Lucan On The Run

Image credit: Purchased and scanned from the original 1977 MGM Television press materials by VoyagerG Productions. Please link back to lucantv.blogspot.com if sharing.

Lucan Captured? Don Gordon and Kevin Brophy publicity photo for "Lucan" (1977)

From the MGM Feature Photo Blurb:

With a Bench warrant for Lucan's arrest, Detective Arnold Prentiss (Don Gordon) briefly confronts his prey in an upcoming episode of LUCAN, MGM Television's adventure series for ABC exploring the plight of a young man with animalistic instincts who was raised by wolves. Kevin Brophy stars as the wolf boy, who is not only running from the law but also searching for his real parents and the reason he was abandoned in the wilderness as an infant. Lew Gallo produces LUCAN for MGM Television.

When Lucan escaped the University, they still "owned" him under a court order and claimed he posed a danger to society. The University sends a Bounty Hunter named Prentiss to bring him back for caged observation. Prentiss was introduced in the heart-tugging 5th episode, "How do you run forever?"

Prentiss is tenacious with just enough compassion for viewers not to hate him. He's much like his television predecessors, Lieutenant Philip Gerard, who chases Dr. Richard Kimball on The Fugitive (1963), and the abrasive Investigative Journalist Jack McGee, who searches for "John Doe" (Dr. David Banner) on The Incredible Hulk (1977).

The plot shifted dramatically when Lucan became a fugitive after a tragic incident at the University. Prentiss returns, only now he's a Lieutenant with the authority to arrest Lucan.

One night, while visiting Doctor Hoagland, Lucan catches two doctors breaking into a science lab to steal drugs. A fight ensues, and a chemical fire erupts.

One doctor flees with a badly burned arm, and the other dies at the scene, but not before he blames Lucan for the fire and theft. Flashbacks to that night are revealed in the excellent episode “Nightmare.”

Classic 1970s TV Fugitive Dynamics: Lucan vs. Prentiss

The Chemical Lab Fire and Frame-Up

The revised plot centers on Lucan becoming a fugitive after being falsely accused of a crime during the lab fire incident shown in the episode "Nightmare." It’s possible this event occurs later, after Lucan had escaped the University in the pilot film. However, it still doesn’t make sense that Lucan would ever return to the premises, given that Prentiss, who was then a bounty hunter, was already hunting even before the fire.

The lab plot is slightly derivative of a lab scene in the pilot film for The Incredible Hulk (1977). 

A chemical spill in Banner's lab, inadvertently caused by Jack McGee, nearly blows up the entire Culver Institute. David turns into the Hulk and rescues his partner, Doctor Elaina Marks, but once outside, she tragically dies in Hulk's arms. McGee begins his obsessive hunt, blaming the Hulk for the deaths of Banner and Elaina.

LUCAN (1977) was a gritty, folksy, introspective adventure drama. The tone and themes were best suited for the charming, breezy era of 1970s television.

LUCAN (1977) tells a simple story of a humble, kind young man with remarkable abilities. He is coming-of-age and embarking on an earnest quest to find his parents and himself. As the show was retooled, Lucan also came to resemble many other kind-hearted TV fugitives, fighting for justice to protect the innocents and underdogs.