Immortal

By BenR

The pilot movie (which ran 90 minutes with commercials) was a wonderful story of Ben Richards (the great Christopher George) who had a rare kind of blood that made him immune to disease and retarded the aging process. A dying millionaire tried to capture him, since blood transfusions gave the same benefits to those receiving the blood, albeit temporarily. Ben escaped and began his life on the road trying to avoid being caged.

When the movie became a series, the producer opted to focus on Ben's flight from a bounty hunter named Fletcher who worked for another old man (the previous one died as told in a later flashback episode). Unfortunately, they also relied on old scripts from The Fugitive instead of fashioning their own unique tales. It's rather a shame they didn't focus more on the science fiction slant of the premise rather than trying to ape The Fugitive. While there are some very good episodes of The Immortal, it never had a chance to become what it could have.

In its favor: Christopher George, who is a much more physical actor than Fugitive star David Janssen who always ran like a girl. The theme music was really beautiful and captured the loneliness of the character as well as the era. I would love to see an album of this score released.

Anyway, it's an enjoyable show with a lot to like, but the network and the producers cut off their own heads by not having the confidence in the premise to let it live on its own, preferring to rely of stale Fugitive plots.

The Immortal used to run on the Sci-Fi channel for their defunct "Sci-Fi Series Collection". Now that SFC concentrates on their own stuff, don't expect to see this series again.

Share Your Memories In Our Forums!

Check out our Immortal forum! Do you have a favorite episode of the show? What do you remember about the series? Do you have any questions about it or its stars? Now you can post comments and questions directly to our TV forums! Click here to see what other Immortal viewers have said or to post your own comments about the show!

		Your Memories Shared!

This was a series that was all too short-lived. It was a chase-show, and in that regard, it didn"t differ from several other chase-shows that have been a staple of network TV for decades. The Immortal had an unusual premise though that distinguished it from other shows of the same ilk; the hero was being chased because he had super-human blood that was coveted by the bad guys. The villians were forever trying to come up with unique ways to catch and subdue the hero, actor Christopher George. One of my favorite episodes was one where the main villain, named Fletcher, slipped the hero a "mickey". It wasn"t by the usual way of a drink, but by, much to the hero"s dismay, a towel that Fletcher had given him to dry his sweaty face with after catching him. That episode was a perfect example of how you never knew quite what to expect from the series, and it always kept me on my toes as a viewer. Too bad I haven"t seen the Immortal broadcast in syndication anywhere! It out-shined many adventure shows, both past and present. --Anonymous

Note: This is just a random sample of the Immortal messages in our TV forums! Click here to see what others have said or to post your own comments!