My Favorite Martian

Reporter Tim O'Hara, while covering a flight of the Air Force X-15, finds a spaceship that contains a genuine martian. The martian is a professor who specializes in the planet Earth and now has to repair his spaceship before he can go home.

There is dual girl trouble in the O'Hara household. George, the dog who Tim is looking after for Mr. Burns, is in love with Chloe, the dog from next door. Through trying to get George and Chloe together, Tim falls for Chloe's owner, Marsha Carson. However Marsha has had some recent relationship problems of her own. Howard Loomis, her boyfriend, took off to Mexico without as much as a goodbye. Because Marsha feels betrayed by Howard, she is now overprotective of Chloe and suspicious of all men, including Tim. Tim's case is not helped by Angela, who bad mouths Tim to Marsha solely because Angela has a crush on Tim herself. From information from Chloe, Martin finds out the whereabouts of Howard, who rushes back to Los Angeles based on "anonymous" information provided by Martin. Howard, whose departure to Mexico was beyond his control and who tried to contact Marsha prior to his departure, clears the air with her and reignites their relationship to the point of getting engaged. This leaves Tim out in the cold. But at least all works out for George and Chloe, as Tim is given the task of sitting for Chloe while Marsha and Howard rush off to Las Vegas to get married.

Martin comes down with a common cold, which is not so common but rather debilitating for Martians. Meanwhile Tim is sent to Trimbles Department Store to review their outer space exhibit. Trimble, a major advertiser in The Sun, tries to buy and bully for a good review, despite the display showing every unfounded stereotype of life on other planets. Tim knows the display to be total fantasy. But he doesn't get a chance to write the review as he inadvertently takes one of Martin's sleep inducing cold tablets and falls asleep. To submit the review by deadline, Martin writes the review based on his own personal experience of what is true to life on Mars. Trimble is livid and wants Mr. Burns to fire Tim unless Tim apologizes and writes a retraction; Mr. Burns is willing to do so. Tim is going to do as Trimble and Burns wants if only to keep his job and keep from financial bankruptcy, but Martin doesn't want him to compromise what he knows to be right and wrong. Tim does stand up to Trimble and Trimble keeps to his threat until Trimble's usually mild mannered daughter, Gloria, takes her cue from Tim's moxie and stands up to her father about the quality of the exhibit. Trimble changes his tune as he admires the stand up quality of his daughter.

Martin reads about a $2 billion American space program, a program he knows is doomed for failure. Not wanting to see the American government waste $2 billion, Tim writes himself a fake letter to the newspaper which includes Martin's nighttime musings; Tim thinks Martin's mumblings are key to the flaw in the space program. Based on the fake letter, Tim writes a newspaper story criticizing the wasted $2 billion. Tim's masquerade is uncovered by the government, agents for whom think he's a spy working for the Russians. Tim is questioned under a lie detector, and he fails miserably when it comes to questions about Martin. So the agents call in Martin, the agents who question him under the lie detector, under hypnosis, and through brainwashing. Martin overcomes each, to him, primitive method. But he can't overcome the truth serum, and he spills the beans about being a Martian. It isn't until then that the agents let Tim and Martin go. They figure that Martin is crazy and delusional, which is causing stress on Tim which in turn made him write the letter.

Renowned scientist Professor Newton Jennings posits that life no more advanced than amoebas or jellyfish can exist on Mars. Martin helps Angela write a report refuting Jennings claims, which quickly gets her a failing grade. When Martin's attempts to reason with Angela's teacher fails, Martin figures the only way to regain the upper hand—and Angela's trust—is to expose Jennings as a fraud.

To get some rarefied air, Martin goes atop a water tower. Passersby, including the police, think he's a jumper and he's promptly sent to the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Martin thinks he can quickly exit the hospital by reading the psychiatrist's mind and tell him what he wants to hear. However the psychiatrist, Dr. Harvey Bonnett, has other things on his mind, like his troubled marriage. Ultimately, Dr. Bonnett becomes the patient and Martin the doctor.