The Six Million Dollar Man was an American television series about a cyborg working for a U.S. secret service called OSI. The show was based on the book Cyborg from Martin Caidin, and aired on the American Broadcasting Company from 1973 to 1978.

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 referred 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.

Opening narration

The opening narration for each episode has 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."

The Cantonese-dubbed version (aired on TVB) has the following opening narration: (English translation)

"Astronaut - Steve Austin, critically injured after the accident. After doctors' diagnoses, in their opinion that they can modify him... into a man whose left eye, right hand, both legs that are unlike anyone else's. This modification finally suceeded. Steve Austin is now strong, agile, wise and brave combined."

Main characters

• Steve Austin, the title character (played by Lee Majors)
• Oscar Goldman, the Director of the OSI (played by Richard Anderson)
• Dr. Rudy Wells, Austin's physician (played by Martin Balsam (pilot film only)/Alan Oppenheimer/Martin E. Brooks)
• Jaime Sommers, the Bionic Woman, played by Lindsay Wagner - recurring
• Oliver Spencer, Director of the OSI in the original pilot film only (played by Darren McGavin)

Parts

• A 20.1:1 zoom lens along with a nightvision function in the left eye.
• Bionic legs allowing 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

Note: The original literary version of the character had a number of different bionic parts. See Trivia, below, for details.

Episode list

TV movies

Some sources consider these movies to be part of Season 1 of the series, particularly the second and third films which aired only a couple of months before the weekly series began. All three films were later re-edited into two-part episodes of the regular series, with additional footage added, for the purposes of network reruns and later syndication.

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

1. The episode "Welcome Home Jaime (1)" was the first part of a two-chapter story, the second episode airing as the premiere episode of The Bionic Woman. It is usually syndicated as a Bionic Woman episode.

Season 4

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)" is usually syndicated as a Bionic Woman episode.

Season 5

Later TV movies

Trivia

• The aircraft seen crashing in the opening sequence of the show is real and the dialogue spoken by actor Lee Majors during the opening credits is reportedly based upon communication prior to the crash that occurred on May 10, 1967: ("I can't hold her, she's breaking up! She's breaking--"). Test pilot Bruce Peterson lost an eye in the crash, but likewise also miraculously survived what appeared to be a fatal accident even though his lifting body aircraft hit the ground at approximately 250 mph (400 km/h) and tumbled six times.

• 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 intentional 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 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

• The Six Million Dollar site (http://www.sixmilliondollarsite.co.uk/) with information on both shows
• The Six Million Dollar Man (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt071054/) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Six Million Dollar Man (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-591/) at TV Tome
• The Six Million Dollar Man (http://www.scifi.com/bionics/sixmill.html) at The SciFi Channel
• The Six Million Dollar Man (http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/drama/sixmillion.htm) at Nostalgia Central
• The Six Million Dollar Man (http://www.jumptheshark.com/s/sixmilliondollarman.htm) at JumpTheShark.com