The series was originally called The Powers of David Star[3]. With this title and a somewhat altered premise, the original pilot was to deal with teenaged David Star, who lived with the school janitor, Max (Gerald S. O'Loughlin). Max had a secret he was not sharing with David, who had no idea that he and Max were from another planet. As his powers began to surface, David started to understand who he was. Hot on their trail was the FBI. The original pilot was aired as the last episode of the series. TV Guide's 1981 Fall Preview issue's network schedule grid lists the original series title as The Powers of Daniel Star.
Matthew Star appears to be a typical teenager, but in actuality is an alien who is a member of the ruling family of his planet and endowed with special powers like telekinesis and telepathy. After Matthew's home planet was invaded when he was a baby, his parents sent him to Earth with one of their trusted emissaries to hide and protect him. And they await the time when Matthew's powers are developed enough that he can return and lead his people against the invaders. His guardian, who's had to change his name several times, is using the name Walter ...
Shep is arrested after video shows him apparently killing a police officer. But Shep tells Matthew that the killer is actually the man whose name and face he copied to hide out on Earth, the "real" Walter Shepherd. Now Matthew must track down Shep's counterpart, a man whose associates will do whatever they have to in order to protect him.
When Pam gets cast in a low-budget zombie movie, Matthew finds his old friend Pete is trying to get into stunt work for the film. But Pete may need some help to save him from his own dangerous stunts.
Nerdy student Monica Kraft has created a paint which seems to interfere with Matt's powers. Matthew and Shep also discover that it's unexpectedly explosive so they must find a way to neutralize it before it is mass produced.
Bob is drag-racing against some students from Oakridge High. Becky Vance is in his car, cheering him on. Pam and Matt are looking on from the sidelines. The race starts and it looks like Bob will win, but the other car cuts him off. Matt realizes Bob's car is headed for a pole, but manages to use his powers to divert the car into a hard stop away from the pole. Becky hits her head. Almost immediately, she has a vision of a shattering windshield. Matt sees her vision and becomes concerned. He offers to drive her home, which Pam is not happy about. In Matt's van, she has the vision again, of the shattering windshield and people shouting. Matt asks if she needs to see a doctor. She says she's fine. Becky gets home. Her father sees her rubbing her head and asks what's going on. She says that Matt drove her home and he hit the brakes hard. Mr. Vance tells her not see him anymore. Matt talks to Walt about seeing Becky's vision. Walt advises it may have not been the future, but
In Italy, a supply truck in the midst of a convoy travels through rocky hills under armed guard. Terrorists watching from higher in the hills throw grenades and start firing. Another grenade causes something in a wooden crate to fall out of the back of the truck and roll off the edge of a cliff, followed by an avalanche of heaving rocks. The terrorists are not happy. Neither are the American soldiers. Walt is talking to General Tucker on the phone. Tucker needs help to retrieve an Anti-Gravity Device (AGD) from its rock burial. Walt refuses, since it's the middle of a semester. Better to wait until next school break. Meanwhile, Matthew opens window to feed Sam and blows cash off desk, which is for the school dance. Matthew is president of the School Dance Committee. He and Pam aren't seeing eye to eye on the choice of music. The school principal enters Walt's classroom the next day and announces that Matt is a finalist in the International Science Fair Contest, to be held in I
It's football practice. Coach Curtis and Walt (the trainer) Shepherd are coaching the players. Tony Garcia, the star Quarterback, is accepting praise while tossing his ball after practice to Matt. Matt is unhappily collecting the balls and putting them back in the bag. He's also disgruntled about Tony hanging all over Pam. They walk off the field with Tony's arm around her. Getting fed up, Matt uses telekinesis to put the rest of the balls away. Walt catches him and scolds him. Matt has always wanted to play football and doesn't see why he can't now. Walt reminds him that sports injuries are worse for Matt, since he can't be x-rayed. Matt protests, saying he just wants to belong. Not only does he tell Walt that he can pass the ball, he proves it as Walt runs out to catch on. Walt is impressed. At the next practice, both Matt and Tony are throwing the ball. Bob's on the team, too. In science class, Walt is talking about prisms and asking easy questions of Tony that he can't an
A set of binoculars (not to mention a cougar) watch Walt, Matt, Coach Curtis, Pam, Lisa, Anne, Fletcher and Ted hike into the mountains to build a survival shack. (Anne's boyfriend had died from exposure). On the way up, Pam sprains her ankle. Walt mentions privately to Matt that Matt's father loved the mountains. That night, Lisa is complaining about just about everything. Fletcher won't accept help in setting up his tent. Ranger Campbell arrives and warns them to be a cautious. Two patients from West Valley Mental Hospital escaped into the mountains some time back and might be dangerous. Arguments start and Lisa runs off, then screams. The others pull her down from a rope snare. When they get back to camp, the camp has been destroyed, along with their radio. The group votes to stay. The next day, while gathering wood for the shack, the girls take a quick dip in a pond. Something or someone grabs Lisa's leg and frightens her. During dinner around the campfire, the cougar thre
Ron Elliot, Pam's uncle, is flying a small plane over the Bermuda Triangle. Dictating a message on a handheld recorder for Pam, Ron tells her that he thinks the treasure is close, thanks to his on-board high tech metal detector. While discussing his coordinates with over the radio with the mainland, he realizes he is lost. The metal detector goes crazy, he loses radio contact and goes into a dive over one of the islands. Two strangers are watching as the plane hits the ground. Matt is looking at a necklace with a miniature version of the kashot when Walt enters the bedroom and admires it. Matt wants to give it as a birthday gift to Pam, which stuns Walt. It is a significant symbol of Quadris. He wants to hear the Matthew say his oath (Creed of Kings) which will some day be taken while holding the real kashot, but the prince would rather not. Furthermore, Matt insists he's not giving away the oath or his belief in it; just the necklace. Walt concedes and offers to help find wra
Matt and Pam are at the carnival. Pam is having a hard time popping balloons with darts, but Matt doesn't have any better luck. Madam Paloma, a fortune teller, is watching them intently, as is a man picking up litter. Matt sees the gypsy and asks if Pam wants her fortune told. She says, no, it's probably just an old lady from Iowa. They hear a girl crying and go to help. The girl has been trying to win at the Wheel of Fortune, but the wheel keeps moving past the winner's spot, even though she wins. Matt and Pam promise to help her win. The man spins the wheel and, once again, it ""slips"" out of the winner's spot (thanks to a control he's working with his foot). A little telekinesis returns the wheel to the proper place and the delights girl wins a bear. The man is not so delighted. Madam Paloma has been watching the interaction with interest (as is man picking up litter). She comes forward and offers to tell their fortunes. Matt seems drawn to her, although he doesn't realize
Ms. Johnson's class is on a field trip to Marine Park and are listening to Dr. Simon Barnard, renowned marine scientist. During the speech, Matthew hears a strange cry for help in his mind. When he hears it again, he tells Pam he's going for a drink, but actually goes to investigate. He follows the psychic voice to a restricted pool. It's a dolphin named Susie, who begs him for help, telling him that she's in pain. A man shows up to chase Matthew off, implying that the area is restricted. Matt rejoins the group and asks Dr. Barnard and communication with dolphins and if training dolphins is strenuous. After much joking, Dr. Barnard promise to give Matt some book titles. Walt is preparing Naldic soup, his grandmother's recipe. Matt is edgy and tells Walt about his encounter. Matt wants to help Susie and is not going to ignore her pleas. Walt suggests they make a call to Animal Welfare. Matt concedes. Matt can't sleep; he's having receiving visions from Susie of someone in the p
While trying to help Pam in her job as a candy striper at the hospital, Matthew allows a doctor to take a thermomagnetic scan of him to test a new machine. Shep is concerned the human doctors will discover Matthew is an alien, so he goes to the hospital to delete the data, but while there Shep falls into a mysterious coma and has to be admitted to the hospital.
General Wymore takes over from General Tucker and sends Matthew and Shep on a mission to try out Matthew's new powers. Pam is out of the picture now so Matthew asks out Kerri Saxon.
Tony Garcia goes up to hotel clerk and says he is looking for Caroline Ashley. He goes up to her room, but is called into a neighboring room. Before he knows what is happening, he is shot with an animal tranquilizer. A different man grabs Mr. Garcia's ID and puts it in his own pocket. A reporter named Burnside is pestering Caroline while she works on her dirt bike. He wants an interview; she wants her mechanic. The man that shot the real Tony Garcia shows up and claims he is Tony Garcia, her new mechanic. Matt is playing darts with Terri. She's very bad, but he makes her better with telekinesis and says she's a natural. They are about to kiss when his communication ring from Wymore goes off. He leaves Terri, but tells her to keep practicing. As Walt and Matt wait for the General to arrive at an airplane hangar, Matt complains that his love life is being destroyed by Wymore. Wymore shows up in a trenchcoat ala Casablanca and informs them Sherman Ashley of the State Department
At the Golden Harvest Casino, a blackjack game is being watch by surveillance camera by Mr. Veets. His assistant, Frank, enters, soon followed by room service. Mr. Veets asks Frank to give the man a tip. Frank pulls out a gun. Matt is glued to a Western TV show. At first, Walt balks and calls it garbage, but he gets sucked in, too. The communication rings go off. They meet General Wymore at a church. Mr. Veets, a big crime boss, owns casinos all over the country, but no one has been able to find records on his dealings. Whenever law enforcement officials get close, they win big at Veets' casino, then lose big, and then blackmailed into keeping quiet. Wymore wants those records. It's on to Vegas for Matt and Walt. Matt tries to get a job at the casino, but gets turned down. Veets and Frank are watching a horse race. Walt enters, calling himself Virgil Greer. He wants to work for Veets and demonstrates with an impressive card demonstration. He says he used to work for Neil Wol
Artemis space shuttle releases satellite into space and switches to the ALM automatic landing mode. Mission Control is happy. At Parkland Space Center, a fire truck is let onto the base and hooks up a fire hose to a building and turns on a gas cannister. Mission Control begins passing out. Two men run in, dressed like firemen, and pull a device out of the computer. They unhook the hose and drive away. When Dr. Autrey at Mission Control wakes up, he realizes that the shuttle will land in 36 hours and has no landing device. At home, Matthew is building a house of cards while watching the space shuttle deploy its cargo. Walt can't believe the primitiveness of it all. The communication rings flash and it's time to miss dinner again. Matt and Walt meet General Wymore at the movies; an alien movie in particular. The ALM system has been stolen and time is running out for the space shuttle. The shuttle can't land without it and there is no backup device. Their contact at Parkland will b
Deke Griffin gets out of jail after twelve years. He sets into car of who he believes is old partner, Vince, but actually its Donna, Vince's daughter. Vince is dead. Donna wants Deke's help to rob a small bank. Deke wants instead to get ten million in diamonds. After an airplane flight, Matt and Walt end up at Gary Wymore's pet-filled home, nephew of the general. General Wymore says this case is of a personal nature and Walt says no. That wasn't part of their agreement. Gary walks in with a Saint Bernard dog (Charlemagne)and explains he needed quick money to keep the animal shelter open, and ""borrowed"" an expensive necklace from Ms. Brewer's safety deposit box, since he works at the bank. However, they changed the security system and Gary is no longer able to put the necklace back. Deke arrives at the fancy estate of Frank Lund and escorted inside. Deke wants his share of the Emburro Diamonds from the job which he just served twelve years for. Frank shrugs and sa
Dr. Bentley Pierce is running the perimeter of the grounds of an estate, looking for a way out, when he trips and falls. Mr. Weston walks up and tells him he can't leave; he hasn't found his happy place yet. Weston tells his men to take Pierce back inside. Matt and Walt are playing guards. Matthew is winning by several household chores and $8,000,000. Walt is about to win when the communication rings flash. When he accuses Matt of bluffing and wants to see his cards, Matt transmutes them into blank cards when they are flipped over. They meet General Wymore at a gym. While Wymore huffs and puffs on a stationary bike, he shows them a picture of Dr. Pierce, a famous economist, who's missing from his home in Seattle. There are a number of geniuses missing and the general wants to put a stop to it, especially since the nefarious Omar Mustafa has arrived in Seattle, too. He also tells the Quadrians they have 58 minutes to make the plane. Weston is discussing the drugging of the geniu
A plane lands and Matt, Walt, Terry Wilson and his son, Ryan, get off. They've spent the weekend vacationing in Moose Valley. As they go into a diner at the airport, two men are putting chloroform on a rag. They take out the man refueling the plane. Ryan is taking photos out on the airfield and sees the men stealing the plane and hollers for help. The three come running out, but the plane is already in the air. Terry admits that he left his briefcase inside, which had NATO defense plans inside. He must get it back. Matt and Walt develop the photos and see photos of hat emblems and shirts: Lucky Lindy Air Show and Redlands. At the Redlands, a plane lands in the hangar, and new paint and numbers are immediately applied. As Lou oversees this, his girlfriend, Nancy, walks up and confirms their dinner date. Lou goes back into the hangar and turns a key on a steel box on the wall. A secret door opens and he goes inside to talk to his partner, Latimer. The exchange for money will be
A warehouse is robbed. Wymore suspects a gang of youths with inside police info. Wymore sends in Walt as a cop. Matt goes undercover as a violent criminal.
Fred Ward travels down dark stairs with a flashlight and is startled by a black cat. Chains rattle and a door opens. A black masked man in a black cape ""sails"" down. Fred wants to know what's going on. In a booming voice, the Sorcerer refuses to talk and whisks Fred away. At Kingston State University, Dr. Tucker, Bio-chem Professor, hands Steve the test he aced. Dr. Tucker's daughter, Mandy, enters. Steve and Mandy discuss the role playing game, Swords and Quests, which Tucker dismisses as a waste of time. Hugh Travis, Dr. Tucker's teaching assistant, enters. He doesn't know where Fred is. Steve says they'll have to replace Fred in the game and he knows just who to call. Matt has wires attached to his chest and an exasperated look on his face. Walt's giving him a medical checkup and wants him to transmute something. Matt changes a lamp into a popcorn popper, but not too impressively. Walt's trying to find out why Matt is low on energy and Matt insists it's from boredom. His
David Starr realizes he may not be of Earth when he starts developing amazing powers.
