“Aim high and serve nothing but aces”: (Re)-watching The Bionic Woman

[Mel O'Drama]

Everybody smoked back in the day sadly! It was the in thing to do and was even encouraged!

Oh I know it was very socially acceptable in real world terms. But I think US television became more squeamish about showing smoking during the Seventies, in the same way they did violence.

John Saxon.

Oh - he was in the episodes I've just watched this evening. And it wasn't Day Of The Robot.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Oh I know it was very socially acceptable in real world terms. But I think US television became more squeamish about showing smoking during the Seventies, in the same way they did violence.




Oh - he was in the episodes I've just watched this evening. And it wasn't Day Of The Robot.

John Saxon? Oh, he got a great fight with Lee Majors.

The Return of Bigfoot? Some of the characters had previously been in The Secret of Bigfoot, which had featured a brief appearance by Lindsay Wagner. Which is why I think those should have been included in the set too.

Actually, on ITC’s Man in a Suitcase, the title character, only ever called McGill, habitually smoked. Even having fight scenes where he keeps his cigarette in his teeth and doesn’t drop it. Imported American actor Richard Bradford couldn’t stand smoking but he thought it would be a good trait for that character to play. The character would do it. Richard was into method acting and would spend several minutes getting into character and trying to “make it real”. And often would only spend time with actors who were playing characters that his character got along with.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Return of Bigfoot?

That's the one.

Some of the characters had previously been in The Secret of Bigfoot, which had featured a brief appearance by Lindsay Wagner. Which is why I think those should have been included in the set too.

Yes - it would have been really nice to have that completion.

Actually, on ITC’s Man in a Suitcase, the title character, only ever called McGill, habitually smoked. Even having fight scenes where he keeps his cigarette in his teeth and doesn’t drop it. Imported American actor Richard Bradford couldn’t stand smoking but he thought it would be a good trait for that character to play. The character would do it. Richard was into method acting and would spend several minutes getting into character and trying to “make it real”. And often would only spend time with actors who were playing characters that his character got along with.

I love finding out more about this kind of method acting.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Ghosthunter​

An episode with clear inspiration from The Exorcist in its presentation and possibly Stephen King’s Carrie for some of its themes. More explicit are the references to the Salem Witch trials, with the family being direct descendants of one of those tried and hanged.

We also visit a Universal Studios Backlot Tour standard: the Collapsing Bridge, filmed at its most ghostly here.

It all sounds gimmicky and derivative, but it’s all incorporated into a decent story. Albeit one that’s (understandably) a lot safer than the source material might make you think.

There’s a whirlwind - some might say highly inappropriate - romance between Jaime and her young ward’s stern-but-smouldering father. It’s all necessary to help get to the heart of the strange goings on, but it’s still not a good look on Jaime when she and Alan dump Alan’s daughter Amanda alone at the edge of a lake in order to take a romantic boat ride, when Amanda clearly wants to spend time with her father. Still, it’s understandable she’d go a bit gooey on the receiving end of Paul Shenar’s intense come hither gaze.

Kristy McNichol is a name that rings bells with me, and pictures of her as an adult reinforce that familarity. Despite having seen her in lots of things, I can’t think of one role that would make her especially familiar. She’s very good here. There’s something a little dark about her, with a lot going on behind the eyes that works really well for this role.

The inevitable conclusion with shaking beds and whatnot until Jaime’s kindness reaches Amanda is fine, but with this being essentially a ghost or haunted house story, the the most effective parts of the episode are those that have a focus on an eerie and unsettling (but also slightly cosy) atmosphere.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Six Million Dollar Man - Season Four


The Bionic Woman - Season Two

The Return Of Bigfoot (Parts I and II)

​

The 1976-77 season begins with an exciting formal crossover, and I must confess to feeling quite excited at seeing the telephone directory sized list of familiar names that make up the special guest-stars. There’s the former Girl From U.N.C.L.E./future Jennifer Hart; Sherriff Bracket from Halloween; the perky blonde one who replaced Valerie Harper when she was fired from her own self-titled series; Dynasty’s Rashid Ahmed; and Lurch from The Addams Family.

Stefanie Powers seems like a world unto her own, since her character spends most of the two parter in isolation, communicating by Apple Watch while Sandy Duncan acts as her emissary in the real world. There’s a hazy romantic glow to all of Stefanie’s scenes which, along with her tendency to pout and constantly strike a pose while breathily whispering her lines makes it occasionally feel a little like we’ve stumbled into some soft sci-fi porn. Even a side-on view of her coming over all wan looks like she’s discovering her g-spot. It also means that many of her lines feel fraught with double-entendre, not least when she communicates with Steve and gently asks him “Have you found my Sasquatch?”

Charles Cyphers is practically unrecognisable here compared with his most iconic role. He looks so much younger and far better looking here than he would just two years later. Possibly it’s down to his buzz haircut (which puts me in mind of Greg Sumner in late-Eighties Knots). But it could be the natty sequinned cravat.

Speaking of hair and images, John Saxton sports a hipster beard here. But that’s not the big facial hair news. These episodes see the debut of Steve Austin’s bionic moustache. I’m not normally a fan of facial hair in general and moustaches in particular, but for some reason I really like it. It almost feels like he’s needed it all along. I don’t know why this is. Perhaps it’s partly because I’m most familiar with the first two seasons of SMDM, so this feels fresh and new. And it made its way into some of the merchandise and imagery from the series (the moustachioed Steve doll seems to be rarer and therefore more sought after than clean-shaven plastic Steve). Mostly, though, I’d say it’s because it adds to the Seventies-ness.

More newness with the titles for the series. Jaime is now said to be 28 rather than 27. A different font is used for some of the text around bionic data. And Joe Harnell’s new theme closes the series. I have the Kill Oscar Parts I and III soundtrack, and it contains an unused Main Title version of this track, which apparently Joe kiboshed due to his friendship with Jerry Fielding who had fallen out of favour with Kenneth Johnson. The compromise can be seen in having Fielding’s original theme remain in place for the Main Titles. And I’m glad, as Fielding’s theme is the one I associate most strongly with the series (I have a gorgeous sweeping version by The Geoff Love Orchestra on CD, which I’d recommend as it’s a lovely piece of music).

continued...​

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Return Of Bigfoot (Parts I and II)


(continued)​

The Universal Studios backlot is used once again with the entrance to the aliens’ home being the Ice Tunnel from the Doomed Glacier Exhibition ride.

I found it fascinating to watch the Steve/Jaime scenes after the conversation in this thread of the conflict over salaries and Lee’s insistence that the series were separate entities. It’s probably coincidence, but it felt fitting that the initial scenes between the two focussed on a distance between them and Steve harbouring secrets.

I also noted that the dynamic from the earlier two-parters has shifted. This time it’s Steve whose sanity and memory are under a cloud while Jaime is the person out to try and fix things. I like that Jaime’s own history was referenced organically during discussion of Steve’s faulty memory. Along these lines, I thought it interesting that when Steve went flying out of OSI, Oscar went to pick up the phone to report it, while Rudy forcefully ordered Oscar to trust Steve. The dynamic between Rudy and Oscar intrigues me, because both are quite difficult to read. But here there’s no doubt that Rudy is advocating for Steve while Oscar is all about his responsibilities.

The episodes themselves are, for me, a curate’s egg. The very human stuff with the doubts around his sanity and OSI ordering his bionics to be tuned down. Steve going off on his own. Steve’s damaged nuclear legs resulting in him getting radiation poisoning is strong stuff, and taps nicely into the series’ “reality” of living with bionics. Jaime going the extra mile because it’s to save Steve’s life. These are all elements that are exactly why I tune in.

On the other hand, I’ve never been fond of the Bigfoot episodes. Even as a child, one of the few episodes I watched was a Bigfoot story and I found it dull because it was so obviously a man in a furry skin running round the woods. Yes, Ted Cassidy looks suitably creepy when well-filmed (his contact lenses remind me of The Incredible Hulk, another Kenneth Johnson series for which Cassidy would become the voice of the series through narration and Hulk growls) but most of the time he's in broad daylight and the effect is completely diminished.

By its nature, the clashes with Bigfoot are action-heavy, and these endless slow motion bionics are the most dated and tedious elements of the series for me. And there’s all the business of an alien race. It’s the kind of puerile stuff that looks incredibly cheesy. It would be a different matter were I watching Star Trek, but with the bionic series I find this stuff a turn off and far prefer the series to be grounded in its own reality. works for me when there’s some mystery or question around it. Which is why, for me, The Ghosthunter was a far superior example of a high sci-fi heavy episode.

 

[johnnybear]

John Saxon played Major Fred Sloan in Day of The Robot and Nedlik in Return of Bigfoot in season four!
JB

 

[Mel O'Drama]

In This Corner, Jaime Sommers

A title that’s accurate only technically, since Jaime goes by the undercover name of Jessie “Savage” Sommers. With a name so close to her own, one does wonder why bother? Especially when she then appears on a TV spot promoting her wrestling match. Which then raises further questions about what the many viewers who would presumably recognise Jaime as a tennis pro would think.

Best not to dwell on it I’d say. No answers will be forthcoming.

Episodes with a sporting theme - be it football, ice skating, baseball or boxing - don’t excite me. Or, at least, I’m not able to appreciate them on two levels, since I have an aversion to sports with their neanderthal players and bellowing crowds in ugly grey hollow arenas. Still, it’s a definite improvement on Bigfoot and aliens. At least we’re back in the real world, near enough.

Helping things along is a decent espionage plot, with another OSI agent in danger, a genuine sense of threat and a few nice twists with the people revealed to be involved.

I’m not clear whether or not the Delta Circuit module everyone was after is meant to be the same micro computer thingy that was hidden in the sceptre in Bionic Beauty. The one that Oscar described back then as looking like a camera flash. This looked very similar, and I like to think it’s a nice bit of continuity.

I enjoyed Jaime’s resistance to the assignment. She initially asked if he couldn’t put Steve in a dress for it, and when entering the ring for the first time muttered to herself that she was going to break Oscar’s glasses for this. Oscar himself has certainly overcome his doubts about sending her on missions, since he was very insistent this time. Perhaps he felt more powerful sitting behind his new hi-tech desk, his office having been given a makeover.

Once again, the dynamic between Oscar and Rudy was enjoyable. As things got more frantic towards episode’s end and Oscar went into throbbing veined urgency, it was Rudy who was the voice of calm and reason.

As the slightly ditzy Amazon April Armitage, Marcia Lewis was an enjoyable bit of lighter entertainment. She put me very much in mind of an American Patsy Rowlands. And in further British comedy parallels, one of the episode’s baddies was played by the American Brian Murphy.

I seem to become more acrophobic with age, so the sequence with Jaime in the suspended cage was headily dizzying.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I totally agree with you @Mel O'Drama in regards to the episodes that dealt with sports. I’m actually an avid sports fan but it drove me nuts when these shows did this. The Incredible Hulk seemed to be guilty of this more than any show I can think of as they pretty much had an episode revolving around just about every sport imaginable.

I personally don’t remember the episode with Jaime wrestling. I’m assuming it wasn’t that terrific, as these sports themed episodes usually seemed to fall flat in my opinion.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Kenneth Johnson does say on the commentary for The Secret of Bigfoot that the reason that Steve thinks of old footage of Jaime (to the slight annoyance of Shalon) and Lindsay Wagner’s brief appearance in an especially filmed sequence came about because the episodes weren’t quite long enough, so he got Lindsay to help out.

Welcome Home, Jaime (Parts I and II)


(continued)​

While no time is wasted in getting Jaime ensconced in her new life, there is some very welcome continuity. Michael Marchetti is still present at the beginning; we’re had back to Ojai; Steve’s parents are Jaime’s guardians (her new home is an outbuilding their new ranch); Dennis Patrick - Vaughn Leland from Dallas - is back as Carlton Harris in these opening instalments (Harris was the villain in The Return…).

There is also one key concession to exploring the themes outstanding from the last story. Despite most of her memories becoming accessible again, Jaime still only remembers Steve as a bionic mentor. And so, with the permission of Jaime’s carers, Helen and Jim Elgin are the ones who reveal Jaime and Steve’s engagement to her. Despite all the other goings on in the episode, it gets a satisfying amount of time, and Steve even flies in to reconnect with her.

With Lee Majors only appearing in the first part of Welcome, Home Jaime, it does feel like a story of two distinct halves - even with its running thread of the Carlton Harris arc.

On this level, it was unsurprising to learn that Part I was originally written as a SMDM episode but pulled and rebranded as the first BW episode at the last minute (some sources claim that on first transmission it actually was a SMDM episode, right down to opening titles, but this appears to have been debunked). Knowing it was written as a SMDM episode brings its own surprises, though, considering how Jaime-heavy the episode is (Steve doesn’t really arrive until Act II).

With Steve’s visit and the references to their past, Part I does indeed feel more spiritually connected to the SMDM episodes and a little more special. We again hear how Jaime dared Steve to eat one of everything in the canteen. They revisit their tree, and Jaime asks Steve why he hid their inscription in The Return. The Elephant In The Room is brought out into the open with Jaime recognising that with no memory of her feelings for Steve, she no longer views him in a romantic light. On paper it’s all dealt with very quickly, but it’s honoured with enough time to satisfy and give a form of resolution.

Michael Marchetti is despatched with even more quickly.

Michael will return. Once.

That first episode also uses the SMDM font on the To Be Continued credit and retracks several cues from Oliver Nelson, that had been composed for The Six Million Dollar Man. Oliver Nelson’s cues appear on some more first season episodes for The Bionic Woman. He himself had recently died, after working on the majority of the third season of The Six Million Dollar Man. So his cues for that show were retracked on episodes for that show.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Incredible Hulk seemed to be guilty of this more than any show I can think of as they pretty much had an episode revolving around just about every sport imaginable.

Yes - it can seem a bit gimmicky, but I suppose with each sport having its own identity and "feel", it's understandable that episodic TV would find this an easy way to help give an episode a distinct tone or USP.

I do want to get through my boxset of The Incredible Hulk at some point. So far I think I've watched about a season and a half. Some episodes were stunningly brilliant, but there were also some that I found it a bit of a slog to get through.

I personally don’t remember the episode with Jaime wrestling. I’m assuming it wasn’t that terrific, as these sports themed episodes usually seemed to fall flat in my opinion.

I doubt it would be a top ten episode, but it was fine, really. There was a decent story and also some fun characters. The espionage story could have also worked without the wrestling gimmick, but it was worked into the story pretty well.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Kenneth Johnson does say on the commentary for The Secret of Bigfoot that the reason that Steve thinks of old footage of Jaime (to the slight annoyance of Shalon) and Lindsay Wagner’s brief appearance in an especially filmed sequence came about because the episodes weren’t quite long enough, so he got Lindsay to help out.

Oh, that's nice that there was a bit of teamwork going on behind the scenes of both series.

What did Lindsay's sequence involve?

Michael will return. Once.

Oh. That's intriguing since at the point I'm watching (early Season Two) he's been gone so long that I'd assume most viewers would have forgotten about him.

 

[johnnybear]

Lindsay was just having a chat from one of her sets to Oscar I recall as Steve had gone missing in the valley!
JB

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Lindsay was just having a chat from one of her sets to Oscar I recall as Steve had gone missing in the valley!

Oh, I see. Thanks for this. It's good to know what I missed.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Lindsay was just having a chat from one of her sets to Oscar I recall as Steve had gone missing in the valley!
JB

Yes. Jaime phones Oscar up from the classroom and offers to come up and see Oscar and Steve. Oscar says that may not be convenient right now but says when they leave, they might stop by and say hello. Jaime says okay and asks if she can say hello to Steve. Oscar says that Steve isn’t there at the moment. Jaime asks where Steve is and Oscar admits that he doesn’t know where Steve is and he has disappeared. Jaime asks how she can get there. But Oscar says that won’t be necessary as he has some good men scouting for Steve, that Steve knows how to take care of himself, that she isn’t to worry, that she is to take care of herself and he says goodbye. Which doesn’t leave her looking too happy!

Plus footage of Jaime and Steve running together on The Six Million Dollar Man was shown as what was going on in Steve’s mind.

The Bionic Woman DVDs finally arrived at 9.55 pm last night (season 1) and 14.47 today (seasons 2 and 3) after vanishing this week. They mysteriously sent two sets of season three. I seem to be getting a few extra sets. Network had a flash sale last week and I ordered 12 titles and they sent 24 and they said to keep all the extra copies as a gift. All those extra Richard Bradford blu-rays for free! So I have all The Bionic Woman DVD booklets at last!

Actually, with The Six Million Dollar Man DVD releases, seasons 1, 2 and the Bonus Features 5 disc release are in Amaray cases. Seasons 3-5 each have all six or seven discs packed on to one spindle.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Oh, that's nice that there was a bit of teamwork going on behind the scenes of both series.

What did Lindsay's sequence involve?





Oh. That's intriguing since at the point I'm watching (early Season Two) he's been gone so long that I'd assume most viewers would have forgotten about him.

Michael reappears later in Season Two. In The Vega Influence, which is episode 9 on the set.

 

[Ukdallasfan]

I like this thread. I had a Bionic Woman action doll when the show was at its peak. I think she had a blue jumpsuit on but I’m not sure? I always wanted to grow up to look like Lindsay Wagner but alas

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Yes. Jaime phones Oscar up from the classroom and offers to come up and see Oscar and Steve. Oscar says that may not be convenient right now but says when they leave, they might stop by and say hello. Jaime says okay and asks if she can say hello to Steve and Oscar says that Steve isn’t there at the moment. Jaime asks where Steve is and Oscar admits that he doesn’t know where Steve is and he has disappeared. Jaime asks how she can get there. But Oscar says that won’t be necessary as he has some good men scouting for Steve, that Steve knows how to take care of himself, that she isn’t to worry, that she is to take care of herself and he says goodbye. Which doesn’t leave her looking too happy!

Plus footage of Jaime and Steve running together on The Six Million Dollar Man was shown as what was going on in Steve’s mind.

Wow. That's very thorough. It's the next best thing to actually watching. Thanks.

The Bionic Woman DVDs finally arrived at 9.55 pm last night (season 1) and 14.47 today (seasons 2 and 3) after vanishing this week. They mysteriously sent two sets of season three.

Brilliant. They're looking very good.

Will you be keeping your complete set now that you have all the seasons in proper cases and with booklets?

Network had a flash sale last week and I ordered 12 titles and they sent 24 and they said to keep all the extra copies as a gift.

The same thing happened to me. Well, only three titles in my case, but still a lovely surprise.

I imagine it's down to the glitches on their website due to the flash sale. I had a great deal of trouble placing the orders.

Michael reappears later in Season Two. In The Vega Influence, which is episode 9 on the set.

In that case I have around half a dozen episodes before I get to it.

I had a Bionic Woman action doll when the show was at its peak. I think she had a blue jumpsuit on but I’m not sure?

Like this one, perhaps?

 

[Ukdallasfan]

That’s the one! Happy days

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Oh I know it was very socially acceptable in real world terms. But I think US television became more squeamish about showing smoking during the Seventies, in the same way they did violence.




Oh - he was in the episodes I've just watched this evening. And it wasn't Day Of The Robot.

Ian Ogilvy said on doing Return of the Saint: “At the time there was a general move to soften violence in America And we desperately wanted our show to sell there. So we toned down all the violence, which meant that quite often things would get really rather silly. Sometimes I’d be faced with this 6 foot five thug coming towards me. I’d stand in a sort of battling pose, he’d swing, I’d duck and then hit him right in the stomach and that would be the end of the fight. In the end we found out that we need not have bothered toning our violence down. We could’ve had as much as we’d wanted and it wouldn’t have mattered one bit.”

Oh, on The Six Million Dollar Man season five set, there is a 64 minute interview with Martin E. Brooks. He says he was asked by his tennis playing buddy, Executive Producer Harve Bennett, to do a one-off appearance. He says he was also friends with Alan Oppenheimer and wrote a play and cast Alan Oppenheimer in it. And Martin E. Brooks was a roommate with Martin Balsam. And he was asked to do a couple more episodes. And he went and read Martin Caidin’s original novel. He also mentions balding up for his first story.