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Highwayman, The

Entry updated 10 November 2023. Tagged: TV.

US tv series (1987-1988). Glen A Larson Productions/20th Century Fox Television for NBC-TV. Created by Glen A Larson, also executive producer. Directors included Rob Bowman, Douglas Heyes and Larry Shaw. Writers included Larson, Burt Pearl and Steven L Sears. Cast includes Jane Badler, Mark "Jacko" Jackson, Sam J Jones and Tim Russ. Narrator: William Conrad (uncredited). One 90-minute pilot film plus nine 60-minute episodes. Colour.

Sometime in the Near Future, The Highwayman (Jones) is a special law enforcement agent working for some top-secret organization never clearly revealed. He drives a futuristic eighteen-wheeler heavy transport truck equipped with various advanced Weapons. The front section can separate to become a helicopter; the cargo section holds an armed sports car. In the pilot, the truck also had a Cloaking Device granting Invisibility, but this was dropped for the weekly series. In the series only, Jones is partnered with Australian survival expert Jetto (Jackson), whose similar vehicle has slightly different capabilities. Personal weapons are merely larger, more powerful versions of contemporary firearms. Ms Tania Winthrop (Badler), their superior, sends them on assignments that usually involve especially dangerous criminals; mechanic D C Montana (Russ) repairs the vehicles, his name being apparently an in-joke reference to long-time television screenwriter D C Fontana.

The Highwayman was similar to Larson's Knight Rider (1982-1986), but featured more overtly sf plots during its short run, including Time Travel, an Alien crash-landed on Earth and captured by the US Government, an Organlegging gang, and a mind-reading Machine (see Psionics). [GSt]

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