Dr. Strange (1978)

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   Siskoid

   In the late 70s, Marvel was developing properties for television - The Incredible Hulk being its big winner - and with the decade's interest in the occult, Dr. Strange might have seemed like a good idea. The effects are fine, with a trippy slit-scan astral projection sequence and drawn-on eldritch bolts - at least, it's better than some of the acting... and Los Angeles doesn't double well for Manhattan. But where it actually fails is in the adaptation of the comics material. Peter Hooten's frizzy-haired Strange just isn't a Marvel hero! I'll explain. Instead of his hubris leading him down a tragic path and climbing back up as a better man, he's a "chosen one" who's already doing the altruistic thing at the hospital to the consternation of his bean-counting colleagues. At one point, you think they've pulled a Spider-Man on him, where his hard-headed disbelief costs the very mundane replacement for the Ancient One his life, but no, he gets better. He gets a pretty good approximation of the costume, but since it's devil-made, they replace it in the climax with a silly-looking purple number. Clea is just a victim and love interest in this, played by scream queen Anne-Marie Martin (from Prom Night), but everyone lusts after the good doctor, including the villain - and possibly the one good reason to watch this - Morgan Le Fay, played by a glamorous Jessica Walter. Which brings me to wonder what the show would have been like, week in, week out. A sort of Buck Rogers where the recurring villain tries to seduce him... his mentor (and Wong) teaching him new tricks every episode... and the cases coming through his job as a psychiatrist (another weird change), I guess. Let's just say I don't think the movie tanked just because it was opposite Roots. I think it was rather put up against Roots for a reason. 2 years 1 month ago

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