Synopsis
Manimal (1983) is a sci-fi action series you can watch online on iFILM, built on one gloriously strange premise: a professor who shapeshifts into animals to fight crime. By day Jonathan Chase lectures at a New York university. By night he turns into a hawk, a black panther or a snake and hunts down the city's worst.
Chase inherited the gift from his father and guards it like a state secret. He works the streets with police detective Brooke McKenzie and Ty, a wisecracking Vietnam veteran who has his back. Their cases run from kidnappings to espionage to crooked tycoons. The real draw is the transformation itself: the camera lingers as a human hand sprouts fur and stretches into a paw. That effect came from Stan Winston, and it cost a fortune in 1983 — those few seconds are why people still seek the show out.
NBC pulled the plug after just eight episodes, beaten in the ratings by Magnum, P.I. Yet over four decades Manimal grew into a beloved cult oddity, carried by its straight-faced charm and Simon MacCorkindale in the lead. If you have a soft spot for vintage American sci-fi that plays it completely earnest, give it a look. Stream Manimal (1983) online on iFILM.
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