"Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. 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."
Wow! I loved that show. Steve Austin was partly man and partly robot. Not only did he have robotic parts but he was like a super-hero. He could run really fast and lift giant rocks. He had this cool eye that could zoom in on anything.
I watched this show in prime time. I had the toys. Steve Austin was as tall as a GI Joe. Or what we collectors today call 12 inch Action Figure. I played with him along with the inflatable command center while I watched the show. The command center was huge. I remember crawling inside so I could seat Steve at the chair and work the tiny cables and switches the electronic station had. It had to be big as I know it took forever to blow the dang thing up. The doll...um...action figure had this small view finder on the back of his head so you could look through his bionic eye. And if you rolled up his rubber skin on his bionic arm, I could take out these little chip boards or the actual "bionics". He even came with the infamous red running suit. I had the bionic capsule, too. It was this rocket shaped canister that Steve could go inside and it folded out to be a bionic table if I remember right.
I don't think I had any of the other characters--as I know there was a Oscar Goldman and a Bionic Woman version too. And no, I don't have these toys today. These must have been sold in one of our yard sales in the very early 80s.
I've watched the show since and still find it entertaining. I even watched the Bionic Marriage of Steve and Jamie Summers when I was twenty-something.
There's been rumor of a Six Million Dollar Man reboot for many years. At one time it was going to be a Kevin Smith movie, then it turned into a big budget comedy for Jim Carrey. I would love for this to be remade like the new Star Trek movie but you have to do it serious with a big nod for the old show. Granted, I think if the show was adjusted for today's dollar, it would be the Six Billion Dollar Man!
