March 18, 1981
 

I'm not sure if that date means anything to anyone. Let me refresh your memory,
"Believe it or not, I'm walking on air." March 18th marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of "The Greatest American Hero" on ABC. If that doesn't make anyone feel a little older.

Nope......I wasn't born at the time !!!!

Young whippersnapper!!

Hey Captmilo,

Pass the Geritol, will ya?
Gettin' a little feeble in me old age......

:D

I can still hear the theme song. GAH is a great show and has held up as entertainment. In some ways the episodes are now period pieces. The cold war is over but many episodes have to do with beating the commies. I am glad the episodes are available on DVD. The unaired pilot that is included with DVD season 1, "The Greatest American Heroine" is a great capper to the series. It acts as satisfying closure to the original series and an interesting "what if" for a new series that didn't take off.

I've seen reports that Cannell is currently developing a GAH feature film(both he & Robert Culp hinted at this in the season one DVD exrtas). This is how I'd handle the story:School teacher Ralph Hinkley(Nicholas Brandon from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is on a field trip with his students when their bus stalls. Ralph pulls out his cell phone to call his girlfriend Pam Davidson(casting TBD), but discovers it's dead. He leaves the students with the bus to find help. After walking for a little while, an out of control car nearly runs him down. The car is driven by FBI agent Bill Maxwell(Denis Leary). Ralph is obviously annoyed by this. Maxwell, in Denis Leary fashion lights up a cigerette and kind of goes on a rant about it not being his fault. At that moment, strange lights appear in the sky, followed by the familiar-looking ship. Ralph and Bill jump into Bill's car. The doors lock on their own and Maxwell's satillite radio turns on automatically. The "little green guys" are heard over the radio. Yes, this would be the familar setup from the original pilot episode only updated a bit. I think leary would be perfect as Maxwell if he were left free to portray the role slightly similar to the character of Mike McNeil from "The Job", only he would have to tone it down a little.

a remake of GAH?! shhh, don't give Hollywood any ideas. Especially youknowwho. He might do a reimagining with a female Agent Maxwell, darker and sexier aliens, different powers and costume and leave out the girlfriend/wife Pam. That's all we need is GAH:TOS fans argueing with GAHINO fans. :rotf:

I watched this show the night it first aired (for the first half then it was bedtime). I never liked how his name of Hinkley was changed to Hanley because it was the same name as that man who shot President Reagan. Insulting to people in real life with that last name.

And I loved the Mad Magazine parody :)

I remember watching this show early on! Wow, 25 years already...time flies...

1981-1982 wasn't exactly a banner year for sci fi television. I think the only other game in town, besides GAH, was the "Powers of Matthew Star" and "Mr. Merlin." GAH was fun but one thing annoyed me. When Ralph would fly he was always freaking out. It seems to me that after a while he would get used to it.

I'd actually would like to see GAH on the big screen. Who needs TV? I was listening to some audio of Mr. Benedict speaking at a convention from a few years ago. I agree with something he said. Most(if not all) TV today is written with women viewers in mind. He said that even the A-Team couldn't be done on TV today. I have to think that's why remakes of shows like "Charlie's Angels", "Starsky & Hutch", "Dukes Of Hazzard", "Miami Vice"(coming this summer) made their way to the big screen. You can't do those shows anymore in their original versions on TV. I think even Robert Culp's portrayal of Bill Maxwell would be a no-no. Even Gil Gerard's portrayal of Buck Rogers wouldn't work. Do I agree with it, no. But that's the way TV is today. Seems like writers and producers can still get away with more on the big screen. Just my $0.02 worth.

It is true that males do not watch as much TV as they used to. Males spend more free time playing video games or surfing the net. TV could become a medium that targets more of a female audience.

I remember Powers of Matthew Star and Mr. Merlin. They weren't bad but didn't last long. Mr. Merlin was funny.

I don't care if someone does a GAH movie. I was joking about it being remade the same way as another show we talk about on this site. Besides it's only a matter of time before it gets a new movie like everything else is getting made into movies nowadays.

Wasn't there supposed to be a Six Million Dollar Man movie with Jim Carrey? I wonder what $6M can buy today in bionics. It would be a movie about a man with a bionic hand :) Who would play Jaime Sommers?

True about males not watching as much TV. In my case it's because there's currently nothing on I like (plus I work nights). At home I'm usually playing video games or surfing the net :)

I understood it was going to be called the six billion dollar man.

Last I heard, the Jim Carey SMDM is/was supposed to be a comedy based on the novel Cyborg, which was the basis of the TV series. I actually didn't read the novel until about the early 80's. I thought it was actually better than the series itself. It would be interesting to see what could be done with this book, only updated, but not as a comedy. It would be interesting to see Jim Carey as Steve Austin, but my choice of actors would have to be Nathan Fillion("Firefly"/"Serenity").

That's right, I forgot it was going to be a comedy. It was going to be Jim Carrey after all. I remember he was going to have nuclear powered bionic limbs.

I can see Capt. Mal as Steve Austin in a serious adaptation.

It was the best for sci fi movies according to the movie Free Enterprise (not the film itself, the DVD extras). Tron, E.T., Poltergeist, The Road Warrior, a few others, and of course Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. That movie also said 1999 was the worst year for scifi movies. I can only think of one, Episode I.

Back on topic, the last two Otakon anime conventions I went to in Baltimore I saw a man dressed as the GAH. He had a thick brown mustache and his brown hair stuck out from under the wig. I have a pic I took somewhere. I'll post it when I find it. Yes I said anime con. :D

That show was cool! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: