The OSI - The Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Wo

 I have been remiss in posting my episode listings in recent months, but I had to say a few words about the episode I watched last night, "Stranger in Broken Fork".  As fans, we tend to list episodes like "The Secret of Big Foot" or "Population: Zero" as our favorites.  They stand out as memorable for various reasons.  "Stranger in Broken Fork" is one of those gems that often gets lost in the shuffle of listings of great episodes.  Steve has a bionic malfunction that causes him to lose his memory and crash his plane near the quiet town of Broken Fork.  He is befriended by a psychologist who is running a home for mentally disturbed people.  Most of the town fears them and wishes they were gone, their hatred fanned by the local shop owner.  It doesn't help that Steve shows up and performs some unexplained feats of strength, which lends to the town's fears.  
There are strong performance in this episode, including Lee Majors as the confused amnesia.  (Some might argue that wasn't a stretch.)  The best part of the entire episode is the very end as Steve tries to get someone in the town to let go of their fear and reach out as a friend to those in the home.  You didn't see Steve coming across as a healer very often in the show.  He would show up, save the day, and head off into the sunset without any real lessons learned.
If you haven't seen this episode, or haven't watched it in a while, it deserves a look.

 

Just in time for Halloween.

The second official Bionic Woman soundtrack is scheduled for release September 15, 2008, exclusively through JoeHarnell.com. 24 tracks, including alternate tracks and library cues. You can pre-order it now at the website. Check out the track listing with 6 preview clips and an "online bonus supplement" featuring a track-by-track examination.

The last preview clip includes a cue called, "Bionic Trio" (where Steve, Jaime and Bigfoot race to stop the volcano eruption) and it's one of my all-time favorites; Joe marries the Bionic Woman theme to the Six Million Dollar Man theme in brilliant counterpoint. Lovely.

Ordering, track listing, and clip previews.

Overview and track-by-track examination.

Writer: Richard Landau

Director: Reza Badiyi

Guests: Steve Forrest (Quail); Kevin Tighe (Root); Tom Reese (Joe Alabam); and Arlene Martell (Violette)

Plot: Steve is a one man army who must storm an island and stop the international criminal known as Quail from carrying out his deadly plan for the Fourth of July.
.
First Aired: 4/5/74

How'd You Do That: Violette asks how Steve managed to set off their radiation alarms. Steves responds, "It's my accent."

Beige Factor: Steve wears beige pants and a beige shirt for this mission.

Belt Buckle: Yes, on the mission.

W.T. Zacha: Not here.

Aren't You The Colonel Austin: Those who know who Steve is aren't surprised by him. Quail doesn't recognize him and Steve never reveals who he is, even at the end when Violette remarks, "You never told me your name," and he responds, "You're right."

Thoughts: This is one of my favorite episodes in the entire series. It has the feel of a James Bond type story as Steve takes on the baddie with the plan to disrupt the world with his laser aimed right at a peace conference. There's a beautiful Bond girl and an overeager henchman in the form of guest star Kevin Tighe, who is very unlike his character of John Gage on Emergency!. The bionics in this episode are actually minimal. It doesn't deter from the overall coolness of the story.

Trivia: Viewmaster released a three disk copy of this episode. I have it in my collection.

Overall Rating: 10 out of 10.

Writer: Elroy Schwartz and Krishna Shah & William Keenan

Director: Virgil W. Vogel

Guests: John van Dreelen (Alfredo Tucelli)

Plot:  Steve travels to Austria to look after Rudy who is receiving an honorary doctorate from his alma mater.  Rudy is kidnapped by a Alfredo Tucelli, who wants his own bionic man.  When Steve comes to his rescue, he is captured and must try to convince Tucelli that he is not bionic.
.
First Aired: 3/29/74

How'd You Do That:  Nobody questions Steve's abilities.

Beige Factor:  Steve briefly wears beige pants at the beginning of the episode.

Belt Buckle: No belt.

W.T. Zacha:  He was not in this episode, although I always thought he was.  He would have fit in perfectly with Tucelli's goons.

Aren't You The Colonel Austin:  While Tucelli makes no reference to Steve's astronaut career, he does refer to him as Colonel Austin.

Thoughts:  I like this episode, but there is something odd about it that I can't quite put my finger on.  It features quite a bit of bionic action which is always good.  I think what I had a problem with was the whole build-up as Steve as a hiring agent for a pharmaceutical company that wants Rudy to develop a bionic man for them and the Tucelli not buying it.  He's right not to buy it, but there is no reasoning behind it.  He just orders Steve bound by chains and walks off.  Whatever his thinking process was in not believing the story works, but it doesn't translate on screen.

Trivia:  This is the first episode where Steve jumps straight upward.  There is no sound effect for the upward jump as there is for the downward leap.  The bionic sound effect is used once for Steve, but twice for Yamo, one of Tucelli's goons.

Overall Rating:  9 out of 10.

Writer: D.C. Fontana

Director: Larry Doheny (oddly enough, he's not given an onscreen credit)

Guests: Farrah Fawcett-Majors (Kelly Woods), Paul Kent (Flight Surgeon Wolf), John S. Ragin (Flight Director), Quinn Redeker (Capcom)

Plot:  Steve must come to the aid of America's first female astronaut when her craft develops a malfunction that injures her companion, forcing them to dock with Skylab.

First Aired: 3/15/74

How'd You Do That:  Steve catches a studio light and Kelly asks how he managed to do it with one hand.  "Well, two hands are for beginners."  Steve later admits that he had an accident and that he was put back together with some improvements.

Beige Factor:  Steve briefly wears beige pants.

Belt Buckle: No belt.

W.T. Zacha:  He was not in this episode.

Aren't You The Colonel Austin:  Considering the nature of the episode, it would make sense that everyone would know who Steve is.

Thoughts:  This is another great episode.  First, you have to give the series kudos for avoiding having any sort of dramatic sound effects for their space shots.  And they are consistent with that throughout the entire series.  This episode really dates the series though as it involves the use of Skylab, an orbital station that is now a memory.  Fawcett's first turn on the series (She would appear a total of four times.) is her best as she plays a determined young woman who is not looking out for herself compared to the characters she would play in the series in future episodes.  Writer Fontana proves she can do more than just write Star Trek, although she couldn't help including the line at the end when Steve comments that space really is the final frontier.

Trivia:  Jules Bergman was the science editor at ABC News at the time, so his appearance lends some real authenticity to the story.  Oscar smokes for the first and only time in the series.

Overall Rating:  10 out of 10.

Oscar was in love with Jaime - watch!

Writer: William Driskill

Director: Akf Kjellin

Guests: Gary Lockwood (John Hopper and his twin), William Schallert (Lorin Sandusky), Ivor Barry (Mr. Hanley), Regis J. Cordic (Host), Leonard Stone (Lt. Tanner)

Plot:  Steve witnesses the assassination attempt of the district attorney in a mob trial, only it looks like he may have the wrong guy.

First Aired: 3/8/74

How'd You Do That:  When Steve captures Hopper, Hopper asks, "What are you?"  Steve replies, "Just a man who knows what he sees."  Sandusky asks Steve at the end of the episode how he managed to see Hopper from the rooftop in the dark.  "I eat a lot of carrots."

Beige Factor:  Steve is wearing beige the night of the assassination attempt.

Belt Buckle: No belt.

W.T. Zacha:  He was not in this episode.

Aren't You The Colonel Austin:  Both Tanner and Hanley recognize Steve.  Tanner asks Steve why he's working with Goldman.  "Goldman's got something on me."

Thoughts:  Now here is an episode that has everything - bionic action, character development, and, at least if it's the first time seeing it, an actual mystery of how a man can be seen killing someone and be on television at the same time.  Sure, you could have your suspicions about Hopper and his twin, but until you see that first split screen scene, that's all you've got are suspicions.  And the character interplay between Oscar and Steve as Oscar first doubts Steve's first account is well played.  Finally, you have more bionic action than you can shake a stick at.  Infrared bionic night vision, jumping off a roof (only the second such jump from a above so far), ripping off a cab door, and lots of running.  (including a rapid run scene which actually works because it's from Hopper's point of view.)

Trivia:  Steve makes reference to being a detective as more Oscar's "bag."  It doesn't jibe though because if Oscar was once involved in some from of local law enforcement, he should know about procedures for prosecution and he clearly had to have it described to him by Sandusky.

Overall Rating:  9 out of 10.