Episode
My Favorite Martian: Man or Amoeba
Overview
Renowned scientist Professor Newton Jennings posits that life no more advanced than amoebas or jellyfish can exist on Mars. Martin helps Angela write a report refuting Jennings claims, which quickly gets her a failing grade. When Martin's attempts to reason with Angela's teacher fails, Martin figures the only way to regain the upper hand—and Angela's trust—is to expose Jennings as a fraud.
Details
- Series
- My Favorite Martian
- Season
- Season 1
- Episode
- Episode 5
- Air date
- 1963-10-27
- Runtime
- 30 min
Episode context
Man or Amoeba is Episode 5 in Season 1 of My Favorite Martian. It aired on 1963-10-27. The runtime is 30 min.
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Episode 4: Russians R in Season
Martin reads about a $2 billion American space program, a program he knows is doomed for failure. Not wanting to see the American government waste $2 billion, Tim writes himself a fake letter to the newspaper which includes Martin's nighttime musings; Tim thinks Martin's mumblings are key to the flaw in the space program. Based on the fake letter, Tim writes a newspaper story criticizing the wasted $2 billion. Tim's masquerade is uncovered by the government, agents for whom think he's a spy working for the Russians. Tim is questioned under a lie detector, and he fails miserably when it comes to questions about Martin. So the agents call in Martin, the agents who question him under the lie detector, under hypnosis, and through brainwashing. Martin overcomes each, to him, primitive method. But he can't overcome the truth serum, and he spills the beans about being a Martian. It isn't until then that the agents let Tim and Martin go. They figure that Martin is crazy and delusional, which is causing stress on Tim which in turn made him write the letter.
Episode 6: The Man on the Couch
To get some rarefied air, Martin goes atop a water tower. Passersby, including the police, think he's a jumper and he's promptly sent to the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Martin thinks he can quickly exit the hospital by reading the psychiatrist's mind and tell him what he wants to hear. However the psychiatrist, Dr. Harvey Bonnett, has other things on his mind, like his troubled marriage. Ultimately, Dr. Bonnett becomes the patient and Martin the doctor.
More episodes from this season
Episode 3: There is No Cure for the Common Martian
Martin comes down with a common cold, which is not so common but rather debilitating for Martians. Meanwhile Tim is sent to Trimbles Department Store to review their outer space exhibit. Trimble, a major advertiser in The Sun, tries to buy and bully for a good review, despite the display showing every unfounded stereotype of life on other planets. Tim knows the display to be total fantasy. But he doesn't get a chance to write the review as he inadvertently takes one of Martin's sleep inducing cold tablets and falls asleep. To submit the review by deadline, Martin writes the review based on his own personal experience of what is true to life on Mars. Trimble is livid and wants Mr. Burns to fire Tim unless Tim apologizes and writes a retraction; Mr. Burns is willing to do so. Tim is going to do as Trimble and Burns wants if only to keep his job and keep from financial bankruptcy, but Martin doesn't want him to compromise what he knows to be right and wrong. Tim does stand up to Trimble and Trimble keeps to his threat until Trimble's usually mild mannered daughter, Gloria, takes her cue from Tim's moxie and stands up to her father about the quality of the exhibit. Trimble changes his tune as he admires the stand up quality of his daughter.
Episode 7: A Loaf of Bread, a Jug of Wine and Peaches
Martin allows himself to experience an emotion foreign to Martians: love at first sight. He falls hard for Peaches Ancream (Kathie Brown), that being her real given name since her father had a sense of humor. It is also an appropriate name as she is an exotic dancer. Peaches and Martin hit it off, so much so that Martin wants to marry her after their first date. Peaches admires honesty more than anything else in life, the reason that she broke up with her last boyfriend, Police Officer Thorp, who is still harboring strong feelings for Peaches. Martin decides to tell Peaches the truth about himself, which Peaches doesn't believe. When Officer Thorp confesses about the reason for his lies - he told her 6 different places where he was from since in reality he is an orphan who doesn't know - Peaches goes back to the man she feels is being more truthful.
Episode 2: The Matchmakers
There is dual girl trouble in the O'Hara household. George, the dog who Tim is looking after for Mr. Burns, is in love with Chloe, the dog from next door. Through trying to get George and Chloe together, Tim falls for Chloe's owner, Marsha Carson. However Marsha has had some recent relationship problems of her own. Howard Loomis, her boyfriend, took off to Mexico without as much as a goodbye. Because Marsha feels betrayed by Howard, she is now overprotective of Chloe and suspicious of all men, including Tim. Tim's case is not helped by Angela, who bad mouths Tim to Marsha solely because Angela has a crush on Tim herself. From information from Chloe, Martin finds out the whereabouts of Howard, who rushes back to Los Angeles based on "anonymous" information provided by Martin. Howard, whose departure to Mexico was beyond his control and who tried to contact Marsha prior to his departure, clears the air with her and reignites their relationship to the point of getting engaged. This leaves Tim out in the cold. But at least all works out for George and Chloe, as Tim is given the task of sitting for Chloe while Marsha and Howard rush off to Las Vegas to get married.
Episode 8: The Awful Truth
Tim talks Martin into temporarily giving him a Martian power. Martin decides to give him the power of levitation for a 24 hour period. When he thinks the power practically useless beyond performing mere parlor tricks, Tim asks for another, to him, more useful power: mind-reading. Martin grants him his wish, to be activated the next day and to last until midnight. Tim also uses this power for parlor tricks, which gets him into trouble. But he also wants to use it for an interview he has that afternoon with Councilman Jack Gramby. Tim wants to write a story about the Councilman's true political intentions. Tim is unable to read his mind because the Councilman is uncommitted in his political intentions, even to himself. So Tim writes a story on what he calls the mental ping-pong of the Councilman. The Councilman telephones Mr. Burns, Mr. Burns thinking that it is to sue the paper for libel. Distraught about probably losing his job, Tim goes into hiding for the rest of the day. However when Mr. Burns finds Tim just before midnight, he tells Tim that Gramby actually wanted to congratulate the paper. Reading the story made Gramby realize that he as a politician really did need to take a stand. Mr. Burns wants Tim to do such an exposé with all politicians at City Hall. Unfortunately Tim's mind-reading powers are just about to run out.
Episode 1: My Favorite Martin
Reporter Tim O'Hara, while covering a flight of the Air Force X-15, finds a spaceship that contains a genuine martian. The martian is a professor who specializes in the planet Earth and now has to repair his spaceship before he can go home.
Episode 9: Rocket to Mars
When the junk men come by, they mistakenly empty Martin and Tim's garage instead of Mrs. Brown's, and in doing so take Martin's space ship. Mrs. Brown has no idea the name of the junk yard, but there was a witness to the incident: Booboo, a neighborhood dog. Booboo, with the help of his dog friends and acquaintances, helps Martin track down the junk yard. When Martin and Tim get to the junk yard, they find out that the ship has already been sold to a Mr. Carter, who is using it as a "rocket" carousel at a children's amusement park. Mr. Carter refuses to sell it back to Martin. So Martin decides to disappear and fly the spaceship away, although he does slip Carter the money for the ship anonymously. Martin has one other debt to pay: a steak dinner for Booboo and all his friends for all their help.
Episode 10: Raffles No. 2
When Martin almost gets a parking ticket, Tim thinks it might be a good idea if Martin legitimizes his Earthly driving by getting a driver's license. Down at the Department of Motor Vehicles, finger-printless Martin has to do some fancy work when he is about to be finger printed. He steals the prints of another man at the DMV. Unfortunately for Martin, that print matches the only unidentified print at a major jewel robbery the previous year. In a routine cross check, the police find the print in Martin's file. And Tim covered the jewel robbery for the paper, something the police find probably more than just a coincidence. Martin and Tim find out that the police are watching them and the reason, and so Martin thinks it a good idea to flush out the jewel thief: he reads that there is a party where Mrs. Summer Winthrop will be displaying the galaxy diamond necklace around her neck, a lure too irresistible for the thief. At the party, the guests are populated predominantly by police - both in uniform and under cover - and the thief, Brian Henley, and his female accomplice, who Martin recognizes from the DMV office. Henley manages to slip the necklace off Mrs. Winthrop, slip it to his accomplice, who in turn slips it into the crown of the cap of Captain Farrow, the lead police investigator. Henley plans to steal the necklace back after the place has been unsecured, and he is no longer a suspect (he was the only person close the Mrs. Winthrop when the necklace went missing). Martin, seeing where the necklace was stashed, plans to plant it back on Henley. No matter what Henley does to get rid of the necklace Martin plants in his pocket, he is no match for Martin's levitation finger. Henley is quickly apprehended, and Martin and Tim cleared.
Episode 11: The Atom Misers
Martin needs the hardest substance possible to repair his spaceship, the substance he has in mind is silibalt, an alloy of silicone and cobalt but one that has not yet been invented on Earth. To make some, he needs a cyclotron. Rather than destroy Tim's kitchen making his own, he decides to follow Tim on his latest interview at the university, where there is a cyclotron. At the university, Martin meets Tim's interview subject, Donald Mumford, 13-year old physics genius, and one who is constantly at odds with the ways of Dr. Jackson, his advisor. While Martin and Donald get together to discuss and proceed with the making of silibalt, Tim is preoccupied with Dr. Jackson, who provides a diatribe against the demands of Donald, and Jeanine Carter, Dr. Jackson' pretty assistant and university protector of Donald. They are all looking for Donald and Martin when an explosion caused by some stolen electricity and wrong switch alert them to the Donald and Martin's whereabouts. Dr. Jackson immediately expels Donald, and since no long lasting physical damage was done, only banishes Martin from the university. Martin however fights back and convinces Dr. Jackson that he is quashing a genius mind, albeit one in a 13-year old body, and thus Donald must be treated differently in every respect. Doanld is welcomed back. On his own, Donald does manage to make some silibalt for Martin. Martin's only problem now is that he has no instrument hard enough to cut or mold the silibalt.
Episode 12: That Little Old Matchmaker, Martin
Tim is pursuing who seems to be the unattainable Cynthia Parker. Through reading her mind, Martin finds out that Cynthia is passionate about the classical arts whether it be music, literature or art, and she figures Tim is not, which is the truth. However Tim becomes everything she wants in a man. However this façade Tim fears is hurting Cynthia. Rather than hurt her by telling her the truth, he decides the best option is to find her her dream man. To do so, Martin needs to read men's minds to match them up to Cynthia's. Scanning through Tim's office, they find one perfect match: Bill Fisher. As perfect as Bill would be, there is one catch: he is already seeing someone he nicknames "Angel Face". Peggy Collins, aka Angel Face, is however as well suited to Bill as Cynthia is to Tim. As a matter of fact, Peggy is better suited to Tim and Cynthia to Bill. At a concert that evening at which all four are scheduled to attend, Martin does a little levitation of tickets so that Bill and Cynthia sit together and Peggy and Tim sit together. Each respective pair hit it off. A month later, Bill and Cynthia get married. Things for Peggy and Tim are also going well, however Tim is a bit freaked when Peggy catches Cynthia's wedding bouquet.
Episode 13: How to Be a Hero Without Really Trying
The O'Hara's have new neighbors, the Richmonds, within the family being young Stevie and his grown up sister Jennifer. The foursome go on a picnic to Sunset Mountain, since Martin needs to pick up some bling, an alloy located there but that has not yet been discovered by humans. Stevie has a vivid imagination and likes to pretend he's from Mars, which intrigues Martin. That's OK with Tim, as that means he can spend time with Jennifer alone. However Jennifer is concerned with Stevie's ability to discern reality from fantasy. While Martin goes off to collect his bling, Stevie plays a game of pretend and climbs up the mountain, but reality hits when he can't get down on his own. Martin suggests that Tim climb up and get Stevie as an act of heroism, but Tim is afraid of heights. Martin reassures Tim that he will be safe with the assistance of his remote control gravitation machine. Tim bounds up the mountain, but doesn't know that Martin's machine breaks while he's half way up. Tim and Stevie have a couple of close calls, which Tim thinks is Martin just trying to be dramatic. Although Tim faints when he finds out the truth about the gravitation machine, he shows that one just needs to have a little faith to accomplish mountains.