Gemini Man

Gemini Man

By theLogBook.com
May 10, 1976

Sam Casey, a devil-may-care former military ordnance expert, is called into action when a Soviet satellite plummets through Earth’s atmosphere and hits the ocean more or less intact. With intelligence indicating that the satellite may be something more than a harmless weather satellite, Casey dons SCUBA gear to examine it up close, only to find a bomb attached to it. The satellite is destroyed, and Casey receives the full brunt of its nuclear power source, and his entire body is rendered invisible as a result.

Thanks to a portable stabilizer devised by the scientists at Intersect, Casey regains full visibility, but can go invisible for up to 15 minutes a day, giving him an edge in espionage. After discovering the limitations of his invisibility, Sam decides to listen in (invisibly) at the machinations behind the scenes of a military technology company whose crew was also present at the failed satellite retrieval mission. Someone planted the bomb that changed Sam’s life forever…and they may be planning to do something even more sinister for the future of the entire world.

written by Leslie Stevens
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Billy Goldenberg

Cast: Ben Murphy (Sam Casey), Katherine Crawford (Abby Lawrence), Richard A. Dysart (Leonard Driscoll), Dana Elcar (Schuyler), Paul Shenar (Charles Edward Royce), Quinn Redeker (Rogers), Gregory Walcott (Officer), Len Wayland (Captain Whelan), Cheryl Miller (Receptionist), Michael Lane (Guard), H.M. Wynant (Captain Ballard), Austin Stoker (Dive Officer), Dave Shelley (Mechanic), Robert Forward (Chief Controller), Jim Raymond (Dietz)

Notes: Devised by producer Harve Bennett as a replacement for NBC’s The Invisible Man, Gemini Man swaps out debonair David McCallum for the all-American aw-shucks of Ben Murphy, but more or less keeps the basic structure of the first series: an invisible man performing espionage tasks for a top-secret corporate entity with government connections, along with a female assistant and a male “boss” figure who gives the orders. Gemini Man replaces Dr. Kate Westin and Walter Carlson, and swaps out the Klae Corporation for Intersect. Much of the behind-the-scenes crew made the transition from The Invisible Man to Gemini Man as well. Bennett’s Invisible Man co-creator, Steven Bochco, sat out this round of invisible antics, moving on to the next stage of his own career in the wake of The Invisible Man’s cancellation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Gemini Man

Smithereens

By theLogBook.com
September 23, 1976

Sam Casey reports to work at Intersect, only to have to rescue a man who is ambushed by two attackers on Intersect’s own grounds. The victim of the attack is Dr. Hale, inventor of a fuel additive known as tripolodene, capable of increasing gas mileage to 70 miles per gallon with no modifications to the vehicle in question. Hale believes that oil companies both foreign and domestic are trying to silence his invention, and needs Intersect’s help getting a sample of the tripolodene to safety so it can be patented. Sam, posing as a truck driver, will transport Hale and his tripololodene incognito, while a heavily armed military convoy will draw the attention of those who attacked Hale. Unless, of course, someone inside the operation has already blown Sam’s cover…

written by Frank Telford
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Lee Holdridge

Cast: Ben Murphy (Sam Casey), Katherine Crawford (Abby Lawrence), William Sylvester (Leonard Driscoll), Andrew Prine (Luther Stark), Alan Oppenheimer (Dr. Hale), Jim Stafford (Buffalo Bill), Lawrence Bame (Worker), Jeannie Wilson (Girl Guard), Gil Serna (Mechanic), Nicholas Lewis (1st Embassy Guard), Raymond O’Keefe (2nd Embassy Guard)

Notes: The first episode of Gemini Man as a weekly series, Smithereens is best known to post-1970s TV fans as one half of the syndicated TV movie Riding With Death, assembled by Universal from this episode and a later, unaired Gemini Man episode, Buffalo Bill Rides Again. That movie, in turn, was riffed by Mike and the ‘bots in a fan-favorite 1997 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This was the first acting role for country musician and comedian Jim Stafford, who had already hosted his own variety show in 1975. He went on to guest star on Fantasy Island and The Love Boat, among others, but in 1990 opened a theater in Branson, Missouri and began concentrating most of his time on that career.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Gemini Man

The Minotaur

By theLogBook.com
September 30, 1976

A phone call from an urgent stranger summons Sam Casey to an abandoned building, which is then burned down by a bulky but apparently lethal robot. Sam reports the fire and then races to Intersect to meet with Leonard, who knows exactly who was at the other end of the call: a former Intersect technologist who was determined to turn his defensive weapons projects into offensive weapons, and spent millions of dollars of government money to do it. His weaponized robot, Minotaur, was his crowning achievement, and is almost certainly the robot seen by Sam. Now he is threatening to unleash the Minotaur upon the world unless his demands are met.

teleplay by Robert F. O’Neill and Frank Telford
story by Robert Bloch and Robert F. O’Neill
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Lee Holdridge

Cast: Ben Murphy (Sam Casey), Katherine Crawford (Abby Lawrence), William Sylvester (Leonard Driscoll), Ross Martin (Carl Victor), Deborah Winters (Nancy Victor), Cheryl Miller (Girl), William Boyett (1st Officer), Michael J. London (Guard), Robert Hackman (Clerk), Dale Johnson (Secretary), Loren James (Minotaur)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Gemini Man

Sam Casey, Sam Casey

By theLogBook.com
October 7, 1976

Sam almost misses going on vacation because he can’t find his wallet, which subsequently turns up in Intersect’s parking lot…but what he doesn’t know is that the wallet was stolen and bugged by an organization trying to infiltrate Intersect to assassinate Driscoll. On his vacation, Sam is drugged and left for dead; at Intersect, Sam appears, baffling Driscoll and Abby with his behavior. The real Sam escapes his predicament and places and emergency call to Driscoll, proving that the “Sam Casey” at Intersect is an impostor, surgically altered to look exactly like Sam. To get to the bottom of these events, Sam must impersonate his impersonator.

written by James D. Parriott
directed by Michael Caffey
music by Lee Holdridge & Mark Snow

Cast: Ben Murphy (Sam Casey), Katherine Crawford (Abby Lawrence), William Sylvester (Leonard Driscoll), Nancy Malone (Armistead), Tony Young (Tanner), Jo Ann Pflug (Susi), Howard Stone (Robbins), Pamela Shoop (Barby), Mickey Morton (Alf), Leslie Moonves (Guard), Joan Crosby (Dora)

Notes: Abby refers to the health spa as a “fat farm”, a distinctly ’70s derogatory term for any health retreat specializing in weight loss. This episode of Gemini Man is one of the earliest scoring efforts by future X-Files composer Mark Snow. And yes, that’s Les Moonves, also early in his Hollywood career, in one of his few acting appearances before embarking on a very different career trajectory that would see him become the president of the CBS network. He also had minor acting roles in Barbary Coast and The Six Million Dollar Man.