The Invisible Man, Series 1

Starring: Paul BenVictor, Vincent Ventresca Director: Breck Eisner, Carlton Prickett Original UK Premiere: 2000 Dvd Release: 10th March, 2003 Number Of Discs: 4 Format: Box set, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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DVD Extras: The Invisible Man comes to DVD in a four-disc box set containing the first half of Series 1. Some weblinks & scripts of shows are accessible as DVD-ROM features, but the real score for the DVD's producers is an hour-long interview with cast members Vincent Ventresca, Paul Ben-Victor & Michael McCafferty. Much more is promised for the next box set comprising the second half of the series.

The Invisible Man first appeared on American TV just a couple of months in advance of Paul Verhoevens Hollow Man in 2000. But unlike the rather overly serious movie, the idea of this series was to have as much fun with the concept as possible. Thief & con man Darien Fawkes is apprehended & offered the choice of either being imprisoned or becoming a guinea pig in a scientific experiment run by his own brother. The result is the successful insertion of a Quicksilver Gland in his head, a device that secretes a substance able to bend light, causing him to become invisible at will. Unfortunately it also starts to send him insane. The mysterious Official & his Agency offer a solution. They can regularly administer an antidote, so long as he agrees to work for them in secret.

Thus the series begins to explore the possibilities: Fawkes poses as a childs imaginary friend to get information; he stalks a stalker; and, of course, he does a lot of spying. In the background of the individual stories is a constant build-up of tension as both the audience & Fawkes wonder where the Agencys loyalties lie & what the constant use of the Quicksilver may do to him. At the midway point of the first series, the show adds an even weirder twist when a suspected additional Invisible Man turns out to be Fawkes himself, channelling the memories & violent temperament of the first test subject to have hosted the gland. Unpredictable & engaging, this is a show that deserved to go beyond the mere two years it managed before cancellation.

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