The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 1

I was very young when "The Six Million Dollar Man" originally aired, so before the recent release of this show onto DVD (FINALLY) my memories were basically of bits and pieces, with no real memory of entire episodes (uh, except maybe the Big Foot eps that came later). On the one hand it's a shame this spectacular show was never syndicated (as least to my knowledge). That said, after purchasing season 1 it almost felt as if I was watching the series for the first time. There were scenes here and there that I recalled, but most surprising of all is how much I rediscovered my love for this series. Memories faded, I do remember loving this show as a young child. Now, as a middle aged adult, I seem to love it just as much. In fact, as mentioned in the title I chose for my review, this just might be the most FUN show ever created. I only wish I still had my Steve Austin doll since nowadays it's become quite an expensive collector's item. I loved everything about this series - all those years ago - and still do. Great casting! Great music! Great story lines!!! Great guest stars too!!!!But back to the series and season one. I can actually recall seeing commercial advertising for the series premiere, although I have no memory of there being 3 pilot episodes. The first pilot - aptly titled "The Six Million Dollar Man" - is without a doubt my favorite of the 3 as well as my favorite episode of season 1. Even if this series had never materialized beyond the initial pilot movie (I'm so thankful it did though), the original pilot movie could easily stand on it's own as a wonderful, engaging and very unique t.v. movie. I had forgotten that Richard Anderson and the Oscar Goldman character were not featured in this first pilot; so glad he showed up in the second as I loved the character of Oscar Goldman as much as I loved Steve Austin. In this initial pilot we see an ordinary man - with an extraordinary job (astronaut) - doing what he loves to do and ending up in what could only be described as a nightmarish freak accident. Colonel Austin loses his right arm in the crash, along with his left eye and both legs that are too badly damaged to salvage. When he eventually regains consciousness and is told by Dr Rudy Wells the extent of his injuries my heart breaks for the young pilot. Lee Majors realistically portrays the emotions of a man whose life is now changed forever. While lying helplessly in a hospital bed, Steve is heartbroken, depressed and even attempts suicide. Lee's performance is so convincing that I was literally tearing up as I watched a pilot I had not seen since 1973. Lee continues to give a brilliant and convincing performance as a man who eventually accepts his fate, agrees to the bionic surgery and slowly regains his life. We watch Steve Austin passionately struggle to use his arm and legs the way a baby first learns to grasp objects and walk. Soon afterwards he is confronted by a government agency that has not only funded his $6,000,000 surgery but is now expecting payback in the form of expecting Colonel Austin to become a government special agent. We see Steve Austin struggle with yet another life-changing decision as he tells the man "I don't want to kill anyone." So ladies .... he's not only an extremely handsome man, with a sense of humor and pleasant manner, who has been to hell and back - but also a man with high morals .... what more can any of us ask for, right? Ha!The 2nd and 3rd pilots are entertaining in their own way, both with a James Bond theme. Surpass it to say that this is not exactly the direction that the creators of the original pilot wanted the series to take, and hence after the 3rd pilot there is a noticeable change in the show's overall style. Gone is Steve Austin as James Bond; now it's Steve Austin as the astronaut turned government agent we came to initially know in the first pilot movie. There are 13 FUN episodes, in addition to the 3 movies. It's difficult to select a favorite episode or two, but if I had to choose I'd probably say "Population Zero" and "Dr Wells is Missing" would be at the top of my list. Even though Lee was initially worried that the series might prove to be too campy (ala the very campy Batman series), the camp factor for "The Six Million Dollar Man" was minimal compared with Batman. O.K., so in two of season 1 episodes we are asked to believe that a mad scientist can create robots that look and act human (Day of the Robot and Run Steve Run), but the remaining episodes are less campy. All of the episodes are FUN to watch. Looking forward to adding the rest of the series to my DVD collection. I have season 2 and am getting ready for the release of season 3 (next week) - Yahoo!!!!!!!!!Long Live Steve Austin and Long Live The Six Million Dollar Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This show so captured my imagination in the 1970s, and still does, that it embarked me on my lifelong love of science and technology!Unlike other superheroes, Steven Austin was a mere mortal man, and the bionic limbs and eye that would not only save his life but make him "better, stronger, faster" than before was a technology that seemed possible!I remember, in my naivete as a 10-year-old kid, asking my dad if I could have the operation that Steve had, even though my limbs and organs functioned relatively perfectly, so that, in my then scrawny frame, I could have and enjoy those bionic powers, and defend myself against bigger kids who were picking on me in school. Of course, my dad's reply was: "It's just a TV show, Mike. That technology doesn't really exist." It was so ironic to hear, on one of the supplemental disc's documentaries, that actor Lee Majors, who played the show's iconic hero, as well as members of the production team, get asked that same question all the time from amputees!Here we get all three ABC movies of the week, followed by all the season 1 episodes. There's not much I can add to the other excellent reviews here, except to say that it's amusing to hear how the show's opening title montage and theme song went through a major overhaul from TV Movie 3 to Episode One of the series, when Executive Producer Harve Benett, who would later produce many of the Star Trek movies, took over, and felt, as I did, that the series needed a new theme song.With all due credit to Glenn Larson, who would go on to conceive and produce his "little" space epic called Battlestar Galactica, and who here, in addition to co-producing these movies, wrote the music and lyrics for this song, kind of a '60s-era soul song, simply called "Six Million Dollar Man", that has Dusty Springfield singing "He's the MAAAAAN! with backup singers singing 'The Six Million Dollar MAAAAAN!' Catch him if you can, beat him if you can, love him if you CAAAAN...", sorry, Glenn...this song HAD to go. Apparently, Larson felt that his song would help cement Lee Majors as a sex symbol, a sex MACHINE, a sex GOD, for the ladies, and it did, but then-new producer Harve Bennett and the execs at ABC rightly felt, as I do, that, since Steve was in the military, the series needed more of a militaristic sound. Thank God the prevailing theme song was scrapped and was replaced, like Steve's human parts, with the more familiar militaristic drum and percussion-driven theme song, ingeniously composed by Oliver Nelson, who scored TV's Ironside, as well as multiple other shows and movies, that we have now grown to know and love.It's also interesting to note that the iconic sound-effects, of the bionic arm and legs functioning ("chchchchch"), as well as the impact sound whenever Steve's bionic limbs connect with another object ("boompapapapapa"), are almost totally absent in Season 1! The bionic eye begins to make its telltale mid-range pulsing noise ("boopoopoopoo") about halfway through the season. John Saxon, who would play a robot in the memorable episode, Day of the Robot, who squares off against Steve Austin in hand-to-hand combat, has the honor of being the show's first actor to enjoy having his actions "scored" by the show's first bionic sound-effect. It wouldn't be until Season 2 when producers and ABC execs pulled out all the stops and courageously began using those legendary sound-effects whenever Steve bursts into bionic mode and performs a bionic deed.Great show! Great set! I particularly enjoyed getting to know the great Harve Bennett, in his extensive behind-the-scenes interview on the bonus disc, as he explains, in great detail, why he made several creative decisions, mainly to take the show away from pure sci-fi and make Steve less of a robot and more human. This was the right decision.The rich characterizations and satisfying interrelationships between characters, bionic man Steve, OSI chief administrator and mission mastermind Oscar Goldman (played with great warmth and intelligence by Richard Anderson) and OSI scientist who developed and maintains Steve's bionic technology, Dr. Rudy Wells (who would be played by 3 actors) formed a strong bond of love and loyal, devoted family, a family that we welcomed into our own families, a family that we are now able to become embroiled in whenever we fire up our DVD players, a family that continues to endure.Considering the source material, ABC and MCA/Universal's original master air tapes (going back to the 35mm negatives, if they exist, would yield an even better, stronger look...perhaps, if there's ever a blu-ray release...), the remastered transfers look terrific, even better than I remember this show looking when it first aired on ABC!Plug in, charge up those bionic power cells, and enjoy.

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