Forgot to mention, Population Zero was written by Elroy Schwartz. he was a veteran writer but never quite achieved the notoriety of his brother: Sherwood Schwartz. Yep, as in Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch.

Operation Firefly

Guest Stars: Pamela Franklin (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Legend of Hell House) as Susan Abbott, Simon Scott (Trapper John MD, Wine, Women and War telefilm) as Dr Samuel Abbot, Joseph Ruskin (STOS "Gamesmasters of Triskelion", Mission Impossible) as Le Duc, Jack Hogan (Adam-12, Combat) as John Belson, Joe Kapp (Longest Yard) as Frank.

Episode Synopsis: Oscar shows Steve a new laser projector, which uses a chemical mixture for a light source, like a firefly (or a chem-light). The inventor, Samuel Abbott is missing, with no leads. Steve is sent to Spain to find his daughter Susan, who is a parapsychologist with ESP abilities, in hopes that she can point them in the right direction. She gets some images from a piece of scrimshaw that was her father's and Steve identifies those images as the Florida Everglades. They travel ther but are nearly killed in a runaway taxi, in Spain. In Florida, their camp is attacked and their guide, Frank, is killed. They eventually locate Abbott at a large, remote house, where he is willingly helping the people who tried to kill Steve and Susan. He believes Austin is an enemy agent, thanks to the info from agent John Belson, who is a tunrcoat. meanwhile, a man named Le Duc is negotiating with Oscar. Steve breaks out of a cell ad sabotages the laser, which explodes during a test. belson loses his cool with Abbott and tips his hand to the doctor. he threatens to kill Susan unless Abbott completes his work. Steve rescues Susan and gets Dr Abbott out.

Bionic Stuns: Steve's first stunt is some bionic guitar strumming. He then stops the runaway taxi with his bionic foot, acting as a brake (destroying his boot). Later, he uses his bionic arm to take out their attackers with a hunk of tree, going Buford Pusser one better (he only had a tree limb; Steve had a trunk!). He uses his bionic strength and speed to carve a canoe out of a tree trunk and make a paddle. Later, he fights the world's fakest crocodile (I half expected it to make "tic-toc" noises, like in Peter Pan) and bashes it on the head (seriously, this thing is foam rubber!!!) He rips off chains and bends the bars of his cell.



Trashin' Fashion: Steve wears one of his uglier leisure suits...



Susan is wearing a sequined Phoenix t-shirt, which was a thing in the 70s, and wears some pretty flared bell bottom jeans in the Everglades.

General Thoughts: This is a weaker episode. The international intrigue is pretty rushed and the episode soon turns into Deliverance meets a spy movie. The villain is a bit weak and the twist of Abbott working freely with the crooks isn't very effective. Susan's ESP is kind of minor. ESP is later used in the series (Martin caidin was involved in ESP research and wrote about the subject), with the recurring character, Audrey, a teenage girl with very strong ESP abilities and an annoying voice.

The finished laser projector looks rather like a theater film projector, minus the film spools. Earlier, we see an actual laser in action, hich Steve them examines.

Happy to oblige.  I was actually thinking about doing something like this when you launched the thread.  I've been enjoying rewatching the first season, which has some of the best episodes; or, at least, many of my favorites.

Day of the Robot

Guest Stars: John Saxon (Enter the Dragon, Planet Earth) as Maj. Fred Sloan, Henry Jones (The Girl with Something Extra, Vertigo) as Dr Dolenz, Lloyd Bochner (BSG, Dynasty) as Gavern Wilson, Charles Bateman (Cannon, Santa Barbara) as MSgt Parnell, Noah Keen (Battle for the POTA) as Gen Tanhill, Robert Rothwell (Adam-12, Mary Tyler Moore Show) as Al, Martin Speer (Hills Have Eyes, Partridge Family) as Neil

Episode Synopsis: The episode opens with two men in lab coats putting weights on a barbell. A weightlifter tries to lift it; but can't get it higher than shoulder level. A "Mister X" is called in and we see him from behind, lifting the weight with one hand above his head.



A man in a suit (identified as Gavern Wilson) observes and questions Mr X. He is happy with the responses and congratulates Dr. Dolenz. We then see the face of Mr X, which is a mas of circuitry. Mr X is a sophisticated robot, created and programmed by Dolenz.



Another man, Parnell says he will have the rest of the personnel files to load into the computer, soon. Steve is playing tennis with an old buddy, Army Maj. Fred Sloan. Steve cheats a bit, using his bionic eye for accuracy. They say their goodbyes, as they both have appointments; but, it turns out with the same person, Oscar Goldman. Oscar briefs Steve: he is to escort Fred to an Army missile testing range, to test a modified anti-missile defense system, which Maj Sloan has perfected. Steve will act as bodyguard and carry a key component in the system. Oscar tasks an Army master sergeant to outfit the men as fishermen on a trip. The master sergeant is Parnell. He gets Maj Sloan coffee.

Steve and Fred are on the road, when Fred starts complaining of stomach pains. They stop at a gas station for Fred to use the restroom, as he feels nauseous. The door is locked or stuck and a man from a waiting bread truck offers to help. He pistol whips Fred and carries the unconscious man into the truck. Out of the restroom comes Mr X, with the face of Fred Sloan. Steve and "Fred" continue their journey, when Steve notices Fred is driving slowly. There is a problem with the robots foot and the technicians try to resolve it remotely. Fred starts driving faster and faster, until he loses control of the car. Steve uses his bionics to move the car back out, then the robot imitates the movement, to Steve's surprise. Later, the robot feigns illness and they stop at a motel. Steve goes out to use a phone in private and asks Oscar if there is anyone else like him, which Oscar denies. While driving the next day, Steve notices a tail. he mentions it to Fred, who makes the same remark he did the day before, when Steve had a similar inkling. Steve notices this and repeats his statement and Fred responds exactly the same. Dolenz and his crew know Austin is on to them and they initiate the plan to remove him. The remotely blow the tire of the car and the robot konks Steve, when he examines the tire. The robot takes the hidden component and runs to the following car. Parnell is in a helicopter and goes to finish Steve; but, Steve takes him out. Oscar is at the test sight and is arguing to stop the test, based on Steve's previous call. gen Tanhill refuses. The watch the successful test. Dolenz sends commands to the robot to steal the initator system, which he does, taking out a soldier along the way. Steve has caught up to them and attacks the robot and the live game of rock-em/sock-em bionics begins.



The robot is getting the better of things, especially after he smashes Steve in his flesh & bone arm. Steve knocks off the false mask, revealing the robot's circuitry underneath. Steve jumps down the hill and the robot follows. Steve lifts up a girder and the robot impales itself on it, as it lands, destroying its control mechanisms. Later, Steve is with Oscar and Fred is still missing, presumed dead. Steve goes for a walk and comes across an amnesiac Fred sitting near their tennis court.

Bionic Stunts: We get a whole plethora, from both Steve and the robot. Steve uses his bionic eye for accuracy on the tennis court and for surveillance, later. He lifts up the car to get it back on the road, then uses his bionic strength against the robot. The robot one-arm clean-and-jerks a barbell above his head, lifts the same car as Steve, rips the initiator off the command console, rips open a sealed door, brushes off a hit from a steel rod, and runs quickly. We also get the first use of bionic sound effects, as we get the "boop-boop-boop-boop" sound for Steve's bionic eye and we then get the "tch-tch-tch-tch" sound when the robot swings his arms; but, only the robot. The effects still aren't used for Steve's stunts. Oh, yeah; Steve kicks a car on top of one of the hoods!!!!!

Trashin' Fashion: Man, where to begin? Lloyd Bochner is wearing a grey, plaid suit that isn't horrendous; but is't likely to come back into style. Steve and Fred were typical dressy-casual stuff, then outdoor gear for the trip. At the end, Oscar is wearing a hideous sportcoat that is only topped by Steve's even uglier one. Man, why did they think patterns looked good on sport coats, in the late 60s and 70s? Ugh!!!!!

General thoughts: This is one of the top 5 episodes of the series and one of the classic bionic battles. For the first time, we see Steve evenly matched; actually outclassed, even. The fight is filled with bionic stunts and Steve throws a dropkick on the robot, which it brushes off. John Saxon was terrific and it was a shame he didn't return for more episodes. He adds some personality, then an air of deadly menace, as the robot. He gives the robot a very stiff run, which is kind of creepy. His expressions are either overly mechanical of practically frozen, as the robot, which works wonderfully, as Steve suspects something is wrong. Dr Dolenz will also be something of a recurring villain. We know nothing about him, save that he is brilliant enough to create the robot and control it. He has seen Steve's abilities and will return to explore them, to improve his robot. In many ways, he will become the Prof. Moriarty to Steve's Sherlock Holmes.

This episode ended up being a huge influence on the Six Million Dollar Man line of toy dolls (action figures, whatever....), with Steve's opponent being a robot, known as Maskatron.



Maskatron came with changeable faces, including one that looked vaguely like John Saxon and one that looked like Oscar (from a future episode). It also had buttons that would cause limbs to come off, when hit in a fight. The toys were great playthings, as Steve's arm had a ratchet mechanism that allowed it to lift up an engine block accessory (see next episode for the probable inspiration), while you good roll back the rubbery skin to reveal the bionic implants. You could also look through the bionic eye.



My memory is that it was even taller than a GI Joe, though that may be wrong. It was a hefty toy, that's for sure and could take some abuse.

The robot without his face was pretty scary, when I was a kid and I tended to look away, at those moments. You really did wonder if Steve could defeat the robot, in an excellent bit of booking, from the script. Aside from logic problems, like why Steve doesn't notice how heavy the robot is, especially when he lies on a bed. With all of the metal, he must weigh significantly more than the average man, even using lighter materials. Those are the things you think about after, though. The one weakness in the script is the ending, where Steve just stumble across the real Fred. I remember as a kid thinking it was still the robot, until you saw his face (he is first seen from behind). Fred doesn't know what happened to him and you are left to wonder why he was left alive and how he got there.



Note you first hear the bionic sound effect when the robot swings his arm at Steve and mises. The computer beeping sounds would later be referenced, when Steve tells Dolenz that his robot "squeaked."

The sirens for the military helicopters are hilarious.

Piece of trivia: the missile test features stock footage of MIM-14 Nike Hercules surface-to-air missiles. These were used as air defense, rather than to launch an attack on a surface target (a surface-to-surface missile). During the test scenes, the anti-missile defense weapons are actually TOW wire-guided antitank missiles.

Little Orphan Airplane

Guest Stars: Greg Morris (Mission Impossible) as Josh Perkins, Marge Redmond (Trouble with Angels, the Flying Nun) as Sister Annett, Susan Powell (Dangerous Women) as Sister Terese, Scoey Mitchell (Rhoda) as Maj. Chooka, Lincoln Kilpatrick (Soylent Green, Omega Man) as Capt. Broco, Ji-Tu Cumbuka (Roots, A Man Called Sloane)as sergeant, Reb brown (Captain America 1 & 2, Uncommon Valor, Space Mutiny) as Radio Operator 2

Episode Synopsis A Stinson L-5 reconnaissance plane is flying over Katara, in East Central Africa. The pilot, Josh Perkins, takes photos of troop movements, which shows a violation of the UN treaty, relating to the civil war there. He must get the film back; but, engine trouble forces him down. he gets off a mayday, which gets to oscar. The Air Force tell him they want his "special man" to go in and get the film. Steve is dispatched to Nairobi, then to the Kataran border, when he is to be parachuted into the area where the plane went down. The airstrip is attacked by Karan forces and Steve's pilot, Capt. Boco, is wounded on the way out. Steve gets them in the air and then Boco takes over, as Steve jumps to the plateau below (via parachute). His descent is noticed by a farmer and his son and the son is dispatched to alert the Kataran soldiers. Steve is using a receiver to home in on the plane's transponder, when he comes across two European nuns, chasing an escaped goat. Steve catches the goat, then tries to question the nuns about the plane.



They seem standoffish, but come to trust Steve. They take him back and introduce him to Perkins, who was believed killed in the crash. He directs Steve to the hidden plane and Steve surveys the damaged craft. he thinks he can get it to fly and sets out to remove the engine. meanwhile, soldiers under Maj. Chooka come to the mission and interrogate the nuns about the parachutist. they feign ignorance and he leaves, but leaves a watcher with a radio, in the hills above. Steve and Josh return and spot the watcher, who Steve knocks out. They eat dinner while the farmer's son spies from a window. When they go off to work on the engine, the boy sneaks in and frees the watcher, who reports back to Chooka. He leads his men back to the mission, while Steve, Josh and the nuns prepare the plane for takeoff. Steve fends off the attacking troops with bionically flung rocks and then pilots the plane across the border.



Back in the states, Steve introduces the nuns to Western actor Dale Robertson, the idol of Sister Annett (president of his fan club, in Holland).



Bionic Stunts: Steve uses his bionic arm to turn a propeller, to start a plane, runs at high speed, while pushing a wagon, carrying the injured Perkins; turns his hand into a bionic pneumatic wrench, lifts an engine block (and runs with it, later) and flings rocks at high velocity.

Trashin' Fashion: I can't say anything bad about the nuns' habits (atheist or no atheist) and Perkins is in a flight suit the entire time; but, Steve has his brown suede leisure suit, which is hardly proper attire for the mountain plateaus of East Africa. His khaki action dus would have made more sense. Later, he is wearing a grey wool jacket, with some weird lines.



The Kataran soldiers are wearing US tiger-stripe camouflage, as worn by special operations units in Vietnam. They also have non-military black berets, upon which Maj Chooko has a rather large badge pinned. It looks more like a peaked cap badge, than a beret badge. The rival soldiers are in khaki, with British "Tommy" steel helmets, which makes no sense. Most African armies were equipped with either US, French, or Russian helmets, following WW2 and colonial independence. The Brits stopped using the "Tommy" helmets by the end of the war (give or take a few years). They carry M-1 rifles, while the Karan soldiers have German Mp-40 sub-machine guns. That part isn't totally inaccurate, as a ton of those weapons were sold and sent as military aid, in the post-WW2 period. However, by the 70s, most African states and rebel troops were using either European or Warsaw Pact weaponry, with either the Belgian FN-FAL rifle or the Russian AK-47 being the standard.

General Thoughts: This was another episode from Elroy Schwartz and it has more comedy than most. It fluctuates back and forth and the comedy doesn't undercut the suspense, though it is a far lighter episode than the previous ones, especially after Day of the Robot. Marge Redmond was typecast as nuns, playing one in the Flying Nun and as Sister Ligouri in The Trouble With Angels (with Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills). She pulls it off well; but, it was probably a habit she wanted to break (BA-DUMP-BUMP). Greg Morris was his usual great self, having recently ended his run on Mission: Impossible. The scenes of Steve running with Perkins on the cart are undercranked and look ridiculous.



Dale Robertson is repeatedly referenced, as is his tv series Tales of Wells Fargo, as Sister Annett is his biggest fan. he makes a cameo at the end, as the Nuns get to visit him on the set, 12 years after it went off the air. Robertson did guest shots in this era (Fantasy Island and The Love Boat) then was a regular on Dynasty and got his own series, JJ Starbuck, in 1987. He is one of the first "celebrities" to be seen in this series, playing themselves.

The farmer and the son are both played by actors named Turner, David Turner and Tierre Turner. i believe they are father and son, though I haven't found anything to confirm it. There was a Dave Turner who worked with Redd Foxx, who looks like the farmer and a PR piece on Tierre Turner says his father was Redd Foxx's manager; so, it is very possible. there is another Turner, who plays a sergeant, who may be unrelated or may be part of the family.

Reb Brown has about two lines, as an Air Force radio operator. He's pretty wooden, which would be par for the course, for his career (apart from Uncommon Valor).

The L-5 was used as an artillery observation plane, VIP transport, and special operations plane in WW2. It would have been an outdated aircraft by 1974 and it would have been more likely that Perkins would be flying an OV-10 Bronco, though try getting footage of one, or an actual plane, for a tv show. It's crash landing is a bit hard to swallow, as those things could glide, unpowered, for miles and land on a dime. They were used for special operations in remote terrain for that very reason and ferried observers and commando teams into places like Burma, in WW2. Meanwhile, his command-and-control plane is shown to be a B-52 bomber, not an AWACS. I guess they had more footage of B-52s. Those were strategic bombers and were not used for such things. They were used as a mothership for experimental craft, though, as seen in the SMDM pilot film.

Director Reza Badiyi had directed several episodes of Mission: Impossible and did 4 SMDM shows, as well as such shows as Baretta, The Rockford Files, The Incredible Hulk, Cagney & Lacey and Star Trek DS9. He also directed the Modesty Blaise tv movie, with Ann Turkel ad Lewis Van Bergen (who starred in the shot-lived Sable tv series, based on Mike Grell's Jon Sable, Freelance).

Doomsday, and Counting

Guest Stars: Gary Collins (Hour Magazine, Born Free tv series) as Col. Vasily Zuchov, William Smithers (Dallas, Peyton Place) as Gen Koslenko, Jane Merrow (Lion in Winter, The Prisoner: Schizoid Man)as Irina Leonova, Bruce Glover (Diamonds are Forever, Walking Tall) as Capt. Voda

Episode Synopsis Steve Austin's old cosmonaut friend, Vasily Zuchov, is in Washington making a pitch to Oscar and the military, to use the Russian island test base, Kamkov Island, for a joint space project, to develop a nuclear-powered spacecraft, for a joint Mars mission. During the meeting, he gets word of an earthquake at Kamkov Island and returns home, with Steve in tow. They find out that Irina, Vasily's fiance, is trapped inside the underground facilities, believed dead. Defying orders, Vasily and Steve work their way down to Irina. Aftershocks are impairing rescue efforts and a tremor dislodges a girder, which is falling towards Vasily, when Steve uses his bionics to knock it away. he is forced to confess the truth to Vasily, who remarks that Russian scientists explored bionics; but, abandoned the research as unfeasible. They eventually find irina and revive her and she tells them they must shut down the main computer, which is linked to a nuclear device, which will destroy the installation. It has defenses (of course) and the trio try to get to the main computer room. Vasily unknowingly trips one of the defenses, a laser grid, which kills him.



Steve pulls the distraught Irina together and they make it to the control room, with only 3 minutes to go. meanwhile, Oscar has arrived, just as Gen Koslenko has ordered an evacuation. Oscar refuses to leave and Koslenko, out of respect, remains also. They feed info to Steve and irina; but, there isn't enough time to rewire the computer input. Steve uses his previously unseen bionic arm geiger counter to find the main power source for the nuclear device and causes a short circuit, which shuts down the initiator. Irina later keeps Steve's secret, when Gen Ksolenko asks how he is supposed to explain defenses built to stop an army were defeated by one man.

Bionic Stunts: Steve uses his bionic arm to knock away a falling girder, as well as pull down rubble. He makes a bionic leap or two and then uses the bionic eye to read a circuit card. He then unveils a bionic geiger counter in his arm to find the power source, then holds together two electrical wires to short circuit the bomb (yet doesn't short circuit his own electronic parts). The "boop=boop-boop-boop" sound effect is now standard for the bionic eye; but, we still have only music cues when the other limbs are used.



Trashin' Fashion: Things are pretty conservative here. Steve is wearing his grey jacket, from the end of the previous episode, with it's bold contour line stitching. He is in his khaklis after that. The Russians are in uniform and Irina wears a khaki working uniform/pantsuit, which looks pretty good, for the 70s. Oscar has a big ol' fur lined overcoat and hat when he arrives at Kamkov Island. Most professional men of that era had a coat like that, to wear with a suit, in winter.



General Thoughts: Another of my favorite episodes. The production company must have loved the idea, as filming is mostly contained within a few sets, most of which appear to have been shot at an industrial facility. There is great tension in this episode, as Steve and Vasily work to find Irina, then work to reach the main computer to shut down the nuclear device. They also wisely forgo doing bad Russian accents. instead, the Russian characters tend to speak rather formally. Gary Collins did a lot of tv guest shots, in this era, before settling in as the host of Hour Magazine, a daytime talk show. He was otherwise known as mr Mary Ann Mobley, husband to the former Miss America and actress. He was a decent, if limited actor. William Smithers, who plays Gen Koslenko, was a character actor who appeared in just about everything in the 60s and 70s, often as executives/government officials, and often as white collar criminals.



Smithers (Yes, Mr Burns?) had an authoritative voice and carried these parts well. Aiding him is Bruce "More than a little crazy, but still saner than my son Crispin" Glover is in a rare sympathetic role. He usually played psychos, like as one of the two assassins in Diamonds Are Forever; but, he did get a few parts like this (such as the deputy, in the Walking Tall series). His role is somewhat minor, here.

As I said, this was a favorite as a kid. i loved the idea of vast underground secret complexes, with hidden defenses. Mission: Impossible fed a lot of that love and SMDM had its share. I watched a rerun of this episode while in hospital, having a hernia repaired (at age 7!!!). My dad fixed up the automatic bed like an astronaut's couch and we watched this episode (dad enjoyed the series, especially if it had aircraft or space hardware).

Irina would return in the classic Death Probe two-parter.

Yep, time to meet the missus....

The Rescue of Athena One

Guest Stars Farrah Fawcett-(Mrs) Majors (Charlie's Angels, teenage male bedroom walls) as Maj Kelly Wood (a reference to those teenaged males, no doubt), Paul Kent (Falcon Crest) as Flight Surgeon Wolf, Quinn Redekker (Ordinary people, Days of Our Lives) as Capcom, Jules Bergman (ABC News science editor and voice of the space program coverage) as himself.

Episode Synopsis Farrah and Lee are lounging around home when farrah prods Lee into getting her a part on the show. As an astronaut. Yeah....

Steve is in a capsule, attempting to dock, but, the pilot is having trouble and ends up with gimbal lock, while Steve yells at the pilot. The pilot storms off and reveals a huge head of hair, though her spacesuit hides what everyone was really looking for.



She pouts and yells back. The pair end up on a show, with Jules bergman, talking about the Athena One mission, where an Apollo spacecraft will be launched, to somehow search for alternative energy sources (that part is mostly left vague, to justify a launch of some kind). Kelly Wood is about to become America's first woman in space (we had already lost that race to the Russians and Valentina Tershkova) She and Steve make nice and he saves her from a falling studio light, after she stumbles into a scaffold and grabs a cable to steady herself (shouldn't have worn the long dress). Steve confesses the bionics (man, he will tell anyone, no matter their clearance!!). The mission launches, with Steve in Houston, as FIDO (even though the astronaut was usually Capcom). Taking a page from Apollo 13, there is an explosion and Kelly's co-pilot is injured. They direct the craft to Skylab, but, Athena One's hatch is jammed. Steve goes up in the backup craft and opens the hatch bionically. A flight surgeon is to operate on the injured astronaut; but, first, Steve must do a spacewalk to repair a faulty solar panel, to get the station to maximum power. During the walk, he experiences, blurry vision in his bionic eye. During the operation, he has more blurred vision and tremors in his bionic arms and legs. Apparently, the radiation of space affected his bionics. Kelly will have to pilot their craft back, on a manual re-entry. Cue up the women driver jokes. They make it back safe and Kelly has earned Steve's respect.

Bionic Stunts: Steve knocks aside a falling studio light, wrenches open the jammed capsule hatch, bends back a solar panel and then starts malfunctioning. Guess he missed his 3,000 mile check-up.

Trashin' Fashion Farrah gets a rather overly long wrap-around dress, for the tv show...



while Steve sport's his leisure suit jacket, complete with NASA patches...



General Thoughts We get some space action, though we have to swallow the idea of farah Fawcett as an astronaut...



That's a lot to choke down. her acting is pretty much at Charlie's Angels-level, with fewer jiggle shots and Pepsodent smiles. The basic plot is pretty good and the story was written by DC Fontana, borrowing from the Apollo 13 mission and the film Marooned! There is a ton of NASA footage in here, including docking shots (though it looked like the Apollo Service Module docking with the Lunar Excursion Module, rather than Skylab), footage of Skylab (before it crashed into Australia, and some spacewalking footage (including what may have been Pete Conrad or Joseph Kerwin, during the first Skylab mission). When Skylab was launched, it was damaged and Conrad and his crew had to effect repair, including to the solar panels, which found its way into the script. Fontana did her research.

This episode falls squarely into the ERA era and it makes the case for women in space, though it wouldn't be until 1983, when Sally Ride became America's first woman in space. The episode would have been much better had the character been played by a better actress, like Christine Belford (Survival of the Fittest). Farrah later proved she could act, though she didn't here. Thankfully, for most of the space mission, they keep her mane under control.

The spacesuits used were not Apollo-era suits, but were actually Gemini suits (same as Steve wore in Population Zero). NASA were big boosters of the show and cooperated on a large scale, with filming, props, and stock footage. In an era where their budget was being hacked apart, anything that promoted the space program was attractive to them (such as naming the first Space Shuttle Enterprise, complete with a christening with the actors). This helped add an air of authenticity to the SMDM. We get more space footage coming up (with another veteran spaceman) and later on (Dark Side of the Moon), as well as some space experiments that come back to Earth (The pioneers, Death Proe).

Mrs Majors would return for two more episodes (with more plausible characters).

Jules bergman was ABC News' science editor and voice for most of their space coverage.  His delivery could be a bit dry; but, he explained the science well.  he can be seen in the movie Apollo 13, using a blowtorch to demonstrate how the Apollo heat shield worked, on re-entry.