Manimal

The trip down sentimental lane brings me back to another beloved TV show of my youth that hooked me because the main character could change in to any creature at will to save the day with creature effects brought to us by the late Stan Winston. The show does not hold up as expected, and to be honest it is quite bad which is why it only got eight episodes, but the effects are what hooked me and the transformation in to a panther, hawk and snake were very cool given what was being done as special effects on TV at the time with the late William Conrad providing the series narration. Yes they recycled the effects constantly but I didn't care - hell I was only thirteen at the time - and besides Melody Anderson was a babe. As for Simon MacCorkindale, aka Professor Jonathan Chase aka the Manimal, also stared in another fun film that year when 3D was popular for horror films in the early 80s - Jaws 3-D. NBC may have struck out on this show back in 1983 but it will always be an in the park home run for me and part of my youth's horror inspired wellspring that I still revel in.

Click here to see the tv show's weekly intro.