Automan

[Load81]

Has anyone seen this TV series before? "Automan" from 1983. They ripped off Bit! Anyways, the effects are the best!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAKOB4fBiRk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-Load

[xistence]

Yeah, i saw it when i was much younger. Especially the 90 degree turns of his car during some chases were funny (==lightcycle).
It's true, it is very much inspired by many Tron-elements.

[Daddyo]

I see 'cursor' likes the ladies haha. I might have watched it for a few minutes, prob as long as i could handle it?

[TronFAQ]

I still think Byte in Tron 2.0 was inspired by Cursor in Automan. So Automan ripped off Tron, which in turn ripped off Automan. It's only fair, though.

I wish Automan was available on DVD. I'd like to see all the episodes again in decent quality, not crappy bootlegged versions.

[tomzer1]

There is some shared history between Automan and Tron's production crew. So at most it's about a 50% rip-off. Heehee

From what I recall, Kushner was interested in moving Tron's effects to TV and got involved with Larson and the show's concept and series was created, mainly featuring a twist on Tron in that a program would step into the real world. (Now will folks start accusing TR2N of ripping off Automan? Heehee...Probably never.)

Anyway, I recall that Lisberger was really upset about all this and there was a lawsuit. (Perhaps part of these goings on is what further poisoned a chance at a Tron sequel for a while as well?)

Of course this was so long ago that I'd have to research the facts again, but I strongly remember all this from that time. Being a hungry Tron fan and all.

Automan was interesting. I never got to see the whole series, but I did manage to snag 'em all via BitTorrent. So I'll have to sit down and go through the series again.

One thing about the live special effects is that that Automan's glow was achieved in-camera by firing a laser at the actors and having light reflect of bits of Automan's clothes, such as the collar and cuffs of his business suit, etc. (Did that idea come from the helecopter landing scene in Tron?)

That's the reason why none of the actors look towards the camera on the soundstage when they share a scene with Automan.

///Tom///