Gather round the campfire, Chewers. Let me regale you with the story of time lost long ago…
There was once a show so profound, so absolute in its ability to capture a nation’s imagination that it left an indelible mark on our collective consciousness. Its reign of dominance stretched from September of 1983 all the way to December of 1983: leaving, in the wake of eight episodes, the entirety of humanity forever changed. That show was Manimal – the story of one man’s journey as he comes to terms with the ability to shapeshift into any animal he chooses. Can a television show be too perfect?
Probably not. Honestly, the show was widely regarded as poop chowder and was roundly crushed by Dallas before being sympathetically cancelled. But where the memory of the late Simon MacCorkindal-starrer has faded, its usefulness as a punchline has not. So while most people can’t recall an actual episode, the premise is one few have forgotten. Naturally, Hollywood has noticed this general familiarity and mistaken it for demandimal for a big screen interpretation.
Heat Vision has the scoop that show producer Glen A. Larson is now attached to produce his creation’s leap to the big screen for Sony. The studio, looking at the $500 million gross for The Smurfs, is eager to reformat Manimal into an animated CG / live action joint. Why any of this sounds like a good idea and to whom remains to be determined.
This is typically the point in the article where I’d run a Manimal clip to help bring you up to speed. But hear me now: Manimal was never anything but a poor man’s Pumaman.