Der Sechs-Millionen-Dollar-Mann

"The Six Million Dollar Man" had to prove it was worthy of being given its own regular series after the opening feature length pilot episode wasn't enough. A further two pilot episodes were made before the actual series was commissioned. The pilot episodes are 73 minutes each, which is long enough to sustain much interest. The first feature length episode is very well made. Lee Majors immediately made the character of Colonel Steve Austin his own and he is the only constant throughout the entire run of episodes. He is the only actor one can associate with the character. Before Richard Anderson came along as Oscar Goldman, Darren McGavin was cast as the Government character. His was more of an antagonistic character to Austin as the tension in their scenes is clearly in evidence. Martin Balsam played the surgeon who helped change Austin's life in the first pilot episode instead of the actor who was cast in the regular series (his name escapes me). The opening episode focuses more on how Steve Austin adapts with the way fate has entered his life. About three quarters of the running time is taken up with this and it works effectively. I like the way in which Austin is portrayed as a human being with feelings and not just as another one-dimensional action hero. The writing is great as each of the main characters in the pilot are given depth. About the last 15 to 20 minutes is taken up with some action scenes and they are exciting. Seeing a man who possesses the ability to be stronger and faster than the average person was the selling point of "Six Million Dollar Man" and it always worked. With the first season being a ratings winner, the creator of "Six Million Dollar Man" Kenneth Johnson, created the spin-off show, "Bionic Woman." That show is for another review. Overall, the best episodes are from the first season til the end of the third one. The fourth and fifth seasons contain some good episodes but the quality had fallen away slightly. However, that can happen with the best television shows. Richard Anderson was well cast as Government man Oscar Goldman. His character was more of an ally to Steve Austin and that was a wise move. I didn't really take to Lee Majors changing his image by growing his hair longer and having that moustache. Neither suited him. I enjoy episodes where characters like Bigfoot are included and evil Robots that square up to Austin. There are some noteworthy supporting actors involved, like William Shatner, Jane Merrow, John Saxon and others. "Six Million Dollar Man" is the kind of show where you find some stories resembling Science Fiction or Fantasy, thanks to the show's inital premise. There are all kinds of plots, including crossover episodes involving Jamie Sommers as the Bionic Woman. "Six Million Dollar Man" will go down as a classic show and one that remains very enjoyable today.

Well, it holds up to the test of time in SOME ways. This show was one of my favorites as a child and if re-made today with state of the art special effects could still be a top rrated TV show or blockbuster film. It wasn't camp, but it didn't take itself too seriously either. It had action and adventure, romance and espionage intrigue. This is the role Lee Majors was born to play, and he plays it to perfection. To most of us, he will always be the hero called Steve Austin. Other than the sometime wince-inducing special effects, this show is just as enjoyable if you catch it in re-runs today as it was during its original airing.

This is one of the ways you can tell you're getting old: when someone says the name "Steve Austin." Do you think of a bald wrestler rolling around on the mat groping other guys, or Lee Majors moving in slow motion and squinting? I think of the latter.

"The Six Million Dollar Man" is one of the first shows I remember watching as a child. I watched the shows, I played with the toys, I wanted to BE Steve Austin. Lee Majors (along with Clint Eastwood) proved that some people look so cool when they squint. I look like I need my prescription checked when I do it, but I'm not Lee Majors. Steve Austin could handle anything they threw at him, not just because of his bionics, but because he was smart, he never gave up and always kept his cool. I still want to be like him when I grow up.

Recently, I've seen some episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel. Sure, the 1970s fashions are a little jarring (polyester rules!), and sometimes the plots are juvenile, but overall the show holds up pretty well. It could be very intelligent when it wanted to be, funny when it was called for, and always exciting and fun. It reminds me of a time when six million dollars was a lot of money, and American technology could produce wonders like a functional cyborg.

Yeah, I'll take Lee Majors over the bald wrestling guy any day. After all, how many wrestlers could take on spies, terrorists, aliens, Bigfoot, a killer Venus probe and Sonny Bono and live to tell the tale?

I loved The Six Million Dollar Man, I watched it every week if possible and actually wanted to be Bionic when I grew up! I even had Steve Austin Action figures including Oscar Goldman with his exploding Briefcase and Maskatron too. I was a big fan and still have a soft spot for the show and would happily watch it if it is being re-run on TV. It has dated badly in some ways, especially the clothes and hairstyles, but most shows from the 70's have anyway.

It was corny in places too and I wonder why objects such as rocks and steel bars made a whistling noise when Steve threw them! Also the androids were bad especially when their face came off and an actor had a mask with wires and lights on it over his/her face which meant realistically they would have had a side profile like E.T.!

But on the whole I loved it and have fond memories of watching it! It is a classic 70's show!

The Six Million Dollar Man was a show that was entertaining and it actually taught me about romance. I was about six when I first started watching it. I was enthralled by the action and the feats that this man could perform. He had a bionic right arm, two bionic legs, and a bionic eye that could enable him to see great distances. His strength was more than that of ten men. He could run faster than a car and he was a super intelligence agent. Along the way he meets a variety of interesting characters and ones that I have never forgotten about. There was Barney, the seven million dollar man who lets his bionics take over his mind and he uses them for his own benefits instead of that of his agency. Then there was the probe. The probe was a machine that was designed to go to space but never made it there. On Earth, it wreaks havoc and Steve has his hands full with it. Then of course there was Jamie Summers. She was Steve's girlfriend that has a tragic parachuting accident. Steve, blinded by love demands that she is given bionics. She receives them but she has amnesia. There love is tragically put on hold and it is this plot line that for the first time in my young life, I was taught about the power and tragedy of love.

But the best of all the episodes of Steve Austin was the one's centering around Bigfoot. This also introduced the world to Andre The Giant. The Bigfoot episodes were scary. Here is this huge creature that is also bionic and he is a little stronger, a little faster and a little more vicious than Steve Austin. It is some of the best T.V. I've ever seen and it is one that will have a lasting impression on me for the rest of my life.

I remember that I asked my mom how they did all those things. How a man could jump that high, how he could lift a car and such. It was then that my parents explained to me that this was all make believe. That this is what is known as magic. Well it was from that moment on that the movies and TV captured my imagination. And for that I will be eternally greatful to The Six Million Dollar Man.