Out Of This World is an American sitcom about a teenage girl who is half alien, which gives her unique supernatural powers. It first aired in U.S. syndication on September 17, 1987 and ended on May 25, 1991. It was first broadcast in the UK on the ITV network on April 9, 1990, usually at 10am on weekday mornings. [edit] Show summary The series revolves around Evie Ethel Garland, a young girl who discovers on her thirteenth birthday that her father is an alien named Troy, from the planet Antareus, who married her mother and "merged lifeforms" to create Evie. Evie's half-alien heritage gives her superhuman abilities. Most of the episodes revolve around Evie misusing her powers and causing some trouble, which she spends the rest of the episode trying to fix. Only Evie and her family know about her alien father and her powers, and many episodes depict Evie trying to hide her secret from other characters. [edit] Characters - Evie Ethel Garland (Maureen Flannigan) — Evie is a half-human, half-alien girl who lives with her mother in Marlowe, California, in a house overlooking the sea. Evie is an only child. Her mother had always told Evie that her father was a secret agent, but on her thirteenth birthday Evie began to develop superhuman abilities and it was revealed that her father is an extraterrestrial from the planet Antareus. Evie attends a school for gifted children (run by her mother) and achieves good grades there. Her father describes her as "the perfect child: loving; caring; with the same needs of most teenagers". The series follows Evie through her teenage years, from her thirteenth birthday in the first episode to her eighteenth birthday in the final episode.
- Donna Garland (Donna Pescow) — Evie's mother. Described by her husband as "an ambitious working mother with a career", Donna runs a school for gifted children, which Evie attends. Toward the end of season 3, Donna becomes the mayor of Marlowe. Donna is very protective of her daughter, often to the dismay of Evie, who would like to be more independent. Donna and Evie's uncle Beano (then later uncle Mick) are the only regular characters on the show who know Evie's secret.
- Troy Garland (Burt Reynolds, voice only) — Evie's father. Troy is a human-looking extra terrestrial with many special powers from the planet Antareus. Troy met Donna when his spacecraft crashed on Earth at some point in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The two fell in love, were married in 1971, and two years later Donna gave birth to Evie. Shortly after, in 1974, Troy was called back to Antareus to fight in a war. Since then, Troy occasionally visits Earth, and stays in touch with his daughter via a special communication device known as the "cube" (see below). Troy's powers seem to be almost limitless: though he lives on Antareus, he can control many things on Earth (from computers to the weather); he can give and take away Evie's powers at will; and also seems to be aware of certain events on Earth. While Troy appears in the show's opening credits, he rarely makes a physical appearance in the series — and when he does his face is obscured (for example, via a surgical mask or shadows). Troy was credited as "himself" in the opening credits.
- Beano Froelich (1987–1990) (Joe Alaskey) — "Uncle Beano" is Donna's brother and Evie's uncle, who lives next door to them. Beano has a large appetite and runs "Beano's Diet Clinic". Beano is one of the three regular characters who know Evie's secret, along with Donna and Evie herself.
- Kyle Applegate (Doug McClure) — Kyle is a former television actor who is now the mayor of Marlowe. Kyle is a good friend of the family, but "the mayor" punishes even the smallest offenses. As well as being egocentric and vain, Kyle is dimwitted and gullible, often completely failing to notice Evie's "alien" antics. Towards the end of season 3, Kyle is appointed police chief by Donna, who takes over from him as mayor.
- Lindsay Selkirk (Christina Nigra) — Evie's best friend. Evie and Lindsay spend a lot of time together drinking milkshakes at their local diner, the "Goodie Goodie".
- Chris Fuller (Steve Burton) — Chris is a surfer and high school student who later becomes a student at Marlowe Community College. Chris was originally Evie's boyfriend, but by the end of the series had become Lindsay's boyfriend.
- Mick (1990–1991) (Tom Nolan) — Mick is Donna's brother and Evie's uncle, who was introduced in the fourth season to replace uncle Beano. He is a former rock musician.
- Buzz (Buzz Belmondo) — Buzz runs the diet clinic for Beano. He usually makes one brief appearance per episode, during which he performs a series of jokes with very little interaction with other characters, usually playing more to the audience and cameras. The jokes are typically puns or prop-based gags, normally relating to the elaborate costume that he is wearing.
[edit] Evie's powers - Evie's main power is the ability to freeze time on Earth (while time continues for her and her father on Antareus) by joining two fingers, during which she maneuvers herself or objects to alter the course of events on Earth. When she claps her hands together, time resumes as normal. She can also "unfreeze" individuals by touching them while time is frozen. In the opening sequence, she opens a door and knocks an open can of paint off a ladder, and then joins her fingers to stop it mid-fall.
- Evie later gains the power to gleep, which allows her to manifest objects by using the power of her mind. There are certain restrictions on this power, such as the inability to create complicated machinery, and overuse of this power will cause her other abilities to stop functioning.
- As a result of her alien DNA, Evie's face changes color according to her mood. Trepidation causes her to turn green, boredom turns her orange, and nausea causes an array of polka dots to appear across her forehead. This proves particularly problematic in the episode "The Three Faces of Evie".
- Evie has the ability to instantly teleport herself from one place to another, by snapping her fingers.
- In the episode The Amazing Evie, Evie discovers her ability to enchant animals to do her bidding and surprises her mother by having all the neighborhood dogs bark I Wanna Dance with Somebody while marching in a circle around the swimming pool.
- Evie can withstand temperatures of up to 2000 degrees Celsius, as demonstrated in the episode "Evie's Eighteen", in which Peter attacks Evie with a flamethrower at her birthday party.
- In an episode based around Evie's 16th birthday, her father gives her the choice between several new powers as a gift. Each one proves to be too much of a burden (such as "looking into someone's eyes and telling them to do something while thinking the word obey, and they would obey"); she ultimately chooses the power to "change shoes quickly".
[edit] The cube Evie is able to communicate with Troy through a special "genetic" communication device known as the "cube", which he gave to her when she turned thirteen. The cube effectively functions as a telephone line to Antareus — it can even be used to leave Troy an "answerphone" message, as seen in the episode "My Little Evie". There are no controls on the cube; Evie simply calls for her father and the cube activates when he answers, deactivating when he "hangs up". Sometimes when Troy uses his powers whilst talking through the cube, a beam of energy is emitted directly from the cube. Evie and Donna normally keep the cube around the house, out of sight (often in Evie's bedroom), sometimes telling people it is an ornament or a talking clock. When the cube is activated, the top half of it opens up on a hinge, a magenta light pulses inside, and a "spacey" sound effect plays. The lights in the room usually dim, although not always. Troy's voice is heard clearly through the cube with reverberation. Originally, the cube seemed to be more of a telepathic device, since no one other than Evie (and the viewers) could hear Troy's voice, nor could Troy hear anyone other than Evie. However, these rules were changed at the start of the second season, after which everyone could both hear and be heard by Troy. [edit] Antareus and references to other space dramas Although it is rarely seen in the actual series, Troy's home planet Antareus is shown in several scenes of the show's opening credits. These scenes feature several elements from the 1970s version of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. The two ships flying by at the start of the intro are two Terran starfighters, which Buck and his partner, Wilma Deering, were famous for flying. The alien city on Antareus is really a shot of a city on Earth. One of the buildings was Defense Directorate headquarters, where Buck and Wilma got their assignments from Dr. Huer; another building was, presumably, Buck's apartment. The masters of Antareus, however, wore robes similar to the Time Lords from Doctor Who. The first episode of the third season ("Evie's Sweet Sixteen") features an introduction which parodies the introduction to the Star Wars films. The introduction features the familiar style of scrolling text in space with dramatic music, mimicking the wording used in Star Wars, beginning: "On a planet called Antareus in a galaxy far, far away in a time not too long ago. Last Week..." Steve Burton, who played Chris, went on to star in the 2002 sci-fi miniseries Taken, which revolved around a young girl whose great-grandfather was an alien. The girl has some powers similar to Evie's, such as the ability to stop time. [edit] Production - The role of Evie was originally given to Christina Nigra, but in a last minute change-of-mind, the producers cast Maureen Flannigan instead, and created a new character, Lindsay, especially for Nigra.[1]
- During the second season, actress Donna Pescow became pregnant. Since it couldn't be explained how her character became pregnant while her husband was away fighting a war, Pescow was filmed using only close-up shots or position so that something was hiding her pregnancy.
- The theme song, "Swinging on a Star", is an adapted version of Bing Crosby's number one hit of the same name in the summer of 1944. The original lyrics are a moral message about self-improvement and achievement in life ("swinging on a star"), while the alternative (a life of underachieving) is depicted using animals. In the modified lyrics, however, the animal is replaced with "an earthling" and the song compares human life on Earth with alien life in space; representing the two aspects of Evie herself.
- Television ads for "Out of This World" were used in station breaks in a fictional news broadcast for the "Kongfrontation" ride at Universal Studios Florida, accompanied by a crawl warning residents of New York City to stay indoors because military and police forces were on the lookout for King Kong.[citation needed]
[edit] Celebrity guest appearances The series featured several celebrities who made cameo appearances on the show, usually as themselves. - Actor Norman Fell (as Evie's psychiatrist Dr. Hauser, "The Nightmare", 1987)
- Actor Tom Bosley (as Troy's father, "Guess Who's Coming to Earth", 1988)
- Actor and popular game show panelist Jamie Farr ("Go West, Young Mayor", 1988)
- NFL American Football Player Lyle Alzado ("Goodbye Mr. Chris", 1990)
- Actor Mr. T ("New Kid on the Block", 1990)
- Game show host Bob Barker ("Evie's Magic Touch", 1990)
- Singer and actress Susan Anton ("Best Friends", 1990)
- Pop singer Tiffany ("I Want My Evie TV", 1990)
- The British band Fine Young Cannibals
- Scott Baio made a cameo appearance in "Princess Evie" (1988)
[edit] References [edit] External links |
