"Another Manimal Escape!"

"There's no escape for you this time, Manimal!  You'll note we've built your cage right into the side of a nearly sheer rock wall!  Why, in order to escape from this prison, you'd have to be some kind of mountain lion!  Goodbye, Manimal!  Goodbye forever!"

Dorothy's taken to demanding short Manimal stories from me.  Each one begins with Manimal having been put in a trap that will be easily escapable for at least one specific animal.  Then, he turns into that animal and escapes.  Then, he turns back into Manimal and shouts, "Manimal!"

When not making up impromptu 1980s science fiction television fan fiction for three year olds, I've been reading Michael Kaminski's Secret History of Star Wars, which contains some truly tantalizing details...  For example, Lucas at one point wanted to cast Toshiro Mifune as Obi-Wan, with a Japanese Princess Leia as well.

"You might have something there, George..."

If this plan had been successful, Lucas also wanted to cast a black man in the role of Han Solo, and he even brought in a particular actor for screen tests.  "Glynn Turman" was the actor's name, so (not having seen The Wire, or Super 8, or any other of his dozens of projects in the past three decades) I did a Google image search to see the face of this what-if star smuggler...  Only to see this:

Wait, more Manimal???  Is Google Image Search just sending me one extra picture of Manimal no matter what I search for?  I mean, I appreciate it, but...

Ah, well, it turns out Glynn Turman was IN Manimal!  He was supposed to have been Manimal's old war buddy from back in the 'Nam.

Which brings me to my brand new series of unauthorized Manimal prequels:

The Vietnamanimal Adventures.  Don't miss it!