Out of This World (TV series)

• Evie Ethel Garland (Maureen Flannigan) — Evie is a half-human, half-alien girl who lives with her mother in Marlowe, California (a fictional analogue of Carmel-by-the-Sea), in a house overlooking the sea. She is an only child. Evie attends a school for gifted children (run by her mother) and achieves good grades there. Her mother had always told Evie that her father was a secret agent, but on her thirteenth birthday Evie developed superhuman abilities; it was then revealed that her father is a native of another planet. Evie's most frequently-used power is her ability to freeze time on Earth by touching her index-fingertips together; this allows her to alter the course of Earthly events by maneuvering herself and/or others as desired. When she claps her hands together, time resumes as normal. She can also "unfreeze" individuals by touching them while time is frozen. She later gains the power to gleep, which allows her to manifest objects using only her mind. Her father describes her as "the perfect child: loving; caring; with the same needs of most teenagers". The series follows Evie through her teenage years, from her thirteenth birthday in the pilot to her eighteenth birthday in the final episode. Although she was the leading character, Flannigan was billed last in the credits. In the first season, she received the billing "And Introducing Maureen Flannigan". Starting with the second season, she received a different billing: "And Maureen Flannigan as Evie".
• Donna Froelich-Garland (Donna Pescow) — Evie's mother. Described by her husband as "an ambitious working mother with a career", Donna runs a school for gifted children, which Evie attends. She later founds her own catering company, "Donna's Delights". Toward the end of season 3, Donna becomes the mayor of Marlowe. Donna is very protective of her daughter, often to the dismay of Evie, who would like to be more independent. Donna, along with her brothers Beano and Mick, are the only regular characters on the show who know Evie's secret.
• Troy Garland (Burt Reynolds, voice only) — Evie's father. Troy is a human-looking extraterrestrial, with many special powers, from the distant world of Antares Prime. He is an astronaut where he comes from. Troy met Donna when his spacecraft crashed on Earth at some point in the late 1960s or early 1970's. The two fell in love and were married in 1971; two years later, Donna gave birth to Evie. The year after that, Troy was recalled to participate in a war which raged on Antares. Since then, Troy occasionally visits Earth... staying in touch with his daughter via a special communication device known as the "cube" (see below). Troy's powers seem practically unlimited; although he lives on Antares Prime, he can control many things on Earth - from computers to the weather. He can also give and/or take away Evie's powers at will (as demonstrated in the second episode of the series); and is very good at keeping up with events on Earth. While Troy appears in the show's opening credits, he rarely makes a physical appearance — and when he does, his face is obscured (for example, via a surgical mask or shadows). In the series finale, when Troy arrives on Earth, he is seen in a silhouette with stars from the galaxy. Troy was credited as "himself" in the opening credits from Season Two onwards.
• Beano Froelich (1987–1990) (Joe Alaskey) — "Beano", Evie's uncle on her mom's side of the family, lives next door to her and his sister Donna. Beano has a large appetite and runs a diet clinic known as "Waist-a-Weigh", which is later renamed after him. Beano is one of the two regular characters who know Evie's secret, Donna being the other. He last appears in season 4, episode 12.
• Kyle Applegate (Doug McClure) — Kyle is a former television actor who is now the mayor of Marlowe. Kyle is a good friend of the family, but "the mayor" punishes even the smallest offenses. As well as being egocentric and vain, Kyle is dimwitted and gullible, often completely failing to notice Evie's "alien" antics. He clings to his former TV glory as the star of "Mosquito Man" and many long forgotten mainly Western movies. Towards the end of season three, Kyle is appointed police chief by Donna, who takes over from him as mayor.
• Buzz (Buzz Belmondo) — The manager of Beano's diet clinic, and one of the more eccentric characters in town. Buzz usually makes one brief appearance per episode, during which he performs a series of puns and/or prop-based gags...sometimes related to the elaborate costume that he is wearing. He speaks with an unknown accent, and is prone to bizarre behavior. Donna sometimes resorts to him for help, more often than not regretting it.
• Lindsay Selkirk (Christina Nigra) — Evie's best female friend. She and Evie spend a lot of time together drinking milkshakes at their local diner, the "Goodie Goodie." Lindsay is Evie's confidante when it comes to boys and her non-Antarean related problems.
• Chris Fuller (Steve Burton) — Chris is a surfer and high school student who later enrolls at Marlowe Community College. He is introduced as a new student and good basketball player in the season one episode "Evie Get Your Basketball". Chris becomes Evie's boyfriend, although they are more like brother and sister; sometimes they even date other people. In Season Four, Chris says Evie was and always will be his girl.
• Quigley Handlesman (Carl Steven) (1987-1988) - One of Evie's classmates at Donna's school for the gifted.
• Phil (John Roarke) (1987-1988) - The jovial, funny handyman who works on the Garlands' house during the first season. He is always snooping around in the family's business; Donna, Evie, and Beano constantly scramble to keep Phil from suspecting Evie's alien heritage.
• Jeffrey Cummings (Tony Crane) (1990) - A high school classmate of Evie and Lindsay's who transfers in during their senior year. Incredibly handsome, basically picking where Chris left off after going to college, Jeffrey soon begins dating Evie...who is forced to juggle her relationships with him and with Chris.
• Peter (1990-1991) (Peter Pitofsky) — A waiter at the Goodie Goodie who is introduced in the first episode of Season Four. He is a clumsy, goofball Antarean who provides his own brand of comic relief whenever Evie and her friends stop by the restaurant. He was military intelligence for Antares until he chose to stay on Earth, his memory erased of all Antarean things. He has a penchant for misinterpreting people's orders, and sometimes even forgets his own name.
• Mick Froelich (1990–1991) (Tom Nolan) — Donna's brother and Evie's uncle, who was introduced in season 4, episode 7, to replace Uncle Beano as a recurring character. He is a former rock musician.

Evie was able to communicate with Troy through a special genetic communication device known as the "cube," which he gave to her when she turned thirteen. The cube effectively functioned as a telephone line to Antareus — it could even be used to leave Troy an "answerphone" message, as seen in the episode "My Little Evie." There were no controls on the cube; Evie simply would call for her father, and the cube would activate when he answered, and deactivate when he would "hang up." Depending on the plotline, Troy would manifest his powers while talking through the cube, emitting a beam of energy directly from the cube.

Evie and Donna would normally keep the cube around the house, out of sight (often in Evie's bedroom), sometimes telling people it was an ornament or a talking clock. When the cube was activated, the top half of it would open up on a hinge with a magenta light pulsing inside, with a "spacey" sound effect. The ambient lights in the room would usually dim as well. Troy's voice would be heard clearly through the cube with reverberation.

Originally, even though everyone was able to hear Troy through the cube, Evie was the only one whom Troy could hear, as the cube was described to be "genetic." This changes in the first episode of season 2, "Evie's Birthday Wish." At the end of the episode, Evie uses her final wish to request that her mother be able to talk to Troy like she can. As a result, Troy could then hear Donna and they could talk back and forth. It was unknown whether the rest of Evie's family could also talk to Troy, but there were other aliens that Troy could hear through the cube, as seen in Season 4 Episode 5 "Evie's Guardian Angel" (an Antaerian was sent to Earth to protect Evie and Donna, and he could speak to Troy via the cube).

The series featured several celebrities who made cameo appearances on the show, occasionally as themselves. In chronological order of appearances:

• Ann Miller
• Norman Fell (as Evie's psychiatrist Dr. Hauser, "The Nightmare", 1987)
• Scott Carpenter (as himself, "Evie and the Young Astronauts", 1987)
• Charles Nelson Reilly (as himself, "Dueling Mayors", 1987)
• Betsy Palmer (as Donna's mother, "Uh, Oh... Here Comes Mother", 1987)
• Tom Bosley (as Troy's father, "Guess Who's Coming to Earth", 1988 and "Around the World in Eighty Minutes", 1989)
• Jamie Farr ("Go West, Young Mayor", 1988)
• Richard Kiel (as Norman, "Go West, Young Mayor", 1988)
• Scott Baio (who also directed several episodes) made a cameo appearance in "Princess Evie" (1988) and "Evie Goes For the Gold" (1989)
• Lyle Alzado ("Goodbye Mr. Chris", 1990)
• Mr. T ("New Kid on the Block", 1990)
• Susan Anton ("Best Friends", 1990)
• Pop singer Tiffany ("I Want My Evie TV", 1990)
• Florence Henderson ("My Mom, and Why I Love Her")
• Kathleen Freeman (as Miss Ogilvy, Evie's high school teacher, "Educating Kyle", 1991)