Dr. Strange

Dr. Strange is a 1978 two-hour pilot take on the famous, nicely-costumed superhero "Sorcerer Supreme" a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. I first read some of the exploits of the good Doctor in a reprint comic book I bought at a Walmart as a kid, but I first saw this movie even earlier, when it was rerun on cable in the late 1980s. I forever associate it in my mind with having a helluva bellyache from eating too much ice cream or some other indulgent treat.

Also, I feared that if I watched it I might risk becoming demonically possessed. Hey, a kid worries about this kind of stuff, okay?

Here, Dr. Strange (Peter Hooten) doesn't begin to get down and get funky (in the 1978 sense) until two-thirds of the movie has already unwound. Until that transpires, Morgan La Fey (Jessica Walter) gets sent back from the demon dimensions by the demon Balzaroth (voiced by Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch on "The Addams Family," as well as the Gorn on "Star Trek TOS" classic episode "Arena") so she can kill the current "Sorcerer Supreme"w, Lindmer (John Mills) he enjoys a leisurely existence in a gothic mansion, the inside of which looks as if it was ripped from the set of a alow-budget Lord of the Rings knockoff. He and his Man Friday "Wong" (Clyde Kusatsu) protect the world from demonic entities that threaten to break through from beyond. Morgan possesses Clea (Anne-Marie Martin, who was in Prom Night, but also most famously the late Eighties spoof cop show comedy classic, "Sledge Hammer," with David Rasche), and makes her push Lindmer from an L.A. overpass, but he survives. Clea gets taken to a mental hospital, where she meets Dr. Strange, who doesn't seem to do much.

At least, not at first.

The two fall in love, much as they did in the preceding comic series that inspired this television epic, and begin a steady diet of kissy-poo. Morgan La Fey morgans around in a black dress and neat, conservative hairdo ensemble with witchy-poo aplomb. There's a demonic kitty cat they must have retrieved from the Louvier Nuns. Balzaroth seems ripped from the "Cataclysm" segment from Night Train to Terror (which was years in the future, although they could have gotten a VHS copy by traversing the Astral Plane, one supposes); it's a stop-motion menace with glowing halogen eyes, and Lurch's voice.

Strange meets Lindmer and discovers that he's been marked out by fate to have magical ability, via the ring his late daddy gave him which he can't seem to take off (must make it uncomfortable to perform certain basic biological functions) , and then he gets sent to the Astral Plane (but not to return any videotapes), and it's still awhile before he dons ANY type of superhero sorcerer costume, and this film is a curiously dull slog with a couple of groovy, campy, cheapjack effects scenes.

Dr. Strange was the pilot for a proposed series that never got picked up. "The Incredible Hulk" and "The Amazing Spiderman" were current hits for CBS, but this dimestore dud never rose to the occasion. Strange the comic book, co-created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, was still an exemplar of awesome sauce, at least, in the four-color world of 50-cent newsstand caped capers.

I saw the last half of it (wherein the "alternate dimension" of floating space rocks reminds one eerily of scenes from the early Eighties Italian barbarian movie Turkey, Hercules 2, with Lou Ferrigno, both having the same "standing on the surface of the moon is just like being in a studio with a green-screened space scape behind us" ambiance), and at the time I was bellyache suffering and had maybe just woken up from a morbid fever dream.

I took one look at the demon-baddie Balzaroth and the whole cosmic ambiance and realized it was a flick specifically designed to put my eternal soul in spiritual danger. I thought maybe I should pray or something. Then I shrugged, said, "to Hell with it," and probably went back to bed as the credits rolled. or maybe I went back to bed before the credits rolled. I don't now remember.

It's a magical mediocrity.

(As Stan Lee would say, God rest his soul): "Excelsior!"

Written and directed by Philip DeGuerre, with a 1978 television psychedelic rock soundtrack by Paul Chihara. Groovie.

DR. STRANGE Trailer (1978) Marvel

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