Hey, you guys remember Manimal? F*ckin’ classic, am I right? I mean who could forget Manimal? I remembered the sh*t out of Manimal five minutes go when I Googled it.
Sony Pictures Animation has picked up the movie rights to Manimal, a short-lived 1983 NBC series, and is developing the project as a live action/CG hybrid film.
By “live action/CG hybrid film,” do you mean the Yogi Bear formula? GO ON.
Manimal followed Dr. Jonathan Chase, a wealthy doctor with a mysterious past, who morphed into animals in order to help the police fight crime.
Wait, isn’t this Ali G’s pitch for “Hot Dog Cop?”
The show, which starred Brit Simon MacCorkindale and Melody Anderson (who played Dale Arden in the 1980 movie Flash Gordon), was slaughtered by critics and trounced when it aired in 1983 opposite Dallas, then a ratings juggernaut. It was canceled after just eight episodes.
But Manimal was campy — Chase turned into a black panther in every episode and uttered lines like “I was a real pussycat” — and developed a cult following even as it became a punchline. It aired during a pre-Must See TV time at NBC when the network was experimenting with such high-concept fare as Knight Rider and The A-Team to see what would stick. [THR]
Throwing high-concept fare like Knight Rider and A-Team just to see what would stick, ha, the eighties, what a stupid time, right? Good thing we learned from those mistakes. Anyway, so Manimal is basically a dumb, obscure TV show that only nerds remember, and only remembered when they want to be cute and ironic. Well hey, it worked for Dark Shadows, right? I just hope they make it super earnest, with Johnny Depp starring and Andy Serkis imbuing all the CG animals with his thespianic emoting.