The barriers between worlds are falling as the current sorcerer supreme (John Mills) comes to the end of his time. He and his associate, Wong (Clyde Kusatsu), must find the new sorcerer, Dr. Strange (Peter Hooten) in three days. In that same amount of time, Morgan LeFay (Jessica Walter) must destroy them to allow a new age of darkness.
Yes, it was the ‘70s and Stephen Strange has a porn mustache. Get over it. It looked fine to me in 1978 when I saw this as a pilot for a series that never happened. This was the time of Marvel’s foray into television with Spider-Man, Captain America, and the Incredible Hulk. Doctor Strange took a less juvenile route, and instead of looking like a spandex boy’s adventure, took its inspiration from Italian horror. The psychedelic trips through astral planes and the dream-running through fog are the sorts of surreal elements they were premiering. Those are horror clichés now, but were innovative in ’78. The music is reminiscent of the scores Goblin composed for a range of European monster movies around this time.
Instead of Doctor Strange being an ass as he was in the comics, it is his boss and the head nurse who are uncaring wretches. The damaged hands plot is jettisoned as well, and I’m glad to see it go. His was always a hackneyed origin and keeping to it is what held back the 2016 MCU version. This Stephen Strange has always been a good man and a lady’s man, though him being destined to be the next master of magic with zero training is a bit hackneyed too. Morgan’s obsession with getting some Strange meat is trite as well.
Hooten is functional as the lead and on par with what I would expect from a TV movie of the time. John Mills was too good an actor to be stuck in TV films, but he didn’t put in too much effort. Jessica Walter is the MVP, hamming it up just enough to make LeFay sexy and fun.
Doctor Strange is about as good as it could have been under the artistic and budgetary limitations of network TV. With the character now portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch and backed by many millions of dollars, think of this as a novelty.