My Crazy Youth: The Time That Nightman and...Manimal Battled Jack the Ripper!

An obscure Superhero meets a forgotten TV Character- it must be Saturday Afternoon on WGN!

In the late-90s to early 2000s, there was LOTS of trashy TV made for Basic Cable.  I'm looking at you, The Lost World and Relic Hunter!  During this time, a character bought by Marvel as part of Malibu Comics got 2 Seasons of a Show.  He was...

In this Episode, we begin with...London in the 19th Century?!?

A mysterious man stops Jack the Ripper by...turning into a Leopard.  He fails to stop him from escaping via a magic crystal and he has one too!

In the present, Jack and the man battle again, with our hero- not in costume- getting caught in the middle.

Using his powers, he tracks down the man who reveals himself to be...

Manimal!

Yes, the fairly-infamous joke of a Show from 1983 is back (well, the Lead is) due to a shared Producer/Creator- Glenn A. Larson.

If he had plans to go further with this, I can't tell.  It didn't happen either way.

In this retconned adventure, Manimal explains his origin and says that he was tasked with stopping evil.  He yadda yaddas his way past explaining who gave him a time crystal and told him to stop Jack the Ripper.

On top of that, his wife- I guess the love interest from the cancelled show- is dead, but they have a daughter.

I won't SPOIL how it all goes, since you can actually watch it for free.  Check out Archive.org while you can.

I will note how little Nightman is mentioned in this summary and with good reason.

Can they stop Jack?  Can they save the Daughter?  Will this Show end regardless?

This is weird for so many reasons.  Where do I begin?  Nightman barely factors into the main Narrative, since this is all about Manimal, his daughter and what I can only assume was a failed pitch for a Show about her.  Sadly, *most* of the main Players aren't around for me to ask about this.  I guess I could ask the Actress, as she continues to work today.  Manimal himself has some MASSIVE changes put in to make this batshit crazy story work.  When did he get recruited to time travel?  By whom?  Why him?  Why do his transformations kind of suck now?  Despite taking all of the attention, he's not very good at stopping Jack, who is just some guy.  He doesn't have magic powers or anything- just a knife and that time crystal thing.  Speaking of which, how many times will I cover time-travelling Jack the Ripper without even touching Time After Time (or the TV Series)?!?  It's such an oddly-specific thing to keep coming back to, Media!  That Film and Show are worth noting for comparison, as they feature AN AUTHOR trying to stop Jack, making the challenge more believable.  In this case, it is a shape-shifting hero (who has to suck for the Plot to work) and a super-powered Hero (who has to just be away from Jack the whole time until the end).  It clearly isn't the same, unless you give H.G. Wells the power of flight, super-strength and laser vision!  I have vague memories of this Show as a whole, but that's about it.  Looking through other Plot Synopsis', I feel like I need to cover more.  Can they be this silly or this revival/possible backdoor Pilot the peak?  Either way, I'll find out.  If nothing else, it isn't his last team-up... 

As much as I love older Shows like Thriller and One Step Beyond, you don't get the same level of crazy cheese as you do with '90s Shows like this.  Bring them on!