TV: M.A.N.T.I.S. – A Very Quick Look

M.A.N.T.I.S. (1994-1995), 22 episodes

M.A.N.T.I.S. is a science fiction series that ran for one season on Fox in 1994 and 1995. Here, a paralyzed scientist creates an exoskeleton that enables him to walk and gives him superhuman strength and agility.

With the high-tech underground lair, the fancy vehicle, and all the detective work, the parallels to Batman are obvious (only with his spine getting murdered instead of his parents). Yet these two characters have completely different personalities, and Miles Hawkins, the angry and intelligent paralyzed African-American protagonist, is fertile ground for storytelling. On the whole, the M.A.N.T.I.S. premise is strong.

Sweeping changes have occurred since the pilot. The entire supporting cast has been replaced, with two of the three new actors being white. Gone are the racial themes, the attempts at social relevance.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with anything the M.A.N.T.I.S. series does, but it does seem rather obvious that Fox wanted a much “safer” show than the pilot promised. This addressed, let’s set the pilot aside and address the series on its own terms.

M.A.N.T.I.S. doesn’t get off to the greatest start. It goes with an evil CEO/scientist-of-the-week formula, which is okay, but it spends too much time on these characters than its protagonists, whose character arcs are far more interesting.

M.A.N.T.I.S. finds its legs in episode 6, “Gloves Off,” when it finally begins to do interesting things with its characters. We start to see Hawkins’ dark side, how he channels his unresolved anger. We see the supporting characters getting more involved. We see better interaction between Hawkins and Stonebrake.

While the writers show some good sense for suspense and drama, we also get some silly, sappy writing (egregious examples include letting the bad guy go off unsupervised in “Soldier of Misfortune” and “the Mantis” talking in “Revelation”). And the use of the crooked cop trope is off the charts. All told, though, episodes 6-11 comprise the best run of the series.

With the resolution of the ongoing story arcs in episode 11, “Revelation,” M.A.N.T.I.S. heads in a completely new direction: it goes full comic book, with all that entails: alternate dimensions, time travel, clones, magic, sexy mutant fish people – I could go on. And it undertakes all this in complete earnestness, without a hint of camp.

There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with this, but it just doesn’t work. These episodes are all one-offs, with no running subplots: the Mantis manhunt arc is gone as if it had never been, and at least one known crooked cop is still on the job. Character development is also out the window, as the protagonists are shoved to the back burner and rendered flat and inert in favor of the supervillain of the week. I also didn’t appreciate that the rather fresh title theme was redone to sound like background music from Street Fighter II.  

The latter half of the series is not often compelling, both because of these factors and because of the generally poor writing, which features plenty of half-baked story elements, absurd “science,” and blatant stupidity. There’s no suspense here of any kind.

In the series finale, “Ghost of the Ice” – a rare instance where a canceled show is given the chance to wrap things up on its own terms – in addition to an incredibly unsatisfying conclusion, M.A.N.T.I.S. gives us a freaking invisible t-rex. This episode is mind-boggling on several levels; insulting, even.  

The cast is one of M.A.N.T.I.S.’s strengths. Carl Lumbly is a criminally underrated actor, and he carries the show as best he can. Roger Rees, another underappreciated actor, makes for a more than competent sidekick, and Christopher Gartin and Galyn Görg are both fine in their roles. But nobody could look good delivering some of that second-half material; not surprisingly, Görg gets the worst of it.

M.A.N.T.I.S. was never much for notable guest stars, with the most prominent recurring characters being played by Star Trek vets Gary Graham and Andrew Robinson (Robinson seems to be having a wonderful time throughout). While the recurring actors are generally good, though, the acting of the one-off characters is frequently weak.

So then: did M.A.N.T.I.S. deserve to be canceled? It’s hard to argue that it didn’t. Certainly it was headed in the wrong direction. And it’s just too bad: with the cast, the premise, and the characters, there was a quality show screaming to get out. But every time M.A.N.T.I.S. did something well, it immediately turned around and did something astoundingly silly: terrible writing assassinated this show well before the invisible t-rex showed up to devour its credibility.

It is therefore with great disappointment that I give M.A.N.T.I.S. a 5. (That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out if you like the premise, but you’re probably better off quitting after episode 11.)

Best episode: “Thou Shalt Not Kill”

Worst episode: “Ancestral Evil”