Greatest American Aliens - Benevolent outer space aliens featured on the sci-fi series GREATEST AMERICAN HERO/ABC/1981-83.

One day, the aliens popped down from space and presented a red costume with unique powers to Los Angeles high school teacher Ralph Hinkley while he was on a desert field trip with his students. The suit looked like a pair of tight fitting red pajamas with a black cape and bestowed fantastic powers (flight, incredible speed, telekinesis, clairvoyance, invisibility, invulnerability from bullets and super strength) to this blond, mild-mannered Whitney High School teacher.

The aliens had chosen Hinkley because he matched their profile of someone having the qualities of "moral character, idealism and integrity." Unfortunately, before Ralph got the hang of the suit's abilities, he lost the instruction manual that came with it. He spent the rest of the series clumsily fighting evil as he tried to unlock the many mysteries of this extraterrestrial costume.

Assisting our superhero in the pursuit of the bad guys was Ralph's attorney girlfriend Pam Davidson who along with FBI agent Bill Maxwell kept the secret of this Greatest American Hero. Agent Maxwell called Ralph's suit "The Jammies." He had witnessed the initial alien encounter in the desert and later convinced Ralph to use his powers to fight crime. Ralph and Bill eventually meet the aliens in person and learn the truth behind the suit.

At the end of the series, Ralph's identity was inadvertently revealed and the Aliens advised Ralph to find another earthling to wear the suit. It was given to Holly Hathaway, an altruistic environmentalist who would become "The Greatest American Heroine."

TRIVIA NOTE: The name of Ralph's character was change abruptly in 1981 when a would-be-assassin named John Hinckley.Jr. (with a "C") tried to kill President Reagan on March 30th of that year. After things died downs, the original name was included back in the script. In the interim, Ralph was called "Mr. H" and Mr. Hanley.

THEME SONG LYRICS

Title: "Believe It Or Not"
Written By: "Mike Post and Stephen Geyer"
Performed By: "Joey Scarbury"

Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,
It should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free eee eee.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

It's like a light of a new day,
It came from out of the blue.
Breaking me out of the spell I was in,
Making all of my wishes come true ue ue.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free eee eee.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

• The Greatest American Hero (IMDb)