THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON 5
Happily they went back to the conventional packaging on this!!
The fifth and final season of one of the most iconic shows from
the 70's!!
Surprisingly, neither Lindsey Wagner(The Bionic Woman: Jaime
Sommers) nor Farrah Fawcett(Lee Major's wife at the time who
played Major Kelly Wood) are in any of this last season's episodes!!
EPISODE # 1: SHARKS - PART I(Sept. 11, 1977):
Steve is on a submarine to help recover a secret device that's
quit working! After they submerge, a bomb that was set before
they left goes off, sinking the sub!! This was a plan to steal the
sub!!
The first of a two-part episode! The shark deal is pretty hard
to take!!
Guest starring is John deLancie(Star Trek: TNG, DS9 & Voyager,
Stargate SG1, The Thornbirds), along with Marc Alaimo(Star
Trek: TNG & DS9, Total Recall, Tango & Cash) & Pamela Hensley
(Buck Rogers, Matt Houston, Get Smart: The Nude Bomb)! A-
EPISODE #2: SHARKS - PART II(Sept. 18, 1977):
With the bad guys trying to steal the sub with the help of sharks,
Steve and Dr. Wells end up trapped on the sub and in danger of
being killed, along with the sub being destroyed!!
All the particulars return here! A-
EPISODE # 3: DEADLY COUNTDOWN PART I(Sept. 25, 1977):
A satellite is malfunctioning and Steve is being sent up
to fix it, along with some help!! Of course, this wouldn't
be a story unless there was conflict, and this is no exception!
There are factions that want to pirate away the satellite,
and Steve's the only one in the way, so a hit man is hired
to get rid of him!!!
Guest starring Philip Abbott(The F.B.I.)!! A
EPISODE # 4: DEADLY COUNTDOWN PART II(Oct. 2, 1977):
Continuing from the last episode, this has some pretty
bad acting in it, mostly by Jenny Agutter!! Steve is recovering
from a concussion that he suffered in the previous episode
and it looks like he's not going to be able to go through with
the launch! Meanwhile, Dave McGrath's daughter is still being
held captive and the dudes that have her are still twisting his
arm to do his bidding!! A-
EPISODE # 5: BIGFOOT V(Oct. 9, 1977):
An anthropologist is on the hunt for, well, who knows what
when she and her guide stumble upon Sasquatch!! It turns
out the the big guy from the previous episodes has been left
behind when the rest of the aliens went back into space!! This
of course brings in Steve and the rest to find out what's up!!
Reprising his role as Sasquatch for the last time is Ted Cassidy
(The Addams Family, Star Trek: TOS episodes "What Are Little
Girls Made Of", "The Corbomite Maneuver"[voice only] & "Arena"
[again, only voice])) A
EPISODE # 6: KILLER WIND(Oct. 16, 1977):
Several stories going on here: Kids on a field trip; Steve and Rudy
in an airplane forced down because of a twister; and three dudes
robbing a bank!! They all come together for a lot of fun!!
Oh, and did I mention Rudy's broken ankle??
Guest starring James McEachin(Perry Mason Movies) & Adam
Roarke(Star Trek: TOS episode "The Cage")!! A
EPISODE # 7: ROLLBACK(Oct. 30, 1977):
Steve goes undercover in the roller derby sport(?) to try to uncover
a syndicate that's stealing OSI secrets!!
Guest starring Rick Sprinfield(Musician - "Jessie's Girl"), Robert
Loggia(Independence Day, Scarface, Big, Over The Top, T.H.E.
Cat)!!
This was a double episode, which it really didn't need to be!! Only
because of that I give it an A-
EPISODE # 8: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - PART I(Nov. 6, 1977):
This one is really far out!! There's an expedition to go to an
asteroid to try to mine some minerals that's low on Earth!
Steve figured on going on the expedition, but the head scientist
in charge doesn't like him, and not only that, is planning some
sort of hijacking!! He manages to get the destination changed
from the asteroids to the moon!! And he's determined to keep
Steve out of the whole situation!! All of this leads to disaster on
Earth as the weather has gone nuts because of what the scientist
is doing!!
This really jumps around!! And not in a good way!!
First part of a two part story! B
EPISODE # 9: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - PART II(Nov. 13, 1977):
With Steve now on the moon, and a captive of the mad scientist
Hell bent on mining the moon, things are getting worse on the
Earth! With the backing of the rest of the group, the scientist
starts going totally berserk!!
There are so many scientific flaws in this that it's hard to
take this seriously!! B-
EPISODE # 10: TARGET: STEVE AUSTIN(Nov. 27, 1977)
Someone's infiltrated the OSI, bugged their office building,
and now put in a ringer that's suppose to help steal a secret
device that Steve and an accomplice are transporting cross
country!!
Guest starring Ian Abercrombie(Star Trek: Voyager episodes
"Someone To Watch Over Me" & "Spirit Folk", Babylon 5
episode "Acts Of Sacrifice")! A-
EPISODE # 11: THE CHESHIRE PROJECT(Dec. 18, 1977):
Richard Anderson(Oscar Goldman) has been getting less and
less screen time!! And in this one, he's not here at all!!!
While flying a test jet plane with stealth capabilities, the
plane disappears, longer than it was suppose to!!!
Guest starring Suzanne Somers(Three's Company)! Suzanne
actually does a really great job here!!!! A
EPISODE # 12: WALK A DEADLY WING(Jan. 1, 1978):
A scientist from Russia defects to the US! He developed
a deadly ray gun and found out that the Russians were
planning to use it for dastardly purposes! The problem:
his wife is still in Russia and he won't change his name so
he can disappear here!! Steve is sent to where he is doing
a trick plane show, and takes over as his "wing walker", a
dude who goes out on the wing of a plane while it's flying
and does tricks in order to protect him and his wife and
get the device!!!
Guest starring Eric Braeden(The Rat Patrol, The Titanic,
Perry Mason Mystery: The Case Of The Wicked Wives)! A-
EPISODE # 13: JUST A MATTER OF TIME(Jan. 8, 1978)
So, Steve has been testing some new rocket fuel, and on his
return from space there's a malfunction which knocks him
off course and when he lands he's suddenly in 1984!! Well,
that's what everybody he runs into is trying to make him
think!! Obviously looking for information on the test fuel!!
Guest stars include John de Lancie(Star Trek: TNG, DS9 &
Voyager) who returns for another guest starring role, along
with Paul Carr(Star Trek: TOS episode "Where No Man Has
Gone Before", Buck Rogers), !
This starts out pretty good, then digresses horribly!! B+
EPISODE # 14: RETURN OF THE DEATH PROBE - PART I(Jan. 22, 1978):
This is even sillier than the last time they had the Death Probe!!
Almost not worth watching, and they made it a two parter!!!!
I think at this point they were just trying to stretch out their
stories as they knew the end was coming! Just MHO!!
Guest starring Ken Swofford(Several episodes of Murder She
Wrote, Kenny Rogers As The Gambler 2: The Adventure Continues,
Ellery Queen)!! B-
EPISODE # 15: RETURN OF THE DEATH PROBE - PART II(Jan. 29, 1978):
And this continues the silliness from the ending from the
previous episode!! All the particulars return! B-
EPISODE # 16: THE LOST ISLAND(Jan. 30, 1978):
An experimental "neutron powered" satellite has fallen to
Earth, and we know not where!! To top it off, it appears that
the satellite has fallen on an invisible island, made so by a
force field that hides it, as well as hiding others from them!
Oh, and if someone gets exposed to the innerds, it can
transmutate them to a super strong, weird dude!!
More visitors from outer space!! Very science fictionish!!!
Another two parter that was shown as a single episode! A-
EPISODE # 17: THE MADONNA CAPER(Feb. 6, 1978):
There's a micro dot on a Russian Madonna painting and
Oscar needs help in getting it off of it, which of course is
where Steve comes in!
Very reminiscent of Mission: Impossible!!
Guest starring Bibi Besch(Star Trek II: The Search For Spock) &
Bruce Glover(Diamonds Are Forever, Chinatown)!! A
EPISODE # 18: DEAD RINGER(Feb. 13, 1978):
Car comes at Steve while driving down the highway and
forces him off the road, he hits a tree, sees a double of
himself, passes out! And then, later that same episode,
Oscar informs him that there's two Russian agents who
are interested in bionics that's here, and Oscar was going
to have him look into them, but since the accident he's
having second thoughts!! Then there's the story about a
shrink that Steve goes to to straighten himself out who
tells Steve that she thinks it's his spirit that he keeps seeing!!
Oh, and let's not forget about the seance!! The whole thing
works itself out in the end! A
EPISODE # 19: DATE WITH DANGER - PART I(Feb. 20, 1978):
One of the main dudes in OSI gets blamed for embezelment
as well as stealing company documents! Steve doesn't believe
it and starts investigating, which takes him to an online dating
service!! All about computer hacking!!
Guest starring here is Robert Walker(Star Trek: TOS episode
"Charlie X", Ensign Pulver) along with Bob Eubanks(Game
show host: The Newly Wed Game, Card Sharks)!! A
EPISODE # 20: DATE WITH DANGER - PART II(Feb. 27, 1978)
Continued from the last episode, this concludes with Elaine
helping out Steve to first get out of the loony bin, then track
down Cloche!! He insists that he's no longer responsible, but
that the computer is the one that's really doing all the dirty
work!! Can we say "Hal"????!!!! Probably one of the creepiest
episodes of SMDM ever!!!
Guest starring here is Robert Walker(Star Trek: TOS episode
"Charlie X", Ensign Pulver) along with Bob Eubanks(Game
show host: The Newly Wed Game, Card Sharks)!! A
EPISODE # 21: THE MOVING MOUNTAIN(Mar. 6, 1978):
The series finale!!
A very large Russian attack device has been stolen and they
want it back!! So they send their top KGB agent to find it!!
Of course Steve is in the area himself, testing out a new
tank!! They both collide when some smart missiles that
the OSI developed blow up the tank! And now, the Russian
spy and Steve end up working together to solve the whole
mess!!
And the topper, Andrea(KGB) doesn't know that Steve was
responsible for the death of her father when he tried to
break into OSI headquarters!!
Guest starring John Colicos(The main bad guy in Battlestar
Gallactica, Star Trek: TOS episode "Errand Of Mercy" & Star
Trek: DS9 where he reprises his role as Kor in the episodes
"Blood Oath", "The Sword Of Kahless" & "Once More Into
The Breach")!!
A great ending to the series!!! A+
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