitar.

Another prominent feature of Automan was the ability to "wrap himself" around Walter as a means of protecting him. They would appear as one person, but because Walter was inside Automan, he would inadvertently end up speaking in two voices.

However, Automan's excessive use of electricity would often mean he would suffer from power shortage during the daytime, so he was rarely active in sunlight.

Cast

Episodes

* "Club Ten" has been broadcast (years later) on The Sci-Fi Channel, and on BBC1 and Bravo in the UK.

DVD release

On October 1, 2012, Fabulous Films released the complete series on DVD in the UK. This was the first DVD release of the series anywhere in the world.

On August 18, 2015 the show was released on DVD in Australia as a four disc set through Madman Entertainment.

On November 10, 2015, Shout! Factory released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. The 4-disc set featured all 13 episodes of the series as well as bonus features.