103 + 3 REVIVAL MOVIES1974-1978 & 1987-1994
UNIVERSAL TELEVISION
GLEN A.LARSON & KENNETH JOHNSON
I haven't done any of these boyhood idol posts for awhile but I caught an episode of this old TV clunker this afternoon and it reminded me of how much I used to love this show.
I was nine years old when the show first showed on UK television and at the time I knew nothing about the source novel, Cyborg by Martin Caidin.
What I did know is that for the time it was groundbreaking television and as a kid it left us as excited as a pig in shit.
So into the show was I, that my nan made me a tracksuit that was identical to the one Steve Austin wore in the series. And I had the action figure which was cool because - his eye was a telescope which was viewed through a hole in the back of the figure's head and the skin of one arm and both legs could be pulled back to reveal little bionic parts.
Course watching the show today is a different experience but it's nice to think back at how compulsively I viewed the show and would throw a tantrum if I couldn't watch it. I think it was on a Thursday night at about 7.30 so it wasn't really too late for a nine year old.
Course the series spun off into The Bionic Woman but that was pants as far as this young boy was concerned. Eventually the program ended and Lee Majors became The Fall Guy which I also liked but not as much as The Six Million Dollar Man.
All together now...
We can rebuild him, we have the technology to make him better, stronger, faster - de de de deee
6 comments:
I'm with you. I loved it and The Bionic Woman. When was it on today and on what channel? I hope they're showing it again.
I loved this show as a kid, but when I saw it some years ago it was perfectly awful. Especially the later episodes when Steve had that wispy moustache. I'll give it yet another try, should it ever appear on R1 DVD. However, what is STILL great is the underscore by the late, great Oliver Nelson. I love him as a jazzer and didn't know until much later that he composed the theme and much episode music for show.
Jo - think it was movies for men.
CK - I never knew that about the score. If the long awaited movie verson ever comes off I hope they use the original music. The last I heard Jim Carrey was up for the Steve Austin role.
The was my first favorite show on TV. I had the 12" action doll with the eye you could look through. I also had that android thing with the different faceplates. My favorite episodes were the Sasquatch ones where the creature turned out to be an alien robot. Jamie Summers was in this one. It was a multi-parter, IIRC. Had that scenes with the spinning white tube through which Steve walked. Kick butt stuff in the middle 70s. Pretty darn cheesy now. But I LOVED it!
I'm with Scott-the Sasquatch ones were great. the Bionic Dog pushed it a bit, but it was a phenomena.
I love this show. It was one of my favorite boyhood shows.
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