THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN
THE COMPLETE SERIES
Studio: Universal (Released for this collection by Time/Life)
Original Airing: 1973-1978
Length: (115 hrs, 38 mins) (99 Episodes plus 5 Bionic Woman Eps plus 6 TV movies plus 3 Re-cut versions of the original TV movies)
Genre: Science Fiction
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Full Frame
Color/B&W: Color
Audio:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (at 448 kbps)
Subtitles: English SDH (Episodes and Movies only. Featurettes and Interviews are not subtitled)
Rating: Unrated (TV Safe Action)
Release Date: November 23, 2010
Rating: 3
Starring: Lee Majors, Richard Anderson and Martin Brooks (Bonus Episodes star Lindsay Wagner)
Executive Producer: Harve Bennett
Based upon the novel “Cyborg” by Martin Caidin
Directed by: Various
Going through a DVD set like this is a truly daunting task. In a genuine salute to the fans of the series, the guys at Time/Life have assembled The Six Million Dollar Man: The Complete Series as a massive 40 disc set, including all of the original pilot movies (in both their original and syndication versions), all of the episodes of the series’ five-season run, five crossover episodes of The Bionic Woman, and all three reunion movies, as well as several featurettes and interviews. There are also six episodes that receive audio commentaries to boot. Considering that this series has never been released on DVD in the United States before this time, this is a truly overwhelming gift for fans of both bionic series, albeit one with a pretty steep price tag. Right off the bat, I’ll say that I recommend this set for those fans who have the funds to spend here. While it’s not especially deep in its examinations of the series, just having all the episodes, all the pilot and reunion films, and all the crossover episodes is a feat unto itself.
That said, when you get right down to it, this package should primarily be viewed as a simple collection of all of the episodes of the series in one package. As such, it’s a great resource, and may be cost-effective as a purchase, depending on how much Universal eventually charges for the season sets once it starts releasing them in another year. But it should be noted that a fair amount of the bonus features found here may not be seen on those season sets – it all depends on what arrangements have been made. (It appears to me that much of the interview material here is shared between Universal and Time/Life.) I’ll go into more detail as we go through each season and each disc, but there’s actually a lot less bonus material than you might think from the size of the package. What material is here is actually overlapped and repeated in several places, spread over the various seasons and the bonus set of discs.
A small amount of material about the history of this series is included in the various featurettes and interviews, and I’ll try to summarize it here. Essentially, Universal and ABC started a series of TV movies based on Martin Caidin’s “Cyborg” books as of 1973, at the same time that MGM was releasing the Michael Crichton theatrical film Westworld. Both properties featured human interaction with robotics, although the Crichton film focused on robots menacing humans while Caidin’s books focused on a human who had been augmented with robotic parts. Still, some of the most basic images (arms with circuitry coming out of them, faces that turn out to be faceplates over robot circuitry, superhuman feats of strength by robotic parts, etc) were eventually shared by both projects. After the initial TV movies did well enough in the ratings, ABC ordered the project to series – which would eventually lead to five seasons of the show, as well as three seasons of its spinoff, The Bionic Woman. The original series basic format was to have Colonel Steve Austin (Lee Majors) assigned to a mission by the OSI’s Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson), leading to a display of his abilities with his bionic legs, right arm and eye. (And when The Bionic Woman was established, the series added Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) and her abilities with her own augmented legs, right arm and ear.) Along the way, the show managed to pull in a veritable who’s who of 70s television guest stars, some of which appearing multiple times on the series. (I should note that after The Bionic Woman finished its first half-season, the producers made sure to have Jaime Sommers appear on the mother series twice before the end of that year. During the 4th season of The Six Million Dollar Man and the 2nd Season of The Bionic Woman, both shows engaged in crossover episodes where an episodic story would begin on one show and finish on another. The ultimate expression of this, “Kill Oscar” would start on The Bionic Woman, continue on The Six Million Dollar Man, and finish back on The Bionic Woman. By the time both shows had been established, Martin E. Brooks was cemented in the role of Dr. Rudy Wells, a part initially played by Martin Balsam in the first TV movie and then played by Alan Oppenheimer over the other TV movies and the first two seasons of the mother show. Another great sidenote of the twin series was that both Richard Anderson and Martin Brooks were hired as regular players on both shows at the same time! In 1977, ABC cancelled the spinoff series but retained the original. In the meantime, NBC picked up the spinoff, which then meant the end of the crossovers but triggered the unusual scenario of Richard Anderson and Martin Brooks playing the same roles on two different series on two different networks at the same time. By that final season, both shows were pretty clearly showing their age, and much of the creative team had already moved on. In the spring of 1978, both shows were cancelled, and thus entered the age of eternal syndication. Just under ten years later, there was enough demand for new adventures to see three reunion TV movies made, all featuring the core cast, and the regular pairing of Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner.
The DVD set before us here includes all of the episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, starting with the three TV movies that started everything out. All the crossovers with The Bionic Woman are included in their proper place in the series’ timeline. And in a bonus set of discs, all three reunion TV movies are included, along with the syndication versions of the initial telefilms. There are also a series of featurettes and interviews with the major players in the series both in front of and behind the cameras. And there are also the six commentaries, two of which are recycled from the recent DVD set of The Bionic Woman: Season One. As I said, this is giant, almost overwhelming gift for fans of the series who have wondered when they would see it on DVD in the United States. My only caution is not to look too deeply beneath the surface.
VIDEO QUALITY 3/5
The Six Million Dollar Man is presented in full frame transfers that provide the best possible picture quality we can expect from 35+ year old episodes, and it’s quite acceptable. I have noticed some comments on the threads here about possible cropping (for example, in “The Secret of Bigfoot”) of frames. Having not seen many of these episodes when they originally aired, I have no way of confirming this. From what I can see, the episodes of both series on these discs are presented as we would have seen them on TV back in the day, notwithstanding the fact that our TVs today are of a much higher quality. This really becomes noticeable when the inevitable stock footage comes up, showing either cars of a vintage at least ten years older than the then-current vehicles, or in a shot from the final episode of the fifth season, where Red Square appears to have cars from the late 1940s traversing it. Picture quality fluctuates between and within episodes. Some episodes are very clear, while others have moments of softness that can be startling for a moment. For example, the first part of “Kill Oscar” on The Bionic Woman has a wide shot of John Houseman in the teaser that is surprisingly soft, in between two other shots that are much sharper. At the same time, there are also plenty of places where the transfer is strong enough to reveal mismatches between stock shots and live action – in that same part of “Kill Oscar”, a current vehicle driving past the White House in a stock shot is matched to Lindsay Wagner driving a similar car. Except that the woman in the stock shot has much darker hair and is wearing a dark outfit, while Lindsay has much lighter hair and is wearing white! From what I can tell, the transfers here are very close to the ones we have already seen on The Bionic Woman: Season One, given that all of them are coming from Universal and are likely to be used on the season sets we’ll see in another year. (I’ll note that the teaser for the Season 2 episode “The Bionic Woman” appears a LITTLE darker in its Day-for-Night photography, but not in any way that jumped out at me.) The more recent episodes come across as clearer and sharper than the earlier ones, although I should note that the original TV movie has been given quite a good transfer here. And the reunion movies all look solid.
AUDIO QUALITY 3/5
The Six Million Dollar Man is presented in an English Digital 2.0 mono mix that preserves the sound we heard from the original airings. The dialogue is usually clear, as are the trademark music and mechanical sound effects for the Bionic hijinks on screen. Occasionally, things go a little wrong here – in that teaser for “Kill Oscar”, I noted that the sound effects appeared to be dialed louder than the dialogue – so much so that I was compelled to turn the subtitles on.
DISC BY DISC:
As I regularly do with television series sets, I’ll account for what can be found on each disc, in order. This is going to be a taller order, given the 40 discs here, but I figure that’s what the readers are looking for…
SEASON 1 (PILOT TV MOVIES AND SEASON 1)
DISC ONE:
(The first disc set has an insert booklet with a welcome by Lee Majors – which is used at the front of the inserts for all the season sets here – and an overview of the first season by Mark O’Neill.)
TV Movies:
The Six Million Dollar Man – Here’s the TV movie that started the whole series. Things get started with Steve Austin’s near-fatal crash in the opening minutes, resulting in the immediate loss of his right eye, right arm and both legs. It’s actually a much more somber and serious affair than you might think. The script has a much higher pedigree than I had anticipated, given that it was originally adapted from Martin Caidin’s books by Howard Rodman and then given an uncredited rewrite by Steven Bochco. The performance given here by Lee Majors is probably the best one he gave in his entire time on the series. An early-ish scene where he tries to get a nurse to help him kill himself is powerful. I should note that much of the movie finds Steve Austin (here a civilian) in a hospital bed with no legs and only one arm and one eye. It’s a disturbing image, given what we will see later in the series. And I remember having issues with the re-imagined Bionic Woman that was on television three years ago, in that it seemed to take forever for the main character to go bionic. I officially take that back, after watching the majority of this telefilm deal with the nuts and bolts of making Steve Austin what he will become. This telefilm is also notable for the interesting performances of Martin Balsam as Rudy Wells and Darren McGavin as Oliver Spencer, the predecessor character to Oscar Goldman. This movie is presented in its original format and length, and, while it’s quite dated, the hospital sequences still hold up quite well.
Wine, Women and War – This is the second TV movie made with the Steve Austin character, now regularly on missions with his bionic limbs and eye. This movie is a major step removed from the first film, in that it was produced by Glen Larson and is designed as a kind of television version of James Bond (who at the time was just being reinterpreted by Roger Moore in his first film for that series). Richard Anderson begins his role of Oscar Goldman here, as does Alan Oppenheimer, who picks up from Martin Balsam as Rudy Wells. The movie is presented in its original format and length.
SEASON 1 DISC TWO:
TV Movie:
The Solid Gold Kidnapping – The 3rd and final TV movie, also produced by Glen Larson, is presented in its original length and format.
Episodes
Population: Zero – This is the first episode of the regular series, directed by Jeannot Szwarc and originally aired in January 1974. As of this episode, Steve Austin is established as an Air Force Colonel.
Survival of the Fittest
SEASON 1 DISC THREE:
Episodes:
Operation Firefly.
Day of the Robot
Little Orphan Airplane
Doomsday, and Counting
SEASON 1 DISC FOUR:
Episodes:
Eyewitness to Murder
The Rescue of Athena One
Dr. Wells is Missing
The Last of the Fourth of Julys
SEASON 1 DISC FIVE:
Episodes:
Burning Bright
The Coward
Run, Steve, Run
SEASON 1 DISC SIX:
Here we have the collected special features for the first season set within the package.
Real Bionics – (12:05, Anamorphic) This featurette includes interview material with series executive producer Harve Bennett and writer/producer Kenneth Johnson, who discusses some moving letters he received during his time with both shows from children who had lost limbs and were hoping for bionic replacements like those in the series. Ian Fothergill of Ossur Americas and Karl Lindburg of Touch Bionics are also interviewed, and an example of current, modern-day limb replacement is shown.
An Iconic Opening – (19:00, Anamorphic) This featurette examines the opening title sequence for the series, as put together by Main Title Director Jack Cole. Cole is interviewed here, and explains how he essentially rewrote the crash sequence and surgery from the original TV movie to express the full backstory of the series in less than a minute’s time. He also discusses the onscreen graphics, and how he was able to record and edit Lee Major’s voice with an existing air traffic controller’s voice so that the two sound as if they are speaking to each other. Harve Bennett’s intonation of the first lines of the narration (“Steve Austin, Astronaut, A Man Barely Alive…”) is also discussed here.
Season 1 VIPs: A Celebration of The Six Million Dollar Man Guest Stars – (12:23, Anamorphic) This featurette focuses on the guest actors who appeared on the first season, including John Saxon as a deadly robot and William Shatner in full 70’s form. I should note that Paul K. Bisson of the Bionic Fan Network and Herbie J. Pilato of The Classic TV Preservation Society, are featured in the ranks of the interviewed people here, as they are throughout all of the featurettes in this collection.
Bionic Breakdown – (Anamorphic) This interactive feature provides examples from the series (all in Full Frame) of the various bionic abilities Steve Austin generates in the various episodes. The menus for this feature are divided into materials about the eye, the arm and the legs, and as you click on each ability, an example from the appropriate episode is displayed in the center of your screen.
OSI Mission Debriefing: Executive Producer Harve Bennett – (1:15:11, Anamorphic) This is a collection of the interview footage with Harve Bennett that was done for this DVD set. Apparently recorded at his home, the interview is edited into various sections about Bennett’s impressions and memories of the series and the cast. Selections from his comments here are used in many of the featurettes found on this and the other DVDs in the collection. There are some extended comments that are not found elsewhere, however. Bennett goes on at some length about fan conventions, mentioning his reservations about fans wearing uniforms, etc. Some of this is included elsewhere, but the longer form of this interview makes his feelings a lot clearer.
SEASON 2
DISC ONE:
(The second disc set has an insert booklet with the welcome by Lee Majors and an overview of the second season by Matt Hankinson.)
Episodes:
Nuclear Alert
The Pioneers
Pilot Error
The Pal-Mir Escort
SEASON 2 DISC TWO:
Episodes:
The Seven Million Dollar Man – This episode introduces Barney Miller (later renamed Hiller, to avoid confusion with the then-current sitcom), played by Monte Markham, who had been originally considered to play Steve Austin, but wound up being passed over for Lee Majors.
Straight On ‘Til Morning
The Midas Touch
The Deadly Replay
SEASON 2 DISC THREE:
Episodes:
Act of Piracy
Stranger in Broken Fork
The Peeping Blonde
The Cross-Country Kidnap
SEASON 2 DISC FOUR:
Episodes:
Lost Love
The Last Kamikaze
Return of the Robot Maker
Taneha
SEASON 2 DISC FIVE:
Episodes:
Look Alike
The E.S.P. Spy
The Bionic Woman, Part One - This episode is presented in much the same fashion as it was on The Bionic Woman: Season One, albeit with a slightly darker transfer for the day-for-night teaser. Kenneth Johnson’s excellent scene-specific commentary for this episode is carried over from The Bionic Woman: Season One.
The Bionic Woman, Part Two– As with the first part, Kenneth Johnson’s scene-specific commentary iscarried over from The Bionic Woman: Season One.
SEASON 2 DISC SIX:
Episodes:
Outrage in Balinderry
Steve Austin, Fugitive
And we have a pair of special features for the second season set within the package.
The Bionic Sound Effects – (11:09, Anamorphic) This featurette should really be about the various sound effects used in the series to embody the bionics going to work in the eye, arm or legs. And there’s maybe about a minute spent on this, giving some pretty good insight into how the effects were created or where they might have come from (a metal ruler being bent backward and released, etc). The rest of the eleven minutes is unfortunately spent listening to fans and others doing their impressions of the sound effects. I will allow that Richard Anderson tells a good story about meeting a head of state in Africa who greeted him and shook his hand while making the bionic sound effect…
Season 2 VIPs: A Celebration of The Six Million Dollar Man Guest Stars – (15:09, Anamorphic) This featurette focuses on clips of the guest actors who appeared on the second season, including Monte Markham.
SEASON 3
DISC ONE:
(The third disc set has an insert booklet with the welcome by Lee Majors and an overview of the third season by Paul K. Bisson.)
Episodes:
The Return of the Bionic Woman, Part 1 - The season premiere for the 3rd season immediately addresses fan concerns about the death of Jaime Sommers by resurrecting her, and thus setting the stage for her spinoff series later this season. As of this episode, Martin E. Brooks takes over the role of Dr. Rudy Wells, albeit with a hairstyle that is intended to match the bald pate of Alan Oppenheimer. With one exception (see Season 3 Disc 3), Brooks would play this part for the rest of the series.
The Return of the Bionic Woman, Part 2
The Price of Liberty
The Song and Dance Spy
SEASON 3 DISC TWO:
Episodes:
The Wolf Boy
The Deadly Test
Target in the Sky
One of Our Running Backs is Missing– This is the first episode produced by Kenneth Johnson. In his extended interview, he displays the World Football League ball given to him by Larry Csonka while filming the show.
SEASON 3 DISC THREE:
Episodes:
The Bionic Criminal – This episode both marks the return of Monte Markham as Barney Miller (now Hiller) and a one-time reappearance by Alan Oppenheimer as Rudy Wells. This would be the final time that Alan Oppenheimer would appear on the series.
The Blue Flash– This episode includes a commentary by director Cliff Bole. This is a crucial episode for him, as it marks the time he jumped from being a 1st Assistant Director to actually getting to direct episodes. Bole tells the story of the original director quitting the production in the middle of the preparation period, leaving Bole with only 3 days to plan as a director. Bole also relays a fair amount of additional production information, including acknowledgements about the difficulty of getting any usable sound on location in places like the port and neighborhood seen in this episode. He also acknowledges the usual scenario of having Lee Majors wearing open shirts so the female viewers could enjoy his chest. At one point, he mentions that Majors stayed in good shape due to all the running and stunt work he did while on the show. He also mentions a terrible stunt accident that happened on the set with Majors’ stunt double Vince Deadrick, and how this led to the now-common practice of safety meetings before any stunt takes place. At the same time, I have to note that this commentary frequently lapses into silence, and there are places where it sounds like there may have been a second recording session – Bole’s voice sounds different at some points during the commentary. Cliff Bole, it should be noted, went on to direct episodes of many other genre television series, most notably both parts of “The Best of Both Worlds” for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The White Lightning War
Divided Loyalty
SEASON 3 DISC FOUR:
Episodes:
Clark Templeton O’Flaherty
The Winning Smile
The Bionic Woman: Welcome Home, Jaime, Pt 1– As has been discussed before, the Series Premiere of The Bionic Woman was aired on the new series, and not on The Six Million Dollar Man. This collection includes the episode, along with a note explaining the situation in the booklet. Lee Majors appears in this crossover episode that establishes the new series built around Jaime Sommers. Looking at the crew list in the end titles, it’s clear that this episode was actually filmed by the crew for The Six Million Dollar Man, while they were still assembling the crew for the new series.
The Bionic Woman: Welcome Home, Jaime, Pt 2 - The second episode of the new series completes the initial setup, and paves the way for many further adventures of Jaime Sommers.
SEASON 3 DISC FIVE:
Episodes:
Hocus-Pocus
The Secret of Bigfoot, Part 1 – One of the most famous (or infamous) episodes of the series is presented here, with Steve Austin facing off against Andre the Giant as the legendary Sasquatch, who in this case turns out to be a lot more than he appears to be. For me, this is blissfully silly stuff, as even Harve Bennett admits in his interview. One of my favorite shots comes in the middle of the Steve Austin/Bigfoot fight in the woods, where Austin tumbles down a hill, and then we cut to Bigfoot jumping toward him, cut back to Austin rolling away, and then, without moving the camera or frame, quickly cut in the shot of Bigfoot landing right after Austin has rolled out. Kenneth Johnson provides a scene-specific commentary for this episode, but with a slight change in his usual approach. Since he did not direct this episode and was not on set for much of the filming (he wrote and produced it), he does not have many of the production materials normally available to him to prepare for the commentary. So he instead presents as much information as he can about the shoot, and particularly about the director and the cast, while discussing what he can about the onscreen action. A particularly tricky set is the rotating ice cave, which sounded like a great idea until they actually got into that part of the Universal Studios Tour and discovered it was a nightmare to actually film. There’s another interesting bit of trivia here – Bigfoot’s white contact lenses, which are initially a little scary to look at, would find another life as part of the look of The Incredible Hulk – whenever David Banner would become angered or outraged on that series, the first sign of a hulkout was these white contact lenses, which had first been seen here on Bigfoot.
The Secret of Bigfoot, Part 2– The legendary two-parter concludes, and Kenneth Johnson wraps up his scene-specific commentary, crossing it with a version of the directing seminar he normally teaches at various film schools these days.
The Golden Pharaoh
SEASON 3 DISC SIX:
Episodes:
Love Song for Tanya– This episode, featuring Cathy Rigby, includes a cameo appearance by Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers.
The Bionic Badge
Big Brother– The final episode of the third season again includes a cameo appearance by Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers.
SEASON 3 DISC SEVEN:
Here we have the collected special features for the third season set within the package.
The Search for Bigfoot – (13:21, Anamorphic) This featurette discusses a little about the production of the episode that pitted Steve Austin against the legendary creature of the forest. There’s not a lot of depth here, but they do discuss how Andre the Giant was surprisingly fast and agile for someone of his size (7’6”, I believe).
Season 3 VIPs: A Celebration of The Six Million Dollar Man Guest Stars – (15:53, Anamorphic) This featurette focuses on clips of the guest actors who appeared on the third season, including the return of Monte Markham, as well as Stephanie Powers in “The Search for Bigfoot”, Rodney Allen Rippy in “The Blue Flash” and Cathy Rigby in “Love Song for Tanya.”
OSI Mission Debriefing: Writer/Producer Kenneth Johnson – (1:28:43, Anamorphic) This is a collection of the interview footage with Kenneth Johnson that was done for this DVD set. The interview is edited into various sections about Johnson’s memories and thoughts about both series. As with the Harve Bennett material, pieces of this longer interview are used in the featurettes on the various discs in this collection. In some cases, the material is used in several places. In the longer interview, Johnson includes an unusual story idea hatched by him and James Parriott – to have Oscar send Steve undercover to work in a beauty salon. Johnson and Parriott’s further idea for this was to establish that apparently Steve and Oscar were involved in, well, I can’t bear to write any further about it… Don’t worry, if you forget about it, you’ll be reminded when Kenneth Johnson brings out the action figures he still has from his collection, which includes the ultra-rare Oscar Goldman figure!
SEASON 4
DISC ONE:
(The fourth disc set has an insert booklet with the welcome by Lee Majors and an overview of the fourth season by Brendan Slattery.) I’ll also note that the fourth season is immediately notable for the moustache worn by Lee Majors in all but the last two episodes of the season. That detail alone sets all the episodes apart from the earlier seasons.
Episodes:
The Return of Bigfoot, Part 1 - The season premiere for the 4th season is also the first crossover episode of the season, with Lindsay Wagner appearing as Jaime Sommers to help Steve Austin fight Bigfoot, or at least to find out who is making him do all these terrible things. Since Andre the Giant was unavailable at this time, the producers sought out Ted Cassidy, who took over the role and happily tossed Lee Majors around the set on cue. As of this episode, Martin E. Brooks is added to the main titles.
The Bionic Woman: The Return of Bigfoot, Part 2 – The crossover continues into the 2nd Season Premiere of The Bionic Woman, where Steve Austin, Jaime Sommers, and yes, Bigfoot, join forces to beat the bad guys. Or at least to toss them around the control room. There’s a great shot at the end of the big climactic fight, where Jaime Sommers tosses a bad guy over to Steve Austin, who in turn tosses the guy over to Bigfoot, who tosses the guy into the wall. It’s like a three-man wrestling tag team…
Nightmare in the Sky
SEASON 4 DISC TWO:
Episodes:
Double Trouble
The Most Dangerous Enemy
H+2+O=Death
SEASON 4 DISC THREE:
Episodes:
The Bionic Woman: Kill Oscar, Part 1 – This is probably the most famous of all the crossovers between the two series, and it’s certainly the most ambitious. John Houseman plays a disgruntled former OSI man who has created deadly robot duplicates of OSI secretaries and of Oscar Goldman to both get his revenge and to get control of a potentially deadly weather control device. Jack Colvin, later to harass poor David Banner on The Incredible Hulk, appears here as a villainous financier. The Fembots seen in these episodes, bear a striking resemblance not only to the robots from Westworld but also the perfect women from The Stepford Wives. As I noted earlier, picture and sound quality fluctuate a bit here – particularly during the teaser, where the sound effects overwhelm the dialogue. One other curiosity here is that the opening titles feature an alternate main title theme by Joe Harnell. My understanding is that this comes from the syndication airings of this episode.
Kill Oscar, Part 2
The Bionic Woman: Kill Oscar, Part 3 – The three-part crossover ends back on The Bionic Woman, with a shirtless Steve Austin (how did they always manage to either take his shirt off or have him open it?) and Jaime Sommers saving the day. The opening titles revert back to the normal Jerry Fielding music for this episode. This marks the final appearance of Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner together in these roles until the reunion movies over ten years later.
SEASON 4 DISC FOUR:
Episodes:
The Bionic Boy – This is a two hour episode, intended as a spinoff pilot for a new bionic character. Unfortunately, this character was nowhere near as popular as Jaime Sommers, which would explain why he was never seen again..
Vulture of the Andes– This is the second and final episode to feature a commentary by director Cliff Bole. While he initially provides some good information about the light plane footage seen in the episode (it was lifted from a documentary about these planes), he goes silent for long, long stretches of this episode.
SEASON 4 DISC FIVE:
Episodes:
The Thunderbird Connection– This is another 2 hour episode.
A Bionic Christmas Carol
SEASON 4 DISC SIX:
Episodes:
Task Force
The Ultimate Imposter– This was a second attempt at a spinoff pilot for this season, and like “The Bionic Boy”, this didn’t work out.
Death Probe, Part 1 – This is another one of the most famous episodes of the series, as Steve Austin faces off against a deadly robot.
Death Probe, Part 2
SEASON 4 DISC SEVEN:
Episodes:
Danny’s Inferno
Fires of Hell
The Infiltrators
Carnival of Spies
SEASON 4 DISC EIGHT:
Episodes:
U-509.
The Privacy of the Mind
To Catch the Eagle– As of this episode, Lee Majors shaves his moustache, and Steve Austin appears clean-shaven again.
The Ghostly Teletype– The final episode of the fourth season also features the clean-shaven Steve Austin.
SEASON 4 DISC NINE:
Here we have the collected special features for the fourth season set within the package.
The Six Million Dollar Fans – (13:55, Anamorphic) This featurette is a nice gesture to fans of the show, including on-camera statements by several fans, and appreciative comments from Richard Anderson. I’m not sure that we learn anything more about the series here, but I can understand why this was recorded and included.
Season 4 VIPs: A Celebration of The Six Million Dollar Man Guest Stars – (17:20, Anamorphic) This featurette focuses on clips of the guest actors who appeared on the third season, particularly those who appeared in the big “Kill Oscar” three-parter. The section of Kenneth Johnson’s interview used here is priceless – like everyone else, he simply enjoyed the sound of John Houseman dramatically intoning the word “Fem-bots!”
OSI Mission Debriefing: Richard Anderson – (53:39, Anamorphic) This is a collection of the interview footage with Richard Anderson that was done for this DVD set, as well as for Universal’s season sets for The Bionic Woman. The interview is edited into various sections about Anderson’s memories and thoughts about both series. Anderson is, as ever, congenial, pleasant, and classy.
SEASON 5
DISC ONE:
(The fifth disc set has an insert booklet with the welcome by Lee Majors and an overview of the final season by Brendan Slattery.) For this final season, Lee Majors took on a longer-hair but still clean-shaven look. From what I can tell, the highest level creative producers of both series had effectively departed by this season, in advance of the cancellation which would come the following spring.
Episodes:
Sharks, Part 1
Sharks, Part 2
Deadly Countdown, Part 1 – This episode, filmed partly in Florida, actually includes an appearance by author Martin Caidin, although it appears his dialogue was completely re-recorded afterwards.
Deadly Countdown, Part 2
SEASON 5 DISC TWO:
Episodes:
Bigfoot V– Ted Cassidy returns as Bigfoot. Need I say more?
Killer Wind– This episode features a scary stunt by Lee Majors, pulling himself along a real cable line way above a mountain location.
Rollback
SEASON 5 DISC THREE:
Episodes:
Dark Side of the Moon, Part 1
Dark Side of the Moon, Part 2
Target: Steve Austin
The Cheshire Project
SEASON 5 DISC FOUR:
Episodes:
Walk a Deadly Wing
Just a Matter of Time
The Return of Death Probe, Pt 1– One supposes you just can’t keep a good killer robot down…
The Return of Death Probe, Pt 2
SEASON 3 DISC FIVE:
Episodes:
The Lost Island– This is a two hour episode, filmed partly in Hawaii.
The Madonna Caper
Dead Ringer
SEASON 5 DISC SIX:
Episodes:
Date with Danger, Part 1.
Date with Danger, Part 2
The Moving Mountain– The final episode of the series finds Steve Austin undercover in Russia, fighting the work of corrupt John Colicos, some six months before he would play Baltar on Battlestar Galactica.
SEASON 5 DISC SEVEN:
Here we have the collected special features for the fifth season set within the package.
The Six Million Dollar Man’s Best Villains and Best Fights – (18:25, Anamorphic) This featurette assembles clips of several of the best match-ups from the whole series. As you might expect, John Saxon’s Robot, Barney Miller/Hiller, Bigfoot, the Fembots and Death Probe top the list.
Season 5 VIPs: A Celebration of The Six Million Dollar Man Guest Stars – (15:53, Anamorphic) This featurette focuses on clips of the guest actors who appeared on the final season, including Bibi Besch, Jenny Agutter, John de Lancie and author Martin Caidin.
OSI Mission Debriefing: Martin E. Brooks – (1:04:15, Anamorphic) This is a collection of the interview footage with Martin Brooks that was done for this DVD set, as well as for the Universal DVDs for The Bionic Woman. The interview is edited into various sections about Brooks’ memories and thoughts about both series. Brooks appears to be one of the only people asked in depth about how he got the part, which is surprising since he would likely know the least about this. He does offer some very interesting insights about both Martin Balsam and Alan Oppenheimer, both of whom are quite good friends of his. (He mentions having Balsam live with him in New York, and having Oppenheimer act in a play of his recently.)
BONUS FEATURES
DISC ONE:
You might have thought you were all done. But like the Ginsu knife commercial from the 70’s, I am forced to say, “But wait, there’s more!”
TV Movies:
The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman – This is the first of the reunion TV movies featuring all four of the regular cast of both series. Intended both as a reunion movie and a potential spinoff pilot, the story features the son of Steve Austin winding up needing bionic implants after a crash like his father’s. I remember seeing this when it was first broadcast in 1987, and my reaction seeing it today was similar. Between the 80s haircuts and the really bad music, this movie has aged very poorly.
Bionic Showdown – Two years after the first reunion movie, Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers return to deal with another attempt at a spinoff pilot – this time for a young woman played by Sandra Bullock. It probably goes without saying that neither of these spinoff ideas led anywhere.
BONUS DISC TWO:
TV Movie:
Bionic Ever After? - Filmed five years after Bionic Showdown, this was the last of the reunion movies, and appropriately, it focuses directly on Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers rather than potential spinoff series leads. In the end, things end up about where you’d expect them to, based on the title. The only drawback here is that the budget is a far cry from where things once were in the series’ heyday, and it’s evident that pennies are being pinched right and left.
Syndication Episodes:
The Moon and the Desert, Part 1 – This is the extended version of the original pilot TV movie, padded out to fill two hours of syndication programming. The additional footage is drawn from the series. I prefer the original aired version both for length and content. But I have to note it’s interesting to have both the very last movie of this character, and the very first movie of this character sharing the same disc.
The Moon and the Desert, Part 2
BONUS DISC THREE:
Syndication Episodes:
Wine, Women and War, Part 1 – Here’s the extended version of the second TV movie, padded out like the first one was.
Wine, Women and War, Part 2
The Solid Gold Kidnapping, Part 1– Here’s the extended version of the third TV movie, and the same rules apply.
The Solid Gold Kidnapping, Part 2
BONUS DISC FOUR:
Here we have an assemblage of featurettes about the series and the cast, four on each. You would think that this would be a more in-depth series of discussions, but it’s actually more along the lines of the usual sessions of mutual compliments, with a few additional tidbits thrown in here and there.
TV Goes Bionic: The Origins of The Six Million Dollar Man (11:27, Anamorphic) – This featurette briefly recaps the creation of the TV movies that started the series. There’s a little discussion about the work of author Martin Caidin, and some clips from the TV movies, but nothing too deep. (And there is no discussion about where the notion of doing the series came from, which gets me more than a little curious.) On the other hand, there is a very slight acknowledgment of the uncredited total rewrite done on the first script by Steven Bochco.
The Bionic Age of TV: The Success of The Six Million Dollar Man (24:43, Anamorphic) – This is a fairly broad overview of the production of the show, starting at the point where it became a regular weekly series. Certain points are addressed, particularly the creation of The Bionic Woman and the crossovers, and the challenges of having Richard Anderson and Martin Brooks on two series at the same time. But this is still really just scratching the surface. There is no real discussion about the changes in timeslot or the change in networks for the final season of The Bionic Woman. There is only a cursory mention of the replacement of Alan Oppenheimer with Martin Brooks, and no real explanation as to why this happened. There is no discussion of the evolution of the series, or what went on over the final two seasons of the series, given the departures of both Harve Bennett and Kenneth Johnson, and the near-departure of Lee Majors before the final year. So this is a pleasant discussion about how good of a time everyone had on the shows, but it doesn’t really address anything deeper. Viewers expecting anything like a Charles de Lauzirika documentary about the series may not find it here. (By the way, it is clear from watching this featurette, along with the others on these discs, that the interviews conducted with Lindsay Wagner, Richard Anderson, Martin Brooks, James Parriott, and several other members of cast and crew (including Lindsay Wagner’s stand-in and the guest actress who played the first Fembot) were conducted at one time for each of the interviewees, and their answers have been used for both this DVD set and for the Universal sets for The Bionic Woman. Given this, I think it’s possible that some of these featurettes, or materials from them, may still be found on the Universal DVD sets for The Six Million Dollar Man, when those are eventually released in another year.)
Top Secret: OSI, NASA & Bionics (10:58, Anamorphic) – This featurette briefly tries to address how the bionics shown in the series either relate to reality, or could eventually come to exist. It’s strange to have another featurette on this, given the more interesting one on the first disc set, but it does allow both Kenneth Johnson and James Parriott to give their opinions on whether these kinds of bionic abilities will be possible. Parriott in particular mentions trying to research these things to see if they were even potentially possible in the future before writing scripts about them. Johnson mentions that if anything, he could see development programs for full body combat suits rather than simply an arm or a leg.
The Reunion Movies: Life After the Series (23:32, Anamorphic) – This is probably the most interesting of the featurettes, in that it clearly shows how Richard Anderson essentially produced all three reunion movies, by cajoling network executives into giving the characters one more turn around the block. Clips from all three reunion movies are shown, along with interviews with Michael Sloan, who had a hand in writing all of them, as well as the line producer and director of the final one. If anything, it’s clear that the budgets were smaller and smaller for each reunion, until the final one was really pinching pennies. (I note that the original series certainly had to get their episodes done in far less time, and under many of the same conditions – but there were also many occasions where the original series was also using existing sets or splitting time and budgets over multi-part episodes as well.)
After the four featurettes about the series itself, there are an additional four featurettes, this time focusing directly on the cast.
Getting to Know Lee Majors and Steve Austin (11:55, Anamorphic) – This is mostly interview footage with Lee Majors from his session for this set, along with compliments from Richard Anderson, Harve Bennett and Kenneth Johnson. Majors discusses the start of his acting career after a college football injury, and mentions how he made sure that the TV series character of Steve Austin was not the killer found in Martin Caidin’s books. This is all fine, but there really isn’t anything here about his later career, or how things developed on the series. He does mention showing up for work in the fourth season with the moustache, but nothing deeper than that.
Getting to Know Lindsay Wagner and Jaime Sommers (14:37, Anamorphic) – Interview material from the session done for both DVD releases is included here, with some overlap between the material used on The Bionic Woman: Season 1 (specifically the “Bionic Beginnings” featurette). The strange thing here is that there really is no sense of who Lindsay Wagner was before she did these series, and there is no discussion of how her career evolved afterward. The only matter really discussed here is how she was initially hired to play the part for one episode and then watched as the situation became a lot more interesting.
Getting to Know Richard Anderson and Oscar Goldman (18:56, Anamorphic) – This visit is a bit more fun, mostly pulling quotes from the longer Richard Anderson interview, and using clips from throughout the series. There is some mention about how Anderson would regularly tan himself with his reflector outside the stage each day (a practice also done by Roy Scheider, by the way). And there is some overlap with the earlier featurettes, with Kenneth Johnson noting that Richard Anderson would wind up playing scenes on both series within a single day, and get paid twice! That said, there isn’t a lot of discussion about his earlier career in motion pictures, or anything that came after the series.
Getting to Know Dr. Rudy Wells (13:23, Anamorphic) – Here we finally have a discussion of the trio of actors who played the erstwhile doctor on the series, starting with Martin Balsam’s performance in the original TV movie. But while the replacement of Alan Oppenheimer with Martin Brooks is directly mentioned (including Oppenheimer’s reappearance in “The Bionic Criminal”), no real explanation is offered here. Further, Alan Oppenheimer himself is never interviewed or asked this question. As a result, this featurette winds up being less than satisfying.
BONUS DISC FIVE:
Here we have the remaining featurettes and the longer interview material with Lee Majors.
The Pop Culture Effect – (12:42, Anamorphic) This featurette deals with the overall effect of the series on pop culture, including the sound effects, the theme music, and various parodies over the years. This is all represented by interview material with the principals here rather than clips of the parodies, but one gets the idea pretty well. A piece of Harve Bennett’s interview is included where he mentions parodying his famous introduction to the series while saying a few words about the groom at a friend’s wedding.
Bionic Action…Figures! – (21:10, Anamorphic) This featurette is probably the wildest one in the collection. It’s the one that allows Paul Bisson to show off his complete collection of action figures from the series, including Bigfoot and of course Oscar Goldman and his exploding briefcase. Several fans show off their Steve Austin action figures, including the now-malfunctioning bionic arm gag. Kenneth Johnson shares a pretty startling account of the creation of the Jaime Sommers doll, in that his objections about the toymakers going along with typical stereotypes about girls were met with the comment “Well, I think we’re all comfortable with those stereotypes.” Lindsay Wagner points out with a laugh that the Jaime Sommers doll doesn’t even look like her – it’s clearly modeled on Farrah Fawcett!
The Stunts of the Bionic Age – (29:33, Anamorphic) This is probably the best featurette in the entire collection, and it’s the scariest. Vince Deadrick and his son go into a fair amount of detail discussing the extensive stunt work done on this series, with a good amount of time dedicated to the famous “backwards jump” he would do to simulate Steve Austin’s famed bionic jumping ability. (Deadrick would jump off a building backwards without looking down, so that when the footage was cranked in reverse, it would look like he was jumping UP onto the building.) Lindsay Wagner’s stunt double for The Bionic Woman is also discussed and interviewed, with further attention given to the fact that her hair and clothing had to be sewn down to avoid giving away both that the gag was backward and the reality that it wasn’t Lindsay doing the stunt. (If her hair or clothing flew up as she came down, the whole thing would look ridiculous.) One diving stunt with Deadrick is discussed at length, as it could have killed him. One shot of Steve Austin diving off a cliff into shallow water was repeated with Deadrick coming in at a steeper angle on the second take. Except that this resulted in him hitting his head, grievously hurting himself, and after an agonizing delay, coming back up out of the water bleeding badly. Of course, to hear Deadrick tell the story, he was out of the hospital and back on the set very quickly. The reality, as Cliff Bole relates in his commentary on “The Blue Flash” is that this accident resulted in safety meetings being regularly held on movie and TV productions before stunts are performed. Lee Majors and Deadrick also discuss the cable stunt performed by Majors for the 5th season episode “Killer Wind”. Majors admits nearly panicking while trying to perform the stunt that far off the ground, but then looking down to see Deadrick and others taking photos of him, which angered him enough to complete the stunt before coming back down and doing mayhem to the guys.
OSI Mission Debriefing: Lee Majors – (1:24:36, Anamorphic) This is a collection of the interview footage with Lee Majors that was done for this DVD set. There’s a bit more information about his earlier and later career work than was used in the other featurettes. And Majors ends the interview by saying that he’s actually looking forward to seeing the episodes again, as he hasn’t really watched the show in a very long time. He mentions that after the DVDs come out, he may be interested in doing another interview, once his memory has been jogged.
Subtitles are available in English for the episodes themselves, but not for the interviews or featurettes. There are no chapter menus for the episodes, but there are chapters at multiple places within each episode.
A note about the packaging. The DVDs are packaged in 6 separate plastic holders – one for each season, and a sixth one for the Bonus Discs. And the discs are very easy to remove and handle. The whole kit and caboodle is packaged within a larger box that has a lenticular image of Steve Austin running on the top, along with an internal voicebox recording of Oscar Goldman’s opening narration. The recording didn’t actually turn on for me until I reached in and activated it, but that may well be the point.
IN THE END...
The Six Million Dollar Man: The Complete Series is a thorough collection of every episode, every TV movie and every reunion movie to feature the character of Steve Austin. As such, this is a wonderful gift for fans of the series. The multiple featurettes and interviews are an added bonus, although they really only scratch the surface as far as giving any detail about how the series was made and what it took to do this show for five years. I have a feeling that fans who have the funds or credit available have already purchased this as an early Christmas present. But I’ll recommend it to the fans in any case. I don’t think that this set can be rented, so this will be a lot less attractive to casual viewers. If you’ve never seen the show before, this set is more than an introduction – it’s the full Monty. If you’re a fan of the series, this is a handsome package to have under the Christmas tree this year. Or to open and enjoy early.
Kevin Koster
November 28, 2010.
