Five years ago today the Sci Fi Channel aired the last new episode of The Invisible Man, thus bringing to a close a show that ended all too quickly and deserved a much, much longer run. By the time the last episode, entitled The New Stuff, aired, we all knew that the show had been cancelled and yet many of us were hoping that by some miracle someone in authority would see fit to continue it and give the show the chance it deserved.
With anticipation we watched Darien getting closer to permanent madness as the Counteragent was losing its effectiveness. How would he be saved? Would the Keeper find a way to safely remove the gland? Knowing that Craig Silverstein wrote the last two episodes as closure to one chapter of Darien’s life and the beginning of a new chapter, that scenario didn’t seem likely.
Would a new counteragent be developed? Perhaps giving Darien more time between shots? That was a possibility. But, instead, a cure was found for the madness, courtesy of his nemesis, Arnaud de Fehrn.
In the end, Darien chose to stay with the Agency, which meant that the series could go forward with the same characters we had grown to love. Not knowing whether the series would continue or not, Craig had set up a sort of closure for Darien and the series, and yet left the door wide open for many more new stories.
I miss this show.
Each of us who call ourselves fans can describe how this show has touched us and why, after five years, we are still here, still hoping. We’ve come to care, not for just the show and its characters, but also for the actors who portrayed the characters. Over the years we’ve been able to interact with them online via bulletin boards, chat rooms, and blogs; and some of us have been able to meet them in person. We’ve had a relationship with them that very few, if any, fandoms ever develop with their cast. They have generously given us that unique opportunity. They all love the show and would be willing to come back to it, and they all enjoyed working with each other and would love to do so again.
It’s for that reason that I’ve taken on this project. It’s not the project I originally set out to do. Believe me, I would love to be producing an I-Man movie; and if it weren’t for that little issue of rights, I’d be doing exactly that right now. But if I can’t do an I-Man movie, bringing together a cast that I care deeply about is the next best thing. This is a project that I’m thrilled to be a part of. It is my wish that this will be a movie that will thrill you too.
Call me crazy, but I’m not totally giving up on I-Man. There is a chance, albeit a slim one, that this movie could possibly trigger interest in I-Man. But this movie would need to be a hit and be profitable. Like it or not, money talks in Hollywood. On the production side of things, I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen, but I can only do so much. In the end, it’s the audience that decides whether to watch or not.
No matter what happens, seeing our cast together again on the screen is so worth all this work. I can’t wait for that day!
