The Six Million Dollar Man

Did You Know?

• In Brazil, under the military dictatorship, appointed officials were called 'bionic' due to the series' popularity.
• In Israel, the series was retitled The Man Worth Millions because 'six million' evoked memories of the Holocaust.
• Martin Caidin wrote four novels featuring his original version of Steve Austin, beginning with Cyborg in 1972.

Plot

NASA astronaut USAF Colonel Steve Austin is severely injured in the crash of an experimental lifting body aircraft. He is rebuilt in an operation costing $6 million, receiving bionic implants in his right arm, both legs, and left eye. These implants grant him superhuman strength, speed (over 60 mph), and vision with a 20:1 zoom lens and infrared capabilities. He uses his abilities as a secret agent for the OSI (Office of Scientific Intelligence). Austin and Jaime Sommers later appear in three made-for-television movies: The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989), and Bionic Ever After? (1994), in which they finally marry. The reunion films address Sommers's partial amnesia and feature Lee Majors II as OSI agent Jim Castillian.

Production

Martin Caidin's novel Cyborg was a best-seller in 1972, followed by three sequels. In March 1973, Cyborg was loosely adapted as a made-for-TV movie titled The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors as Austin; the producers' first choice was Monte Markham. The adaptation, written by Howard Rodman under the pseudonym Henri Simoun, modified Caidin's plot, making Austin a civilian astronaut rather than a colonel. The pilot lacked the electronic sound effects, slow-motion running, and the character Oscar Goldman; instead, Darren McGavin played Oliver Spencer as Austin's supervisor for an organization called the Office of Strategic Operations (OSO). Rudy Wells was played in the pilot by Martin Balsam, later by Alan Oppenheimer, and finally by Martin E. Brooks. Austin did not use his bionic eye in the first TV movie.

Other adaptations

Steve Austin was a former astronaut assumed dead when his test ship broke up, secretly recovered and rebuilt with $6 million worth of bionic parts, with the catch that he had to pay it all back. In the episode Home Insecurity, Brock Samson crossed into a restricted area and encountered Steve and Sasquatch; after a confrontation, Brock helped them escape by shaving Sasquatch and ripping Steve's bionic arm off to make them look like Vietnam veterans. Following his resignation from the OSI, Brock Samson visited Steve Summers and Sasquatch, receiving a knitted balaclava from Sasquatch and giving them a portrait he painted. Charlton Comics published a color comic book and a black-and-white illustrated magazine based on the series, with the magazine being darker and more violent. Artists Howard Chaykin and Neal Adams contributed frequently. Both publications were cancelled around the time the TV series ended.

Home media

Universal Playback released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 2 and Region 4 in 2005–2006, and the first three seasons in Italy in late 2008. The season 1 release includes the three pilot movies. The Region 1 release was long withheld due to copyright issues regarding the original novel, with only a few episodes released on DiscoVision in the early 1980s and a single VHS release of The Bionic Woman storyline. On July 21, 2010, Time Life announced a complete series box set for Region 1, released on November 23, 2010. The 40-disc set includes all 99 episodes, the three pilot films, the three reunion TV-movies, and several crossover episodes of The Bionic Woman. It features bonus interviews and a sound chip that plays dialogue from the first season opening credits. In November 2011, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment began releasing individual season sets, with the fifth and final season released on February 18, 2014. A retail version of the complete series was released on October 13, 2015.