LOOK, THE INVISIBLE MAN!

Hollywood is a magic place - there they can even photograph an invisible man with shaggy fair hair and blue eyes.

These are the first color pictures of David McCallum in his role as the unseen hero of the National Nine Network's new series, "The Invisible Man." 

McCallum, once that enigmatic character, Illya Kuryakin of "The Man from UNCLE," plays Dr Daniel Westin, who carries the secret of his invisibility in his head. The only people who know about his invisibility are his poor long-suffering wife Kate (Melinda Fee), and his boss Craig Stevens. The story is based very slightly on H. G. Wells' classic novel "The Invisible Man." 

I think perhaps the producer just sat on a copy of the book for all that remains of the original is the title and the premise of invisibility. Before Westin became invisible he worked at Klae Corporation, doing research in molecular reduction and transformation. He discovered accidentally that objects might be made invisible through molecular restitution which led quickly to more complex experiments. Finally he tried it on himself and hey presto! He disappeared.

The possibilities of such a situation are endless, both beneficial and hysterical. But the bosses at the Klae Corporation, an organisation dedicated to solving problems too difficult for everyone else had only one thought about marketing Westin's discovery - they offered it around for military use. Westin was appalled. To foil them he destroyed his laboratory and escaped by making himself invisible. But he is in a dreadful dilemma. He hadn't the time to work out how to become visible on demand - and he is not only invisible, he is also a fugitive, terrified he will suddenly come into clear view, be captured and forced to continue his experiments so warring nations may benefit. 

All the way through my briefing about "The Invisible Man" I was burning to find out how it was done. How could Hollywood make a credible series with an invisible hero? And how do viewers see him when he can't make himself visible when he wants to? This is magic, too. His formula acts only on flesh, not on his clothes or anything made by man. So the producers hang a suit on his "invisible" frame, add plastic hands and a face mask "uncannily like human flesh" and there you have him - instant man. He does all kinds of clever things when he's invisible - doors open by themselves, keys fly across rooms as do a variety of other objects, a sneaky foreign agent in a room alone sees a chair rise from the floor, feels it crash down hard, apparently of its own accord, on his evil head. Dr Westin does other astounding things as well in his invisible state. He's as good as the $6,000,000 man at some things, and certainly streets ahead of Uncle Marty in "My Favorite Martian." I haven't seen the show yet, but I'm told it's worth watching and very entertaining.