A press release showed up in my inbox this afternoon for the Swedish band Manimal, which reminded me of the 1983 network TV show Manimal.

Manimal!

I’d forgotten about Manimal, which, as the Wikipedia states, was “centered around the character Dr Jonathan Chase (Simon MacCorkindale), a shape-shifting man who possessed the ability to turn himself into any animal he chose. He used this ability to help the police solve crimes.” Although it lasted a mere eight episodes, and, as the opening sequence (posted below) suggests, was totally cheese, the show blew my freakin’ mind when I was in grade school.

I loved the man-to-animal transformation sequences and used to break the lead tips off of pencils and wedge them between my knuckles while making a fist in order to pretend I was turning into a panther. “No, I can’t do that math problem ’cause all my pencils are busted, but I can tear your damn throat out because I’m a wicked-awesome jungle cat, Rrrrrrrrawwwwwrrrrrr!!!”

I found a video of one of those amazing transformation sequences, which led me to look up the special effects credits on the IMDb. Not surprisingly, they were done by Stan Winston Studios. Old school Manimal transformation sweetness right here:

Doesn’t that just make you wanna, like, fight a bear or something?