Good start, but then it gets ruined

Awesome Movie

Absolutely the worst movie.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

The character of Dr. Strange is one of the most popular characters in "Marvel Comics." His superpowers consist of white magic and Sorcerery. There have been some terrific stories from his own comic book and the characters legacy is assured. "Universal" studios had a golden opportunity in 1978 to bring Dr. Strange to the small screen. During the late 1970s, Hollywood was attempting to adapt various "Marvel Comic" superheroes for television. Sadly, no regular series resulted from this feature length pilot episode. I can't imagine why John Mills of all people would even consider appearing in this! However, he certainly gives a very good performance and is the only reason to watch this television film. Peter Hooten - totally obscure - is OK. He passes a slight resemblance to Dr. Strange but is rather bland as a performer. The rest of the cast are not very good, except for the one who plays the evil female Sorcerer. The main problems with "Dr. Strange," is that the plot is too boring, there is a severe lack of incident, the low budget is all too obvious and the writers didn't bother to research their own character. In the origin story in the comics, Dr. Strange was a brilliant but arrogant and ego-driven man whose career as a New York surgeon is cut short after a car accident paralyses his hands. He is then taught a harsh lesson in humility following his training in Sorcerery in Asia. None of this is covered in this 1978 television film and I was rather disappointed. I call it lazy writing myself. When one is adapting a superhero character, whether it's for cinema or television, words like ordinary, mundane, predictable or monotonous simply can not apply. Knowing the public, they either like what they see or they don't. If it is down to the latter, then there is no way that a film with a particular superhero will lead to a sequel and no way that a regular series will follow on from a pilot episode. The pace of "Dr. Strange" is so damn slow, it felt as though I was watching something that lasted for 2 hours! It took a long time for the main character to meet his mentor in Sorcerery (John Mills). When it eventually happened, those scenes were tolerable. Finally at about 10 minutes before the end, the proceedings warmed up a bit as there was some action involving Sorcerery. Peter Hooten at long last had donned the trademark costume for which the character is most famous. The attempts at the special effects for the climax weren't good at all, not even in those days. A thoroughly wasted opportunity.

****SPOILERS**** Never making it beyond being a pilot for an upcoming TV series on the CBS TV network "Doctor Strange"-If you didn't know about him from "Marvel Comics -first comes across as a "Ben Casey" Doctor Kildare" 1960's TV medical series until the doctor on call Doctor Stephen Strange, Peter Hooten, realizes that he's here on earth not only to save lives but the entire planet from the red eyed and creepy looking "Nameless One",David Hooks. It's that "Nameless One" who sent out one of his or its flunkies Morgan Le Fay, Jessica Walters, from the depths of Hell to do in the old "Wizard of Good & Plenty" whom the handsome and youthful Doctor Strange , after he checks out for good, is to replace.Of course Doctor Strange has no ideas of what's going on in the movie until one of his patients Clea Lake, Eddie Benton, whom Morgan used to try to kill the Old Wizard, by pushing him over a highway overpass, spills the beans of what Morgan and her master the "Nameless One" are really up to. Which he at first foolishly dismisses as just pure hokum & hallucinations. It's when Doctor Strange meets the Old Wizaed and his faithful manservant Wong, Clyde Kusatsu, that he finally finds out what its all about and goes along with the program or script. That of him eventually taking over the Old Wizard's work by replacing him. As the one who'll keep the "Nameless One" from conquering the world and making it a living hell for everyone, man woman child as well as animal and plant life, living in it!***SPOILERS*** Strange as it sounds the film ends on a down note with the defeated Morgan Le Fay coming back from the dead or was it Hell hawking herself as some kind of self help Guru on TV with Doctor Strange and the by now totally cured Clea not at all recognizing her. Were soon given the impression that there's more to come with a TV series "The Amazing and Strange adventures of Doctor Strange" soon to hit the small tube. That of course didn't happen and now some 38 years later-in 2016-we can all gratefully assume that it never will!

I absolutely adore this made for TV film. Frankly having just re-watched a VHS I have I would so love to have this on DVD. It gets NO AIRINGS on TV to my knowledge. Shame. I loved Peter Hooten and John Mills and Clyde Kusatsu. What a HOME Lindmer had!!! The vivacious Jessica Walter at her absolute sexiest! There is something very special about this film; a compassion, a humanity that can sometimes appear cheesy and forced in the medium however, despite what some may think, there is a genuineness about Hooten and Mills performances that I found so refreshing.Keeping in mind that this is made for TV and with a background that lends itself to formulaic triteness I think the crew did a heck of a job.The set for Lindmer's house is well done for a film with a rock bottom budget.Good versus Evil, as old as man, and this is a special entry in that genre.

I saw all of the Marvel Comics TV adaptations in first run back in the 70's. It seemed to me that the producers of these movies just didn't "get" the characters. They would include some surface elements of the character and discard all of the things that made them interesting in the first place. In the case of 'Dr. Strange' the only character that resembles it's comic book inspiration is a window on a townhouse. Fans of the book know what I mean.As a stand alone film it's pretty lame as well. The story is never really very interesting but the special effects are good for 70's TV. Dr. Strange has all of the mystic powers he wields in the comics, but never achieves that sense of unreality that this sort of movie needs. And what was up with that wacky outfit they gave him at the end? Who designed that, Liberace?