Massive fan, since the original pilot movie.My dad had served in the Air Force and we were big aviation and space fans, in my household. The Six Million Dollar Man carried forward the spirit of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, while turning an astronaut into a superhero. He is a mix of Buzz Aldrin, James Bond, and Gary Cooper, coming into town to right wrongs, while also dealing with scientific pehnomena. It was an imaginative series, with some really great writing and sci-fi, especially the first couple of seasons. I enjoyed Jamie, more in the SMDM; but, her own series was good, if weaker on story. They ran outf ideas quickly, on the Bionic Woman, and ended up retooling some of the earlier SMDM scripts for her.

I personally thought Majors was great and was a good actor, with the right material. Early on, the tried the James Bond approach and it didn't quite work. When they turned him into more of a Neal Armstrong/Gary Cooper mix, it worked better and he seemed more comfortable with it. Prior to it, majors had starred in the tv movie The Ballad of Andy crocker, one of the earliest movies to look at a Vietnam War veteran returning home. he had also starred as Francis Gary Powers, ina tv movie dramatization of the U2 spyplane scandal, when Powers was shot down over the USSR. I think he needed material that he felt was a bit more special to really rise to the occasion; but, I also think he had a really good handle on the kind of man Steve Austin would be. Astronauts tend to be unflappable (unless you are a conspiracy theory nut harassing them, in which case even a 70+ year-old astronaut can probably kick your asteroids) and Steve exemplified that. The earlier movies took care of the alienation and coming to terms with his accident and the series finds him at peace, mstly with being bionic. The rest of it is the Western hero coming to a new town and chasing off the bad guys......in slow motion.

My friends and I used to run, in slow motion on the playground, making the bionic sound effects. I had the doll, with the see-through bionic eye and the ratchet arm, which allowed him to lift the engine block accessory. My sister loved Jamie and had her doll.

Personal favorites were the first season episodes "Population Zero," "Day of the Robot," "Doomsday and Counting," "The Last of the Fourth of Julys," "Burning Bright; second season "The Seven Million Dollar Man," "The Deadly Replay," "The Last Kamikaze," The Bionic Woman (parts 1 &2);" third season "The Price of Liberty," "One of Our Running Backs is missing," "The Secret of Bigfoot (1 and 2);" season 4 "Return of Bigfoot," "The Thunderbird Connection," "Death Probe (1 & 2)," "Danny's Inferno," "A Bionic Christmas Carol;" and season 5 "Dark Side of the Moon," and "The Return of Death Probe."

I was laid up in the hospital, after a hernia repair operation, watching "Doomsday and Counting," where Steve and a Russian cosmonaut friend (played by Gary Collins) have to fly to a Russian installation of a remote island and rescue Collins' fiance, a scientist trapped in the underground installation. It turns out the facility houses a doomsday weapon and the pair have to et past a series of defensive barriers to reach the fiance, then to get to the weapon chamber and defuse it, as an earthquake has seto off the countdown. My dad fixed the automatic bed like an astronaut's chair, so I could watch my favorite show (which he also enjoyed).

Charlton had both a standard comic and a magazine comic, based on the series, with art from workhorse Joe Staton. I have scans of those and they aren't bad, though are hardly classics.

There is a book about the series, Bionic Book: Reconstructed, bxy Herbie J Pilato.



It's a little dry, but filled with great behind-the-scenes information about the series and interviews with many principles.

I enjoyed both Alan Oppenheimer and Martin E Brooks as Rudy Wells, though Brooks is probably the definitive Rudy. Martin Balsam played him in the pilot movie, while Darrin McGavin was a slightly more sinister Oscar Goldman.*

Incidentally, in the original Seven Million Dollar Man, Monte Markham's character is Barney Miller. After that broadcast, the tv comedy, with Hal Linden debuted and Bionic Barney was renamed Hiller, in his return appearance. Markham was actually author Martin Caidin's choice for Steve Austin, but even he felt he was wrong for the character. Caidin, himself, appears in the season 5 two-parter, "The Deadly Countdown." As an actor, he was a pretty good writer.

*EDIT-McGavin played a character named Oliver Spencer, not Oscar Goldman, though he is head of the OSI.  Dynamite's Six Million Dollar Man:  Season 6 brought the character back.

codystarbuck I did know about Caidin wanting Markham to play Steve. I also knew why they changed Barney from Miller to Hiller. I got to read Caidin's 4 Cyborg novels & remember the differences between the books & the TV show. The Charlton series were mostly forgettable although Neal Adams did provide some nice covers.

Interesting viewpoint on Lee Majors portrayal of Steve Austin as an astronaut. That makes a lot of sense.

Thanks for the info on the book. I put it on my Christmas list.

I read the first two novels. The first was very good, while the second's plot seemed a bit too implausible, to me.

The series is a window on 70s awful (and some good) fashions. Steve's leisure suits ranged from okay to godawful; but, nothing beat the tuxedo from "Wine, Women and War."



It looks like it was made out of Bob Newhart's bedspread.

I loved watching both shows and a girl I grew up with was named after Jaime Sommers. I have very fond playground memories making the bionic sounds, haha! Loved Max the Bionic Dog and when Bigfoot was on! My cousin had the Six Million Dollar Man action figure.

Too many Bionic men running around would take away the uniqueness of Steve Austin and his capabilities and further dilute the idea of Bionic powers. Hiller was always meant to show that NOT JUST ANYONE could go Bionic. This along with the John Saxon as Fred Sloan robot helps to show just how special Austin is and his value as an agent of the OSS.

I get that. It's just that I enjoyed the two episodes that featured Barney.