The Six Million Dollar Man

1948-present

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Styles Bitchley
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Re: The Six Million Dollar Man

#16 Post by Styles Bitchley »

Little Garwood wrote:Recently picked up all five seasons of the show as well as the first two of The Bionic Woman. I am another of those who came of age in the mid '70s watching this show. I didn't like it at all when I watched a few episodes on TV around 2001 but have since come to appreciate its "kid show" charm. I'm presently finishing off season two of SMDM and have to say the show does well in creating its own "universe." For me, the Bionic shows-- both of them--are a bridge between the shows of '65-'75 and the era in which Magnum began. Hopefully, others here will continue to chime in with their thoughts and episode reviews, which I have been scribbling down every so often.

Here's yours truly, circa 1976-77 with his Six Million Dollar Man (which I no longer have; the glass peacock, however, is in my own home to this day):

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Awesome photo! I remember the show, but I was a little young. It was the epitome of future high tech for me at the time. I should revisit it, as I remember virtually nothing specific about the show.
"How fiendishly deceptive of you Magnum. I could have sworn I was hearing the emasculation of a large rodent."

- J.Q.H.

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Little Garwood
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Re: The Six Million Dollar Man

#17 Post by Little Garwood »

Here's a great 1978 ABC promo for TSMDM and the 1973 urban cop thriller, The Seven Ups. Get a load of that "coincidental edit" in the Six Million Dollar Man clip!
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

Dave Anderson
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#18 Post by Dave Anderson »

Seaver41 wrote:...
MASKATRON! I had the toys.........Bigfoot with a push button in his back that moved his arms up/down as if to pound something.........Maskatron had removable everything.......arms, legs, face....and Steve Austin had this thin rubber/latex skin over his plastic arm. You roll it back and there was 1, maybe 2 plastic squares designed to look like electronic chips/circuits that were removable. What sucked was it was too easy to rip the latex. I think I even had the Oscar Goldman figure.
I don't remember the Maskatron, but I had the Steve Austin and Oscar Goldman figures, and Oscar Goldman's "exploding briefcase." You opened it one way and there were these tiny little paper files inside, you opened it the other way and the side flew off and it looked like it had exploded or was supposed to. It was actually a pretty fun toy for the 70s. I'm sure kids today would consider it pretty pathetic though. I think I may still have it somewhere in a box with other childhood junk.

Dave Anderson
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Re: The Six Million Dollar Man

#19 Post by Dave Anderson »

Styles Bitchley wrote:...
Awesome photo! I remember the show, but I was a little young. It was the epitome of future high tech for me at the time. I should revisit it, as I remember virtually nothing specific about the show.
That's how I was for many years, I just remembered liking the show as a kid and that was about it. Hadn't seen it since the original run. Having watched a number of episodes on Cozi the last year or so, its not anywhere near as good as my recollections of it were. It was my favorite show as a child, well it and CHiPs, but I think it must have been a lot more exciting to an 8 year old in the 70s.

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Re: The Six Million Dollar Man

#20 Post by Little Garwood »

Maskatron had three hard plastic masks that one would click onto his face: a Maskatron face, Steve Austin's, and Oscar Goldman's. It was a great toy. I also had the Bigfoot figure, which had a pop off plate on his stomach.

Currently grooving to S3 of TSMDM. The Sonny Bono episode is MUCH better than I would imagine possible(!)

Watch the series with tongue in cheek and a md-'70s, post-Watergate, but pre-Disco, pre-Star Wars frame of mind, and you'll find the show is a ton of fun. It, like Kolchak: the Night Stalker, occupies a brief period of the 1970s that manages to create its own world.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

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Little Garwood
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Re: The Six Million Dollar Man

#21 Post by Little Garwood »

I still haven't finished S2 (still have a few left) but I skipped ahead to the start of S3 and I was not disappointed! Not even with the Sonny Bono episode which is MUCH better than I would imagine possible(!) It somehow managed to balance potential silliness--something it would not do as well later--with the adventure part of the story. The idea of Steve and Sonny in college together is insanely hilarious to me, though!

"The Price of Liberty"- another good balance, except it's with those disgruntled with the country and Steve, who had a sense of the "bigger picture" of the nation and its flaws. Lee Majors was never going to be Brando or Olivier, but there were times when he was surprisingly effective at emoting and doing it well. He's convincing in his arguments with the Lindstrom character (Chuck Connors) and in "The Return of the Bionic Woman", with his rage at being kept in the dark over Jamie's fate and with his subsequent crushing devastation at her memory loss and interest in the scientist, Michael, played by Richard Lenz.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

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