The 1978 Dr. Strange pilot may not measure up to the MCU movies, but it did deliver some good, cheesy ’70s fun and could have turned into an interesting series.

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What Is It?

This 1978 movie-of-the-week introduced Prime Time audiences to Marvel’s Doctor Strange (though the honorific is abbreviated to Dr.) as CBS mulled adding that character to its growing superhero line-up which included The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman at that point.  In the movie, the demon Balzaroth seeks to cross over to Earth and tasks Morgan Le Fay with either defeating Earth’s aging Sorcerer Supreme (something she failed to do five hundred years previous) or killing his successor.  Thomas Lindmer is Le Fay’s target, but she fails in her first attempt to eliminate him.  Lindmer then seeks out Dr. Stephen Strange and reveals to him that it is his destiny to take up the mantle as the next Sorcerer Supreme.

Aired: CBS, September 6, 1978

Starring: Peter Hooten, Clyde Kusatsu, Jessica Walter, Ted Cassidy

Developed By: Philip DeGuere

Why Didn’t it Fly?

This movie came at a time when superheroes were riding high on television with the three shows mentioned above pulling decent ratings from CBS and the Bionic shows (Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman) having had some success on their networks a few years earlier. However, Dr. Strange went way over budget which likely caused the network executives to hesitate on committing to the property as an ongoing series.  Plus, the ratings for its initial airing were not great, though that was in a large part because it ran against a repeat of Roots which pulled much higher viewership than expected.  CBS had also decided that they did not want to become labeled the “superhero network”, and all but The Incredible Hulk were gone from the network’s schedule by the end of the 1978-79 season.  Ultimately, the show was probably far too cosmic for Prime Time in the ’70s, and the network had soured on superhero shows anyway.  Hollywood Reporter did an interesting look back the pilot that you can read at this link.

Would It Have Worked as a Series?

The CBS version of the Doctor Strange character took plenty of liberties with the source material (just like the other comic book adaptations at that time) and the telefilm was ploddingly slow and marred by subpar acting and cheesy special effects.  But it could actually be somewhat inventive and stylistic at times–especially with the portrayal of the demon realm–and it showed some definite potential. It likely would have delivered less in the way of cosmic stories due to budget constraints, but it still could have given us some interesting tales of the Sorcerer Supreme.  Peter Hooten did a pretty good job with the character, and Clyde Kusatsu was decent as Wong though he did not get much to do in the pilot.  And if it had gone to series, CBS could have possibly done a team-up with Dr. Strange, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and Captain America (more on that Cult-SciFi.com).

Should It Be Rebooted?

A Doctor Strange TV series would certainly be enjoyable, but with the revival of the character on the big screen, it seems unlikely we would get any more than a mini-series on Disney+.  Benedict Cumberbatch certainly has a busy schedule and it is doubtful that he would have time to work on an ongoing show based on the character.  In addition, Disney+ has been easing back on its MCU entries because they are quite costly and also because of the recent superhero burnout.  But a mini-series featuring the character is possible and would be welcome.  And perhaps that could spin off into an ongoing series featuring Benedict Wong as the Sorcerer Supreme, which would be a ton of fun.  Or maybe a Doctor Strange animated series could happen, and Cumberbatch could perhaps find time to voice the character.

Where Can You Watch It?

The TV movie did get a DVD release which has since gone out of print, it is still available from third-party sellers at a reasonable price. Shout! Factory has just released it on Blu-ray which is exclusive to their website as of this writing.  It is not currently available for streaming, but it does show up on YouTube from time to time. I recommend giving it a look as yet another cheesy 70’s take on a popular comic book character that may not match up to the current MCU movies, but that can be fun in its own way.

Read about more Sci Fi TV pilots that did not fly at this link.

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The post Cancelled Before it Began: Dr. Strange (1978) appeared first on Cancelled Sci Fi.

Sci Fi TV Obscurities: A look at sci fi and fantasy TV shows that made it to the air only briefly before getting cast to the television wasteland.

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What Is It? In the setup for this animated series, the scientist Audric attempts to create a strain of plants that can prevent starvation through the galaxy. But when a supernova occurs nearby, it changes the plants into the Monster Minds who have evil designs and who command plant clone troopers that can transform into vehicles of destruction. Audric flees with one half of the root that can destroy the Monster Minds and the other half is entrusted to his son Jayce who is also given the Legendary Ring of Light. In addition, he commands the Lightning League of vehicles and must use those to thwart the schemes of the Monster Minds while also trying to find his father.

Aired: Syndication, 1985-86, 1 Season Totaling 65 Episodes

Developed By: J. Michael Straczynski

Starring: Darrin Baker, Len Carlson, Luba Goy, Charles Jolliffe, Valerie Politis

Is It Must Watch Sci Fi TV? No. But it may be of interest to fans of ’80s animation, and the episodes written by J. Michael Straczynski are certainly worth a look.

The Skinny: The 1980s was a boom time for animation, especially on weekday afternoon television. The regulations on children’s programing had been relaxed and product placement was allowed to be incorporated into shows aimed at younger audiences. This led to a surge in animated offerings with shows like Transformers, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, and more hitting the small screen and heavily featuring toys that could also be found on store shelves. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors jumped on this trend, coming from the French-owned studio DIC which had worked on shows like Inspector Gadget and The Mysterious Cities of Gold and would later produce The Real Ghostbusters. Mattel had created the Wheeled Warriors toy line and had asked DIC to produce an animated series to help promote them. Among those involved with developing the show and writing episodes was a young J. Michael Straczynski who got his start in the business writing for the He-Man and She-Ra TV shows.

The premise for this show was somewhat convoluted (even though it had some interesting sci fi elements), and it quickly descended into the formula of the good guy Lightning League battling the latest scheme of the evil Monster Minds each week. And the characters were all pretty much copy-and-paste, as you would expect from this type of series. You had the impetuous young hero who often jumped into action without thinking things through, the cute robot (or quasi-robot in this case) that provided comic relief, the wise wizard who helped guide the hero, the Han Solo-type who acted like he was only in it for the money but always ended up doing the right thing, and the girl character who was mostly there for the female viewers to identify with. In addition, the bad guys were the typical scheming villains whose only purpose was to provide a weekly obstacle to the heroes. JMS made the comment that he tried to “hijack a dopey concept and make it into something more”, and the thirteen stories he wrote are a little better than the average episodes. But not enough that this counts as a sci fi TV gem. It is mostly interesting as an example of his formative work and a show with a sci fi concept that could have turned into something more if it wasn’t focused primarily on selling toys. It ultimately faded as a forgotten obscurity from the animation overload of the ’80s, but it is still worth a look for JMS completists.

Cancelled Too Soon? Sort of. Even though Jayce was supposed to be searching for his father, the show did not have much of a story arc beyond that and most of the episodes delivered stand-alone tales. And it had a sixty-five episode run which was typical for animated shows at that time (it could run five days a week for thirteen weeks without repeating). But since the show did not prove popular and the toys did not sell well, it was not continued beyond its original episode order. A movie was planned that would have acted as a finale for the series, but it was scrapped due to the lack of popularity of the property.

Should It be Rebooted? Perhaps. The original series was not great because its primary purpose was to schill for the toys. But there were actually some interesting concepts behind the whole thing and if the right creative team were to guide the revival this could turn into a decent bit of sci fi animation. Quite a number of ’80s shows have been going through the reboot queue, so it is not impossible that Jayce could get another spin. Though it seems unlikely this one would follow that route seeing as it is mostly forgotten, unless someone like JMS himself was pushing for it.

Interesting Fact: Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is one of several television shows aimed at younger viewers that J. Michael Straczynski worked on early in his career. As mentioned above, he wrote for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe as well as She-Ra: Princess of Power, and he would later work on The Real Ghostbusters animated series as well as the live-action/CGI series Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (more about the latter show at Cult-SciFi.com).

Where Can You Watch It? The show has been released on DVD, and you can purchase it VOD from Apple. It is not currently streaming on any of the major services, though you can find episodes on YouTube.

Retro Toys: The Wheeled Warriors line was rather extensive and it had some pretty cool vehicles and accessories. Though interestingly enough the characters included with the vehicles had no relation to the series because that came later. The toy sales had already proved disappointing by the time the series debuted, and the line was discontinued not long after that. Nowadays, they are fetching a pretty high price among collectors.

Read More About the Show: Wikipedia | IMDb.com

For a fascinating and comprehensive look at 1980’s animated television shows, be sure to check out Rise and Fall of the 80s Toon Empire.

More Sci Fi TV Obscurities at This Link

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