Dr. Strange (1978)
Director: Philip DeGuere
Stars: Peter Hooten, Jessica Walter, John Mills
This weekend finally marks the arrival of Marvel’s sorcerer supreme DOCTOR STRANGE to the big screen, so Awfully Good Movies is downgrading to the small screen to review the doctor’s original live-action incarnation in the 1978 TV movie DR. STRANGE, starring Peter Hooten, Jessica Walter and John Mills! In the same year that saw them air THE INCREDIBLE HULK and SPIDER-MAN TV shows (as well as THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, BTW), CBS decided to go for a trifecta of Marvel TV shows with a Doctor Strange TV pilot. But with its bargain-basement dimensional effects, cheap creature costumes, and bland-as-water lead actor, it’s not that hard to figure out why this show never made it to series. So the next time you want to bitch about the latest episode of LUKE CAGE or JESSICA JONES, just remember that mental image of Doctor Strange shooting lasers out of his hands at a young Lucille Bluth, and you’ll recognize how lucky you kids have it nowadays.
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