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Evil Morgan LeFay (Jessica Walter) is sent by her demon master to kill
her archenemy Dr Lindmer (John Mills). So she possesses a young woman,
Clea (Eddie Benton) to push the good doctor off a bridge. But Dr Lindmer
has anticipated this and thus survives the fall unscathed. However, he
tells his student Wong (Clyde Kusatsu) to find him Dr Strange (Peter
Hooten), who's destined to become his successor, and Clea, whom he wants
to use as a pawn in his battle against Morgan LeFay. Fortunately, Clea has
been taken to the psychiatric ward of the hospital where Dr Strange is
psychatrist at shortly after pushing Lindmer off the bridge, and Strange
feels drawn to Clea from day one. Clea's mind though is soon taken to
another plane, and somehow Strange gets in touch with Lindmer who tells
him how to get her back - and Strange does great in this parallel world.
Then Lindmer asks strange to become his successor, but rather
inexplicably, Strange tells him he doesn't believe in any of this and
turns him down ... much to the linking of Morgan LeFay, who soon pays
Lindmer a visit to kill him and Wong. Then though, for whatever reason,
Strange returns to Lindmer's place, and finding Lindmer and Wong dead, he
enters this other dimension once more ... where Morgan LeFay, who
obviously has fallen for him, offers him to rule by her side (rule
whatever, it doesn't matter), and Strange plays along, to in the decisive
moment turn against her, and despite being only a newbie at this magic
stuff, he defeats her, too - and wouldn't you know it, once that's
achieved, Lindmer and Wong come to life again, Morgan LeFay is sent to the
furthest circles of hell or something, and Strange gets a date with Clea. In
a surprise twist though, Morgan LeFay appears on TV to advertise her new
self help center - in an obvious attempt to kick off a series that never
got made ... The basic concept of Doctor Strange
(the comicbook based on it not so much) is great: A psychiatrist becoming
a (reluctant) master magician and warrior between the worlds, fighting
demons every step along the way. This pilot for a proposed TV series
however gets the concept totally wrong, as it tries to explain everything
away before it even occurs, this deriving the concept as such of any and
all mystery, instead making the film into your typical TV thriller, with
the sole difference that some of it takes place in hell (or at least
another dimension) rather by coincidence. The other problem that comes
with explaining everything away of course is that the whole thing is
immensely talky, which is of course exactly what a show about demons and
other dimensions and the like is not supposed to be. And finally, Peter
Hooten as an actor is just not charismatic enough to make the role his
own, he's too much of your middle-of-the-road nice guy to be taken
seriously as a master magician/demon hunter. What I want to say I guess
is: No wonder the pilot wasn't picked up and turned into a series ...
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