Automan - Synopsis

Synopsis

Automan (the "Automatic Man") follows the adventures of a police officer and computer programmer named Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz, Jr.), who had created an artificially intelligent crime fighting program that generated a hologram (Chuck Wagner) able to leave the computer world and fight crime.

While in the real world, Automan posed as a government agent by the name of "Otto J. Mann." This was a secret to all except Walter's close associate, Roxanne Caldwell (Heather McNair).

Nebicher could merge with Automan to become one being, sharing consciousness and skills, while retaining Automan's invulnerability. During the "merges" only Automan's form, a head atop a glowing body of circuit panels and lights, could be seen.

Cursor was his sidekick, a floating, shifting polyhedron which could "draw" and generate physical objects as needed. Cursor could only "draw" one object at a time. Exceptions to this included conventional clothing to hide Automan's unusual glowing body and various vehicles with glowing blue piping. The most common forms taken were a car (Auto Car), plane, and helicopter, all of which could defy the laws of physics such as making a 90 degree turn.

Automan featured the use of a Lamborghini Countach as transport. When driving, Automan could turn his car at 90 degree angles. Automan was unaffected, but his passengers were generally thrown around in the vehicle.

The show also starred Robert Lansing as Lieutenant Jack Curtis and Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Captain of Detectives E. G. Boyd, Walter's superiors. Both believed that Automan was a friend of Walter's from the FBI. Captain Boyd, a technophobe who had no use for computers, often held up Lieutenant Curtis as the kind of cop he was convinced was the ideal for police – an ideal to which he believed Walter could never rise.

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