I keep thinking that I may have seen the pilot episode of the Six Million Dollar Man series when it played weekday afternoons when I was real little, but I'm not sure. I do know that as an adult, having seen both the original 90 minute pilot in movie form (my preferred favorite) and the 2 part syndicated version, I have grown to really love this movie. I never could have seen the original air date. I was practically 2 years old when it aired.
The pilot to me, seems like it can't make up its mind about what the official title shall be. I feel the title should be simply enough, the Six Million Dollar Man. Some call it Cyborg named after the Martin Caidin novel that it was based off of. Others have called it both Cyborg: The Six Million Dollar Man. Sounds reasonable to me.
Lee Majors took on the role of Steve Austin while acting on another TV show that wound up being short lived. We see Steve as somewhat of a rebel and after his accident, he's a depressed man who'd rather die than live with one limb or have Bionic ones replace his destroyed ones. I find it rather odd that the word Bionic was not used until the actual weekly series began. I also find it ironic that Steves rank of colonel was ignored, not to mention his walk on the moon not being fully discussed.We see the emotion he goes through after the rescue of the boy which tears into his bionic arm as well as his confrontation with Spencer. I loved his first official adventure in the dessert and how he escapes and kicks some butt bionic style.
Now for Dr. Rudy Wells. If I'm not mistaken, the original Dr. Wells was played by the late Martin Balsam who I think was on Archie Bunker's Place. I liked Balsam's version of Rudy. He was not only Steve's doctor, but also his best friend. Barbara Anderson was a very beautiful lady and I recall her as nurse Jean Manners. I find it odd that they replaced her with Carla in the Seven Million Dollar Man episode.
Now for the only criticism. I discovered that Richard Anderson's character, Oscar Goldman, was in the Cyborg novel and that it was Goldman who made the move to have Steve bionically rebuilt, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why they replaced Oscar with the character of Oliver Spencer, played brilliantly by the late Darren McGavin, who would later on do Kolchak the Night Stalker as well as the "Old Man" in A Christmas Story and he was a laugh a minute. McGavin's Oliver Spencer is someone who makes Oscar look like a priest. He is totally cold hearted red tape government man all the way. As much as I like Darren McGavin, I'm glad he moved on after this pilot.
Not much was done to show Steve as a Bionic Man, but when they did, it was impressive enough. I more or less recall the series in its 3-5 seasons where he runs in slow motion and that special sound effect. None of that was here in these early episodes. I also feel the need to comment on the awesome music score by Gil Melle. I highly recommend that you see this pilot movie in order to understand how the Six Million Dolar Man really works. I give it a perfect 10.
The pilot to me, seems like it can't make up its mind about what the official title shall be. I feel the title should be simply enough, the Six Million Dollar Man. Some call it Cyborg named after the Martin Caidin novel that it was based off of. Others have called it both Cyborg: The Six Million Dollar Man. Sounds reasonable to me.
Lee Majors took on the role of Steve Austin while acting on another TV show that wound up being short lived. We see Steve as somewhat of a rebel and after his accident, he's a depressed man who'd rather die than live with one limb or have Bionic ones replace his destroyed ones. I find it rather odd that the word Bionic was not used until the actual weekly series began. I also find it ironic that Steves rank of colonel was ignored, not to mention his walk on the moon not being fully discussed.We see the emotion he goes through after the rescue of the boy which tears into his bionic arm as well as his confrontation with Spencer. I loved his first official adventure in the dessert and how he escapes and kicks some butt bionic style.
Now for Dr. Rudy Wells. If I'm not mistaken, the original Dr. Wells was played by the late Martin Balsam who I think was on Archie Bunker's Place. I liked Balsam's version of Rudy. He was not only Steve's doctor, but also his best friend. Barbara Anderson was a very beautiful lady and I recall her as nurse Jean Manners. I find it odd that they replaced her with Carla in the Seven Million Dollar Man episode.
Now for the only criticism. I discovered that Richard Anderson's character, Oscar Goldman, was in the Cyborg novel and that it was Goldman who made the move to have Steve bionically rebuilt, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why they replaced Oscar with the character of Oliver Spencer, played brilliantly by the late Darren McGavin, who would later on do Kolchak the Night Stalker as well as the "Old Man" in A Christmas Story and he was a laugh a minute. McGavin's Oliver Spencer is someone who makes Oscar look like a priest. He is totally cold hearted red tape government man all the way. As much as I like Darren McGavin, I'm glad he moved on after this pilot.
Not much was done to show Steve as a Bionic Man, but when they did, it was impressive enough. I more or less recall the series in its 3-5 seasons where he runs in slow motion and that special sound effect. None of that was here in these early episodes. I also feel the need to comment on the awesome music score by Gil Melle. I highly recommend that you see this pilot movie in order to understand how the Six Million Dolar Man really works. I give it a perfect 10.