ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Lindsay Wagner stars in this pilot of the spin-off series inspired by "The Six-Million Dollar Man".

Wagoner, the girl friend of "Six-Mill" star Lee Majors, is seriously injured in a skiing accident, and Majors arranges to have her irreparably damaged body parts (one arm, one ear, both legs) replaced with bionic versions.

She goes to work for Richard Anderson ("Forbidden Planet"), head of the Office of Scientific Information.

The special effects mostly consisted of slow-motion shots that were supposed to depict Wagoner moving super-fast (?). But the concept was appealing, the star was attractive, and the action was plentiful enough to gain the show a solid following. Directed by Henry Mankiewicz.

The short-lived reboot of the series in 2007 was extremely well done, and if the writers strike hadn't cut it off at it's bionic knees, it would have run for several years -- or that's what I think, anyway.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Enjoy this fan-made compilation of scenes from the three"fem-bot" episodes (two from "The Bionic Woman" and one from "The Six Million Dollar Man". Lots of familiar faces from 70s television, and several gorgeous ladies — some real and some playing the lady robots.
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__________ The Bionic Woman: Fembots Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Both incarnations of the Bionic Woman were fun sf tv shows.

A shame the reboot did not last longer.

Katee Sackoff steals every scene she's in.

[scotpens]

Minor correction, Bud: There's no "o" in Lindsay Wagner's name. Maybe you're confusing her with Lyle Waggoner?

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

[johnnybear]

Wasn't the first part of Welcome Home, Jaime, the pilot for The Bionic Woman TV series, filmed as part of the third Six Million Dollar Man season? Unlike the later crossover shows this one remains with The Bionic Woman I believe these days and has been edited to fit!
JB

[Bud Brewster]

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In my humble opinion, the execution of both The Bionic Man and The Bionic Woman are so impossibly lame that they rate right down there with insulting series like Lost and Space!

They have virtually no FX, and all the alleged "powers" of the two main characters consist of reverberated electronic sound effects while they perform simple acts filmed in slow motion!

Modern TV series wouldn't be caught dead accepting crap like this on TV today. Despite the flaws we've discussed in modern TV series, they're never as lame and embarrassing as these two!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

While The Six Million Dollar Man & The Bionic Woman were never going to join the ranks of superbly done science fiction television shows, they were a step up from the atrocious and silly fantasy sf shows produced by Irwin Allen. He never even attempted to present logic or consistency to his show's. The Bionic shows at least tried to have plotlines that made some reasonable sense to 'em. Allen's shows rarely worried about that kind of thing. His series were simply "running & jumping" shows (Irwin's words) with nothing more to offer.

[Pow]

Cleveland Amory's March 13, 1976 TV Guide Review of The Bionic Woman.

It was probably inevitable that once we had a Six Million Dollar Man, we would soon have his better half. After all, we couldn't very well have him going around dating vending machines. In any case, she is a bargain, coming in less than six million dollars because, we are told, "her parts are smaller."

Her name is Jamie Sommers, she is played by Lindsay Wagner, and she first showed up on a Six Million Dollar Man episode a year ago. After that, viewer demand for more Jamie was, according to ABC, tremendous----and the cry of "Spin her off!" was heard almost immediately. Unfortunately, Jamie had been killed, slain by scriptwriters at the end of a two-part episode. A resurrection was hastily arranged, and the result comes to you once a week bearing the title: The Bionic Woman.

This series is, in one way, better than its ancestor. The difference is that Jamie Sommers is not just a cast-iron Adam's rib, because Lindsay Wagner can act. To get her bionic buddy (Lee Majors who occasionally shuttles over from his show) to act, you have to put nickels in his slot. And keep putting them in.

Jamie came to be bionic in the usual way: injured in an accident, she was about to die until bionic scientists cleared away the wreckage and filled her with a lot of sophisticated mechanisms and turned her into a part-human, part robot superwoman. Her bionic parts give her long-distance hearing and terrific strength. Isn't that what you've always wanted---a girl friend who can break your arm and hear what you whisper a mile away? Formerly a terrific tennis player, Jamie had to give that up out of good sportsmanship: even Jimmy Connors, she says couldn't return her bionic serve.

So she works as a schoolteacher while helping Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson), who also runs the bionic man, get the goods on "ruthless industrialist" Carlton Harris (Dennis Patrick). But first she had trouble with the ruthless toughies in her class, who zinged her with a slingshot when she turned her back on them. Calmly asking for a telephone book, she ripped it in half. "I don't like to make threats," she said. "I've always felt the gentle approach to teaching is the best"---and then she gave the book another rip. It was a fine scene, but it was one of few, not many.

In her first big job, which was to infiltrate Harris's empire, Jamie ran afoul of Harris's law-school son, Donald. He was played by David Niven's son Kip, who worked his jaw a lot---when he was being angry and when he had to say lines like "I love my father---he can be warm and compassionate." Well. that sort of dialogue makes our jaw work too.

In another episode, Jamie had to rescue an American ambassador and his wife, who were trapped in a war-torn South American country. Along the way she picked up an orphan named Julio (Claudio Martinez). He looked nervous---and we didn't blame him: after you have a bionic man and bionic woman, what comes next?

[Bud Brewster]

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I hate to say it, but this lame spin-off of a very lame show is a prime example of how Hollywood had no idea owhat science fiction really was, nor what science fiction fans really wanted.

The short-lived reboot in 2008 was far superior!

The fact that a writer's strike permanently ended that series was not the fault of writers. It was the fault of the dimwitted executives who didn't know a good thing when they had it.

They should have resumed production the moment the dispute with the writer's was resolved.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Maurice]

[Bud Brewster]

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Thanks, Maurice.

We've seen this before — dim-witted viewers who don't appreciate an intelligent science fiction series, so the ratings go down and the bone-headed network execs cancel a show that could have grown into a long-running hit.

The late All Sci-Fi member Randy Everett was fond of surprising me with packages that contained BD-R discs of shows and movies I told him I wish I could get. These gifts looked like store-bought items, complete with discs with printed labels on top, and "box art".

I've watched all eight of the episodes on the discs he sent, and they reinforced my high opinion of this wonderful series. Amazon now offers a DVD set of the series for $15.49.

In my opinion, the network pulled the same boner they did when they cancelled series like Fire Fly.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)