yoredm One thing that my sister pointed out to me at the time (she is a few years older than I) is "If Steve Austin only has one bionic arm, why doesn't he rip his other arm off whenever he breaks out of handcuffs?" It seems obvious now as an adult but, they managed to slip that one past this eight year old kid!Oh and who didn't want to be Steve Austin/ Lee Majors back then? Jamie Sommers on screen (I had a major crush) and Farrah Fawcett at home! What a lucky guy! And whose idea was it to give Farrah's character on the show a name like Major Kelly Wood- major wood- I am sure!My favourite episodes have to be any with Jamie Sommers. It was even better when she got her own spin-off show. Also the few show with Andre the Giant. The ones that freaked me out as a kid was with John Saxon's character Major Frederick Sloan as a robot and his face falls off! We never missed an episode! I would love to see these in re-runs. Is there any talk of getting this show back on the air?

Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) Television really never had it so good as the five years when "The Six Million Dollar Man" more or less dominated the airwaves. I was exactly seven years old when the show first premiered as a weekly event and while seeing the very beginnings of the series are hazy recollections at best it quickly became THE weekly television event in our household. At least as far as I was concerned -- back then parents actually regulated stuff like what TV you watched and where you went after school. We each got to pick one show to watch every weekend (no TV on school nights!) and I always picked The Bionic Man. The few times I was forced to miss it due to groundings or family scheduling conflicts were absolutely traumatic. I literally had no idea how the epic "Secret of Bigfoot" turned out for a whole year waiting for it to go into rerun phase because of a behavioral infraction the week of part two. Take it for granted that I never screwed up like that again.For my money the show was better than "Star Trek" because it was (at first, at least) far less pompous. We didn't necessarily tune in to learn anything, we tuned in to watch Colonel Steve Austin bust through walls, jump over buildings and throw stuff with that bionic screeching projectile sound effect. Eventually the show demonstrated to us how to be good citizens, see right from wrong and appreciate the military industrial complex. Eventually the show lost it's edginess and became routine, with disco mustaches and Bionic Woman & Farrah Fawcett guest appearances that intruded on our fun.But man, all the memories: Sasquatch, The Death Probe, John Saxon as a faceless robot squawking backwards, the weekly opening segment, Oscar Goldman with his omnipotent phone in a briefcase, Steve's Mercedes and custom belt buckle, and who can forget that sweet jacket covered with NASA mission patches. What the heck was that supposed to mean? Though you must admit that just like Kirk's v-necked wrap tunic, anybody else other than Colonel Steve Austin would have looked like an idiot paravanting around in it.Seriously, sometimes I wonder what people REALLY watch these days on television, and what brings them back week after week. Watching people dance or forage for coconuts or sing, yeah whatever. Even the fiction shows of today that are considered "hits"; what's the deal with them? How do they keep audiences tuning in every week, buying the products that are being advertised and turning into hysterics when a particular series is threatened with cancellation? Back when SMDM (as we call it for short) was the thing we honestly didn't know if he would be back the next week ... not because the show might have been canceled, but because for all we might know he could have been KILLED every week. He wasn't just some actor playing a role, we believed in this show. And not just because we were dumb kids, but because it was convincing, absorbing and oh so brain dead stupid.You honestly couldn't help but love it, and when I mean "convincing" I am not referring to the bionic special effects, I mean that we believed in the little microcosm this television show inhabited. It involved us as viewers and engaged our imaginations, which is not something I have encountered on TV in a live action show since "The X-Files" started to suck. There's no way to deny that once SMDM became a ratings hit and the Bionic Man a childhood icon it became muddled and weak, though even in it's last season there were some wonderful SMDM moments.What's more important is that the show has endured the passage of time, perhaps mostly because it hasn't to this date (April 2008) been remade or otherwise ruined: The image of Colonel Steve Austin in his polyester lounge suits flipping over cars and chasing Bigfoot around the woods has remained intact, aside from some later years made for TV movies that I somehow managed to miss. The memory remains intact and unsullied, though a complete series North American DVD release would be appreciated, thank you.10/10: Please, don't remake it, sir.

E. Adam Thomas (boritom) Okay, let's forget for a moment that the show degraded to cybernetic Sasquaches, Astral Projection and a Death Probe that looked like a cross between a Dalek and an SUV. The first three seasons of this series, and the pilot movie in particular were truly engaging and well written. Lee Majors, who had previously starred in The Big Valley and the movie Will Penny with Charleton Heston, got his big break in 1973 with a TV adaptation of Martin Caidin's ground-breaking novel, Cyborg. It was his first starring role, and as far as television was concerned, one of the most unique characters ever to grace the screen. Broken down to its most simple (bionic?) components, it was James Bond meets Frankenstein's Monster. The film did so well that ABC green-lighted a series of TV movies, that, in turn, garnered enough support to make a series. That's a monumental feat, considering that at that same time, Gene Roddenberry was enduring multiple failures with Questor (who, one might say. later evolved into commander Data), Earth II and a revival of Star Trek. Ironically, the series started off slow, with a minimal budget and a shifting schedule. By the time "Six Mil" found it's niche, the good writing was being rejected in favor of grabbing ratings by signing B-list guest starts like Sonny Bono and George Foreman. The rest... unfortunately, is TV In-Joke history... not too unlike Knight Rider and Quantum Leap. Let's hope Stargate SG1 and Angel fare better in the annals of TV History.

grendelkhan Before Arnold became a Terminator, Lee Majors was everyone's favorite cyborg. For any sci-fi or adventure show fan, this was THE show of the 70's. The 60's had Kirk, Spock, Tribbles, and Klingons; the 70's had Steve Austin, Oscar Goldman, Jamie Summers, and Bigfoot.Lee Majors was Steve Austin, astronaut; a man barely alive...... There was nothing Stone Cold about this Steve Austin, except maybe his wardrobe. Lee Majors was quite entertaining as Col. Steve Austin; part James Bond, part Buzz Aldrin/Chuck Yeager, and part Superman. Lee gave Austin a nice mix of serious and fun. Yes, his acting could be as mechanical as his bionics; but, Majors always had a bit of a twinkle in his eye (may have been the lens in the bionic one). He never took himself too seriously in the role, but could convey that emotion when the script called for it.Richard Anderson was steady as boss and pal Oscar Goldman. Like Majors, he was limited, but well suited to his character. Anderson could be a good supporting actor when he rose to the occasion; and he often did.I personally preferred Martin E. Brooks to Allan Openheimer, as Dr. Rudy Wells. Brooks came across more as a scientist. The other supporting characters varied in quality from show to show, but Rudy was always an integral part.The episodes vary in excitement and imagination. The later seasons suffered from repetition, but, the early ones hold up well as good science fiction. Personal favorites include the death probe; the Russian installation with a doomsday device that is accidentally activated; the booby-trapped Liberty Bell; the androids; Steve's return flight in the experimental craft from the pilot movie;the Bionic Woman cross-overs; and, of course, Bigfoot. I preferred the more science fiction oriented stories to the more mundane cops and robbers shows.The show had quite a mix of guest stars. There were the greats, like William Shatner, Lou Gossett Jr., Guy Doleman (from Thunderball and the Ipcress File), and Ted Cassidy and Andre the Giant as Bigfoot (Andre played him first). There were the so-so, like Farrah Fawcett (Majors), Cathy Rigby, Gary Lockwood, and John Saxon. Then there were the strange, like Sonny Bono and Larry Csonka.This was the show that caused millions of kids in the 70's to run in slow motion, while making strange noises. It also had the coolest action figure; it came with an engine block that you could cause Steve Austin to lift, by pressing a button on his back. You could also look through the bionic eye, although you had to make your own sound effects. I understand these things go for big bucks on eBay.Years later, I found a copy of the original novel, Cyborg, by Martin Caidin.The character was a bit different. He was more of a secret agent than in the series, and the bionics were a bit different. The eye was actually a camera, rather than a telescopic lens. It was explained that Austin's stamina was greater, since his lungs didn't have to provide oxygen to his bionic limbs. He also had special enhancements for the limbs for special missions. In one, he has webbed feet for underwater swimming. The book plays up Austin's intelligence and scientific background more. It was generally well written, and makes a nice contrast to the series.There have been rumors of an updated movie. At one point, it was pitched as a comedy with Chris Rock. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be the case right now. It has tremendous potential as and action/sci-fi movie, particularly with advances in special effects. Here's hoping the right script, director, and cast comes along and makes it a reality. Of course, they'll have to adjust it for inflation; 6 million doesn't buy much these days. And defense contractors are notorious for overcharging for substandard work.While we're waiting, how about a DVD box set?