America’s love of gadgetry would naturally culminate in the man who becomes a gadget.
In 1972, only a dozen years after the term “cyborg” was coined, Martin Caiden wrote a novel by that name that combined science fiction with secret agent shenanigans.
Like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man and many others, Colonel Steve Austin required a horrific tragedy to aesthetically balance his superhuman status. So Caiden gave us a detailed account of how the mangled form of the astronaut, torn apart in an air crash, became a literal superspy. Caiden followed up with three sequels: Operation Nuke (1973), High Crystal (1974) and Cyborg IV (1975).
In the novel, Col. Austin ends up with tireless legs, a poison dart gun/battering ram for an arm and a sightless camera for an eye. A swiftly produced TV movie starring Lee Majors upped the ante in the direction of Superman.
And just as Superman was born from the social and economic anxieties of the Great Depression, the Six Million Dollar Man reflected a dominant force in postwar America: the technological focus of the military-industrial complex.
Humanoid robots, a rampaging Venus probe, an alien Bigfoot, another super-powered astronaut (played by William Shatner) and a Seven Million Dollar Man (played by Monte Markham) were among the menaces that threatened TV’s stalwart cyborg.
“The Six Million Dollar Man truly found its identity when Austin faced off against super-powered fantasy figures,” wrote John Kenneth Muir in his Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television. “As a spy, Steve was just so-so, but as a superhero he kicked ass.”
In addition to Caiden’s novels, six paperback novelizations were published about the series, and Charlton Comics featured the character in both a nine-issue comic book series and a seven-issue black-and-white magazine.
Like The Man from UNCLE a decade earlier, The Six Million Dollar Man inspired a distaff spin-off — The Bionic Woman (the producers thought it would be vulgar to stick a price tag on a woman).
Bruce Kanin wrote:
ReplyDeleteI read the book "Cyborg" and recall the pilot TV-movie of the same name. Both were excellent. I recall Steve Austin driving a souped-up car, thinking (or the book or narrator) saying that Austin & the car, because Austin was mechanized, were practically one machine. It was all great stuff. I also think Austin ran at super-speed (in the pilot movie) not in super-slow motion as he did in the TV series - I preferred that.
My recollection of the TV series is that it was good but not great. Ditto for Bionic Woman. Still, I'd love to watch them again to see how they bear up.
I replied:
I think Bionic Woman had the edge, if only because Lindsay Wagner is a better actor than Lee Majors. I once interviewed John Houseman, who played the evil scientist creator of the Fembots. I think he did it because she played his daughter in the Paper Chase movie and he really liked her.
Joel Finkle wrote:
ReplyDeleteCyborg IV was particularly cool, wiring Austin up to the controls of a shuttle, including the radar into his visual senses and motor nerves to the propulsion, preceding cyberpunk tropes by decades
TC Ford wrote:
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I was a huge fan as a kid, and I even read the first Cyborg book. I didn’t realize there were three others. Maybe I’ll hunt them down.
Michael W. Rickard II wrote:
ReplyDeleteI remember reading the original book. It was a good read.
Bran Davs wrote:
ReplyDeleteSteve really should have had the poison dart shooting finger tho.
I replied:
Network Standards and Practices was a killjoy.
Brian Gregory wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe best episodes of the show featured "super villains", but since most Hollywood writers at the time had no interest in sci-fi or superheroes, *most* episodes involved mundane threats right out of standard cop shows. The WONDER WOMAN series suffers from the same problem.
Dan Brozak wrote:
ReplyDeleteI have the entire series on dvd through Time/Life- it was pricey but worth it. The best episodes are usually, as pointed out, the ones where Steve went up against super powered baddies, but the two parter that introduced the Bionic Woman is the best. Surprisingly mature dialogue and his best acting job of the series. Episodes with his mother and stepfather were also highlights, along with an episode in the last season where Steve seemed to be haunted by ghosts, and an episode where his father was accused of being a deserter or coward during the war was also good. Despite the fact that the best episodes tended to be ones that featured his personal life, the show usually stayed away from that element; fortunately the Bionic Woman played those same elements up in her show.
Tim Sunday wrote:
ReplyDeleteThis was my favorite show as a kid in the seventies! The Bigfoot episodes made me want to be a professional Sasquatch hunter when I grew up. And I wish I still had my SMDM action figure, along with the Critical Assignment Arms accessories!
Reply5h
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteI HATED that super-slow mo for super speed. And they still do it. Some times it works-I think it did on the Matrix because it was more like you were looking at things through Neo's eyes, much the way we saw things through Barry Allen's eyes in the origin. (Shame they didn't keep that up.) But mostly, when super-speed is shown in slow motion, I get antsy!
Steven L. Austin wrote:
ReplyDeleteI recently purchased a print of this painting from Thomas Peak, son of the talented Bob Peak, whose efforts graced many iconic movie posters and TV Guides. I guess after all these years of kidding I've finally embraced the name. 😉
Michael Fraley wrote:
ReplyDeleteDan Hagen They gained two precious things by filming feats of strength and speed in slow motion: emphasis and time. The slow-motion emphasized that something *special* was happening, accompanied by symphonic music and echoing battering ram effects. It meant that whatever Steve was doing just felt more *massive,* as in traditional kaiju movies or TV shows like Ultraman. Time? In an industry in which time is money, the slow-motion effects were both a cheap "special effect" and they stretched time -- effectively meaning that those segments lasted at least twice as long.