L'immortel

This may seem familiar or similar to those who know the Fugitive but I became pretty obsessed with this show when I was about 8 or 9 and recall being apoplectic when it was canceled! The story of a man who would live forever or 1000 years seemed so appealing to me as a young kid with my first portable Sony TV that parents gave me to lose my pester presence in front of living room TV nightly! Chris George was very good in this (my 8 year old mind was fairly discerning given I was kind of a oenophile even then). Think it was head an shoulders above many other dramas at that time which were mostly formulaic detective shows like Mannix. I never gravitated towards fantasy or Sci Fi other than this show and Twilight Zone but believe this was first show on at 10pm that I woke up tired for school because of. Sorry I don't remember more plots but if I can rematch it perhaps it will come flooding back.

Ben Richards was not a fugitive from the law, as many of the people he encountered assumed by the way he acted, but a fugitive from the human race, he couldn't seek help from authorities because he had something no one else had and everyone wanted, immortality that was also contagious through a blood transfusion from him.

When you get down to it, we are all terminally ill, we just sugar coat the term and call ourselves mortals. But what would any one give to cure themselves of their own terminal illness we call mortality? Capture one man and turn him into a blood donor for the human race? Was Maitland really evil and greedy, or was he just like the rest of us? I think the character of Ben Richards could of been used in many Hollywood movies as the trump card to movies with a sad ending or a movie lacking a twisted plot.

The Big Question I have is there any surviving film footage of this great short lived series?

I remembered this series from when I was a child and after hearing it was possible spent months scanning ebay for a DVD copy. Finally bought it and after viewing about half,,, disappointed. episode plots are weak at best, story flow between chase scenes is painfully slow, Overall writing is poor. I understand that the first season of any show is usually the fleshing out period, but its as if once the idea was created the producers didn't know what to do with it. It seems they were just trying to basically repeat the Fugitive which had ended just two years before. I can't fault Christopher George his performance was more then excellent through out but given his talent he really deserved better then this. Nice seeing his future wife in the 'Man on a punched card" episode though.

Gary

I tried to watch a friend's Vid of The Immortal tonight. I couldn't. It hurt too much. It was SO much a cliché hunk of nothing soap opera I had to turn it off.

Ben Richards, the brave race car driver who is immune to all of life's diseases. The evil old man Braddock wants to imprison him to vampire his blood so he will stay young forever. Sylvia, the soft focus blonde girlfriend of Ben who can't quite take it all.

The series was even worse than the made for TV movie. How many episodes can you go of Richards almost being captured? I have seen worse, but most of it was made specifically for children. I remember enjoying it when it was first on, but I was an eight year old child then. It seemed interesting and adult then. Now, it's just painfully badly written.

hard to believe I woke up this AM thinking about Barry Sullivan in his role trying to capture 'The Immortal'. 37 years ago and the idea still reverberates. imagine, one person's blood able to smooth the wrinkles out of veteran actor Sullivan's face, make him young again, cure AIDS (more than a decade before we knew about AIDS), cancer, heart disease, and all else. handled differently, as one reviewer suggested in the Sci-Fi genre, this could have been a TV long run gem instead of a variation of 'The Fugitive' and chasing Dr. Richard Kimble. possibilities with the plot were untapped, thus the idea was wasted. perhaps it's time for a rebirth with more courage and bigger budget. the Sci-Fi channel might be the ticket. enjoyed remembering George and his rugged good looks. believe he was married to that beautiful Dove soap lady.