| The Invisible Man | |
|---|---|
| Format | Action |
| Created by | Matt Greenburg |
| Developed by | Carlton Prickett Breck Eisner |
| Starring | Vincent Ventresca Paul Ben-Victor |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 45 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Sci Fi Channel |
| Original run | 9 June 2000 – 1 February 2002 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Invisible Man series debuted in 2000 and starred Vincent Ventresca, Paul Ben-Victor, Eddie Jones, Shannon Kenny and Mike McCafferty. Somewhat more successful than previous television series involving invisible secret agents, Ventresca played Darien Fawkes, a thief facing life imprisonment who was recruited by a low-rent spy organization and given the power of invisibility via the implantation of a special "Quicksilver gland" in his head. The gland lets Fawkes secrete a light-bending substance called "Quicksilver" from his pores and follicles. The substance quickly coats his skin, hair, nails and clothes and renders him invisible. He can consciously release the Quicksilver, which then flakes off and disintegrates. The Quicksilver gland was sabotaged at its creation by scientist Arnaud DeFehrn, to release a neurotoxin that accumulates in his bloodstream and causes intense pain, followed by psychosis and antisocial behavior. He requires regular doses of "counteragent" to keep him sane and healthy, which is controlled by said government agency. This series lasted for two seasons, before being cancelled due to cost issues and internal bickering between the Sci Fi Channel and its then-parent company, USA Networks.
Contents |
Plot
The Invisible Man is both an action and a comedy (though the series pilot was far more comedy oriented than the rest of the series), with plenty of buddy-cop elements. Episodes were generally of two types. Many dealt with cases given to Fawkes and Hobbes by The Agency. These usually dealt with assassinations or government experiments that had run amok. During the second season, The Agency was given a nemesis agency called Chrysalis which was usually behind that week's conspiracy. Alternatively, episodes dealt with Fawkes' quest to remove the gland from his head and reduce his dependency on the counter-agent. His unorthodox methods included reviving the mind of his dead brother and periodically contacting Arnaud DeFehrn, one of the gland's creators, though these encounters usually ended with one of the two in pain. The agency considered the gland too great an asset to remove so Fawkes' personal quest usually brought him head to head with those in power. Episodes usually begin with a voice-over with Fawkes who would open with a quote, usually from a famous person, and commentary about what he was currently thinking. The voice over would reemerge at the end of the episode to sum up Fawkes' opinion on the mission or allow him to voice lingering questions.
Episodes
Characters
The following is a list of characters featured in the American science fiction series The Invisible Man. This list may not list characters that have only made guest appearances.
Main characters
- Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca)
- Darien Fawkes is a former career criminal and burglar, who gained no less than two felony convictions before he was thirty. After being arrested during a break-in, under California's three strikes law he would be sentenced to life in prison without parole. This is where his brother, Kevin, stepped in. Kevin was a research scientist who had been working on a top-secret project, and cut a deal to get Darien out of prison in exchange for using him as a test subject. When Darien agreed, he was then implanted with the Quicksilver gland.
- He was unwillingly drafted into The Agency, who had funded the project. In exchange for the Counteragent he needed to stay sane, Darien agreed (reluctantly) to being an agent under their employment.
- He has surprisingly high morals for a career criminal – he could have easily escaped arrest after the break-in except he surprised the elderly owner into a heart attack, and stayed behind to perform CPR (Not that the old man was grateful; he insisted that Fawkes was attempting to molest him!).
- He is a highly talented thief, and he finds all the skills that entails quite useful in his new career as an agent.
- Robert Hobbes (Paul Ben-Victor)
- Robert "Bobby" Hobbes is one of the agents working for the Agency. He is given Darien as a partner when Darien joins the agency. Hobbes has been at the Agency for years before the series starts and feels underappreciated there, receiving very little pay and being sent on mostly unfavorable missions.
- His relationship with Darien begins somewhat badly, with Darien being new to undercover missions and frequently blowing their cover, but the become friends eventually. They often banter with each other, much to the annoyance of those around them. Hobbes seems to enjoy using guns, constantly carrying at least one on his person at all times. He frequently pulls it out and threatens people with it, often referring to it as his 'insurance policy'. He is also an expert in the Korean martial art Hapkido.
- Hobbes displays signs of extreme, sometimes comical paranoia in most cases, acting as if the world is out to get him. He frequently runs background checks on people he's suspicious of, and is not above stalking people to see if they are up to anything. Being trained by the FBI and the CIA, he is excellent at spying and information gathering, which just serves to make his paranoia problem worse.
- Charles Borden aka the Official (Eddie Jones)
- Charles "Charlie" Borden is the long-time head of The Agency. Most of his background is unknown, due to Borden's flat refusal to divulge information about himself to his agents(for instance, Darien first learns Borden's name upon hearing two U.S. Marshals place Borden under arrest). He is demonstrated to be a highly capable leader who expects his orders to be carried out with no argument to the contrary from Darien, Hobbes, or Claire. The main trait of The Official is carrying out the missions he is entrusted with, while always keeping an eye on the bottom line.
- Albert Eberts (Michael McCafferty)
- Albert Eberts serves as secretary to Charles Borden, frequently going into more detail than is necessary when asked about the current situation, resulting in him constantly being told "Shut up, Eberts!" in almost every episode.
- Claire aka the Keeper (Shannon Kenny)
- Claire is The Agency's resident medical doctor and researcher, and was a minor researcher on the team that developed the Quicksilver gland (along with Darien's brother Kevin and Arnaud De Ferhn). She is responsible for monitoring Darien's health and compiling data on long-term usage of the gland. She is also the one who mixes and administers the counteragent serum. She does not particularly care for Darien at first, possibly because he reminds her of Kevin (he and Claire had been romantically involved before his death) although eventually she and Darien become friends; Claire even risks her career to cure Darien permanently of Quicksilver Madness.
- Alex Monroe (Brandy Ledford, season two)
- Alex Monroe is an addition to the cast in the show's second season. She is a federal agent working for the Agency, and is regarded as one of the finest agents overall. She has top security clearance and is the sole agent that has her own office in the Agency. She has a personal vendetta against a group called "Chrysalis", who used her to produce a genetically engineered son. After birth, they took her son, and she has been looking for the group ever since.
Minor characters
- Arnaud DeFehrn (Joel Bissonnette)
- Arnaud DeFehrn is a terrorist, and primary antagonist of Darien Fawkes, being responsible for implanting him with the Quicksilver madness- a defect he included in the gland to give him control over all invisible men- and killing his brother. Later on he developed his own version of the gland, but this version, although lacking the defect that would cause quicksilver madness, rendered him permanently invisible until he managed to have it removed, forcing him to wear a life-like mask cloned from his own tissue to pass for normal. He appears in 9 episodes.
- Jarod Stark (Spencer Garrett)
- Allianora (Idalis DeLeón, season one)
- Kevin Fawkes (David Burke)
- Kevin Fawkes is Darien's brother and the developer of the Quicksilver gland. He is murdered by Arnaud DeFehrn, but appeared in a later episode as part of a plot by Arnaud to trick Darien into thinking he'd survived. Later on, Kevin's memory RNA was injected into the gland—essentially resurrecting him in Darien's body—in the hope that he would be able to figure out a way to remove it, but he declined, believing that the gland made Darien a better person.
The Agency
The Agency is a U.S. government espionage and special operations agency, but one that is extremely secretive - so much that it doesn't have a proper name. Charlie Borden (known as "The Official"), the director of The Agency, explained that the organization takes on cases that the other agencies "can't, won't, or don't". References in the show point to the Agency as being a 'Cold War relic', which makes it likely that The Agency was founded during that time. The most curious characteristic of The Agency is how it keeps being 'absorbed' by Federal Departments that are completely unrelated to intelligence. During the first season, The Agency was a division of the "Department of Fish and Game" (presumably the California Department of Fish and Game). In the pilot episode, it was explained this was due to the fact that the DFG had a surplus of money at the time. During the second season, The Agency changed departments several times, having been absorbed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, and (very briefly) the United States Postal Service before settling in the fictional Bureau of Weights and Measures. All of this led to a running gag in which Hobbes and Fawkes are never taken seriously as federal agents, since their identifications always include their department name.
Project Quicksilver
- Main article:
Broadcasters
| Country | Alternate title/Translation | TV Network(s) | Series Premiere | Weekly Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States |
Sci Fi Channel | June 9 2000 | Fridays 21:00 p.m. | |
 Australia |
Network Ten | |||
 Austria |
ORF | |||
 Croatia |
Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) | |||
 France |
TF1 | |||
 Germany |
RTL 2 | |||
 Italy |
Italia1 | July 13 2004 | Monday to Fridays 01.30 a.m. | |
 New Zealand |
TV3 |
DVD releases
Universal Studios has announced that the complete Season One set will be released on DVD March 25th 2008. All 24 episodes will be included as well as the two part pilot. Extras will include audio commentary on The Invisible Man Parts 1 and 2 by Creator/Executive Producer/Writer Matt Greenberg, Director Breck Eisner and series star Vincent Ventresca. A Sit-Down with Creator and Executive Producer, Matt Greenberg and a bonus episode - The Invisible Man: Season Two - Legends. Each episode will be presented in 1.78:1 Widescreen and the Audio is English Dolby Digital 2.0.
