# Favourite 'Invisible Man' series.



## Dave (Aug 7, 2002)

I've never seen the new version of the 'Invisible Man':

*I-Man (2000)*

Starring Vincent Ventresca as a small-time thief, Darien Fawkes, is facing his third conviction and the prospect of a life sentence without the possibility of parole. But salvation comes in the form of his brother, a brilliant scientist in the employ of the government. In return for his freedom, Fawkes agrees to take part in his brother's invisibility experiments. A synthetic gland is implanted into his brain, which secretes a substance that bends light around Fawkes, rendering him effectively invisible.

The gland secretes a mysterious substance called Quicksilver. The Quicksilver secretions enable him to become invisible at will, but they unexpectedly also degrade his higher brain functions, unleashing his dark impulses and pushing him towards insanity.The inevitible destruction of Darien's mind can be only partially and temporarily suppressed by a counteragent, administered on a frequent basis by the Keeper,who also works for the agency. Consequently, Darien has struck an uneasy deal: the counteragent in return for serving a clandestine government agency as a secret operative. 


However, I did like these earlier versions:

*The Invisble Man (1975-76)*

Starring David McCallum of "The Man from UNCLE." Research in molecular reduction and transformation, stemming from laser experiments at Klea Corporation, lead Dr. Daniel Westin, portrayed by David McCallum, to an accidental discovery: objects can become invisible. He uses himself a guinea pig to find out if this process would work on living oganisims. His experiment is successful, but contains one major flaw: the invisibility is not stable. Visibility can and does occur at any time, without advance warning.

Full of crusading ideals, Dr. Westin tells Klea Corp. of his experiments and asks that his find be used to benefit manfind. Unfortunately, the directors of the Corp. offer Westin's discovery for military use. Dr. Westin is trapped. He destroys his lab and becomes a man on the run. Should he continue to hide - putting his life and that of his wife, Kate, in jeopardy? If he returns to the Klea Corporation, he knows his work will be used for purposes he cannot condone. If he continues to run, he is a target for those seeking power through the misuse of his discovery. 

The Klea Corporation can fashion fake body skin and a head mask (which looks, amazingly, like David McCallum), so he works for them doing secret work, that he agrees with, in return for funding for a cure. The show only lasted one season, possibly due to the discovery that, as guest villains had to act like they were being pummeled by an unseen person, they were usually unable to make the fight scenes very convincing. Also, he ran out of excuses why he had to suddenly disappear at vital moments in the plot each week.

*The Gemini Man (1976) *

Starring Ben Murphy of "Alias Smith and Jones." Gemini Man began with a two hour pilot in May on NBC.  The actual series began in September of 1976. Only five of the eleven episodes filmed were shown on NBC before the series was taken off of the air, though I'm sure that we saw them all in the UK. It seemed that the network did not give the series a real chance. 

He could only stay invisible for 15 minutes a day, so had a special watch that he had to rely on to keep time. He worked for some kind of think-tank and also did secret work.

I never saw this one either:

*The Invisible Man (1958) *

Starring Tim Turner (uncredited) as the voice of Dr. Peter Brady.


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## Tabitha (Aug 8, 2002)

I voted for the most recent incarnation.  Admittedly that is because I haven't actually seen any of the others - I think I have a vague memory of the McCallum version, but it is very dim indeed.

I watched a lot of 2000's Invisible Man on Bravo last year - I just noticed on www.play.com that it is due out on dvd soon, and I think I might pick it up then.   I liked Vincent Ventresca, I thought he was a fairly charismatic and very watchable :naughty: leading man.  He was also in the short lived SF series "Prey", in case you have seen that.  
The effects weren't that amazing, but _probably_ better than the previous series' FX.
The science was incredibly unlikely, even for a SF show, but the plot device of the 'quicksilver' causing insanity as a side effect was pretty cool from a story point of view.

FYI, if you are a fan of the other ones, they are selling very very very cheap dvd's of the series (like Â£4.99 per volume!) on play.com - I am not sure which version it is, but check it out if you are interested.


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## ZachWZ (Aug 9, 2002)

I voted for the 2000 version.  i didn't see any of the previous ones.  Also it was one of the best series I ever saw on TV in an acting standpoint.

ZachWZ


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## Dave (Aug 9, 2002)

I haven't seen the 2000 version. Maybe I will change my vote when I do, but I would certainly recommend you take a look at the seventies versions.


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## Lonewolf89 (Apr 26, 2003)

2000 version definitely. Darian Fawkes and Bobby Hobbs were great characters. The writers and cast were top notch too. The only person I really didn't like was Alex, and I even began to like her as the show came to a close.


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## Krystal (May 4, 2003)

Well, I vote for the newest version. I totally love it.  But I have to say that the one with David McCallum have to be my second choice. Also enjoy it so much. I think the two are words aparts, the only similarity is that they both were invisible man.  

Krystal


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## Annette (Apr 26, 2004)

i've also voted for I-Man (2000). its pretty good. Vincent Ventresca plays the part well. I've watched about half the series so far. Got it on DVD.

I like the way Darien outwits his sidekick Bobby. I do like the special effects when Darien goes 'undercover'. The red eyes too. Do you know when you buy this on DVD you get a special transfer of the snake? (this tells Darien when he needs his next *fix*) LOL

annette


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