The Six Million Dollar Man

   

The Six Million Dollar Man is a television series about a cyborg working for a U.S. secret service called OSI. The show is based on the book Cyborg from Martin Caidin, and first aired in 1973.

Overview

The background story of the show is the crash of astronaut Steve Austin in an M2-F2 "lifting body", shown in the opening credits of the show (with NASA footage of Bruce Peterson's 1967 real-life accident [1] (http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/M2-F2/HTML/E-16731.html). (The aircraft was actually refered to as being an "HL-10" in the series, and the real HL-10 was used in a later episode.) Austin is severely injured in the crash and is "rebuilt" in a title-giving operation that costs six million dollars. His right arm, both legs and the left eye are replaced by bionic (cybernetic) implants that enhance his strength, speed and vision far above human norm. He uses his enhanced abilities to work for the OSI (Office of Scientific Intelligence) as a secret agent (and as a guinea pig for bionics).

The show was very popular during its run and introduced many pop culture elements of the 1970s, such as the shows opening catch phrase and the slow motion action sequences and the accompaning "electronic" sound effects. The title role was played by Lee Majors and made him a pop culture icon.

For many years, attempts have been made to bring the story of Steve Austin to the movie screen. In the mid-1990s, noted director Kevin Smith wrote a screenplay, and there were reports later that comedian Chris Rock was being considered for the role. Most recently, plans were made to film the story as a full-out comedy starring Jim Carrey, much to the dismay of longtime fans of the show.

Catch phrase

The shows memorable opening narration become part of American pop culture. Despite the show's age, it is still easily recognized.

"Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster."

Main characters

  • Steve Austin, the title-giving character (played by Lee Majors)
  • Oscar Goldman, the Director of the OSI (played by Richard Anderson)
  • Dr. Rudy Wells, Austin's physician (played by Alan Oppenheimer/Martin E. Brooks)
  • Jaime Sommers, the bionic woman, played by Lindsay Wagner

Parts

  • A 20.1:1 zoom lens along with a nightvision function in the left eye.
  • Bionic legs allow him to run at more than 156 km/h (67 mph aprox.) and make great leaps.
  • A Bionic right arm with the equivalent strength of a bulldozer
  • In the later spinoff show, "The Bionic Woman", a bionic superdog was featured: Maximillian (Max-a-million).

Episode list

TV movies

Episode # Original
Air Date		 Episode Title
M-107-Mar-73The Six Million Dollar Man (a/k/a The Moon and the Desert)
M-220-Oct-73Wine, Women and War
M-317-Nov-73The Solid Gold Kidnapping

Season 1

Episode #Prod #Original
Air Date		Episode Title
1. 1-14001318-Jan-74Population: Zero
2. 1-24000725-Jan-74Survival of the Fittest
3. 1-34001601-Feb-74Operation Firefly
4. 1-44001208-Feb-74Day of the Robot
5. 1-54001422-Feb-74Little Orphan Airplane
6. 1-64000501-Mar-74Doomsday, and Counting
7. 1-74002308-Mar-74Eyewitness to Murder
8. 1-84002415-Mar-74The Rescue of Athena One
9. 1-94002129-Mar-74Dr. Wells is Missing
10. 1-104002205-Apr-74The Last of the Fourth of Julys
11. 1-114002012-Apr-74Burning Bright
12. 1-124001519-Apr-74The Coward
13. 1-134002526-Apr-74Run, Steve, Run

Season 2

Episode #Prod #Original
Air Date		Episode Title
14. 2-14120113-Sep-74Nuclear Alert
15. 2-24120420-Sep-74The Pioneers
16. 2-34120627-Sep-74Pilot Error
17. 2-44120804-Oct-74The Pal-Mir Escort
18. 2-54122401-Nov-74The Seven Million Dollar Man
19. 2-64121408-Nov-74Straight on 'til Morning
20. 2-74122015-Nov-74The Midas Touch
21. 2-84122322-Nov-74The Deadly Replay
22. 2-94121329-Nov-74Act of Piracy
23. 2-104122713-Dec-74Stranger in Broken Fork
24. 2-114122820-Dec-74The Peeping Blonde
25. 2-124121010-Jan-75The Cross-Country Kidnap
26. 2-134123317-Jan-75Lost Love
27. 2-144121619-Jan-75The Last Kamikaze
28. 2-154120726-Jan-75Return of the Robot Maker
29. 2-164121202-Feb-75Taneha
30. 2-174123023-Feb-75Look Alike
31. 2-184122602-Mar-75The E.S.P. Spy
32. 2-194124416-Mar-75The Bionic Woman (1)
33. 2-204124523-Mar-75The Bionic Woman (2)
34. 2-214123120-Apr-75Outrage in Balinderry
35. 2-224122927-Apr-75Steve Austin, Fugitive

Season 3

Episode #Prod #Original
Air Date		Episode Title
36. 3-14302014-Sep-75The Return of the Bionic Woman (1)
37. 3-24302921-Sep-75The Return of the Bionic Woman (2)
38. 3-34301828-Sep-75The Price of Liberty
39. 3-44302405-Oct-75The Song and Dance Spy
40. 3-54301012-Oct-75The Wolf Boy
41. 3-64301719-Oct-75The Deadly Test
42. 3-74300326-Oct-75Target in the Sky
43. 3-84300102-Nov-75One of Our Running Backs is Missing
44. 3-94301209-Nov-75The Bionic Criminal
45. 3-104300616-Nov-75The Blue Flash
46. 3-114302123-Nov-75The White Lightning War
47. 3-124301930-Nov-75Divided Loyalty
48. 3-134302614-Dec-75Clark Templeton O'Flaherty
49. 3-144302221-Dec-75The Winning Smile
50. 3-1511-Jan-76Welcome Home, Jaime (1)
51. 3-164303318-Jan-76Hocus-Pocus
52. 3-174302701-Feb-76The Secret of Bigfoot (1)
53. 3-184302804-Feb-76The Secret of Bigfoot (2)
54. 3-194300708-Feb-76The Golden Pharaoh
55. 3-204300815-Feb-76Love Song for Tanya
56. 3-214303222-Feb-76The Bionic Badge
57. 3-224303107-Mar-76Big Brother

Season 4

Episode #Prod #Original
Air Date		Episode Title
58. 4-14512419-Sep-76The Return of Bigfoot (1)
59. 4-24510826-Sep-76Nightmare in the Sky
60. 4-34512103-Oct-76Double Trouble
61. 4-44510517-Oct-76The Most Dangerous Enemy
62. 4-54510224-Oct-76H+2+O = Death
63. 4-64512031-Oct-76Kill Oscar (2)
64. 4-74519607-Nov-76The Bionic Boy
65. 4-84511421-Nov-76Vulture of the Andes
66. 4-94519428-Nov-76The Thunderbird Conection
67. 4-104512612-Dec-76A Bionic Christmas Carol
68. 4-114511519-Dec-76Task Force
69. 4-124512502-Jan-77The Ultimate Imposter
70. 4-134512209-Jan-77Death Probe (1)
71. 4-144512316-Jan-77Death Probe (2)
72. 4-154510623-Jan-77Danny's Inferno
73. 4-164510730-Jan-77Fires of Hell
74. 4-174511306-Feb-77The Infiltrators
75. 4-184510113-Feb-77Carnival of Spies
76. 4-194510920-Feb-77U-509
77. 4-204511027-Feb-77The Privacy of the Mind
78. 4-214511606-Mar-77To Catch the Eagle
79. 4-224512815-May-77The Ghostly Teletype

The episode "Kill Oscar (2)" was the middle chapter of a trilogy with the other two episodes aired as part of The Bionic Woman. "Kill Oscar (2)" was syndicated as a Bionic Woman episode.

Season 5

Episode #Prod #Original
Air Date		Episode Title
80. 5-14730611-Sep-77Sharks (1)
81. 5-24730718-Sep-77Sharks (2)
82. 5-34732225-Sep-77Deadly Countdown (1)
83. 5-44732302-Oct-77Deadly Countdown (2)
84. 5-54731109-Oct-77Bigfoot V
85. 5-64732616-Oct-77Killer Wind
86. 5-74731530-Oct-77Rollback
87. 5-84730306-Nov-77Dark Side of the Moon (1)
88. 5-94730413-Nov-77Dark Side of the Moon (2)
89. 5-104730927-Nov-77Target: Steve Austin
90. 5-114731318-Dec-77The Cheshire Project
91. 5-124731901-Jan-78Walk a Deadly Wing
92. 5-134731408-Jan-78Just a Matter of Time
93. 5-144730122-Jan-78Return of the Deathprobe (1)
94. 5-154730229-Jan-78Return of the Deathprobe (2)
95. 5-164739730-Jan-78The Lost Island
96. 5-174732806-Feb-78The Madonna Caper
97. 5-184733413-Feb-78Dead Ringer
98. 5-194731720-Feb-78Date With Danger (1)
99. 5-204732027-Feb-78Date With Danger (2)
100. 5-214733206-Mar-78The Moving Mountain

Later TV movies

Episode #Original
Air Date		Film Title
M-417-May-87The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman
M-530-Apr-89Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman
M-629-Nov-94Bionic Ever After?

Trivia

The aircraft seen crashing in the opening sequence of the show is real. It was an M2-F2, a "flying body configuration" built by Northrop. The audio is from a crash that occurred on May 10 1967: "I can't hold her, she's breaking up! She's breaking--". The crash occurred at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The actual test pilot, Bruce Peterson, hit the ground at 400 km/h (250 mph aprox.), tumbling six times. Like the fictional character, Steve Austin, Peterson lost use of his right eye, but retained use of all limbs. Because of his impaired vision, he had to stop flying, ending his career. Understandably, Peterson has said that he hated reliving his accident, week after week, courtesy of Steve Austin.

A number of changes had to be made to Caidin's version of the character to make him work for television. In the original novels, Austin was a cold-blooded killer, while the TV version rarely killed after his status as a childhood hero had been realized. A number of changes to Austin's bionics were also made. In the novel, Austin's left arm, not his right, was the bionic one. Also, the arm was little more than a superpowered battering ram and not as complex as the TV version. Austin was blind in his bionic eye in the books, which was simply used as alternately a camera or a laser, and was removeable(!). The book version of Steve Austin had some abilities the TV version lacked, such as a radio transmitter contained within a rib, a steel-reinforced skull that made it impossible for him to be knocked out with a blow to the head, and a CO2-powered poison dart gun in one of his bionic fingers which the literary version of Austin often used to eliminate bad guys. Another minor change was a matter of spelling: in the original novels, the term "bionics" was always used in its plural form, i.e. "bionics limbs". Perhaps to make it easier to say in dialogue, this was changed to "bionic limbs" et al for the television series.

Caidin's original novel, Cyborg was not his first work to make mention of bionics. His 1968 novel, The God Machine also made reference to this science, and his later work Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future had the titular character given bionic body parts in an obvious nod to Steve Austin.

One of the show's most famous set pieces was a rotating ice tunnel that appeared in several episodes featuring Bigfoot (who, in this series, was the guardian for a group of aliens observing earth; the tunnel was a line of defence intended to disorientate and knock out intruders). This tunnel was for many years a popular part of the Universal Studios Tour, and tourists still pass through the tunnel today on the tour, though as of 2003 it had been redesigned to resemble the entrance to The Mummy's Tomb (look for the rotating wall).

One Christmas-themed episode of the series demonstrated an unexpected bit of product placement when Austin visits a toy store where Six Million Dollar Man action figures are visible in the background.

DVD release of the series has been delayed for unconfirmed reasons (it is rumored a royalties issue might be the cause of the delay; it has also been suggested that the studio is waiting for production of a new Six Million Dollar Man movie to be confirmed). However, in November 2004, Universal Studios announced that it will release both series to DVD in 2005.

Novels

Martin Caidin wrote four novels featuring his original version of Steve Austin beginning in 1972. Although several other writers such as Mike Jahn would later write a number of novelizations based upon the TV series, in most cases these writers chose to base their character upon the literary version of Austin rather than the TV show version. As a result, several of the novelizations have entire scenes and in one case an ending that differed than the original episodes, as the cold-blooded killer of Caidin's novels handled things somewhat differently than his watered-down TV counterpart.

Original Novels

(all by Martin Caidin)

  • Cyborg
  • Operation Nuke
  • High Crystal
  • Cyborg IV

(of the above, only Cyborg was adapted for television.)

Novelizations

  • Wine, Women and War (Mike Jahn)
  • Solid Gold Kidnapping (Evan Richards)
  • Pilot Error (Jay Barbree)
  • The Rescue of Athena One (Jahn)
  • The Secret of Bigfoot Pass (Jahn)
  • International Incidents (Jahn) - this last volume adapted several episodes into one long storyline.

Other adaptations

Charlton Comics published both a color comic book and a black and white, illustrated magazine, both featuring original adventures. While the comic book was closely based upon the series, the magazine was darker and more violent and seemed to be based more upon the literary version of the character. Both magazines were cancelled around the same time the TV series ended.

Peter Pan Records and its sister company Power Records published several record albums featuring original dramatized stories, several of which were also adapted as comic books designed to be read along with the recording.

External links

de:Der Sechs Millionen Dollar Mann fr:L'Homme qui valait trois milliards


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