My Favorite Martian

This article is about television series. For the film, see My Favorite Martian (film). For the cartoon band, see Your Favorite Martian.
My Favorite Martian
Genre Sitcom
Created by John L. Greene
Starring Ray Walston
Bill Bixby
Alan Hewitt
Pamela Britton
Theme music composer George Greeley
Composer(s) George Greeley
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 107 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Harry Poppe
Producer(s) Jack Chertok
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time 22–24 minutes
Production company(s) Jack Chertok Television Productions, in association with The CBS Television Network
Distributor Telepictures Distribution
Warner Bros. Television
Peter Rodgers Organization
Release
Original network CBS
Picture format Black-and-white (1963–65) (75 episodes)
Color (1965–66) (32 episodes)
Audio format Monaural
Original release September 29, 1963 (1963-09-29) – May 1, 1966 (1966-05-01)
Chronology
Followed by My Favorite Martians

My Favorite Martian is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966,[1] for 107 episodes (75 in black and white: 1963–65, 32 color: 1965–66). The show starred Ray Walston as Uncle Martin (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara.

John L. Green created the central characters and developed the core format of this series, which was produced by Jack Chertok.

Premise

A human-looking extraterrestrial in a one-man spaceship crash-lands near Los Angeles. The ship's pilot is, in fact, an anthropologist from Mars and is now stranded on Earth. Tim O'Hara, a young newspaper reporter for The Los Angeles Sun, is on his way home from Edwards Air Force Base (where he had gone to report on the flight of the X-15) back to Los Angeles when he spots the spaceship coming down. The rocket-powered aircraft had nearly hit the spaceship and caused it to crash.

Tim takes the Martian in as his roommate and passes him off as his "Uncle Martin." Uncle Martin refuses to reveal any of his Martian traits to people other than Tim, to avoid publicity (or panic), and Tim agrees to keep Martin's identity a secret while the Martian attempts to repair his ship. Uncle Martin has various unusual powers: he can raise two retractable antennae from his head and become invisible; he is telepathic and can read and influence minds; he can levitate objects with the motion of his finger; he can communicate with animals; he can freeze people or objects; and he can speed himself (and other people) up to do work.

Ostensibly an inventor by trade, Martin also builds several advanced devices, such as a time machine that transports Tim and the Martian back to medieval England and other times and places, such as St. Louis in 1849 and the early days of Hollywood, and brings Leonardo da Vinci and Jesse James into the present. Another device he builds is a "molecular separator" that can take apart the molecules of a physical object, or rearrange them (a squirrel is made into a human). Another device can take memories and store them in pill form to "relearn" them later. Other devices create temporary duplicates, or levitate Martin and others without the need of his finger.

Tim and Uncle Martin live in a garage apartment owned by a congenial (and former WAVE as revealed in season 1 episode 1) but scatterbrained landlady, Mrs. Lorelei Brown, who often shows up when not wanted. She and Martin have an awkward romance from time to time but Martin never gets serious for fear of going home to Mars. She later dates a vain, cold-hearted, plain-clothes police officer, Detective Bill Brennan, who dislikes Uncle Martin and is highly suspicious of him.

The first two seasons were filmed in black-and-white (at Desilu), but the final season was shot in color (at MGM), resulting in minor changes in the set and the format of the show. In addition to the extraterrestrial powers indicated in the first two seasons, Martin was able to do much more in the final season, such as stimulating facial hair to provide him and Tim with a quick disguise, and levitating with his nose. Brennan's boss, the police chief, was involved in many episodes in the third season, generally as a device to humiliate the overzealous detective.

In its first season, My Favorite Martian did extremely well in the Nielsen ratings, ranking at #10.[2] However, by the end of the second season the show had dipped to #24.[2] Still, the series was doing well enough to be renewed for a third season. Ratings dipped even further in the third season due to redundant stories, usually involving Martin's time machine, and the series was canceled.

"Martin O'Hara's" real name is Exigius 12½. Revealed in "We Love You, Mrs. Pringle," it was heard again when his real nephew, Andromeda, crash-landed on Earth in the show's third season. Andromeda, originally devised to bring younger viewers to the aging show, disappeared without explanation after this single episode and was never referred to again. Andromeda was, however, a regular on the later animated series My Favorite Martians. Andromeda had a single antenna, which Martin explained was because his baby antennae had fallen out and only one adult antenna had come in so far.

My Favorite Martian was produced at the same time as other situation comedies that featured characters who could do extraordinary things, as a parody of the standard family situation comedy. The show was an example of science-fiction comedy, differing from Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie in that the central character was a man, and in that he relied on science and advanced technology rather than magic.

Ray Walston as Uncle Martin O'Hara

Cast

Music

The theme music for the series was composed by George Greeley and performed on an electro-theremin by Paul Tanner, a former member of Glenn Miller's band. It was influential in Brian Wilson's engagement of Tanner in 1965 and 1966 to work with the Beach Boys on their landmark hit, "Good Vibrations."[3] Greeley also scored the series; an album of his music from the first two seasons was released by La-La Land Records in 2007 (dedicated to the composer, who died while the album was being prepared).

Production and distribution

The series was produced by Jack Chertok Television in association with CBS. The show was originally syndicated by Wolper Pictures, then it moved to Telepictures, and later by successor-in-interest Warner Bros. Television Distribution. The Chertok Company retained ownership of all copyrights for the show as of early July 2013; Rhino Entertainment held U.S. video rights until August 2008. Australian entertainment company Umbrella Entertainment acquired rights for Australia and New Zealand and released Seasons 1, 2 and 3 (in full color) in 2007 and 2008 on DVD suitable for all region codes.[4] In 2010 MPI Home Video acquired the rights to the series for home video. As of early July 2013, Warner Bros. held domestic and international syndication rights for the series.

Episodes

Season 1 (1963–64)

No. Title Original air date
1"My Favorite Martin"September 29, 1963 (1963-09-29)
2"The Matchmakers"October 6, 1963 (1963-10-06)
3"There Is No Cure For The Common Martian"October 13, 1963 (1963-10-13)
4"Russians 'R' In Season"October 20, 1963 (1963-10-20)
5"Man or Amoeba"October 27, 1963 (1963-10-27)
6"The Man on the Couch"November 3, 1963 (1963-11-03)
7"A Loaf of Bread, A Jug of Wine, and Peaches"November 10, 1963 (1963-11-10)
8"The Awful Truth"November 17, 1963 (1963-11-17)
9"Rocket To Mars"December 1, 1963 (1963-12-01)
10"Raffles No.2"December 8, 1963 (1963-12-08)
11"The Atom Misers"December 15, 1963 (1963-12-15)
12"That Little Old Matchmaker, Martin"December 22, 1963 (1963-12-22)
13"How To Be A Hero Without Really Trying"December 29, 1963 (1963-12-29)
14"Blood is Thicker Than the Martian"January 5, 1964 (1964-01-05)
15"Poor Little Rich Cat"January 12, 1964 (1964-01-12)
16"Rx for Martin"January 19, 1964 (1964-01-19)
17"Going, Going, Gone"February 4, 1964 (1964-02-04)
18"Who Am I?"February 9, 1964 (1964-02-09)
19"Now You See It, Now You Don't"February 16, 1964 (1964-02-16)
20"My Nephew The Artist"February 23, 1964 (1964-02-23)
21"Hitchhike to Mars"March 1, 1964 (1964-03-01)
22"Uncle Martin's Broadcast"March 8, 1964 (1964-03-08)
23"An Old, Old Friend of the Family"March 15, 1964 (1964-03-15)
24"Super-Duper Snooper"March 22, 1964 (1964-03-22)
25"The Sinkable Mrs. Brown"April 5, 1964 (1964-04-05)
26"Martin and the Eternal Triangle"April 12, 1964 (1964-04-12)
27"Danger! High Voltage!"April 19, 1964 (1964-04-19)
28"If You Can't Lick Them"April 26, 1964 (1964-04-26)
29"Unidentified Flying Uncle Martin"May 3, 1964 (1964-05-03)
30"How Are You Gonna Keep Them Down on the Pharmacy?"May 10, 1964 (1964-05-10)
31"Miss Jekyll and Hyde"May 17, 1964 (1964-05-17)
32"Who's Got The Power?"May 24, 1964 (1964-05-24)
33"Oh, My Aching Antenna"May 31, 1964 (1964-05-31)
34"The Disastro-nauts"June 7, 1964 (1964-06-07)
35"Shake Well and Don't Use"June 14, 1964 (1964-06-14)
36"A Nose for News"June 21, 1964 (1964-06-21)
37"Uncle Martin's Wisdom Tooth"June 28, 1964 (1964-06-28)

Season 2 (1964–65)

No. Title Original air date
38"Dreaming Can Make It So"September 27, 1964 (1964-09-27)
39"The Memory Pill"October 4, 1964 (1964-10-04)
40"Three To Make Ready"October 11, 1964 (1964-10-11)
41"Nothing But The Truth"October 18, 1964 (1964-10-18)
42"Dial M for Martin"October 25, 1964 (1964-10-25)
43"Extra! Extra! Sensory Perception!"November 1, 1964 (1964-11-01)
44"My Uncle the Folk Singer"November 8, 1964 (1964-11-08)
45"The Great Brain Robbery"November 15, 1964 (1964-11-15)
46"Double Trouble"November 22, 1964 (1964-11-22)
47"Has Anybody Seen My Electro-Magnetic Neutron Converting Gravitator?"November 29, 1964 (1964-11-29)
48"Don't Rain on my Parade"December 6, 1964 (1964-12-06)
49"Night Life of Uncle Martin"December 13, 1964 (1964-12-13)
50"To Make a Rabbit Stew, First Catch a Martian"December 20, 1964 (1964-12-20)
51"Won't You Come Home, Uncle Martin, Won't You Come Home?"December 27, 1964 (1964-12-27)
52"The Case of the Missing Sleuth"January 3, 1965 (1965-01-03)
53"How're Things in Glocca Martin?"January 10, 1965 (1965-01-10)
54"Geshundheit, Uncle Martin"January 24, 1965 (1965-01-24)
55"Martin Report #1"January 31, 1965 (1965-01-31)
56"Uncle Martin and the Identified Flying Object"February 7, 1965 (1965-02-07)
57"A Martian Fiddles Around"February 14, 1965 (1965-02-14)
58"Humbug, Mrs. Brown"February 21, 1965 (1965-02-21)
59"Crash Diet"February 28, 1965 (1965-02-28)
60"Gone But Not Forgotten"March 7, 1965 (1965-03-07)
61"Stop or I'll Steam"March 14, 1965 (1965-03-14)
62"The Magnetic Personality and Who Needs It"March 21, 1965 (1965-03-21)
63"We Love You, Miss Pringle"March 28, 1965 (1965-03-28)
64"Uncle Baby"April 4, 1965 (1965-04-04)
65"Once Upon a Martian Mother's Day"April 11, 1965 (1965-04-11)
66"Uncle Martin's Bedtime Story"April 25, 1965 (1965-04-25)
67"006 3/4"May 2, 1965 (1965-05-02)
68"Never Trust a Naked Martian"May 9, 1965 (1965-05-09)
69"Martin's Favorite Martian"May 16, 1965 (1965-05-16)
70"The Martian's Fair Hobo"May 23, 1965 (1965-05-23)
71"A Martian's Sonata in Mrs. B's Flat"May 30, 1965 (1965-05-30)
72"The Green Eyed Martian"June 6, 1965 (1965-06-06)
73"El Señor from Mars"June 13, 1965 (1965-06-13)
74"Time Out for Martin"June 20, 1965 (1965-06-20)
75"Portrait in Brown"June 27, 1965 (1965-06-27)

Season 3 (1965–66)

No. Title Original air date
76"Go West, Young Martian (1)"September 12, 1965 (1965-09-12)
77"Go West, Young Martian (2)"September 19, 1965 (1965-09-19)
78"Martin of the Movies"September 26, 1965 (1965-09-26)
79"Keep Me From The Church on Time"October 3, 1965 (1965-10-03)
80"I'd Rather Fight Than Switch"October 10, 1965 (1965-10-10)
81"Tim, The Mastermind"October 17, 1965 (1965-10-17)
82"Martin Goldfinger"October 24, 1965 (1965-10-24)
83"Bottled Martin"October 31, 1965 (1965-10-31)
84"Hate Me a Little"November 7, 1965 (1965-11-07)
85"Girl in the Flying Machine"November 14, 1965 (1965-11-14)
86"That Time Machine is Waking Up That Old Gang of Mine"November 21, 1965 (1965-11-21)
87"Avenue "C" Mob"November 28, 1965 (1965-11-28)
88"Tim and Tim Again"December 5, 1965 (1965-12-05)
89"Lorelei Brown vs. Everybody"December 12, 1965 (1965-12-12)
90"The O'Hara Caper"December 19, 1965 (1965-12-19)
91"Who's Got A Secret?"December 26, 1965 (1965-12-26)
92"Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow"January 2, 1966 (1966-01-02)
93"Martin's Revoltin' Development"January 16, 1966 (1966-01-16)
94"TV or Not TV"January 23, 1966 (1966-01-23)
95"Man from Uncle Martin"January 30, 1966 (1966-01-30)
96"Martin the Mannequin"February 6, 1966 (1966-02-06)
97"Butterball"February 13, 1966 (1966-02-13)
98"When a Martian Makes his Violin Cry"February 20, 1966 (1966-02-20)
99"When You Get Back Home to Mars, Are You Going to Get It"February 27, 1966 (1966-02-27)
100"Doggone Martin"March 6, 1966 (1966-03-06)
101"Virus M for Martin"March 13, 1966 (1966-03-13)
102"Our Notorious Landlady"March 20, 1966 (1966-03-20)
103"Martin Meets his Match"March 27, 1966 (1966-03-27)
104"Horse and Buggy Martin"April 3, 1966 (1966-04-03)
105"Stop The Presses, I Want to Get Off"April 17, 1966 (1966-04-17)
106"My Nut Cup Runneth Over"April 24, 1966 (1966-04-24)
107"Pay The Man The $24"May 1, 1966 (1966-05-01)

DVD releases

Rhino Entertainment released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 in 2004–2005. The third season was never released, however the season 3 release from Umbrella Entertainment of Australia was released in North America on February 5, 2008, as an import. This release is classified as 'Region 0', thus making it viewable around the world to anyone with a region-free DVD player. Rhino also released a 3-DVD box of "The Best of My Favorite Martian" in 2007 comprising episodes 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 14, 16, 18, 22, 24, 29, 31, 34 and 37.

In January 2010, it was announced that MPI Home Video had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1 (under license from Jack Chertok Productions).[5] It was announced at the time that they planned on releasing season 3 on DVD in the summer of 2010. However, this release never materialized and was postponed indefinitely. It was subsequently released on October 30, 2012.[6]

MPI subsequently re-released season 1 on June 24, 2014.[7][8] and season 2 on December 23, 2014.[9]

On October 20, 2015, MPI Home Video will release My Favorite Martian- The Complete Series' on DVD in Region 1.[10]

In Region 4, Umbrella Entertainment has released all 3 seasons on DVD in Australia. These releases are all Region Free. The season 1 release includes special features such as audio commentary with Ann Marshall, a stills gallery, script, and interview with Ann Marshall. The season 3 release includes special features such as an unaired version of the pilot, behind the scenes home movies, interviews with Stan Frazen, Ted Rich, James Hulsey and Wayne Stam, audio commentary, scans of the original comic series, scripts and the shooting schedule.

DVD name Ep # Release dates
Region 1 Region 4
The Complete 1st Season 37 September 7, 2004
June 24, 2014 (re-release)		 March 1, 2008
The Complete 2nd Season 38 May 10, 2005
December 23, 2014 (re-release)		 September 1, 2008
The Complete 3rd Season 32 October 30, 2012 November 3, 2007
The Complete Series 107 October 20, 2015 N/A

Spin-offs

Animated series

My Favorite Martians
Genre Animation
Voices of Howard Morris
Jonathan Harris
Lane Scheimer
Jane Webb
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 16
Production
Producer(s) Norm Prescott
Lou Scheimer
Running time 22–24 minutes
Distributor Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network CBS
Original release September 8 (1973-09-08) – December 22, 1973 (1973-12-22)
Chronology
Preceded by My Favorite Martian

An animated series, My Favorite Martians, was made by Filmation and was broadcast as part of the Saturday morning programming on CBS from September 8, 1973 to December 22, 1973 for a total of sixteen episodes. The series features Tim, Martin, Mrs. Brown and Detective Brennan (Brennan is considerably different). To appeal to a younger audience, Uncle Martin is joined by his Martian nephew named Andromeda, nicknamed "Andy", who only has one antenna and thus lesser powers than Uncle Martin and did appear in one episode of the television series. The pair also have a Martian pet named Okey, a sort of bouncing sheepdog with antennae. Tim also had a niece of his own, named Katy, living with them. None of the characters were voiced by the original actors; Jonathan Harris voiced Martin.

The cartoon utilized a number of scripts from what would have been season four of the live action show; as of early July 2013, Jack Chertok Television co-owned it, with the Chertok company retaining all merchandising rights to the show.

Distribution rights were held, as of April 2013, by Classic Media as part of their Filmation holdings.

Episodes

No. Title Original air date
1"Check-Up"September 8, 1973 (1973-09-08)
2"Life Style"September 15, 1973 (1973-09-15)
3"Home Schtick"September 22, 1973 (1973-09-22)
4"Wall to Wall Flower"September 29, 1973 (1973-09-29)
5"The Cleo Caper"October 6, 1973 (1973-10-06)
6"Robot Tailor"October 13, 1973 (1973-10-13)
7"Lonely Okie?"October 20, 1973 (1973-10-20)
8"Triple Trouble"October 27, 1973 (1973-10-27)
9"The Incredible Shrinking Ship"November 3, 1973 (1973-11-03)
10"My Favorite Neighbor"November 10, 1973 (1973-11-10)
11"Allergy"November 17, 1973 (1973-11-17)
12"Truant Teacher"November 24, 1973 (1973-11-24)
13"Love: Martian Style"December 1, 1973 (1973-12-01)
14"The Chump Who Cried Chimp"December 8, 1973 (1973-12-08)
15"Credibility Gap"December 15, 1973 (1973-12-15)
16"Garage Sale"December 22, 1973 (1973-12-22)

Feature film

The series was also remade as a feature film in 1999 starring Christopher Lloyd as the Martian and Jeff Daniels as Tim. This film was released and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Ray Walston was featured in the film (both Bill Bixby and Pamela Britton had since died; the former in 1993 and the latter in 1974) and played another Martian who had been trapped on Earth since the time of the first series and wore a similar space suit from the series; his cover was now that of a Government investigator of unidentified flying objects. However, the premise was changed: Martians such as Lloyd's "Uncle Martin" are now non-humanoids with four arms, four legs, and three eyes who use a gumball (which they call "nerplex") to assume human form. The "nerplex" comes in a selection that will turn the person ingesting it into assorted life forms, including Martian, Venusian and one to "never use" (Venox 7).

The first seven episodes of season one had an error in the copyright date. This appeared in the final few seconds of these episodes and was shown as MCMXLIII (1943) instead of MCMLXIII (1963). This was corrected in episode eight.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Your Favorite Martian Episodes List". IMDB. 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
  2. 1 2 Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows - 1946-Present (ninth edition -- 2007). pp. 1683–1684. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
  3. ↑ Times obituary of Paul Tanner, 8 February 2013
  4. ↑ "Umbrella Entertainment". Umbrellaent.com.au. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  5. ↑ "My Favorite Martian - Long-Awaited USA Release for Season 3 Is Planned for 2010!". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  6. ↑ "My Favorite Martian - A U.S.A. Release of 'Season 3: Collector's Edition' is Scheduled by MPI". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  7. ↑ "Date, Cost, Early Cover Art for MPI's 'Season 1: Collector's Edition". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  8. ↑ "My Favorite Martian - Formal Announcement Includes Extras for MPI's 'Season 1: Collector's Edition'". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  9. ↑ "Release Date, Pricing for MPI's 'Season 2: Collector's Edition'". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  10. ↑ "Official Announcement, Box Art for 'The Complete Series'". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
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