"The Six Million Dollar Man" (1974) TV series 1974-1978

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Directors:

Richard Donner
Richard Irving

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

18 January 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

After a crippled test pilot is rebuilt with nuclear powered limbs and implants, he serves as a unique intelligence agent.

Plot Keywords:

Bionics | Spy | Cult TV | Cyborg | Number In Title

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Lee Majors	...	Col. Steve Austin (98 episodes, 1974-1978)
Richard Anderson	...	Oscar Goldman (98 episodes, 1974-1978)

Also Known As:

Cyborg (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

60 min (108 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Harve Bennett Productions

Trivia:

Near the end of the series, Lee Majors experimented with changing Austin's look by growing a mustache. This proved unpopular and the idea was dropped, but not before a number of commercial tie-ins, including a comic book and a lunch box, had been produced with the new look.

Quotes:

[Opening narration.]
Oscar Goldman: 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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Perfect Strangers: Snow Way to Treat a Lady: Part 1 (#2.18)" (1987)

You Gotta Love This!

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?