My Secret Identity was a Canadian television series originally broadcast in the 1980s starring Jerry O'Connell as 14-year-old comic book fan (until the second season, apparently), Andrew Clements, who while looking one day for his friend, Dr. Benjamin Jeffcoat (Derek McGrath), trips and is hit by a photon beam, causing him to develop superpowers. He uses these abilities to fight crime, to solve personal problems and to help others. He hides his powers from his mother, sister and friends with the exception of Jeffcoat. Andrew initially called himself Ultraman, but this was later dropped, most likely due to legal issues involving the Japanese superhero of the same name.

Powers

Initially, Clements powers include superhuman speed, invulnerability, and levitation. Super-strength was later formed after being hit by the photon beam a second time (see "Power Development" below).

Andrew was the only superhuman in the entire show, much like how the Hulk was (generally) the only supernatural being of the "Incredible Hulk" TV series.

Andrew's super-speed--generally the only power that remained the same throughout all the seasons--is incredibly fast. Although viewers can see the blur that is Andrew when he is in super-speed-mode, it is apparent that characters in the show cannot see Andrew as well as we can when he is super-speeding. Clements has shown being able to interact with objects while in super-speed mode (changing a tire, disabling a bomb, ectera). However, he was once able to move at super-speed to interact with three cups (to have Dr. Jeffcoat guess which cup the object placed under the cups was in) and the scientist apparently got dizzy from watching. This could suggest that, while maybe he couldn't see Andrew, he could see the cups moving very quickly.

Use of his Superpowers

Using his powers for his own personal gain was not seen often, as Andrew usually used them only to help others. He was known often to use his powers trying to find his sister after irresponsibly forgetting to actually look after her (season one's "Forbidden Ground"), to moving a bomb away from anybody else as fast as possible (season one's "Toxic Time Bomb"), to saving a child on a dam about to break (season two's "Reluctant Hero"), among his other adventures.

However, he has been careless at times, using his powers for various reasons to either amuse or help himself. Occurrences of him using his powers for himself dropped drastically in season two and three as he matured, though he occasionally fools around anyway.

A recurring plot point in the series was that Andrew usually rushed into things, assuming the worst of a situation when in reality he was entirely wrong. One example of this was in one episode in Season Two when he went searching to save Dr. Jeffcoat from kidnappers, only to find out the scientist was working on a special project for the government.

Invincibility and Weakness

Invulnerability, without any explanation, was removed from the show entirely in season two (and subsequently, season three), apparently so stories could be more dramatic without Andrew being invincible to any danger. Before that, Andrew showed being invincible to almost anything, except for radiation.

Throughout the entire series, being exposed to radiation (as well as certain electromagnetic waves, or, at least, X-rays specifically) makes Andrew lose his powers. Initially, he would lose his powers even after not being around the radiation (though eventually his powers would come back); later on, however, he would regain his superpowers the instant he was not around radiation. Chemicals in "Toxic Time Bomb" did not affect him, however; this may have been because they didn't have the correct properties to affect his powers.

Power Development

In the first season, Andrew had to carry around aerosol spray containers (and, later, after Dr. Jeffcoat became concerned about the environment in one episode, average compressed air cans that were used for the rest of the first season afterwards) and use them in order to move through the air, as his 'flying' ability was not exactly flying--he can make himself near-'weightless', as well as move up without any problems, but he cannot propel himself through the air or move down without some external force. He could, however, jump a bit higher with this, and do flips through the air he could not do without this ability. In the second season, however, Andrew instantly gained the ability to move around in the air without the use of the aerosol spray cans. In rare moments, Andrew has also shown being able to fly at very high speeds (though only in seasons two and three since he could not move as quickly with the aerosol cans); however, this is only when he needs to be moving fast, and he still usually flies at a steady pace. Andrew seems to favor this power at times when looking for people despite the fact that, to viewers, super-speed appears to be faster.

Later in the series (ep 28), after being struck by the photon beam a second time while protecting others, Andrew develops some superhuman strength.^[1] It is possible that another zap from the photon beam could give him another power. It can also be assumed that Andrew could possibly develop more powers on his own; if being struck the first time from the photon gave him more than one power, the second one may have given him one or two other powers he has not discovered. (Note that, since the series never established on this before it was cancelled, this is not for certain.) In the following episode (ep 29), he flies forwards without his aerosol cans but hitting a tree hurts him and leaves him with a bruise, and there is no mention of his previous invulnerability.

In season three's "Bump in Time", Andrew super-sped into a tree. When he recovered, he found himself in the 1960s. He ended up meeting his dad (though Andrew did not know this until the very end of the episode after he went back to the 90s) and affecting history only somewhat. At the end of the episode, the picture Andrew had been in while he was in the 60s did not have him in the picture anymore, meaning it could have been a dream and Andrew happened to have that picture from in the attic. However, if this had actually happened, this could possibly be another use of his super-speed: time travel, hinting at the fact that Andrew may be able to move even faster than he thought.

It can be assumed that Andrew's powers get stronger throughout the series. However, Andrew's super-speed has generally remained the same (though the special effect for his super-speed appears much smoother later in the series than it did in the beginning). It does appear that he is faster in some episodes than others, however he is generally faster in latter episodes than earlier ones.

"Secret Identity"

Initially, in the first season, Andrew dreamed of being a superhero named "Ultraman." The term "Ultraman" was used by himself quite often when talking to himself or Dr. J. Dr. Jeffcoat also used the term, though usually in reference to his powers in a semi-sarcastic way ("So what did Ultraman do?", etc.). There was also, in a few fantasy scenes Andrew had in the first season, an Ultraman suit that he would wear, though this never appeared in the 'real life' of the show.

The Ultraman theme was dropped for season 2/3 and is not even mentioned once; though Andrew continued to use his powers to save people, he stopped trying to be a stereotypical masked superhero. This was foreshadowed by season one's "Looking for Trouble" when, in the end of the episode, Andrew and Dr. J had a talk about how Andrew didn't always need to be "Ultraman". Though Andrew agreed that he didn't always need to be a superhero, the sound of sirens made him almost spring into action until Dr. J stopped him. Right before the episode ended, however, he continued to sneak towards the hallway to run off.

Andrew managed to keep his secret from everyone throughout the entire series, even his family; he resorted to only telling Dr. J. Ms. Shellenback, Dr. Jeffcoat's neighbour, found out in "Look Before you Leap" and videotaped it, but in the end, Andrew and Dr. J managed to convince her that she was apparently "temporarily insane" and this incident is never mentioned again.

In "Reluctant Hero", Andrew attempted to tell his best friend, Kirk, about his powers at one point, but failed when X-rays cancelled out his powers, leading to Kirk saving Andrew from being killed.

He did, however, succeed in telling a younger boy named David in season 3. He took the boy for a flight after he [David] wasn't able to get a ride in a plane he wanted to. However, David was set to die within the year, and was probably the most trustworthy person to find out about Andrew. David is not mentioned nor seen afterwards.

Andrew and Dr. Jeffcoat almost confessed the whole story to Andrew's mother, sister, Kirk, and two other people about Andrew's secret so he could go for help when the group was trapped in a cabin after an avalanche. However, they were saved at the last second. At the end of the episode, when Stephanie Clements (Andrew's mom) asks Dr. Jeffcoat to finally reveal what Andrew "became" after being hit by the photon beam, the pair exchange glances. Andrew then seriously speaks, "A superhero, mom.", but his mother simply laughs it off after a short silence.

The robber in the series finale, "A Bank, a Holdup, a Robber, and a Hero" also found out, though when he told everyone they just thought he was crazy (much to Andrew's and Dr. Jeffcoat's relief). It is interesting to note that, unlike some of the people Andrew stopped with his powers, he didn't bother to even slightly keep his powers a secret, which is very unlike him, especially since he knew to make sure no-one found out after many previous incidents.

Few others have witnessed Andrew's powers, usually only attributing them as him just being 'weird' or other excuses (such as them being attributed as "special effects" by Andrew so he could get a part in a movie among other examples). Andrew usually makes sure that nobody is even in the area before using his powers.

A running gag in the series (most prominently seen in the second and third seasons when the situation came up a bit more often when he was around people more often than Dr. Jeffcoat) was that Andrew would convince somebody who didn't know his secret to leave the area so he could use his powers to fix the problem before the person came back.

Cast

• Jerry O'Connell as Andrew Clements
• Derek McGrath as Dr. Benjamin Marion Jeffcoat
• Christopher Bolton as Kirk Stevens (1989-1991)
• Marsha Moreau as Erin Clements
• Wanda Cannon as Stephanie Clements
• Elizabeth Leslie as Ruth Schellenbach

List Of Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

References

External links

• My Secret Identity at TV.com
• First My Secret Identity Fansite (no longer updated)

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