Caring for the dazed Martian's needs, the reporter transported him to his walk-up apartment located over a garage. Tim controlled his journalistic tendency to tell to the world that he had seen a Martian and allowed the alien to stay with him until his spacecraft could be repaired. Living incognito with Tim O'Hara, the Martian posed as his "Uncle Martin," thus becoming the first Irishman from the planet Mars.

During his stay on Earth, Martin used many of his alien abilities. By pointing his index finger, he could levitate any object within his line of sight. Invisibility was attained by raising two ball-tipped antennas from the back of his head and then concentrating on vanishing. And Martin could also read minds, as long as there was no conscious effort to block him out.

For all his powers, Martin did have his peculiarities. If he got exposed to the metal silver, his Martian nervous system would go crazy, possibly draining his powers and leaving him a moron.

Thunderstorms were another concern for Martin. If he was not properly grounded from the electrical activity of a storm, lightning might hit him and cause a condition known as the "Popsy" which made him disappear and appear uncontrollably.

Besides those problems Martin had to be on guard from his nosy landlord, Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton) and her off-and-on boy friend, Detective Bill "Bulldog" Brennan (Alan Hewitt) who was always snooping about the place.

Martin was 450 years old. However, since the Martian calendar has 300 weeks to the year and 8672 days to a week, he was much older by Earth standards. His Martian name was Exagitious 12 and 1/2. Martin had a normal blood pressure of 218 and an average body temperature of 131

Among the gadgets found in Martin's spacecraft were memory pills (Swallow one pill and PRESTO! instant knowledge), and a portable time travel device he used in his anthropological studies of the Earth.

His molecular reassembler machine could transform animals into human beings. If you looked closely at the painting the "Nightwatch" painted by Rembrandt, you can see Martin standing in the crowd of Dutchmen. Martin also contended that he was the one who cracked the joke that made the Mona Lisa smile.

When Martin used Spray Formula A-673-5-K to the second power it made anyone who smelled it fall instantly in love. (Recipe found on page 64 of "The Martian Compendium of Home Remedies or What To Do Until the Zigoblat (Doctor) Comes").

An animated spin-off MY FAVORITE MARTIANS/CBS/1973-75 featured the voices of Jonathan Harris as Uncle Martin, and Howard Morris as his nephew, Andromeda known as "Andy," who crash landed on Earth and ended up living incognito with magazine writer Tim O'Hara. Okie was their shaggy white Martian dog.

TRIVIA NOTE: The premise of this TV series about a visitor from outer space had already been successfully attempted in Gore Vidal's play "Visit to a Small Planet" which later was turned into a 1960 movie vehicle for comedian Jerry Lewis.

In 1994, Ray Walston made a cameo appearance in a telephone commercial where he asked whether advertised savings covered Martians living on planet Earth.

The Disney motion picture remake My Favorite Martian (1999) starred Christopher Lloyd as Martin the Martian and Jeff Daniels as reporter Tim O'Hara.

External Links

• My Favorite Martian (IMDb)