Good day, El Cosmico here with a look at the Sci-Fi Channel's upcoming series, The Invisible Man.

Okay, I know what you're thinking, isn't this rather odd timing given the upcoming feature film with...somewhat similar subject matter, namely The Hollow Man? Well, yeah. There are some definite similarities in premise. Because of this, I've tried to look at this series without any thought at all to The Hollow Man, I think it deserves to be considered separately. Overall, I think it's a series with obvious potential, and is worth checking out.

The official site, for your perusal, is at: http://www.scifi.com/invisibleman. There's a ton of photos, as well as multimedia content, all worth checking out. There will also be a live chat with Invisible Man star Vincent Ventresca on Thursday, June 8, at 9pmET/6pm PT.

That being said, here's the poop on the show. I've had a chance to see the pilot, which will air this Friday, June 9th, at 8PM ET, with a two-hour pilot, and the second episode, which should air a week later. I was awfully glad that the fine folks at the Sci-Fi Channel sent out both of these episodes, since it's usually difficult to judge a show by its pilot. Pilots are filled with stuff like background information, explaining character origins and relationships...that sort of stuff. Stuff that sometimes can seem a bit tedious, but is nevertheless necessary. Seeing the second episode gave me the chance to see where the series may actually be heading during its run.

I'll give you a bit of the promo material, and then get into the show. Here's some stuff from their press kit:

"...Sci-Fi presents the weekly action-comedy series The Invisible Man starring Vincent Ventresca. The series marks the beginning of a No-Repeat SCI FI Summer - meaning SCI FI will be bringing all new episodes of original series and special events all summer long."

"Created by Matt Greenberg (Halloween: H20), The Invisible Man stars Vincent Ventresca (Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, Prey, Friends) as Darien, a small-time thief who is drafted into secret government experiments on invisibility. Forced to enlist as a secret weapon for a ramshackle, under-funded intelligence agency, Darien balances his professional obligations against the tantalizing mischief no clear-thinking invisible man could resist. Paul Ben-Victor (3 Stooges) co-stars as his sidekick, "Hobbes", with Shannon Kenny as "The Keeper" and Eddie Jones as the manipulative bureaucrat known as the "Official"."

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. I'm about to tell you what happens in the first two episodes. So there.

Okay, enough press material. First off, the pilot...the purpose of the pilot is to set up the situation that the main character, Darien, is faced with throughout the series. His situation is as follows. He is caught for committing a crime, and sentenced to life in prison. His girlfriend leaves him. His brother, a neuroscientist, comes to get him out, offering him a pardon in exchange for his participation in a research project. The research project involves putting a synthetic organ into his brain, which is capable of releasing a light-bending substance through the pores of its host. Well, that all sounds fine, doesn't it?

Sure, except the only problem is that Darien's brother has hired a madman terrorist-type as his chief scientist. This evil bastard rigs the organ so that it causes insanity and brain damage after 6 days without a certain control chemical. This is the method by which he intends to profit from his research...by selling the synthetic organs to terrorists, and then keeping them coming back for more serum.

I know, this all seems a little fishy. To be honest, this part of the plot sort of lost me and seemed ineffective. But, it's not the crux of the series. Why the evil bastard launched this scheme isn't nearly as important as the resulting method by which the synthetic organ operates.

Darien escapes the evil bastard, and is contacted by the government agency (called The Agency, funded by the Department of Fish and Game), who have, of course, recovered and been able to reproduce the control serum, thus saving Darien from insanity and brain meltdown...in exchange for his service to the government. This involves him going down to Mexico, and meeting up with his soon-to-be buddy, Paul Ben-Victor's character of Hobbes...a misanthropic, seemingly underappreciated, yet somehow quite able agent. The plan is that Darien and Hobbes will find the evil bastard and thwart his evil bastard plans, which involve kidnapping Darien's girlfriend, in an attempt to lure Darien in, and take the magic invisibility organ from his yummy brain.

It all sounds...a bit odd and confused, and at times, I found myself a little bored with it, I honestly think the pilot could have been a bit tighter, but in the end, I think it worked for me more often than it didn't. The show has a style, which you can see develop throughout the pilot, and like I said, the pilot is bogged down with all of the setup it has to accomplish. There's more to the show than just the events, the mood with which this show is done, heck, even the music, is quite reminiscent of G vs E (now Good Vs Evil). It's sometimes serious, and sometimes quite humorous. I think the best parts of the pilot are the humorous ones, but this show has more depth to it than that, which becomes apparent upon viewing the second episode, "Catevari".

"Catevari" makes it apparent that this show may have a good bit of life in it. It of course benefits from not having to provide you with a ton of background info. You know the situation Darien is in, and now, you see him actually dealing with it, and you'll begin to understand that there's real potential for a serious story arc here.

What struck me the most about "Catevari" was the feeling that this show could have a distinct X-Files feel to it, if the writers develop a complex background conspiracy. There's certainly room for it, and certain elements are well in place for it.

This episode finds Darien, the reluctant agent, on his first assignment, which is to track down and capture a man known as the Catevari. As the story progresses, we discover that the Catevari is a man whose touch is poisonous, and who has apparently been comatose for a very long amount of time. Darien tracks down the Catevari, along with his ever-helpful underpaid co-agent, Hobbes, who is ever the model of the guy who's "just following orders".

Of course, Hobbes isn't just following orders out of any sense of noble purpose, but rather, it seems, because his superiors have always treated him with little or no respect. Except, of course, that they consider him to be their best agent. No, it doesn't make sense, but it didn't really bother me. His character is likable enough that I'm guessing it won't bother you either. It's just a running gag.

It turns out that the Catevari is a man who was, himself, an experiment of the Agency. So, naturally, Darien finds his own problems reflected in the situation of the man he is asked to hunt. This brings up questions about the trustworthiness of the Official, as well as the Keeper, who is the scientist charged with monitoring Darien. It turns out that the Catevari went on a murderous rampage out of revenge against those involved in his experimental program, which left him trapped, conscious, but without movement or communication, for decades.

The material the fine folks at the Sci-Fi Channel sent me also contained synopses of further upcoming episodes, and I've got to say, I'm eager to see them.

You see, I know that my review above sounds a bit hesitant to praise. That's because, well, I've only seen two episodes of this show. I've got to say, though, that I think this show is going to develop really well, and I'll probably be a regular viewer for a good long while. There's a lot of potential for really interesting story lines, the actors are all well-chosen, and turn in good performances, there's a good level (although I wish there was more) of humor in the show, and, most importantly, I found myself wanting to see more.

Now, if Hollow Man is a masterpiece, or even just a really outstanding film, well, people are going to compare Invisible Man to it, unfavorably I would guess. But, I think you folks should give this one a chance. Check out the two-hour pilot, don't expect to be blown away, but I think you'll enjoy it. Then, see the second episode. I have a feeling that after watching both, you'll be hooked. At the very least, you'll want to see more.

-El Cosmico

mail me at: elcosmico@austin.rr.com