Misfits of Science
Character: Gloria Dinallo
Created by: James D. Parriott
Cast Members: Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall, Mark Thomas Miller
Release date: October 4, 1985
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Duration: 1h
The adventures of a team of misfit superheroes who fight crime for a scientific think tank.
In France, the series was known as Superminds, and in Germany as Die Spezialisten unterwegs (The Specialists on Their Way).
The name ‘Misfits of Science’ (and other conceptual ideas) was the brainchild of the then president of NBC Entertainment, Brandon Tartikoff.
Character Profiles
Dr. Billy Hayes – the non-powered yet undisputed leader of this misfit team. Billy is a young research scientist at the Humanidyne Institute who specializes in “human anomalies” and a fast-talking but good-hearted schemer full of boyish enthusiasm who often gets the team into as much trouble as he gets them out of. Although easily distracted whenever an attractive woman walks by, he is honestly interested in getting involved in a serious relationship with Jane Miller even after she showed up pregnant by another man.
Dr. Elvin “El” Lincoln – Billy’s colleague and close friend. El is a towering man who gives himself the ability to shrink for minutes at a time from his height of seven-foot-four to eleven inches via hormonal treatments which he activates by pressing a nerve on the back of his neck. A recurring joke after such transformations is that he always has to put on the tiny change of clothes he carries with him for his small size. The character is shy and struggles socially, and despite being so tall he is a poor basketball player.
Johnny “Johnny B” Bukowski – a rock and roll musician who was electrocuted on stage, thus giving him formidable electrical powers. He wears sunglasses because his eyes glowed when he is fully charged, he can hurl lightning bolts and run at superhuman speed, easily outracing in one episode a parody of the Six Million Dollar Man, but he is vulnerable to water which short-circuited him and burns his flesh. He is a big Chuck Berry fan, in the pilot singing “Johnny B. Goode” when he goes into battle.
Trivia
- The group drive around in a “Fundae Sundae” ice cream truck because they needed it to haul “The Ice Man” in the pilot episode. The character was dropped, but they kept the truck.
- In The Pilot,When Strickland and the General see Beef for the first time, after he he got knocked out by Billy’s candy-bar, Billy takes his handgloves off twice and lays them down.
- In The Pilot, In the final scene, on the top of the mountain, Gloria’s socks often change their position: they’re pulled up to her knees and in the next scene they are pushed down, but then pulled up again
- In The Pilot,When B-Man blasts the door open in the military area (at Humanidyne’s), Billy’s jacket-zipper changes position more than once.
- In The Pilot,Johnny fires a second electrical bolt at Billy in front of him but when Billy gets to his feet the blast crater is behind him.
Episode Guide
Pilot
Billy and El, scientists for the Human Investigation Team, put together a team of super-powered individuals to deal with a secret government project to create a neutron bomb.
Your Place or Mayan?
On behalf of a dead friend of Billy’s, an archaeologist, the Misfits set out to prove the existence of buried Mayan treasure beneath Beverly Hills.
Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?
A friend of the Misfits claims to have made contact with aliens from Mars. Problems arise when the authorities try to prevent him from continuing his contact.
Lost Link
A primitive in a loin cloth comes ashore at Venice Beach and no one knows who he is – in fact it’s believed he may be a caveman. It turns out that the man, “Link,” is in fact an Aborigine from a lost tribe in New Guinea and the Misfits help him to set free the soul of his deceased child by placing a small totem on a rocket.
Sort of Looking For Gina
Johnny’s efforts to get a date with an attractive woman, Gina, go amiss when it turns out she’s involved with crooks and the Misfits have to mastermind a bank robbery to help her out.
Sonar…And Yet So Far
A marine biologist and friend of Billy’s who works with dolphins believes they can talk, making him the target of drug smugglers who need the help of his dolphin friends to recover a sunken cache of cocaine.
Steer Crazy
Three senior citizens end up with super-powers from irradiated hamburgers, and the Misfits have to both help them out and restrain them from injuring themselves.
Fumble on the One
The Misfits have to help Brick Tyler, a part-bionic CIA agent who has managed to lose the “football” – the briefcase that the President carries that can activate nuclear war.
Twin Engines
Johnny’s friend Lonnie begins having premonitions of danger, but it turns out in fact he’s linked to his previously-unknown twin Dwayne, a motorcycle racer, and the Misfits have to help them both out.
Grand Theft Bunny
The bad guys manipulate the Misfits into helping them unleash a plague on L.A. with the aid of a contaminated bunny rabbit.
Grand Elusion
Billy recruits the gang to help a fellow scientist’s daughter defect when she and her father tour America as part of a Russian girl’s gymnast team. The gang takes the place of the magician hired to perform for the tour thanks to a judicious use of super powers, but the daughter refuses to leave without her father. Complicating matter, the KGB minder Galenkov has sworn to make sure the scientist Nikolai never gets away. The Misfits have to pull off an elaborate bait-and-switch to make sure that both Nikolai and Tatyana manage to escape.
Once Upon a Night
Gloria’s pen pal Jae is the object of a hunt by unknown assailants.
Center of Attention
El goes undercover as an incredibly talented basketball player (with some help from Gloria) to expose a crooked owner who is having his players throw their games.
Against All Oz
In this somewhat bizarre episode, Billy tries to break a record for staying awake and finds himself in an alternate reality where everyone he knows is there but in different jobs and with different personalities.
The Avenging Angel
Gloria helps out an aspiring pro wrestler with the use of her telekintic powers without telling him – the wrestler, Milt, soon decides he does have super powers and Gloria needs to keep helping him out when he decides to go after crooks trying to sell him protection.
Three Days of the Blender
When a blender is accidentally delivered to Billy, he ends up getting arrested as a spy and Stetmeyer gets targeted by the FBI.
