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January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history: “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 to coincide with the birth of world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and 12 January being when Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000 was created. Accordingly, I dedicate January to celebrating sci-fi in all its forms.

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Quick Facts:
Potentially inspired by W. S. Gilbert’s “The Perils of Invisibility” and adapted into an iconic sci-fi classic in 1933, Herbert George Wells’s 1897 literary classic The Invisible Man spawned numerous quasi-sequels and spin-offs, sci-fi dramas, and big-budget remakes and reimaginings. Fresh off his success with loutish British comedy Men Behaving Badly (1992; 1994 to 1998), Neil Morrissey starred in a short-lived, strangely forgotten Invisible Man-inspired sci-fi drama series that began with this largely praised television pilot movie.

The Review:
The Vanishing Man isn’t quite a then-modern-day update of The Invisible Man in the sense that the plot and characters are very different, except for the presence of an invisible man and an enigmatic, masked figure. Rather than following an ambitious, egotistical scientist who subjects himself to a chemical procedure, this made-for-television movie follows womaniser Nick Cameron (Neil Morrissey), who works as a pilot alongside his brother, Joe (Mark Womack), who arranges the deliveries and acts as his radio man. After a particularly embarrassing morning where he forgets the name of his latest conquest (Elizabeth Jasicki), Nick hurries to Schiphol to collect a high value package that has Joe uncharacteristically on edge. Although the trip is expected to be extremely simple, Nick hits some bad weather and experiences technical issues brought about by a dodgy radio and his golf clubs interfering with his compass, sending him way off-course and causing him to land hours later. When he does touch down, however, Nick’s day goes from bad to worse as the cops arrest him for smuggling in plutonium! Although Joe flees, desperate to save his own hide, Nick refuses to name his brother and suffers the full wrath of the law when his explanations are dismissed as coincidences and contrivances. Branded a terrorist, Nick’s sentenced to twenty-five years in prison despite his protestations that he had no idea what he was carrying or what was going on. Nick’s thrown a lifeline when overworked and undervalued solicitor Alice Grant (Lucy Akhurst) is assigned to work on his appeal by her stuffy, condescending boss, Gordon Wells (William Chubb).

This leaves Alice frustrated as the appeal distracts her from her law firm’s biggest case, investigating an environmental disaster linked to bureaucrat Edward Lawrence (David Hemmings) and caused by harnium nitrate, a destructive chemical manufactured by Lawrence’s company, Solex. Still, Alice meets Nick and, though initially aggravated by his wild claims, she finds his defence has some legs, much to the bizarre objections of Gordon, who suddenly chastises her working on Nick’s appeal in favour of the Lawrence case! Nick’s also given something of a break when the prison warden, Forstater (Peter Eyre), selects him for a clinical trial into “sunburns” run by the Gyges (as in the “Ring of Gyges”) organisation. Though sceptical, Nick agrees, believing his compliance will help his case, and is driven to a far away manor, where he meets the amiable Ms. Jeffries (Barbara Flynn) and learns that Gyges hopes to reverse the harmful effects of UV radiation for the betterment of humankind. However, Nick’s resolve falters when he sees their bizarre medical equipment and is forcibly strapped to a machine and bathed in painful laser beams. Still, Nick returns to prison none the wiser and certainly unaware that the mysterious head of Gyges (Roger Brierley) has become antsy upon learning of Nick’s appeal. Thus, Ms. Jefferies orders Forstater to eliminate Nick, only for the warden and his bullish main guard (Stuart Clark) to be amazed when Nick suddenly disappears while taking a shower and subsequently escapes from prison. Alice is equally stunned when Nick appears, buck naked, in the back of her car, pleading for her help, fearing for his life, and babbling a crazy story about how the Gyges process turned him invisible! Although dubious, Alice reluctantly shelters Nick as he anxiously worries about fading away again and recounts as much of his experience as he can remember, sparking her curiosity when he mentions a canister stamped with “Hanoi” and leading her to discover he was subjected to Ha No.1, or harnium nitrate.

Realising he’s endangering Alice, Nick tries to fly to safety using his brother’s plane, only to suddenly turn invisible and flee to his flat. When Gordon unexpectedly shows up at Alice’s apartment and talks down to her, she’s amazed when he suffers a couple of pratfalls and is sent packing, before realising Gordon was upset by the invisible Nick. Now fully onboard, Alice shares her discovery of a link between Gyges and Solex and helps track down Nick’s worthless brother for help. Joe’s also incredulous about Nick’s story but agrees to help them break into Lawrence’s office out of guilt for setting up and abandoning his brother, placing a threatening call that gives Nick access to Lawrence’s computer and allows him to e-mail evidence of Solex’s wrongdoings to Alice. However, when Alice confronts Lawrence about this, she’s suddenly met by Ms. Jefferies, who kills Lawrence with an invisible gun and takes Alice hostage, threatening her life if Nick doesn’t hand himself over. Believing Nick has been made permanently invisible thanks to the unique radiation he was exposed to from the plutonium, Gyges are desperate to experiment on him to unlock the secret of invisibility as every experiment they’ve run on living tissue has resulted in failure. While stressing over how to rescue Alice and resolve the situation, Nick and Joe realise that water causes Nick’s invisibility and hatch a brave, if bonkers, plan to have Joe masquerade as Nick under layers of clothing and threaten Ms. Jefferies with a fake grenade, all while the invisible Nick hitches a ride to the Gyges facility. Amazingly, Nick stays invisible for the whole drive and therefore rescues Alice, only to fade back in at a crucial moment. Thankfully, Gyges were so caught off-guard by the plan that Nick, Alice, and Joe escape, with Nick acquiring a special suit and even stealing a motorcycle which also turn invisible when exposed to water.

Final Thoughts:
Neil Morrissey was pretty popular around this time, having found fame as bungling no-hoper Tony Smart in Men Behaving Badly. Some of that role seeps into his performance here as, while Nick has at least two women on the go at the start and constantly tries to charm women, Nick is somewhat incompetent and easily distracted. Though a capable pilot, Nick’s more focused on his golfing (though we never see him playing…) and chatting up women, and therefore pleads ignorance when he’s arrested for smuggling plutonium. Sticking to his story, Nick’s let down by the system as his only defence is ignorance and tall tales about magnets and misdialled numbers. Still, there’s enough extra meat to this role for Morrissey to play with as Nick is genuinely horrified when he suddenly melts into nothingness in the shower and when he realises that Gyges wants him dead because he knows too much. Returning to visibility brings Nick little comfort as he’s left paranoia about those hunting him and when he’ll next turn invisible, not realising until the final act that water triggers the transformation and thus left anxious about suddenly fading away. Although Alice is naturally sceptical, she’s clearly intrigued by Nick, a man beset by bad luck whose claims end up having some validity. Though enraged at Nick endangering her life and her career, Alice jumps in with him to bring down Lawrence, a slippery devil whose chemicals pollute the environment, and is shown to be a very capable and forthright individual even when men are constantly condescending to her. Joe is primarily here as comic relief and to show the extreme other side to Nick as Joe is a coward and a swindler who constantly runs from responsibility, only to become crucial to Nick’s rescue operation in the end and even put his life at risk to save his brother, despite the two constantly bickering like children.

The Vanishing Man was quite an ambitious production back in the day and I can’t imagine it was cheap to produce, which makes the subsequent series even more impressive. While traditional techniques like first-person shots, the absence of actors, and wires are employed for many scenes, there’s a fair bit of CGI employed to depict Nick’s invisibility. We see his flesh erased by nothingness, his aghast expression as his hands fade away, and see him semi-translucent when the transformation’s in its infancy, which is all very impressive and arguably up there with some feature film effects. It helps that these effects are used sparingly, and many appear to be simple green screen and shot replacement techniques, and this allows for a fun final shot in which Nick and his motorcycle vanish and leave Alice screaming her head off as she blasts through the countryside! While Nick would eventually succumb to madness from his condition (spoilers…), he’s a far cry from the traditional maniacal Invisible Man. Nick’s initially terrified of his condition but soon embraces it and uses it for good, grappling with armed goons and overcoming the odds with his unique abilities. These make him a clear target for Gyges, who are desperate to figure out what makes Nick so different that he can maintain the invisibility. The head is especially driven to discover this as he’s been left horrifically scarred and injured from the process, seemingly rendered a semi-transparent skeleton beneath his decidedly Claude Rains-esque mask and outfit. The ending with Chief Inspector Moreau (James Laurenson) hinting at further adventures for Nick clearly sets up the following series, which sadly remains as widely unavailable as this TV pilot, which I still remember fondly and regard as one of the better Invisible Man stories that’s made even better by making the most of its surely modest television budget.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Did you ever watch The Vanishing Man back in the day? Were you impressed by the special effects? What did you think of Neil Morrissey’s performance and did you like Nick’s characterisation? Would you like to see the full series get a re-release? What are some of your favourite Invisible Man stories and media? Feel free to share any memories of The Vanishing Man in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other sci-fi shows for me to cover.