My Favorite Martian
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| My Favorite Martian | |
|---|---|
| Starring | Bill Bixby Ray Walston Alan Hewitt Pamela Britton |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 107 |
| Production | |
| Location |  United States |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 29, 1963 – September 4, 1966 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | My Favorite Martians |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
My Favorite Martian was an American television sitcom aired on CBS from September 29, 1963 to September 4, 1966 for 107 episodes (75 in black and white 1963-1965, 32 color 1965-1966). The show starred Ray Walston as Uncle Martin (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara.
This series was produced by Jack Chertok.
Contents |
[edit] Premise
A human-looking extraterrestrial in a one-man spaceship crash-lands near Los Angeles. The ship's pilot is, in fact, from Mars and is now stranded on Earth. Tim O'Hara, a young newspaper reporter for The Los Angeles Sun, is on his way home from Edwards Air Force Base (where he had gone to report on the flight of the X-15) back to Los Angeles when he spots the spaceship coming down.
Tim takes the Martian in as his roommate and passes him off as his Uncle Martin. Uncle Martin refuses to reveal any of his Martian traits to people other than Tim, to avoid publicity (or panic), and Tim agrees to keep Martin's identity a secret while the Martian attempts to repair his ship. Uncle Martin has various unusual powers: he can raise two retractable antennae and become invisible; he is telepathic and can read minds; he can levitate objects with the motion of his finger; and he can communicate with animals.
Martin also builds several advanced devices, such as a time machine which transports Tim and the Martian back to Medieval England and other times and places, such as St. Louis in 1849, the early days of Hollywood, or bring Leonardo da Vinci and Jesse James into the present. Another device he builds is a "molecular separator" which can take apart the molecules of a physical object, or rearrange them (a squirrel was made into a human). Another device can take memories and store them in pill form to "relearn" them later. Another device can create temporary duplicates.
Tim and Uncle Martin live in an apartment house run by a congenial but scatterbrained landlady, Mrs. Lorelei Brown, who often shows up when not wanted. She later dates a vain, cold-hearted, plain-clothes police officer, Detective Bill Brennan, who dislikes Uncle Martin and is highly suspicious of him.
While the first two seasons were filmed in black-and-white, the final season was shot in color, resulting in minor changes in the set and the format of the show. In addition to the extraterrestrial powers indicated in the first two seasons, Martin seemed to be able to do much more in the final season, such as stimulating facial hair to provide him and Tim with a quick disguise, and levitating with his nose. Brennan's boss, the police chief, was involved in many episodes in the third season, generally as a device to humiliate the overzealous detective.
Martin's real name, Exigius 12 1/2 (revealed in "We Love You, Mrs. Pringle") was heard again when his real nephew, Andromeda, crash-landed on Earth in the show's third season. Andromeda, originally devised to bring younger viewers to the aging show, disappeared without explanation after a single episode and was never referred to again in the two episodes filmed after it, or six episodes already filmed but aired afterward (Andromeda was, however, a regular on My Favorite Martians). He had a single antenna, which Martin explains was because his baby antennae had fallen out and only one adult antenna had come in, so far.
[edit] Characters
- Uncle Martin (the Martian), played by Ray Walston
- Tim O'Hara, played by Bill Bixby
- Mrs. Brown, played by Pamela Britton
- Mr. Burns, played by J. Pat O'Malley, first season only, as Tim's boss at the newspaper
- Detective Bill Brennan, played by Alan Hewitt, second and third seasons only
- Police Chief, played by Roy Engel, third season only
[edit] DVD Releases
The first two complete seasons are available on DVD from Rhino Entertainment. The third season exists in its entirety on VHS (appropriately on green tapes), and is expected to be released by Rhino on DVD in 2007.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 37 | September 7, 2004 |
| Season 2 | 38 | May 10, 2005 |
| Season 3 | 32 | TBA |
[edit] Spin-offs
[edit] Animated series
| My Favorite Martians | |
|---|---|
| Voices of | Howard Morris Jonathan Harris Lane Scheimer Jane Webb |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 8, 1973 – 1975 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | My Favorite Martian |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
An animated series, My Favorite Martians, was made by Filmation, and ran on the primetime series' network, CBS, from September 1973 to September 1975. The series features Tim, Martin, Mrs. Brown and Detective Brennan (Brennan is considerably different). To appeal to a younger audience, Uncle Martin is joined by his Martian nephew named Andromeda, nicknamed "Andy", who only has one antenna and thus lesser powers than Uncle Martin. The pair also have a Martian pet named Okey, a sort of bouncing sheepdog with antenna. Tim also had a niece named Katy, living with them. None of the characters were voiced by the original actors; Jonathan Harris voiced Martin.
[edit] Feature film
The series was also remade as a feature film in 1999 starring Christopher Lloyd as Martin and Jeff Daniels as Tim. Ray Walston also featured in the film. However, the premise was changed: Martians are four-armed, four-legged, three-eyed, creatures who use a "gumball" (in which they call "nerplex") to assume human form. The "nerplex" comes in a selection that will turn the person ingesting it into assorted life forms, including Martian and one to "never use", (Venox 7).
[edit] Trivia
- Ray Walston appeared in a television commercial, a long distance service promotion for AT&T, circa 2000. The conversation makes it evident to those who remember the TV series that he is playing the role of Uncle Martin, still on Earth. He asks if the rates AT&T offers also apply for phoning fellow Martians living in the United States.
- In an episode of the TV series Picket Fences, Walston's character, Judge Henry Bone, attends a Halloween party wearing antennae like those he wore on Martian.
- This series marks the debut of Bill Bixby. After Martian ended, Bixby went on to have a successful acting career. He co-starred with Elvis Presley in two movies, Clambake and Speedway, and gained greater fame starring in two additional TV series, The Courtship of Eddie's Father in the 1970s and The Incredible Hulk in the 1980s. He also became a director.
- The first two seasons were filmed in studio space leased from Desilu, while the third season was filmed at MGM. This move was made because Desilu needed the studio space for a new television series - Star Trek.
- In the end title theme music for the film Spaced Invaders, a Halloween comedy involving incompetent invaders from Mars, one of the Martians hums the first bars of the theme from My Favorite Martian.
