Forgotten Television: Code Name Minus One a.k.a. Gemini Man

Sam Casey (Ben Murphy) is an ex-secret agent now working for Intersect, International Security Techniques, a high-tech government think tank.  When a soviet satellite crashes in the ocean, Intersect along with Royce Industries mount a recovery mission, but when the mission is sabotaged and the satellite explodes Sam is nearly killed and when his body is recovered it is discovered that the radiation from the explosion has rendered him invisible.  Dr. Abby Lawrence (Katherine Crawford) saves his life and figures out a way to stabilize his DNA to make him visible again.  He must wear a device that looks like a digital watch, but by turning it off, he can turn invisible.  The only catch is, if he stays invisible for longer than 15 minutes in a 24-hour period he will pass out, possibly die and remain invisible forever. When it is discovered that the satellite recovery mission was sabotaged, Sam, Abby and the head of Intersect, Leonard Driscoll (William Sylvester) begin to investigate who was working for the Russians as a double agent, uncovering a plot to kill Charles Royce (Paul Shenar) to take control of the company and begin selling military grade weapons to the highest bidder instead of the U.S. Government.  Sam uses his new ability to save the day, but nearly at the cost of his own life.

Gemini Man is an American action sci-fi adventure series that aired on NBC in 1976. The pilot episode was shown as a television movie and was titled, Code Name: Minus One and premiered on May 10, 1976 with the regular series having been renamed to Gemini Man starting on September 23^rd of that same year.  The show was intended to be a replacement for the previous season’s The Invisible Man but with a simplified plot and less expensive special effects. Both shows were based loosely on H.G. Wells novel The Invisible Man.  In addition to the 2-hour pilot, eleven episodes were produced, but only five made it on the air in the United States as the show was cancelled due to low ratings and high production costs.

I enjoyed watching this show, but it is very much a typical 1970s “superhero” program that follows the same type of format as every other show like it at that time.  Someone gets superpowers and then works with “X” government agency fighting crime and or espionage.  There isn’t a lot of continuity, and the series is very episodic.  It is a fun nostalgic show of a bygone era when things were a bit simpler the action was acceptable with some corny fight scenes and car chases.  The leads play their parts well, Ben Murphy was appropriately good looking, laid back and “macho”.  I had a hard time at first believing that Katherine Crawford’s Abby was a genius scientist, but by the end of the pilot she had grown on me.  Overall, this is a prime example of what a 1970s “superhero” show looked like.