The Invisible Man (1975 TV series)

The Invisible Man, the second television series with this title, debuted in 1975 on NBC and starred David McCallum as scientist Daniel Weston, and Melinda Fee as his wife, Dr. Kate Weston. Inspired by the original novel by H.G. Wells, the pilot film depicts Weston working for a company called Klae Corporation, which is doing experiments in molecular disintegration and its side-effect of turning objects invisible. He first does successful experiments on animals, and tries to find medical applications for his invention. Objects that are invisible reappear after a few hours, and on animals the objects they wear appear before the cells themselves. Obsessed by his invention, Daniel wants to be invisible himself. His boss wants to sell the project for military purposes, so Daniel tries to destroy his invention. Daniel becomes invisible for a second time, but the process is unstable and he can't return to his visible state anymore. He goes to his friend Dr. Nick Maggio, a skilled plastic surgeon, who creates a face mask and a pair of hands, using a special material called Dermaplex, that has the same properties as human skin. This enables Daniel to appear in public (and the actor to appear on-screen). The Dermaplex side effect is that Daniel has to remove the mask from time to time because, as Dr. Maggio states, "The beard will be your enemy".

There were subtle differences between the pilot and the series. The pilot depicts Weston as a tragic figure, the "victim" of the invisibility process; despite his continued efforts, he essentially remains invisible all the time and must use technology to "fake" being visible. (This is truer to the Wells novel, but makes this production stand out against all other adapted series wherein the hero can become visible at will or after a pre-determined time). The series was lighter and more humorous, featuring invisibility-related gags and scenarios (in the case of the latter, many of these were depicted in the opening titles – such a telephone receiver rising off its hook, or a Jeep driving itself) and ignoring the tragic side of Weston's predicament.

Thirteen episodes were produced, but only twelve were initially broadcast (the thirteenth later aired in syndication on SciFi Channel and Trio Channel).

The series was created by legendary producer Steven Bochco.

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