Fabulous Films, out now

Steve Austin. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him…

One of the staple series of my childhood comes to the UK in a glorious new edition, covering every screen outing for Lee Majors’ Steve Austin, the world’s first bionic man, starting with the TV movie Cyborg (re-edited as The Moon and the Desert for the syndicated run in the US – both versions are here), and continuing through to the final TV movie Bionic Ever After? first broadcast twenty-one years later. For those who don’t want to shell out for the Bionic Woman set that’s also available, all the relevant episodes of Jaime’s own series are included here.

The show takes a bit of time to settle into what we think of as The Six Million Dollar Man. The pilot is widely different – there’s no Oscar, and Steve’s crash simply doesn’t happen the way that is portrayed in the tense dialogue that opened every episode. Darren McGavin is the boss who wants to make a man bionic, Martin Balsam is Rudy Wells, and Majors’ Austin is a civilian. Things got thrown in the air when Glen A. Larson oversaw the next two TV movies – Steve is now an Air Force Colonel, and becomes much more of a 007-esque secret agent (and while some fans are quite derogatory about Wine, Women & War and Solid Gold Kidnapping, they’re fun escapism) – before the series proper begins with Steve investigating mysterious deaths in a town near where he grew up. These opening four instalments are well worth watching in close succession to watch the progression.

Not every episode of the four seasons that follow is successful, but there are considerably more hits than misses – The Seven Million Dollar Man is one not to skip over, and the Bigfoot instalments are fun. There’s plenty of familiar faces from 1970s TV guest starring on the side of good and evil, and once you get past the first few episodes, the familiar sound effects are present.

The three reunion movies were fun at the time (and those who’ve watched The Return of the Man From UNCLE might find the first one oddly familiar!), with Sandra Bullock’s appearance in the second giving that an edge it otherwise lacks. Bionic Ever After? draws a neat line under the show.

As far as this collection goes, the picture and sound are terrific – I’ve seen the pilot a few times over the years, but never in such glorious quality – and there’s a wealth of extra, from commentaries to interviews (the one with Lee Majors is well worth your time) to featurettes.

Verdict: We have the technology to revisit Steve Austin in style. Recommended. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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