The Greatest American Hero

[VaBeachGuy 12]

For anyone that hasn't seen me flying around... go back to the first post... <_<

[cptwright 1]

just as funny as the first time, good going ralph <_<

Edited December 22, 2003 by cptwright

[Delta 0]

<_< Thats great VBG, i used to really like the series it was so daft it was good and the song was cool. I was trying to remember the name of the guy who played Ralph i think it was William Kat or something like that does anyone else remember? That has really cheered up a dreary day thanks :unsure:

[ddillard 2]

ROFLMAO!!!

 

 

I can't believe I missed this one the first time around.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

<_< Thats great VBG, i used to really like the series it was so daft it was good and the song was cool. I was trying to remember the name of the guy who played Ralph i think it was William Kat or something like that does anyone else remember? That has really cheered up a dreary day thanks  :unsure:

Yes, that's William Katt that played Ralph. Did you know they changed the character's last name in the show because of the assasination attempt on President Reagan? His name was Ralph Hinkley, then John Hinkley, Jr. shot the President and they changed the character's name to Ralph Hanley. The next season they changed it back to Hinkley. Just a piece of useless trivia there... lol

[cptwright 1]

another piece of trivia, who sang the song, it took me forever to find out but one day quite a while ago i finally found out, then months later was able to find a cd with it on there.

 

Click for Spoiler:

JOEY SCARBURY

[fredbroca 0]

The show was just great I rember watching the show when it came out but I have a question did the show have an ending? Or did it just stop?

[VaBeachGuy 12]

The show was just great I rember watching the show when it came out but I have a question did the show have an ending?  Or did it just stop?

From what I can remember it just stopped after it's 3rd or 4th season. They went into their off season and never came back.

 

One episode that has always stuck in my mind is one where Ralph has to go into the 4th demension to fight some kind of "beast" and the suit doesn't protect him there. He comes back with bruises and bites all over him. I was only about 12 or 13 but it freaked me out lol

[KayTroi 0]

VBG that was awesome! The song in the background sounds familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it. :) :lol: :)

[VaBeachGuy 12]

VBG that was awesome!  The song in the background sounds familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it.  :)  :lol:  :)

That's actually the theme to the TV show "The Greatest American Hero", it was a show in the early 80's.

[A l t e r E g o 9]

KayTroi Posted on Dec 23 2003, 10:46 PM VBG that was awesome! The song in the background sounds familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it.

 

That song (the show's theme) made it to the charts (top 10?) having much radio airplay, thats why it seems so familiar to you even if you didn't watch the show.

[cptwright 1]

KayTroi Posted on Dec 23 2003, 10:46 PM VBG that was awesome! The song in the background sounds familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it.

 

That song (the show's theme) made it to the charts (top 10?) having much radio airplay, thats why it seems so familiar to you even if you didn't watch the show.

that would be joey scarbury, beleive it or not.

[RikerChick 5]

VBG, seeing this again has totally cheered me up. :( I can't stop laughing. :(

[Carrion 0]

I thought the Greatest American hero was either Captain America or Superman? I know this is about a song but I just had to add this to the post...(runs away)

[cptwright 1]

nope. the greatest american hero was a campy, corny, GREAT show back in the 80's, I KNOW IM DATING MYSELF NOW. but im still quite young thank you.

[Vulcan IDIC 0]

I was only 3 years old in 1980 so I don't really remember the show, but I do remember the theme song, lol. I use to hear it all the time.

 

ROTFLOL!!! VBG that was hilarious, but you really should get some sleep before you do something even crazier, lol.

[RikerChick 5]

bumpity bump bump

[Airies 0]

Wow that brought back memories VBG. I was 8 when that show started and was a huge fan. I used to pin a towel around my neck and run around all crazy like I couldn't control my flying. Beieve it or not....That show came out around the same time as Superfuz didn't it? Anyone remember that movie?

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I see that the Greatest American Hero is on DVD now, I guess Netflix will be sending them to me soon lol

[Kor37 9]

I remember this show very fondly. I used to watch it every week.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I remember this show very fondly. I used to watch it every week.

Me too, I was pretty young at the time but I loved it. I never have seen the first episode though. One thing I remember (which I probably mentioned in this thread already) was that after John Hinkley, Jr. shot President Reagan in March of 1981 they changed the last name of the main character from Ralph Hinkley to Ralph Hanley.

[trekz 7]

From wikipedia:

 

The Greatest American Hero is an American TV series which aired for three seasons from 1981 to 1983 on ABC. It premiered as a two hour movie pilot on March 18, 1981. It starred William Katt as teacher Ralph Hinkley (or Hanley), Robert Culp as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell, and Connie Sellecca as lawyer Pam Davidson. The series has a fanbase around the world, making it a cult classic. The series was created by producer Stephen J. Cannell. The show is typical of his style of character-driven quirky drama, where the plot is secondary to the relationships among the characters.

 

Premise

The series is a superhero drama-comedy. Ralph Hinkley is a schoolteacher for "special students". Determined to get through to them, Ralph took them on a "geological survey" field trip to the desert. Coming back from the field trip later that night, the school bus breaks down.Ralph started to walk back through the desert to get help,he encounters a swerving car driven by FBI Special Agent Bill Maxwell (Culp) that stops just in time to avoid hitting Hinkley. Maxwell insists that he could not control the car. Then two bright purple lights appear in the sky and they both jump in the car and try to get away, but the car will not start and the doors lock by themselves trapping them inside.

 

They are surprised to find that the lights come from an alien spacecraft. The alien tells Ralph and Bill (by way of the car radio) that they are to work together to save the world and Ralph will be given the power to change it. They are given a black case. Later Ralph opens it and finds a really cool-looking red suit (with cape) which endows him with superhuman abilities. Bill runs off from fear, but later contacts Ralph, leading to an awkward partnership as the two try to use the powers of the suit (which Bill calls the "magic jammies") to fight crime.

 

The novelty of the show is based on Ralph's inability to properly learn to use the suit, and even learn the use of its various capabilities, other than by trial and error, because he lost the instruction manual in the desert. A recurring gag involves Ralph clumsily trying to strip off his outer clothes to activate the suit before the enemies can get away.

 

In practice, Ralph's superhero is more akin to a Buster Keaton-style clown. For example, sequences where he flies through the air under his own power usually show him flailing his arms and legs, instead of adopting the Superman-like "arms extended, legs together" pose. In fact, his first flight results in the terrifying experience of him hurtling out of control until he rams head first into a building wall. The basic powers (outside of flying) included super strength, resistance to injury (including direct bullet hits), invisibility, precognition, telekinesis, x-ray vision, super speed, pyrokinesis, holographic vision, shrinking, and psychometry. He also showed signs of being able to control minds when he was exposed to high doses of plutonium radiation. In one episode, he (or the suit) becomes strongly magnetized.

 

Pam Davidson is an attorney, who often joins Ralph and Bill on their adventures. She is an attorney who handled Ralph's divorce and later becomes his wife.

 

Also co-starring are Michael Paré and Faye Grant as two of Ralph's students.

 

In a later episode, the pair meet the alien, whose world was apparently destroyed (which hints as to why it wants to protect humanity). It is also revealed that there are several other people in seeming "suspended animation" aboard its ship (Bill speculates that they are possible replacements for them). Ralph is given another instruction book, but he loses it as well, when he and the book shrink to a fraction of their normal sizes, and he isn't holding the book when he returns to his original height.

 

As previously mentioned, the main character's name was originally Ralph Hinkley, but after the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr. on March 30, 1981 (only 12 days after the pilot episode aired), the character's last name was amended to "Hanley" for the Season 1 episode "Reseda Rose". For the rest of the 1st season, he was either "Ralph" or "Mister H". During the episode aired the night of the assassination attempt, the sound of a jet airplane was used to dub over the last name being spoken, and in subsequent episodes there was overdubbing of his students calling him "Mr. H" instead of "Mr. Hinkley." In the episode where Ralph is given a promotion and his own (tiny) office space, we see the name "Ralph Hanley" on the door plaque. At the start of the 2nd season the name had changed back to Hinkley.

 

Typical plot lines

There were two typical plots of Greatest American Hero. Stephen J. Cannell explained the differences on the Greatest American Hero season 1 DVD set. As originally agreed to between Cannell and then ABC executives Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, the powers would be in the suit, not the guy (though the suit would only work for him). Also, Ralph would try to solve ordinary-type issues, such as trying to stop a fix in Major League Baseball ("The Two Hundred Miles-Per-Hour Fastball") or an assassination attempt ("The Best Desk Scenario"). The show would center around what Cannell referred to as "character comedy" based on human flaws such as envy (in the aforementioned "The Best Desk Scenario") or hypochondria ("Plague"). What Cannell was trying to avoid were "save the world" type episodes, a la the original Adventures of Superman tv series.

 

The problem, according to Cannell on the DVD set, was that Carsey and Werner left ABC shortly after the show was sold. The network then wanted the show to be more like a kids show than an adults show. So they pushed the exact types of shows that Cannell did not want. This brought the second type of plot. This type of plot usually involved Ralph trying to stop some sort of calamity from happening, including nuclear war ("Operation Spoilsport") and even a Loch Ness Monster-type of creature ("The Devil in the Deep Blue Sea").

 

[edit] Ralph's uniform and hero persona

The hero persona never receives a "superhero name," either, although Scarbury sings the Elton John song "Rocket Man" in the pilot.

 

The powers of the red suit were somewhat broad, but still were "similar" enough to the abilities of Superman that Warner Bros., the owners of DC Comics, filed a lawsuit against ABC which was, ultimately, dismissed[1] as the premise's core concept of a human receiving an alien costume/weapon to fight evil was closer to that of the Silver Age Green Lantern.

 

The symbol on Ralph's uniform resembles the Chinese character "center" [中]. As the symbol is red in color, Hong Kong television station TVB called the Cantonese-dubbed version of the show "Sky Flying Red Centre Hero" [飛天紅中俠].

 

On the DVD of Season 1, Stephen J. Cannell notes that the symbol was actually based on a pair of scissors that he had on his desk during the design of the uniform.

 

The symbol often appeared on the wrestling attire of ECW wrestler Super Nova, whose "gimmick" was that he was a Super-Hero.

 

At the end of an episode of The Big Bang Theory, "The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization", depicts two Chinese computer nerds, one of whom wears the shirt from The Greatest American Hero's costume.

 

Theme song

The theme song (and variants of the theme) are used frequently throughout. "Believe It or Not" was composed by Mike Post (music) and Stephen Geyer (lyrics) and sung by Joey Scarbury. The theme song became a popular hit during the show's run.

 

"Believe it or Not" debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 on June 13, 1981, eventually peaking at #2 during the weeks of August 15 and August 22, and spending a total of 18 weeks in the Top 40.

 

The show's theme song was featured prominently in the Seinfeld episode "The Susie", where George Costanza used it as his answering machine message, with his own lyrics sung over the music ("Believe it or not George isn't at home, leave a message at the beep. I must be out or I'd pick up the phone; where could I be? Believe it or not, I'm not home!"). It was also featured during a lighthearted montage in the 2005 comedy film The 40 Year Old Virgin, starring Steve Carell. The title of the Family Guy episode, "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air" also parodies the song. Family Guy episode "The Man With Two Brians" also features the song when Peter sings it while being pulled on roller blades on to a ramp while dressed as The Greatest American Hero.

 

In the My Name Is Earl episode "Didn't Pay Taxes", Earl and Randy sing the theme song terribly while stuck in a water tower.

 

The theme song also featured prominently in Michael Moore's 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore used it to underscore the famous scene where President George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq.

 

In the Homestar Runner Halloween toon, "The House that Gave Sucky Treats", Homestar dresses as Ralph and sings a variation of the song, "Believe it or not. I'm walking around. I never thought I could trick or tre-e-eat!"

 

In Season 5 of Gilmore Girls, in the episode "Tippecanoe and Taylor, Too", the song is used as Jackson's campaign song for Town Selectman. Lane and Zach's rock band, Hep Alien, is horrified when they find out they have to play the song live at the rally, but Sookie insists that it is his favorite song.

 

The Greatest American Heroine

In 1986, the original cast reunited for a pilot film for a new NBC series to be called The Greatest American Heroine. The pilot reveals that several years after the final episode, Ralph's secret identity was finally revealed to the public, resulting in his becoming a celebrity. This upsets the aliens who gave him the suit, and they charge him with finding a new hero to wear the costume and use its powers for fighting evil. He finds a young woman named Holly Hathaway (Mary Ellen Stuart) who spends her time looking for lost kittens and teaching young children, and most of the episode deals with her learning how to use the suit under Bill Maxwell's guidance.

 

The Greatest American Heroine did not result in a new series, and the pilot was never broadcast by NBC. Ultimately, the pilot was reedited as an episode of the original series (complete with original opening credits and theme), and added to syndication packages of the original series, where it airs as the final episode.

 

Misc. episode notes

In the first episode, the pair are spoken to by Bill's (dead) ex partner, a black agent. This is a tip of the hat to Culp's role in I Spy, where he partnered with Bill Cosby

 

Revivals

In July 2008, it was announced that Katt was writing a comic book series based on the TV show for his publishing company, Catastrophic Comics, in conjunction with Arcania Studios. A series of animated webisodes are planned with Katt, Culp and Selleca supplying the voices of their characters from the TV show. A live-action feature film is also in the works and is expected to begin production in 2009.[2] William Katt is quoted in the September 2008 issue of Geek Monthly Magazine as saying, "Stephen Cannell is starting a feature film this year. I read a recent script that he gave me and it's quite good and lots of fun. There's plenty left in that character."

[VaBeachGuy 12]

http://movieblog.ugo.com/index.php/moviebl...e_in_the_works/

 

‘Greatest American Hero’ Movie In The Works

Posted by Cybergosh on 09/11 at 12:40 AM

 

 

Stephen J. Cannell, creator of the cult ‘80s TV series The Greatest American Hero, has confirmed that a feature film is in the works, says SciFi.com.

 

“We’ve written a screenplay, and we’ve hired a director, and we’re in the midst of putting this together for the future,” Cannell told an audience in Hollywood on Sept. 7 at the Screen Actors Guild foundation’s 75th anniversary.

 

The director is reportedly Stephen Herek, known for such ‘80s favorites such as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Critters--a fact Cannell did not confirm at the reunion panel.

 

The entire cast, producers, writers and famed stuntman Dennis “Danger” Madalone joined Cannell for a lengthy Q&A session moderated by John Tesh, a Hero historian and husband of star Connie Sellecca.

 

After Cannell’s movie announcement, Sellecca took the opportunity to lock in roles for herself and fellow original cast members William Katt and Robert Culp.

 

“I’m going to put Stephen on the spot,” Sellecca said with a grin. “Cameos for us?”

 

“Absolutely guaranteed,” Cannell responded. “More than cameos: acting jobs.”

 

 

"I took a sneak peek at the [feature] script, and it’s absolutely charming and wonderful,” Katt told the rapt audience. “I know people are going to love it.”

 

The Greatest American Hero ran for three seasons on ABC, 1981-’83, and centered on Ralph Hinkley (Katt), a teacher who comes into possession of a red alien suit that endows its wearer with superpowers--but not the instruction manual. Culp played Hinkley’s FBI minder and Sellecca his long-suffering girlfriend.

 

The show is enjoying a renaissance of sorts, with a new comic book produced by Katt and producing partner Chris Folino under their Catastrophic Comics banner. The first issue should hit shelves in November.

 

Additionally, there are plans for a series of four-minute animated Web shorts, voiced by Katt, Culp and Sellecca.

 

“It"s a litmus test for Stephen’s [film plans],” Katt said of the comic and shorts.

 

“The cast all felt--and I think the writers as well--[that] we had stories left to tell, and so that’s what we’re doing,” Katt said. “We’re picking up where we left off, and I know that there’s a great audience out there that is going to be receptive to that.”

 

Katt added: “In the public arena, at Comic-Con and other [conventions] out there, we’ve found that there is a tremendous warm welcome still left waiting for The Greatest American Hero.”