Lucan's Abilities

Lucan possesses near-supernatural agility – He scales walls, ropes, trees, cliffs, and bridges with relative ease. How fast can he climb?

“It depends what’s chasing me.”

When a gym coach is shocked at his climbing speed on the ropes, Lucan replies, “I used to play with the bears.” Despite his incredible feats of dexterity, Lucan declines to show off or join any sports teams.

Lucan can howl, growl, and fight like a wolf, and he runs like an Olympian. Lucan possesses an uncanny rapport with animals and manifests a deep instinct for danger. Like Peter Parker's tingling “Spider-Sense,” Lucan knows when he’s being stalked or if a predator is about to attack.

Lucan’s core body temperature is similar to a wolf's, which, by some estimates, is 103.3 to 104.3 degrees Fahrenheit. This fantastic discovery prompts a confused doctor to jokingly ask a colleague if he should “call a Veterinarian” after taking Lucan's temperature.

Lucan prefers to rest in the daytime and prowls around restlessly at night. He’d rather sleep on the floor or even in the trees than on a cushy bed.

When he left Dr. Hoagland’s care, he had to be reminded to “Keep your hand on your wallet.” and “Wear your shoes!"

LUCAN (1977) skirted fantasy themes. Like Dr. David Banner (The Incredible Hulk (1977), when enraged or hurt …

Or Mark Harris (Man From Atlantis (1977) when he hits the water …

Lucan’s eyes change color when his wolf senses are riled. It freaks people out and serves him well. But don’t confuse Lucan with a werewolf. Lucan doesn’t literally transform into a wolf or even a demi-wolf. He doesn't grow fangs, claws, or sprout coarse fur. He remains a human being, however, he possesses keen, wolf-like traits.

But those eyes do make you wonder …

The physical facets of Lucan’s character remain a mystery that the writers didn’t explore before the show’s cancellation. Dr. Hoagland concluded in his reports that “Metabolically, he is more wolf than man.”

The key lies with his parents or lineage. Perhaps Lucan was Native American and left behind in the woods, or maybe his parents were involved in ritualistic practices, and he was sacrificed to wolves? Was his family "accursed" by the "Gypsies?" Or perhaps they were "Gypsies." (In the fabled sense) These theories about Lucan’s heritage are presented in the show.

At one point, he’s thought to be Romanian and later called a Gypsy. After successfully knocking down a champion in a boxing match, the announcer called out that he was “running around like a triumphant Indian!” Lucan is bullied by vicious farmhands who think he’s Mexican. When Lucan proved his tracking prowess in the mountains, he was again asked if he was Native American.

The answer is always the same for Lucan. He doesn’t know. More fascinating to ponder than his ethnic roots, where does Lucan get his wolf-like senses? Was his mother bitten by a mystical wolf? Was his father a werewolf? No supernatural theories were presented in the series. Perhaps the red eyes are merely a sign for the viewers to know he's using his developed "wolf" senses, but they don't really change?

What if Lucan’s abilities were the result of scientific and genetic tampering? Maybe the experiment went awry, and he was left in the woods? 

There are many “What ifs?” to ponder should they decide to reboot this series. Regardless of the answer, Lucan’s missing parents were the driving force of his quest into the cold, cruel, yet beautiful world, and the longer they stayed missing, the more adventures Lucan encountered.