I will freely admit that I've never read any of the novels by Martin Caidin that led to the development of The Six Million Dollar Man, perhaps one of ABC's biggest hits of the 70's.
Caidin wrote his initial novel, Cyborg, in 1972. A year later, it was adapted for television as an ABC Movie of the Week, the first of three such films that would lead to Six Million being spun off into a series that bowed in January 1974. The series initially aired on Sundays, then moved to Mondays at the end of its run.
Lee Majors, whose resume included The Big Valley, The Virginian (during the final season, aka The Men From Shiloh), & Owen Marshall, Counselor-at-Law, was cast as Air Force Colonel Steve Austin, who was critically injured when an experimental plane crashed during a test run. Austin was, as the story goes, fitted with bionic parts to replace an arm, both legs, and an eye. In the first TV-movie, which I again will confess I've never seen---in fact, I never saw any of the three "pilot" movies----Austin's supervisor wasn't Oscar Goldman, as in the books, but another man, played by Darrin McGavin. However Goldman would appear in the subsequent TV-movies and series, played by character actor Richard Anderson (ex-Dan August).
In the books, Caidin envisioned Austin as a cold-blooded killer. Of course, we couldn't have that on television in the 70's, although a fresh adaptation today might be more faithful to the books. Instead, Austin became a secret agent for the OSI (Office of Scientific Intelligence), and Goldman, his handler, became more like a best friend. Within a couple of years, there was a spinoff, The Bionic Woman, with Lindsay Wagner as Austin's childhood sweetheart, tennis pro Jaime Summers. That series lasted three years, finishing its run at NBC in one of the biggest bonehead moves in ABC history. Then again, NBC made some equally incomprehensible changes leading to the show's cancellation, but that's another story.
NBC would pick up the rights to air a trilogy of "reunion" movies in the 80's, leading to Steve & Jaime finally getting married, with a young Sandra Bullock appearing in one of the films as a potential successor to Jaime. Bionic Woman was revived by NBC a few years ago, but that incarnation did a quick crash & burn. Gee, I wonder why?
There was the inevitable tie-in comic book, but it was Connecticut-based Charlton, which printed their books on paper towels----I kid you not----as a means of saving money, that produced adaptations of both series, including a black-&-white magazine version of Six Million. None of the books lasted very long, and today are hard to find. Filmmaker Kevin Smith had pitched a reimagining of the series in the 90's, which was rejected, but was adapted into a comic book by Dynamite Entertainment a couple of years ago under the title, The Bionic Man. Apparently, Dynamite, while able to license particular titles, couldn't obtain full licensing rights, hence the alternative name for the series. They've done this with 2 Edgar Rice Burroughs properties as well, but, again, that's another story. Yes, Bionic Woman has returned to comics as well, also at Dynamite, but the less said about these books, the better.
It should be pointed out that there were three actors to play Dr. Rudy Wells. Martin Balsam was the first, in the first TV-film, but was replaced by Alan Oppenheimer, who left the series after season 2, replaced in turn by Martin E. Brooks, who would also appear on The Bionic Woman. There were two men who played the robotic Bigfoot---Ted Cassidy (ex-The Addams Family) and wrestler Andre "The Giant" Rousimoff. In these stories, Bigfoot was presented, as noted, as a robot, rather than the urban legend some have made him out to be.
Following is the season 1 opening. In later seasons, Richard Anderson, who provides part of the voice-over narrative, along with executive producer Harve Bennett, was given co-star credit, cementing his icon status.
The series is available on DVD from Time-Life, which means it's pretty pricey, but as of now is not on cable anywhere, at least as far as I know. Maybe Me-TV can pick it up sometime soon......
Rating: A-.
2 comments:
Loved this show and Bionic Woman!
I had never read the "Cyborg" novel the shows were based on, and am I surprised to learn that Steve was essentially supposed to be a killer? YES!
I'm rather glad they didn't go that route - it was more fun seeing him and Jaime (and later Max the dog) go through their adjustments to their implants and going on cool adventures for the OSI!
The Fembot eps really scared me when I was a kid! My nightmares were plagued by people who would rip their faces off and reveal robot faces!
A comic book made of paper towels? WEIRD!
The reboot of BW was botched in a bunch of ways - probably because the heroine wasn't all that likeable and much of the charm of the original shows were lost in the update.
The original Bionic Woman jumped the shark with the shift to NBC, not by adding Max, which I think was meant to attract the kids, since the show had moved to Saturday nights, but at the same hour (8 ET), as memory serves.
I've owned a few Charlton comic books in my time---none of them being issues of the bionic couple, mind----and I can verify that, yes, they printed on paper towels, the kind you'd find in restrooms at the time, not Bounty or Brawny or any of the other major brands. Small wonder that Charlton didn't get a lot of respect at the end.
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