The Six Million Dollar Blog - The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman
| Starring: |
Lee Majors as Steve Austin |
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Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman |
| Guest Starring: |
Pamela Franklin as Susan Abbott |
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Simon Scott as Dr. Samuel Abbott |
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Jack Hogan as John Belson |
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Joe Kapp as Frank |
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Vic Mohica as Eddie |
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Joseph Ruskin as Le Duc |
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Erik Holland as Ed Rawlins |
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Bill Conklin as Hobbs |
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Margarita Cordova as Desk Clerk |
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| Written by: |
Sy Salkowitz |
| Produced by: |
Sam Strangis & Donald Boyle |
| Directed by: |
Reza Badiyi |
Plot in a Nutshell: A Scientist has been kidnapped and Steve must rescue him with the help of the scientist's pointlessly E.S.P.-wielding daughter.
Story Summary: Steve and Oscar are in a laboratory testing a new wireless laser.
I can only speculate as to why there are lab rats in a laser testing facility
It turns out the creator of the laser, Dr. Sam Abbott, is missing with no clues as to where he may be. Oscar sends Steve to find Abbott's daughter, Susan Abbott, in Spain to see if she can point them in the right direction with her incredible E.S.P. powers. However, unbeknownst to Steve and Oscar, the lab is bugged and the men who kidnapped Dr. Abbott want to get to Susan first.
They must have thought this was a little rodent boombox.
Steve finds Susan in Spain and recruits her to help find her father. Her visions point Steve to Florida.
"Yes, clearly your visions point to Florida."
And Now a Word from our Sponsors
They take a cab to the airport, but the cabbie sabotages the cab and jumps out. Steve stops the cab with his foot long enough to get them both out, then lets go and watches it fly off a cliff and explode.
Steve and Susan take a plane to the Florida Everglades. They pick up a guide and head out to find Dr. Abbott, but the bad guys are hot on their trail.
Nothing suspicious about this guy.
They make camp for the night, but Steve has Susan and the guide sleep in a clearing away from the camp. Sure enough, the bad guys appear and burn the boat and shoot into the empty tents.
"We will kill their tents, thus depriving them of precious sleep."
Unfortunately, the guide comes running out to see what's going on and gets shot trying to save his boat. Steve jumps in the water to save him but it's too late, the alligators must have got him.
The next day, Steve is wearing the same clothes but they are now dry and clean. He hollows out a log to create a canoe and they take to the water again.
Later they pause on the bank of the river and as Steve goes to get firewood, Susan falls in the water and is attacked by a giant plastic alligator that roars like a lion.
Steve jumps in the water and bionically dispatches the alligator. They set out again soon after, their unchanged clothes clean and dry.
They quickly come upon the kidnappers camp. As they near the camp, Steve briefly rescues Susan from some quicksand.
"Careful now, don't get hurt setting up the ending plot point."
Moments later, Susan's clothes are completely clean and dry as Steve knocks out the guards and they find Dr. Abbott. He's fine and calls for John Belson when he sees Steve, believing Steve was sent to steal the laser and kill him. Belson has convinced Abbott that Steve is the enemy. He has his guards lock Steve up.
The next morning Dr. Abbott tests the new laser with everyone watching, but it fails, blowing up in the process. Belson becomes enraged, strikes Abbott, and demands he immediately fix the laser if he hopes to see his daughter again. He then sends Susan to be incarcerated with Steve.
Steve and Susan bust free, grab Dr. Abbott and the chase is on.
Steve sends Susan and Abbott to hide as he leads the bad guys to the quicksand Susan fell into earlier. He is lifted over the quicksand by wires, but the bad guys don't have any wires of their own and they fall in, thus sealing their fates.
The good guys escape and the bad guys are either buried in quicksand or captured.
The End.
How Did You Do That Quote:
Susan: "Hey, how did you stop the cab?"
Susan: "How did you get free?"
Move your mouse over Steve to see his answer.
Overall Grade: 
Final Thoughts: ESP was dumb in the 70's and it still is 40 years later. That whole plot point could have been removed and replaced with a simple, "My father told me he was going to be in the Florida Everglades," and the episode would have turned out exactly as it did. This episode gets one Steve for plot and an extra Steve for the unintentionally funny alligator fight and wire-fu jump over the quicksand.
Listen to the Cyborgs: A Bionic Podcast for this episode at chronicrift.com
This episode's Bionic Wiki Page
This episode's IMDB Page
Comments
plastic model
i use to have a model of steve wrestling an alligator, i wonder if it was inspired by this episode?
Re: plastic model
And here is that model. Looks like the alligator ripped open Steve's arm and one of his legs. And is that a 1970's laptop at his feet? Or a small briefcase full of plastic explosive?
A can miss episode
I never watch this one. The only scene I like is when Steve plays the guitar at bionic speed.
Great Music Score
I gave it 4 Steves not because of the ESP thing, but because I keep watching the swamp chase scene over and over again despite the fake wire. The main reason is the musical score. I want an MP3 of that somewhere! Also, on the DVD I do tend to repeat the alligator scene just to see how scared the woman acts in front of a piece of plastic.
JayManiac