INFILTRATOR (1987)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, sociological*

About a year after director Corey Allen collaborated with Scott Bakula on I-MAN-- an attempt to market Bakula as an eighties TV-superhero on NBC-- the duo tried again, this time on CBS. INFILTRATOR was the better of the two attempts, at least partly because it was shorter and had a better potential romantic arc, but it only became available to the public thanks to being one of several unsold pilots that aired on the CBS SUMMER PLAYHOUSE.

Paul Sanderson (Bakula) is more of a fun-loving eccentric this time in comparison to the solid citizen of I-MAN. Both and a female colleague, Kerry Langdon (Debrah Farentino), work on separate projects at a research facility owned by eccentric genius John Stewart (Charles Keating). But while Kerry's project, that of an advanced space-probe, is going well, Paul's about to lose funding for his invention of a teleportation-technology. 

In addition, Paul's been trying to get friendly with Kerry for some time, but implicitly she regards him as a child-man and refuses to let him get close. Paul, wanting both to impress Kerry and to get her testimony about his project, invites her to see that he's finally succeeded with his invention, but she turns him down, being preoccupied with her own work.

Paul then takes a rash act that makes the scientist of THE FLY seem rational; he teleports himself from his lab into Kerry's lab. He succeeds, but he merges with the space probe known as Infiltrator. Unlike the FLY-guy, Paul initially does not seem to be physically changed. But it doesn't take long to reveal that at times of stress, Infiltrator's computer-brain reacts to stimuli independently of Paul-- such as feeling threatened while driving through busy L.A. traffic. Infiltrator can also change one of Paul's arms into a robot-arm-- one able to shoot lasers, which Infiltrator uses to disable a tailgating truck.

Such transformations pretty quickly trash Paul's easygoing attitude, but ironically, they cause Kerry to become more attentive toward him-- though Paul's not sure who she cares more about: him, or Infiltrator. Paul appeals to Stewart to attempt a separation. However, the blueprints Stewart needs to reverse-engineer Infiltrator's merger have been stolen by a disgruntled scientist, Markus (Michael Bell). So INFILTRATOR follows the same basic plot as I-MAN: newly-minted hero is directed to penetrate the compound of an evil mastermind to neutralize his control of stolen tech. But this time his potential romantic interest goes along, supposedly to monitor the Infiltrator-probe, though as the story proceeds, it's evident that she's begun to have feelings for her alienated colleague.

The actual action of the good guys battling Markus isn't much to speak of; the emphasis is on the horror of Paul transforming fully into a robotic entry. Bakula and Farentino pull off this drama well, and then the story ends with the promise that someday Paul will be cured of his affliction. Two years later, Bakula enjoyed his breakout success with QUANTUM LEAP, and he no longer had to subsist on failed pilots.