THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON 1
Unless you lived on Mars, or under a rock, during the 70's
then you know the story behind The Six Million Dollar Man!!
Pilot for NASA, bad accident, rebuilt, better, stronger, faster!
Starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson(who doesn't appear
in the first pilot), this is about his exploits after the accident!!!
What you may not know, however, is that this show is based
on a true story!!!!! And that the crash scene used in the series
is the actual crash that this is based on!!!
PILOT - THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN(1973):
Lee Majors, an experimental pilot, has a very bad accident,
loses his legs, an arm and an eye which are replaced by doctors
with bionic parts!! For saving his life, though, the cost is basically
his freedom, as he is now indebted to the government for services
they see fit to use him for, with his special abilities!!
Instead of the Richard Anderson character here, we have
Darrin McGavin(Kolchak, The Night Stalker, Mike Hammer[1958])
as the "handler" for Steve!! Also here is Martin Balsam(Psycho,
Breakfast At Tiffany's) as the Doctor, and Barbara Anderson
(Ironside), as Steve's love interest!!
This doesn't have the familiar opening to it, nor the theme
song!! A-
PILOT 2 - WINE, WOMEN AND WAR(1973):
It appears here that they have talked Steve into an espionage
role fairly well by this point!!! Opening scene shows him at a
party doing some undercover work!!
The basic gist here is Steve and others are trying to stop
a dude from selling missiles!!
Darrin McGavin is now gone, and Richard Anderson has
started his run, which he was in for the rest of the series!!
Also starting his stint here as Dr. Rudy Wells is Alan
Oppenheimer!!
Guest starring here is David McCullum(The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,
NCIS), Britt Ekland(The Man With The Golden Gun, G.I. Blues),
another Elvis girl Michele Carey(Live A Little, Love A Little),
Earl Holliman(Police Woman) & Lee Bergere(Star Trek: TOS
episode "The Savage Curtain")!!
This role in espionage for Steve was quickly dropped after
this one movie, as a decision was made to take him back
to the original idea for the character!! A-
PILOT 3 - THE SOLID GOLD KIDNAPPING(1973):
An ambassador is kidnapped just before he is to be in
China to negotiate with them for a peace agreement!!
This is carried out by an organized crime group that
specializes in kidnapping important people for ransom!!
This ends very abruptly, like they ran out of time, or tape,
or maybe it was cut for the DVD, don't know, but it seems
that it just jumped all of a sudden to the ending!!
This does, however, have the great Paul Fix(Star Trek:
TOS's first doctor, before DeForest Kelley!!!, The
Rifleman, several Perry Masons) B
EPISODE # 1: POPULATION: ZERO(Jan. 18, 1974):
While on a break, an officer comes into a small town
to find the entire population dead!! Shortly after arriving
he dies also!! This is not by accident, as there are people
responsible who are asking for money!! A
EPISODE # 2: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST(Jan. 25, 1974):
Some really bad people are out after Oscar!! One thing
leads to another, and he and Steve end up on a flight
that crashes and they, along with the rest of the passengers,
and the two men after Oscar, are stranded on an island!!
Guest stars include James McEachin(Another Perry Mason
alumnus), Joanne Worley(best known for Laugh-In),
Christine Belford(Banacek, Dynesty) & Loretta
Spang(Battlestar Galactica[1978])! A
EPISODE # 3: OPERATION FIREFLY(Feb. 1, 1974):
The creator of a hand held laser has been kidnapped
and of course it's up to Steve to find him, with the help
of the inventor's daughter, who is suppose to have ESP!! A
EPISODE # 4: DAY OF THE ROBOT(Feb. 8, 1974):
The bad guys have a new toy, a robot!! So now it's
bionics VS robot!! This is because the bad guys have
substituted the robot for one of Steve's friends who
has created an anti-missile missile!!
Guest stars in this include John Saxon(The Bold Ones
[The New Doctors], Dynasty, Falcon Crest) & Henry Jones
(Mrs. Columbo, Falcon Crest, Phyllis)! A
EPISODE # 5: LITTLE ORPHAN AIRPLANE(Feb. 22, 1974):
Josh Perkins(Greg Morris[Mission: Impossible!]) is here, flying
a plane taking photographs of military armament being supplied
to people it's not suppose to go to!! The airplane has mechanical
problems and goes down behind "enemy" lines!! There's photos
that the government wants and they enlist Steve to go in and get
them, and Josh, if possible!! A
EPISODE # 6: DOOMSDAY, AND COUNTING(Mar. 1, 1974):
A cosmonaut friend of Steve's approaches him with an idea
about a joint effort on a nuclear space flight to Mars!! Before
it can get off the ground, there's an earthquake that might
cancel the whole idea!! A
EPISODE # 7: EYEWITNESS TO MURDER(Mar. 8, 1974):
While waiting for a cab after dinner, Steve sees a man get
shot!! His enhanced eyesight helps him see the culprit!!
The man who was shot was an accident, a bullet really meant
for someone else(William Scharllert!!)!!
This guest stars, of course, William Schallert(Star Trek: TOS
[episode "The Trouble With Tribbles"], The Patty Duke Show) &
Gary Lockwood(Star Trek: TOS[episode "Where No Man Has
Gone Before])!! A
EPISODE # 8: THE RESCUE OF ATHENA ONE(Mar. 15, 1974):
This is about a trainee learning to command a module,
and her teacher is Steve!!
This is written by Star Trek Writer Alumnus D.C. Fontana!!
In this we have Farrah Facet Majors(Lee Majors wife at the
time this was shot)!! A
EPISODE # 9: DR. WELLS IS MISSING(Mar. 29, 1974):
Dr. Rudy gets kidnapped in his home country, with the
ultimate goal of the kidnappers to get the know how to
build a bionic man!! A
EPISODE # 10: THE LAST OF THE FOURTH OF JULYS(Apr. 5, 1974)
Something big's going to happen on the fourth of July,
and it's up to Steve to stop it!! A
EPISODE # 11: BURNING BRIGHT(Apr. 12, 1974):
A man who's just returned from space appears to be "Space
Happy"!! It's up to Steve to decide whether he's fit to continue
in the space program!! It appears that his brain has been super
charged with electricity, giving him extra mental abilities!!
This is pretty sad!!
This guest stars non-other than the original TV spaceman,
William Shatner(Star Trek: TOS, Boston Legal, T.J. Hooker)!!! A
EPISODE # 12: THE COWARD(Apr. 19, 1974):
An old WWII plane is discovered close to the Chinese border,
and Steve finds out that his father was the pilot!! Also turns
out that the records show that he had abandoned the plane
with all of the other officers still on board!!!
Kind of reminiscent of High Road To China in many ways!!
This guest stars George Takei(Star Trek TOS!!), George
Montgomery(Cimarron City), France Nuyen(South Pacific)
and Martha Scott(Sayonara, Ben Hur, The Bionic Woman)! A+
EPISODE # 13: RUN, STEVE, RUN(Apr. 26, 1974)
Henry Jones is back, and he's up to his old tricks of trying
to make an army of bionic robots, like Steve!!!
Several flashbacks to previous episodes!! And the girl in
this is really bad!!!!!
This also guest stars Noah Beery Jr.(The Rockford Files, Circus
Boy)!! A
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Disc 6:
REAL BIONICS:
A pretty interesting look at where we are in Bionics today(2010)
With Kenneth Johnson(Writer/Producer), Harve Bennett(Executive
Producer), Ian Fothergill(Technical Director, Ossur Americas), James
Parriott(Writer), Karl Lindborg(Director Of Professional Services,
Touch Bionics)! B+
AN ICONIC OPENING:
The creation of the into of the episodes!
Jack Cole(Main Title Director), Jerry London(Director), Harve
Bennett(Executive Producer), Steve Stafford(Director "Bionic
Ever After?"), Martin E. Brooks(Dr. Rudy Wells), Jesse Mess
Toves(Fan)! B+
SEASON 1 VIPs:
Guest stars of season 1!
With Herbie J. Pilato(The Classic TV Preservation Society),
Paul K. Bisson(Founder, The Bionic Fan Network), Harve
Bennett(Executive Producer)! With several clips from the
series!! B+
OSI MISSION DEBRIEFING:
An interview with Harve Bennett! Sadly, this is over long
and gets quite boring!! B-
INTERACTIVE BONUS FEATURE:
Bionic Breakdown! Showing the various bionic parts
of Steve's and their functions!! B+
From a reviewer at IMDb.com:
One thing that my sister pointed out to me at the time (she
is a few years older than I) is "If Steve Austin only has one
bionic arm, why doesn't he rip his other arm off whenever
he breaks out of handcuffs?" It seems obvious now as an
adult but, they managed to slip that one past this eight year
old kid!
Oh and who didn't want to be Steve Austin/ Lee Majors back
then? Jamie Sommers on screen (I had a major crush) and
Farrah Fawcett at home! What a lucky guy! And whose idea
was it to give Farrah's character on the show a name like
Major Kelly Wood- major wood- I am sure!
My favourite episodes have to be any with Jamie Sommers.
It was even better when she got her own spin-off show.
Also the few show with Andre the Giant. The ones that
freaked me out as a kid was with John Saxon's character
Major Frederick Sloan as a robot and his face falls off!
We never missed an episode! I would love to see these in
re-runs. Is there any talk of getting this show back on the
air? - yoredm