6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Hello, Bionic series fans This info is up on PLAY.COM and seems to indicate that this is an official Universal release in R2 for Season 1 of both 6M$M and Bionic Woman series. If this is legit, then R1's would seem to be coming soon? BTW, Bill Hunt (Digital Bits site mgr) e-mailed me and was certain that these 2 series are on the way for late '05 or early '06 release (U.S.).

The Bionic Woman: Season 1 Box Set (4 Discs)

Episodes comprise:

1. Welcome Home, Jaime (1)
2. Welcome Home, Jaime (2)
3. Angel of Mercy
4. A Thing of the Past
5. Claws
6. The Deadly Missiles
7. Bionic Beauty
8. Jaime's Mother
9. Winning Is Everything
10. Canyon of Death
11. Fly Jaime
12. The Jailing of Jaime
13. Mirror Image
14. The Ghosthunter


The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 1 Box Set (6 Discs)

Episodes comprise:

1. Population: Zero
2. Survival of the Fittest
3. Operation Firefly
4. Day of the Robot
5. Little Orphan Airplane
6. Doomsday, and Counting
7. Eyewitness to Murder
8. The Rescue of Athena One
9. Dr. Wells is Missing
10. The Last of the Fourth of Julys
11. Burning Bright
12. The Coward
13. Run, Steve, Run

Well isnt that good news! If we dont get some kind of R1 response soon, I guess I'll be jumping on the R2 release.

As for an indicator of if this will be showing up any time soon on our shores? As someone who keeps an eye on R2 TV shows, I'll say "Maybe". The track record of releases is spotty at best:

* Dr Who showed up on these shores, but no Blakes 7 yet.

* Dukes of Hazard and Wonder Woman both got R2 releases about a year before we got a wiff of R1.

* Knight Rider, Hulk and A Team were eventually released, but the UK had a several year lead on them.

* Real Ghostbusters has been out a bit in the UK, but only the one hint in the US (that episode with the new boxed set).

* And of course the indiviual discs of T6M$M and Bionic Woman with no sign of anything in R1.\

Either way - R1 or no, I'll be all over this like a cheap suit.

***EDIT***
I assume that this is the first season for both? I havent seen the show in 30 years now (current R2 discs aside), but is the pilot in there? Did they even do a proper pilot?

***EDIT 2.0***
Dummy answeres own question! Duh!

According to epguides.com, there were 3 "Movies of the week" for the 6M$M before the start of the series.

OMG! Could it possible be true?

Here's the link for TBW:

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page...=57&g=72&pa=srhttp://www.play.com/play247.asp?page...=57&g=72&pa=sr

It looks like the U.K. set (if it's the legit Universal set) will be "bare-bones" without the BW pilots from 6M$M or the 6M$M series pilots. At least, if it's the Uni sets, they're finally coming. Most of what I'd been hearing during the last 6-8 months was that the series were tied up in legal/rights issues.

The BW set is 14 episodes on four discs, but SMDM is 13 episodes on 6 discs? I'm guessing (hoping!) that the three SMDM pilot movies are included on the extra two discs as "bonus" features. The play.com site also indicates the SMDM set has a higher retail price.

I'm also hoping that the first episode on the BW set ("Welcome Home, Jaime-Part I") is presented as it was originally shown: a SMDM episode. "Part II" was the actual premiere episode of BW as its own series. "Part I" has always been shown as a BW episode in syndication. The first seasons of SMDM and BW were each mid-season/13-episode debuts.

It must be my lucky week: 5 of my most-wanted series have been announced for release!

Can't wait to get 6M$M. Bionic Woman well maybe. Bring on Bigfoot and the Fembots

Neither one of these series really kick into high gear until Season 2. The "Kill Oscar" 3-parter and "Doomsday is Tomorrow" (with Lew Ayres and the Alex computer) are the ones I really want. And they're both in Bionic Woman Season 2.

Naw - gimme that big black space probe with the huge pinchers on the front that went crazy (TWICE!) and steve had to attach a helcopter to it because it would explode if it got a certain distance above the ground (Talk about a design flaw for a space probe).

Had that toy as a kid - the thing blew my mind!

Why do I remember these things?

The first part of "Welcome Home Jamie" was indeed scheduled to air as an episode of SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, with part 2 scheduled to follow a few nights later as the premiere episode of BIONIC WOMAN. However, they did a last minute switch, and ran a standard episode of SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN.

This unannounced switch caused some real distress for us kids who were anticipatic the scheduled story that Sunday night.

Luckily, however, part 1 of "Welcome Home Jamie" did air a few nights later as the premiere episode of BIONIC WOMAN.

And they said Speed was derivative.

You are correct,Chris. I can still remember that mix-up and actually still have all of those tv guide "close-up" clippings from 1976.

Most of the on-line "Bionic Woman" episode guides are incorrect as they go by the original scheduled airdates for this program.

I have been a "bionic fanatic" since 1975.I watched both "The 6 Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman" faithfully during their original tv broadcasts. Vcrs were like $900.00 back then so I taped the programs on audio cassette.I still have those tapes to this day, which include some very cool "next season" promos!

"Welcome Home,Jaime" Part 1 first aired on Wed. January 14,1976 in the USA.We were able to pull in Canadian stations where we lived at the time so we actually got to see it on Tues. January 13,1976 which was the date it premiered in Canada.We were very lucky to be able to see each episode twice in 2 successive nights back then!

Hi, Kevin That's what I like about HTF, "let's agree to disagree"

My favorite season of BW is Season 1 although I liked the "Doomsday" 2-parter best among the more "action-oriented" eps. There was something about the 1st season eps that really stuck with the after all these years for some reason.

This debate has been legendary among fans. There are people who swear Part I aired on Sunday as a SMDM episode, with Part II airing the following Wednesday as the first episode of BW. Others believe it to be the scenerio described above. Still others maintain that Part I did air as the first BW episode, but on Sunday night, in the usual SMDM timeslot. There are many websites listing differing original airdates for these episodes, depending on which scenario they adhere to.

Me, well, I was too young to remember the facts, even though I was a "bionic junkie" in the 70's, having been addicted since the first airing of the SMDM pilot. I tend to recall the SMDM/Sunday/Part I and BW/Wednesday/Part II scenario, but have no way of being absolutely sure.

I do know for a fact, however, that Part I was scripted and shot to be a SMDM episode, while Part II was intended to be the premiere episode of BW as its own series. I have original shooting scripts for both episodes, and each script's title page and production number correspond to the respective series.

One has to simply watch the episode of Part I to see that it was clearly a SMDM episode. The typestyle for the opening credits are in the SMDM font. At the very end the image freezes with "To Be Continued" on screen. Some syndicated prints have another screen appear that says "On The Bionic Woman". The prints that omit the BW reference have a rather abrupt fade or cut to the end titles. The prints that contain the BW reference seem a bit odd, since it would, of course, be continued on BW.

When the shows first went into syndication in 1979 (the year after their cancelations), they were broadcast in regional markets via 16mm film prints. I made audio tapes of almost every episode from these re-runs (to add to my small collection of first-runs). They were poorly edited for more commercials, and the cuts were obvious. Sometimes the local TV station (WTCN in Mpls.) even ran the show under the commercials! I was able to make VHS tapes of almost every episode when my dad bought our first VCR in late 1979. Of course, the re-runs I recorded on video were edited differently than the ones I previously audiotaped. I remember being very frustrated by the random editing of these re-runs.

After over ten years of being off the air (in my market), the Sci-Fi channel started running the series in the early 1990's. I was finally able to get both series on quality SVHS tapes. Of course, the episodes were butchered even more, just a bit more professionally. I took the time to compile what I believe to be complete SVHS versions of my favorite episodes by combining my 1979 recordings with the Sci-Fi channel's, using my original network audiotapes for reference.

The early local re-runs and the first Sci-Fi channel versions of "Welcome Home, Jaime-Part I" have another oddity that prove it was a SMDM episode. After the episode's opening title sequence ("Lindsay Wagner as THE BIONIC WOMAN"), the credits indicate "Special Guest Star Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers". Lee Majors has no screen credit in these versions. Yet the end credits are SMDM credits. So, all they did was replace the SMDM opening title sequence with one for BW, without altering the actual episode credits.

Later, when Sci-Fi Channel started running them again, the title sequence was corrected to reflect "Special Guest Star Lee Majors as Col. Steve Austin". The typestyle used was still SMDM, however. The transfer for this episode became noticeably better after the alteration, since Universal no doubt had to go back to the negative to strike a new print to make these credit changes.

I can't wait to get my hands on these sets! Hopefully, R1 versions will be announced soon. Of course, I'll be ordering the R2 versions in the meantime. It will be interesting to see how Universal presents these episodes (and the other cross-overs) in the DVD sets. I'd like to see some liner notes explaining the origins of their original broadcasts, if they can come up with the actual facts to put this legendary debate to rest, once and for all!

after Night Stalker, TBW would probably be my most wanted TV set on DVD. and i have little doubt if they were ever released together, that i would pick up SM$M the same day.
seems like these are taking forever after so much teasing last summer by the studio.
the thing that bothers me in regards to a R1 release- is that back when the Night Stalker date was 'leaked' months ago (on Sci-Fi Wire?) i looked ahead to Nov and Dec, and didn't see any dates for these.
They had Amazing Stories listed, as well a few others that haven't been announced yet- but no sign of the Bionic duo.

as anxious as i am to get them, i don't think i'm gonna pop for the R2 sets. i've already got the three volumes of BW - which has 5 of the 14 first season eps. the next time i watch the show, i really hope to do it without the PAL speed-up.

as to what seasons were better- i'm just not familiar enough with the show after all these years to make a call, and i only caught it sporadically when Sci-Fi was airing it.
i've heard great things about the Kill Oscar and Fembots storyline, so i'm extrememly anxious for season 2- but i'll take em as they come.


hopefully they'll come soon.

but at least its good to know, that if a monkey wrench gets thrown in the R1 release and it gets pushed back indefinitely, that i could get a decent set of these somewhere.

I'm a little worried that Amazon and Send-It don't have these listed. The release is less than 2 months away, I hope it isn't a mistake. Does anyone know if any other sites have them listed? I don't know Play.com, is it possible they have exclusive rights to release them first?

Don't be too optimistic. On the individual DVD and VHS releases in the UK, Universal Playback used the "altered-for-syndication" prints of any released stories that straddled both shows.

The Kill Oscar VHS was presented as a three-part Bionic Woman, with opening/closing credits substituted on part two (though the episode title, guest-starring credits are the original ones in the $6M Man typeface).

Return of the Bionic Woman was also presented in a "movie" format, rather than a two-part one, and the third $6M Man telemovie was presented in its cut-down 2-part episodic version.

Don't trust Universal to get it right!

Thanks for this info. Un-cut eps are the #1 issue for me for any TV/DVD set. I'm not interested in this R2 release if that's true. I had hoped that they would be un-cut as is the case (from what I can tell from other purchaser's feedback) with all other Uni sets. I've thougtht that this was one of Uni's strong points, using only un-cut eps for their TV/DVD releases. Anyone else out there seen any other Uni sets that have cut eps? The ones that I own appear to have all un-cut eps.

I guess I wasn't clear enough. The fact that episodes straddling both shows (like Kill Oscar) were re-assigned was what I was trying to get across.

As far as I know, the episodes themselves were unedited (i.e. not cut down to 45 minutes), except for the two instances I noted (Solid Gold Kidnapping presented as a two-parter rather than a movie and "Return of the Bionic Woman" stitched together into a "movie-length" format).

They've probably been using the prints struck for syndication in the '70s, where the episodes were essentially unedited, just that certain episodes that were part of multi-part arcs on both shows were reassigned.

I somehow doubt we'll get the versions as originally aired. I don't think we'll find "Kill Oscar parts 1 and 3" on a Bionic Woman set and find part 2 on a Six Million Dollar Man set. They'll probably use the "syndicated re-assigned credits" for such stories, unfortunately.

That's too bad that they did this.I purchased the U.S VHS release of the 2 part "The Bionic Woman" episodes of "The 6 Million $ Man" a few years ago.

It was in a "movie" format and I was very disappointed to see a few minutes cut out of what would have been the very beginning of "part 2".They had cut out the very start of the ep with Steve and Jaime riding horses to the stream in the woods and also when they began their bionic run across the field to "race the horses" back to the ranch.

In the original ep the credits(ergo "written by" and "guest starring") were imposed over the scene. I guess it was easier for Universal to just cut the scenes out altogether in order to make it look like a movie instead of the start of the second part of the ep.

The audio and video were both very good for a vhs tape but I was shocked at the editing which was absolute sacrilege in my book.

I'm with Jeff on this.If the series ever does see a U.S release of these 2 series,I'd only want the uncut episodes released....I won't hold my breath hoping for it though.

This editing was also applied to the 1978 MCA DiscoVision (laserdisc) release. They also released the 2-part SMDM episode "The Secret of Bigfoot" edited into "movie" form on DiscoVision. The SMDM pilot film was also on DiscoVision in its original 74 minute version.

I agree, but I'm still hoping Universal will do the right thing, like they did with the MAGNUM/SIMON & SIMON cross-over. They could simply offer the crossovers as "bonus" episodes in each set, placing them in the appropriate places on the discs, rather than in any "special features" section.

For collectors of both series, there would be a few episodes dupicated within the sets, but they'd be presented as broadcast. For hardcore fans, this would be a great gift from Universal, since these episodes haven't been presented properly in any format or broadcast since originally aired in 1976.

Assuming they've worked out the rights problem with $6M Man where they supposedly lost the copyright. I assume they're now having to licence the show from the "new" rights holder to do a release?

Yes, it would be ideal to present them in the manner you suggest. Likely? no (unfortunately), especially with Universal Playback (the U.K. company that releases Universal (and other) product in the UK).

Maybe Universal-US would be a better bet, unless they just do a port-over of the British release. Let's hope they don't do that anyway (film-or NTSC-to PAL to NTSC: yuck!).

Thanks, all, for the edited, etc info on these series. I'm far from an expert with this type of series history. I just know that I'm a fanatic fan for these 2 series

Here's other UK online sites that have the pages posted for these series.

www.play.com

www.choicesdirect.com

www.whsmith.co.uk

www.tesco.com

It looks like this is the "Real McCoy" and are the Universal releases. I'm going to (try to) wait it out for awhile before getting the R2 sets in the hopes that we hear something soon about R1 releases. So far, nothing to indicate R1 releases soon. I finally got a Region-free DVD player a couple of weeks ago, before I heard this news about these 2 series coming in R2. Ironically, one reason that I got the R-free player was for another of a very few series that I'd consider buying R2 releases. That other series is "Time Tunnel". (I'm sure "dating" myself with this one, right? ) Now the news post from TSoD about all of the awesome Fox releases coming has TT included in it as "coming soon".



Thanks, Brett I've always had a "thing" about cut-ep TV/DVD's. It's a very hard sell for me to buy these for any series.

So anyone heard anything more about this set? Sendit.com - my usual choice for R2 discs - still doesnt have it listed yet. Hopefuly this isnt turning into a Vaporware release. . . .

Play.com has posted the cover art for both sets. The covers are awful! Hopefully the R1 sets will look better.

Here are the links:

Bionic Woman cover:

(By the way, that cover shot is from Season 3!)

Six Million Dollar Man:

i'm betting if we do get these in R1, its going to be end of Q1 06 (around March).
probably the same for Rockford. nothing to go on, just a hunch.

i hope i'm wrong though and they make it out this year before Christmas. i know Quantum Leap and Amazing Stories on their schedule in Nov/Dec, hopefully there will be room for these two.

btw, i was cleaning out some boxes of old vhs tapes and i found one i had made of SM$M. it had two eps on it, one with William Shatner as a friend of Steve's who develops mutant abilities, and the other with Farrah Fawcett as a 'naut who runs into trouble on a test flight. fun stuff.
i've been blinded by BW for several years now, that i forgot how easy it is to enjoy its 'parent' show.
Both will be an very enthusiastic purchase on their street date now.

You said it, Paul I've been "Struck" with the same blindness for awhile.

Thanks for the cover art posts, Matt. "Donna" said to say "Hi"

I received an e-mail from someone in the UK that says they still haven't seen these series posted at "Universal Playback" (I don't know whether that's an online store or Universal's European site for members only). She said that neither of these 2 S1 sets are posted there yet. I'm not sure what that means but it seems odd that they're not posted at Universal's R2 site but they seem to be posted at the online stores.

I wrote them an email asking why it wasn't listed and they said the titles are on their schedule for release and they would do preorders 4 weeks in advance. What that means exactly, I don't know. I'll keep checking the site but if they're not listed by the 1st of September I'll start to worry...

That might be close since Bill Hunt ("Digital Bits" site Mgr) said that it would be early '06. Since his e-mail was "definite" about the R1 releases (his exact word), that gives me a "bionic recharge" that will last until March '06, then I'll need another "charge" from Dr Wells

Wow! That's great news! I will definitely be running to pick both of these shows up.(and it won't be in slow motion,either!)