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Tvcrazy.net TV trivia and facts
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The Greatest American Hero Trivia 1981-1983 SCI-FI
Facts

Greatest American Hero
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Ralph Hinkley was minding his own business, when his car
mysteriously drove itself out into the desert. Ralph was visited
by aliens, who had decided to endow him with superhuman powers to fight
the battle for truth justice and the American way. To this end, they
gave him a special suit and an instruction manual. Unfortunately, Ralph
managed to lose the instruction manual before getting the hang of using
the suit. He then reluctantly teamed up with FBI agent, Bill Maxwell, played by
Robert Culp, who wanted Ralph to use the suit for large missions like
ending the Cold War.
credited cast: William Katt .... Ralph Hinkley Connie Sellecca .... Pam Davidson/Pam Hinkley/Hanley Robert Culp .... Bill Maxwell Michael Paré .... Tony Villicana Faye Grant .... Rhonda Blake Jesse D. Goins .... Cyler Johnson Don Cervantes .... Rodriguez Brandon Williams (II) .... Kevin Hinkley
Trivia
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After the attempted assassination of
Ronald Reagan, William Katt's
character's name was changed from Ralph Hinkley to Ralph Hanley to
avoid association with would-be assassin John Hinkley Jr.
-
In the first episode,
the pair are spoken to by Bill's (dead) ex partner, a black agent.
This is a tip of the hat to Culp's role in I Spy, where he partnered
with Bill Cosby.
-
Ralph's son Kevin was
only seen occasionally during the first season and was phased out as
the show went on.
-
William Katt's real
life mother, Barbara Hale, played Ralph's mother Paula Hinkley in a
few episodes. Hale was famous for her role as Perry Mason's
secretary. William Katt in turn appeared on the Perry Mason TV
movies in the 80's as Paul Drake, Jr.
Ralph's Insignia Symbol
-
On the
DVD of Season 1, Stephen J. Cannell notes that Ralph's chest
superhero symbol was actually based on a pair of scissors that he
had on his desk during the design of the uniform. However, in Jeff
Rovin's book, The World Encyclopedia of Superheroes, the author
claimed that it was actually an "open book and needle emblem.
The symbol's bilateral symmetry seemingly avoided the "backward S"
problem encountered on the Adventures of Superman. On the low-budget
1950s series, film editors would on occasion "flop" stock footage of
George Reeves in flight, causing the "S" shield to appear reversed.
However, in many Greatest American Hero composite flying sequences,
Ralph wore a watch- and the timepiece jumps from one wrist to the
other, especially in extended flying sequences.
-
The symbol often
appeared on the wrestling attire of ECW wrestler Super Nova, whose
"gimmick" was that he was a superhero.
Theme song
The theme song (and variants of the theme) are used frequently
throughout. "Believe It or Not" was composed by Mike Post (music)
and Stephen Geyer (lyrics) and sung by Joey Scarbury. The theme song
became a popular hit during the show's run.
"Believe it or Not" debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100
on June 13, 1981, eventually peaking at #2 during the weeks of
August 15 and August 22, and spending a total of 18 weeks in the Top
40. (This is a rare example of a title song being more popular than
the show itself.)
The Suit
-
The Season 3 episode of
Robot Chicken, "Yancy the Yo-Yo Boy" features a skit where a nerd
receives the alien super suit. But unlike Ralph, the nerd doesn't find
out any of the suit's powers, instead being knocked unconscious after
attempted flight. Robert Culp reprises his role of Bill Maxwell and
takes the unconscious nerd on several adventures (most notably using
the nerd (and his invulnerable costume) as a shield to fend off
bullets or as a bludgeon to beat up bad guys), ending with the aliens
reclaiming the suit and leaving the barely conscious and naked nerd
vulnerable to humiliation by two girls mocking his "third leg".
Superman Connection
-
The producers faced a lawsuit from DC Comics accusing them of
plagerizing Superman with this series. However, the suit was
rejected as the judge ruled the lead character was sufficiently
different, especially since the basic concept of the character who
is given an alien uniform and weapon to fight evil is far closer to
another DC Comics character, Green Lantern.
-
In the pilot episode, while Ralph
ponders whether to accept the suit, he observes his son watching the "Superfriends"
cartoon. Batman is heard to say, "We need one more Superfriend who can
fly!" Whereupon Ralph stares back at the camera, seemingly disgusted
by the corny writing of that show. In a later scene, having yet to
convince Pam he really is a superhero, Ralph desperately cracks,
"You're one step ahead of Lois Lane: she never did find out who Clark
Kent really was. Yeah, I know. Bad joke."
-
In "Here's Looking at You, Kid",
Ralph exits a crowded restaurant while in costume, pretending to
promote a local theater production of George Bernard Shaw's "Man and
Superman."
-
In "Saturday On Sunset Boulevard,"
Ralph needed a quick change. Spotting an actual phone booth, he
grumbles, "No! Never!" But, pressed for time, he decides, "Aw, what
the hell." Pam finds this painfully funny to watch.
-
In the pilot when Ralph is taken to
a mental hospital wearing his super outfit, a man tells him, "That's a
bad suit, Jim!" A similar line ("Say Jim, that's a bad out-FIT!") was
said to Christopher Reeve in Superman (1978) movie.
The Greatest American Heroine
In 1986, the original cast reunited for a pilot film for a new NBC
series to be called The Greatest American Heroine. The pilot reveals
that several years after the final episode, Ralph's secret identity
was finally revealed to the public, resulting in his becoming a
celebrity. This upsets the aliens who gave him the suit, and they
charge him with finding a new hero to wear the costume and use its
powers for fighting evil. He finds a young woman named Holly Hathaway
(Mary Ellen Stuart) who spends her time looking for lost kittens and
teaching young children, and most of the episode deals with her
learning how to use the suit under Bill Maxwell's guidance.
The Greatest American Heroine did not result in a new series, and the
pilot was never broadcast by NBC. Ultimately, the pilot was reedited
as an episode of the original series (complete with original opening
credits and theme), and added to syndication packages of the original
series, where it airs as the final episode. You can find it on the
DVD of Season 1
In July 2008, it was announced that
Katt was writing a comic book series based on the TV show for his
publishing company, Catastrophic Comics, in conjunction with Arcania
Studios. A series of animated webisodes are planned with Katt, Culp and
Selleca supplying the voices of their characters from the TV show. A
live-action feature film is also in the works and is expected to begin
production in 2009. William Katt is quoted in the September 2008 issue
of Geek Monthly Magazine as saying, "Stephen Cannell is starting a
feature film this year. I read a recent script that he gave me and it's
quite good and lots of fun. There's plenty left in that character."
Check
out Steven Jensen's John Hart Photo Album with pics of
John Hart as the Lone
Ranger on Happy Days and the Greatest American Hero
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