At Flashbak: Kenner's Bionic Toys of the 1970s

At Flashbak this week, I remembered some of Kenner's great Six Million Dollar Man (1973 - 1978) and Bionic Woman (1976 - 1978)  toys of the disco decade.

Here's a snippet (and the url - http://flashbak.com/better-smarter-faster-remembering-kenners-bionic-toys-disco-decade-35726/)

"Although fans of my generation may forever associate Kenner with its incredible line of Star Wars (1977) action figures, vehicles, and playsets, the same company also had a hit in the 1970s with an earlier pop culture property tie-in: Universal’s The Six Million Dollar Man (1973-1978) and The Bionic Woman (1976-1978). 

In the years immediately preceding the release of George Lucas’s blockbuster, these bionic superheroes ruled the airwaves, and toy store shelves with an impressive series of large-scale toys...."

Continue reading at Flashbak!

The Six Million Dollar Man: "The Secret of Bigfoot" (February 6, 1976)

I watched The Six Million Dollar Man religiously – and I mean religiously – as a six year-old boy. But truth be told, I never much cared for the espionage stories, the ones with Steve going undercover to topple a foreign dictator or help an Eastern Bloc scientist defect to the West.

No, the stories I loved were the ones in which the bionic Colonel Austin (Lee Majors) battled nemeses that more than matched his unusual strength and power. 

Prime among such villains was the Bionic Bigfoot, first introduced in this two-part episode, “The Secret of Bigfoot.” 

As I’ve written before, the 1970s for some reason saw a Bigfoot or Sasquatch Craze on TV (In Search Of, Bigfoot and Wild Boy, etc.) and at the movies too.  But no depictions of Bigfoot were more fun, in my opinion, than The Six Million Dollar Man’s. 

It’s one thing to contemplate the existence of the Sasquatch.  It’s another to mark him as an extra-terrestrial. 

And then, of course, to make him a cyborg (like Steve) is a stroke of wacky brilliance.

In “The Secret of Bigfoot,” Steve and his boss at the OSI, Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) are assigned to the forests of the Pacific Northwest to provide security for two friendly seismologists testing classified earthquake sensors.  While deploying these new sensors, the scientists are attacked by a creature that appears to be the mythical Sasquatch (Andre the Giant).

Steve tracks the beast’s footprints, and comes face to face with the inhuman monster.  After Steve rips off one of the beast’s arms in a (slow-motion…) scuffle, he realizes the truth: Sasquatch is a bionic robot!  Steve follows the injured machine back into a mountainside, and falls unconscious in a strange, glowing tunnel.

When Steve awakens, he finds himself the guests of an alien community, led by Battle for the Planet of the Ape’s Severn Darden (as Apploy). Steve promptly becomes friends with the colony’s physician, the lovely Shalon (Stefanie Powers).  He learns that Sasquatch is the creation of these aliens, and that the beast serves as the Colony’s “protector and defender.”  Austin also learns that each scientist is equipped with a device called a “TLC” which allows people to disappear from sight, and move at speeds undetectable by the human eye. 

While spending time with the E.T.’s Steven comes across another unique discovery: Time for the alien explorers passes more slowly than it does for humans, so while legends of Bigfoot go back some two centuries or more, the aliens have only been on Earth conducting their studies for a few years, their time.

The aliens sent out Bigfoot to sabotage the sensor equipment in the first place because they did not want to be discovered by mankind.  But this fear of discovery diminishes compared to another problem. Oscar plans to detonate a small underground nuclear device in the forest to forestall an upcoming earthquake. Unfortunately, the aliens’ mountain base will be buried, unless Steve and the Sasquatch can work together to prevent the apocalypse.

“The Secret of Bigfoot aired in early February 1976, and -- no exaggeration -- it was the TV event of the season for the primary school set. As a six-year old, I enjoyed every aspect of the two-hour program, from the camping to the aliens, to Bigfoot, to the bionic brawls.  As an adult, what I enjoy most about the episode is the fact that there really aren’t any overt bad guys or evil-doers.  Sasquatch is only a tool of the aliens and not malicious, and Oscar’s nuke plan -- though foolhardy -- is not intended to kill anyone.

Remarkably, the Sasquatch costume still holds up pretty well after all this time.  Director Alan Crosland goes out of his way not to reveal too much detail in the episode’s first acts. Instead, we are’ treated to suspense-maintaining P.O.V. shots from the Sasquatch’s perspective as he lumbers through the woods.  The episode also opens with views of the beast’s hairy legs and feet as they traverse the wild forest

Even the first big attack scene -- at about the nine minute point -- hides the creature’s face.  In a spectacular composition, Bigfoot steps out into the open in a low-angle shot, and the radiant light of the sun occludes his monstrous visage.  This saves the first full reveal for Sasquatch’s initial encounter with Steve.  We see during that sequence that the monster boasts glowing, inhuman eyes.  And to some extent, those glaring, bright eyes divert attention away from any inadequacies of the hairy costume.

The first battle between Steve and the Bionic Bigfoot is still spectacular too.  The slow-motion photography makes it seem that every punch, hit, and blow is earth-shattering, and the battle goes on and on for something like five minutes.   I noted while watching that there is virtually no dialogue at all in this lengthy interlude, just fight music, bionic sound effects, and fearsome animal grunts. 

This, my friends, is Bionic nirvana.

Another visual I remember from my childhood is the long, weird, glowing tunnel that leads into the mountainside alien base.  This tunnel was actually an attraction at Universal Studios called Glacier Avalanche, just re-purposed for the series.  In 1982, when I went to Universal Studios on a cross-country camping trip, I got to ride through this unearthly tunnel and my first thought was of The Six-Million Dollar Man.  The only disappointment in this scene is that, on DVD, it is all-too easy detect that the floor of the (spinning) tunnel is not rock, but earth-tone blankets draped across the floor.

The depiction of the aliens in “The Secret of Bigfoot” feels very 1970s today.  The aliens wear brightly-colored jump suits with bell-bottoms, and Stefanie Powers looks as though she’s crossed right over from the set of Charlie’s Angels.  Still, I appreciate the fact that the aliens aren’t malevolent in nature, and that cooperation with them is possible.

Today, perhaps the most horrifying aspect of “The Secret of Bigfoot” is the fact that OSI’s man in charge, Oscar Goldman, deploys nuclear weapons inside the continental United States as though they are just another run-of-the-mill fix-it too.  Could you imagine the PR disaster were it learned that a United States government agency were detonating nuclear bombs in an unspoiled forest?  

If “The Secret of Bigfoot” possesses any dramatic failing, it’s only that the story does not go much beyond entertaining escapism.  The Bionic Woman, by contrast, often featured overt social commentary in its tales, such as in the great two-part episode “Doomsday is Tomorrow.”

Bigfoot returned to The Six-Million Dollar Man on several more occasions, and even crossed over to Bionic Woman episodes as well.  After a while, however, the law of diminishing returns came into full effect and the great Beast (played in later incarnations by Ted Cassidy) lost some of his mystery, majesty, and menace.

But “The Secret of Bigfoot” endures -- 38 years later -- because it handles its monster with restraint, and then, delightfully with affection.  

I haven’t watched many Six Million Dollar Man episodes recently, but watching this fun two-part installment makes me want to haul out “Death Probe” (wherein Steve fights a malevolent Russian space probe) and the Bionic Woman cross-over episode involving Fembots and a scientist’s devious plans to control the weather…

Since The Six Million Dollar Man has been out of circulation so long, and wasn’t available on DVD till three years ago, I don’t know how well it translates to the younger generations.  But the action-packed bionic nirvana of “The Secret of Bigfoot” may be a good place to start the bionic journey if you’re interested. 

At the very least, you’ll be able to talk about it with your Generation X aunt and uncle next time you get together…

Outré Intro #8: The Six Million Dollar Man (1974 - 1978)

The Six Million Dollar Man (1974 - 1978) is a touchstone for my generation, Generation X. 

In fact,the series is one of the top ten "key" TV titles for my generation, I suspect. This is so in part because the series lasted a good duration -- five seasons -- but also because it eschewed, largely, the negativity and controversies of the time period.  

When The Six Million Dollar Man aired, America was embroiled in the Vietnam War and also in the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal that toppled President Nixon.

Despite such issues, The Six Million Dollar Man was largely positive in terms of its depiction of human nature, and regarding man's ability to shape and re-shape his world in a positive way.

Accordingly, the iconic introductory montage to the highly-influential The Six Million Dollar Man might be summed up, thematically, with the broad phrase: What technology takes away, it can also give back.  

In terms of broad content, the opening montage to The Six Million Dollar Man is split into two halves. 

The first section diagrams a terrible accident involving an experimental U.S. military aircraft, and the life-threatening impact of that catastrophe upon the human pilot: Colonel Steve Austin (Lee Majors).

The second half of the intro focuses on Austin's physical recovery, which occurs under the auspices of a revolutionary science and technology breakthrough called "bionics."

What connects these two elements is not merely the presence of the injured and then "healed" Colonel Austin, but the detailed visualization of his story through blatantly technological auspices. 

 In other words, we don't merely view Steve Austin's story "straight on."

Instead, we see it all through the filter or overlay of modern technology. 

This filter includes a constant heart-beat read-out, flickering gauges (showcasing fluctuating numbers...), and rectangular monitor "screens" that come between us, the audience, and Steve, the series protagonist. It's as if we're technicians, actually, viewing his progress at our high-tech work-stations.

This lens or filter cements the significance of technology in Steve's world. Technology not only nearly kills him and then saves him, but proves the crucial viewpoint through which we interpret and experience his story.

As the montage begins, and the title -- "The Six Million Dollar Man" -- is typed out, teletype-style before us, we look at the lights of a flickering computer.

We hear, on the soundtrack, a strong, persistent drum-beat, which suggests the martial or military nature of this test flight.

Then, we witness the historic test-flight of the prototype plane. 

Notice that in this sequence, not only are we seeing the technology overlay via read-outs like the number -257, but simultaneously hearing a cacophony of official (but dispassionate...) voices on the soundtrack, as every aspect of the flight is monitored.  

This facet of the montage is important, because both the video footage (which looks to be captured by real military cameras) and the mission control voices suggest a documentary-like approach.

These moments don't feel fictional or concocted, but wholly real, as if we are witnesses to a real Air Force test flight.

In the following shot, "separation" occurs, and the test is underway.

Next up, we meet our hero, pilot Colonel Steve Austin, in close-up.

Again, we are not seeing him clearly or directly, but through the filter of those flashing computer lights, and flickering numbers (+000).  Again, this makes the moment seem simultaneously real, and awash in in the modern age of technology.

  

Tension is generated in the next series of shots, as a clock overlay -- in bright red -- adds a count-down feeling to the launch.  The flight is in progress...

As the flight goes dramatically wrong, we see the prototype plane plummet through the atmosphere, and meet series co-star Richard Anderson, who appears ready to lunge into action, as catastrophe nears.

The first part of the introductory montage ends with shots of Steve in trouble, and the plane crashing.

Technology has failed.  The plane failed, and now Steve's very life is in danger.

We might even go deeper.  Mlitary technology (as represented by the persistent dream beat on the soundtrack) has failed.

At the end of this sequence, the picture fades dramatically, but not to black...to white, instead.

And white signifies, in visual terms, the light at the end of the tunnel, or Heaven itself.

But since our mode is "technological" and not spiritual, there is a twist to come...

Following the fade-to-white after the crash of Steve's plane, we come back to his story, in a brand new venue.  We also get a re-interpretation of technology.

Near death, Steve is not ensconced among the angels in Heaven, but aglow under the white, immaculate lights of a high-tech operating theater.

Traditional spiritual imagery -- represented by the white light -- is thus recruited to suggest that medical technology is our savior.

Also, we have moved directly to the second "part" or half of the montage.  What (military) technology has nearly taken away, (medical) technology is about to give back...

At this point, a narrator speaks.  He says "Steve Austin. Astronaut. A man barely alive."  This voice is unidentified, but in keeping with the white-out spiritual imagery, it could be interpreted as a kind of Voice of God narrator.

And then, Oscar Goldman speaks.

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man.  Steve Austin will be that man.  Better than he was before.  Better, stronger, faster."

The phrasing of Goldman's speech is significant, especially when considered in conjunction with the specific imagery that accompanies it.

He notes explicitly that "we have the technology," suggesting that death can be conquered by man, and by man's tools.

And then he establishes that such technology can not only save Steve Austin, but actually improve on nature itself.

Steve will be "better than he was before."

In these shots, we see Steve's plight, and again, that plight is diagrammed on screens or monitors.

Next, we get schematics, explaining how technology will replace and improve Steve's body.  We start with his injured eye.

Next, the schematics focus on Steve's destroyed arm, and again, showcase how bionics will replace the destroyed flesh and bone, and improve Steve's very nature.

The next shots focus on the operating theater again, the white heavenly lights, and the angel-like surgeons. They are doing God's work, or, perhaps, replacing God's work. 

Notice that in the second shot in this sequence, one round light fixture could, actually, be said to be positioned as a halo over the surgeon's head.

Next, the bionic arm is placed, and we see visual evidence of Goldman's words. As a bionic man, Steve can lift 500 lbs.  This is something that, as a natural man, not yet re-born, Steve could never achieve.

Finally, we repeat the scenario we already saw with the replacement eye and arm, beginning with the schematic.  We Steve's flesh-and-blood legs replaced with bionic ones.  

And again, we see that this is a change for the better, for now he can run faster than 60 miles an hour (as one composition reveals).

The Six Million Dollar Man's montage ends with a shot of Steve running rapidly, re-born courtesy of medical technology.  He has been made a veritable superman by his bionic replacements.  But note as well, the humanistic aspect of the title card below.

Steve himself -- not technology -- is at the center of the frame, and sunlight is superimposed over his face.  

It is as though Austin is now radiating light and energy.  

This shot must be viewed as the apotheosis of his long journey.  Man, not machine, is front and center now. But man's technology, not the Divine, has made that journey happen.  

Steve is a God among men, himself the image reveals -- surrounded by radiant light -- because medical technology has repaired what military technology threatened, and what nature could not do.

Technology is our savior, but we are its master.  That is the message, perhaps of the series itself.

Below, The Six Million Dollar Man introductory montage in all its glory:

Finally, I want to thank my friend, Jason Shepherd, for suggesting I feature The Six Million Dollar Man on Outre Intro.  

Next week: Land of the Lost (1974 -1977).