Wu's TV Corner #55: The Phoenix

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-phoenix.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0674629/

1982 ABC. "In Search of Mira." Very short-lived (five episodes) Judson Scott, Richard Lynch science fiction show. With E.G. Marshall and guest stars Britt Leach, John Vernon, Jennifer Parsons, Marc Alaimo, Bert Remsen, Sandy Ward. Ancient alien in Peru, Bennu of the Golden Light (Judson Scott), wakes up in the 80s and is being chased by the relentless government agent Richard Lynch. Explaining this premise coherently is way beyond my limited skills as a TV reviewer so I will cheat with a Wiki copy/paste job:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phoenix_%281982_TV_series%29

• Bennu of the Golden Light (played by Judson Scott), the protagonist, is an alien who possesses special abilities including physical levitation, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, astral projection and telekinesis. Some of these are made possible or amplified by his Phoenix Amulet, which draws power from the Sun. Bennu's home planet was originally called Aurica, but this was changed to Eldebran for broadcast.
• Yago is another being from the planet Eldebran. He is evil and Bennu's primary opponent. Yago is connected to the Moon, as Bennu is to the Sun. The series bible explicitly compares Yago to Lucifer and Dracula. He wears a bracelet called "The Bells of Thon" around his right wrist, which has the power to deafen. He also carries a musical instrument called "The Black Moonball", which can alter his appearance or teleport him to another location. In the series bible Yago was named Aiwaz, presumably after the alleged being who dictated The Book of the Law to Aleister Crowley.
• Mira (played by Sheila Frazier) is another being from the planet Eldebran. 40,000 years ago she was placed on Earth as Bennu's companion, and when the series begins he is searching for her.
• Justin Preminger (played by Richard Lynch) is the recurring human antagonist of the story, a tough, cynical and relentless former P.O.W. in Vietnam turned government agent. He is obsessed with capturing Bennu, who, despite what his superiors say, he believes to be nothing more than some sort of New Age con man. He is generally only one step behind his alien quarry.
• Dr. Ward Frazier (played by E. G. Marshall) is a scientist sympathetic to Bennu and his goals.

This is the second episode, following the TV movie premiere, and was written by Leigh Vance. John Vernon is the government agency boss who sends out Richard Lynch on a secret mission to find Bennu. Bennu is just kind of wandering the streets, hitchhiking, and depending on the kindness of strangers, when he witnesses a clandestine deal go wrong and someone is shot dead. The bad guys chase Bennu but he is able to get away by using some of his alien powers to disable the gun. Bert Remsen is hauling cement and picks up Bennu and brings him home for dinner, but the bad guys are still out looking for him.

All five episodes are available on Youtube in a couple of places and I had watched the TV movie before. The Phoenix is a decent and staid show if you are into the mystical alien thing, but also leisurely paced. Not action packed but certainly watchable for SF fans and the IMDb reviews are generally positive.