The Six Million Dollar Man

This was truly a great series to watch growing up. Who wouldn't want super strength and super speed? I remember in the movie or maybe it was one of the early shows where there was a guy in a rural area (farm maybe?) who looks out over a flat field and sees a man tearing up the road. In the early days, Steve ran pretty fast, as opposed to the slow motion used later.

The movie was set up very well. A man has an internal battle going on when he loses both his legs, his right arm and his left eye. He didn't want to become a machine. Then, later as he is getting used to the idea of being "bionic," he sees an accident and goes to rescue a little girl who is trapped inside. As he rips the door off, and reaches for the pinned girl, something in the car tears a part of his arm. After rescuing the girl, the mother see the arm and screams. So much for being the hero. I wished they would have kept that conflict going a little while longer. Not overplay it...Just keep it going. But, they weren't sure the show would be picked up, so they resolved the conflict...

Colonel Steve Austin, astronaut and test pilot, is badly injured when he crashes while testing an experimental aircraft. A covert government agency (OSI) is willing to pay for special prosthetics to replace the eye, arm and both legs he lost in the crash. Highly advanced technology (bionics) built into them will make him faster, stronger and more resilient than normal. In return they want him to become a covert agent for the OSI. It will cost $6,000,000 to rebuild Steve Austin.

And build him they do, but the lead up to Steve getting rebuilt is thoughtfully done with Lee Majors expressing anguish over his injuries, even suicidal, and Oscar ( here played by Darren McGavin) is a much colder character who expects Austin to push himself to the limit in his new robotic get-up. It's a solid pilot to a great series, is quite serious, introspective and intelligent.

The TV movie that led to "The Six Million Dollar Man" becoming one of the biggest hits of the 1970s, and being fondly remembered by many who were the right age at the time (not least me - I still remember playing with my Steve Austin doll), is strikingly different from what would come. Admittedly the series was hardly a laugh riot, but the source was even straighter, with nothing to indicate that Col. Austin would eventually acquire a bionic girlfriend (and dog) and meet the likes of Bigfoot, a double, and alien killer machines. (We won't mention that "Sweet Jaime" song.)

Not only does Henri Simoun's teleplay furnish our hero with some actual doubt over how much of a human being he is now, but the relationship between him and his superior officer is less chummy - no benevolent Oscar Goldman of the OSI here, instead the OSO's colder Spencer (Darren McGavin, easily taking the acting honours). Plus, when Steve is eventually sent into the field, it's surprisingly straightforward - the movie emphasises drama over derring-do (note the lack of DANANANANANANA sound effects). This isn't always for the best; the actual crash isn't as effective as it could have been, and 30 years on some elements have dated somewhat - who'd be so casual about a nuclear-powered motor today? - but if ultimately it's not as much fun as the series, it's also a bit more thoughtful.

Footnotes: This movie was edited into two parts and shown on the series as "The Moon And The Desert." More importantly, no one here calls him "a man barely alive," let alone says "We can rebuild him" or "We have the technology."

First TV movie pilot that introduced Lee Majors as Steve Austin, a former astronaut who had walked on the moon, but now is test piloting an experimental aircraft that unfortunately crashes, badly injuring Steve near death, but with the skill of brilliant surgeon Dr. Rudy Wells(played by Martin Balsam) and funding by secretive government representative Oliver Spencer(played by Darren McGavin) rebuild Austin with bionic limbs and sight, increasing his strength and survivability immensely, making him an ideal government operative, if he can only emotionally adjust to his new condition... Good setup to the eventual series has a smart, thoughtful script and good direction by Richard Irving. Pity this realistic style wasn't continued though...

I was reading the April 30 issue of This is True (http://www.thisistrue.com/) and found out that this TV series was in fact based on the story of Bruce A. Peterson, a NASA test pilot. The opening credits featured his accident while testing a lifting body concept.

His biography is in (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/ Biographies/Pilots/bd-dfrc-p012.html). Please enter the whole web address as one continuous word (delete the space before Biographies). The comment rules don't allow me to send a very long word.

I remember watching some of the episodes when I was really little. My friends would try to imitate Steve's actions when he ran or jumped, complete with that distinctive 'Bionic' sound.