M.A.N.T.I.S. — First Primetime African-American Superhero

M.A.N.T.I.S. was the first primetime African-American superhero on network television. The series was broadcast by Fox beginning August 26, 1994 and ran for an entire season of 22 episodes. Originally created by Sam Hamm and Sam Raimi, the series was developed for TV by Bryce Zabel. The series pilot was written by Zabel and directed by David Nutter. *** [From a blog post by Series Developer and Co-Executive Producer, Bryce Zabel] "M.A.N.T.I.S." was the first TV series where the powers-that-be gave me the keys to the car and said I was in charge of the writing staff. This was back in 1994 when I was coming off a successful first season of the "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman"series. Sandy Grushow was in charge of FBC-TV back then, and he’s the first guy who said I was seasoned enough to be in charge of a budget of $1.4 million per episode and not blow it. Anyway the deal was, "M.A.N.T.I.S" had started as a two-hour pilot, written by Sam Hamm ("Batman") and directed by Sam Raimi ("Spiderman"). It continued on as a series without them, after they had a falling out with FBC. After the pilot aired in the spring of 1994, we produced 20 more episodes of the series starting that August up in Vancouver, B.C. for the 1994-1995 season. Our first episode basically became a re-premising and de-facto new pilot. Some things were kept, others fine-tuned, and others outright changed (like new supporting cast). The basic concept from Hamm and Raimi, however, never changed. The series was about an African-American scientist who became a super-hero, played by Carl Lumbly. The premise, in case you missed it, was simple. Dr. Miles Hawkins, a brilliant scientist, had been paralyzed in a shooting incident. Confined to a wheelchair, he created a cutting edge, sophisticated exo-skeleton designed to allow him to walk again by transmitting his brain function through the suit, rather than through his body’s crippled nervous system. Once in the suit, he was more than normal, he was super, but he couldn’t stay in it long without some serious consequences. Oh, and he had a flying car. Really… "This is the scientific journal of Dr. Miles Hawkins, to be published in the event of my death. I know when the truth is known, people will wonder why I felt it necessary to create the M.A.N.T.I.S. The reality--I never did. The M.A.N.T.I.S. asked his own creation and I could not refuse him." The copy above was the voice-over I’d written for the first episode. The “scientific journal” aspect allowed Hawkins a degree of introspection we felt was appropriate for his character. Ironically, nobody in the pilot had ever decided what "M.A.N.T.I.S." stood for, despite the periods. One of my first jobs was to decide that burning issue. Frankly, I think originally my predecessors had thought of it more as Mantis, as in Preying, and wanted to fashion a super-hero in that image. Apparently, though, there had been at some point in history a not-very-widely read comicbook of the same name. That’s how the periods came about. You see, NOW, it was completely different. So, by the time I inherited the name and the periods, it had become an issue. I remember sitting at my desk with a pen and a piece of paper and playing with words. It came spilling out, on the first try, I believe. Mechanically Augmented Neuro Transmitter Interactive System We started out the series with the idea that it was a very real world and M.A.N.T.I.S. was the singular fantasy element. A half dozen or more episodes in, we realized that wasn’t working like it was supposed to, and we changed tactics mid-season. For the final episodes, M.A.N.T.I.S. dealt with increasingly strange sci-fi type premises. Unfortunately, that didn’t work either and Fox killed the series. Knowing cancellation was imminent, Hawkins himself was even killed off in the final episode. That scientific journal, it was now revealed, had told the story of his transformation and adventures from beyond the grave.