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==Plot== ===Original series=== When [[NASA]] astronaut USAF Colonel Steve Austin is severely injured in the crash of an experimental [[lifting body]] aircraft, he is "rebuilt" in an operation that costs $6 million (equivalent to $41.5 million in 2024).<ref name="CPI Inflation Calculator">{{cite web |last1=Webster |first1=Ian |title=$6,000,000 in 1973 β 2024 Inflation Calculator |url=https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1973?amount=6000000 |access-date=15 January 2024 |website=In2013Dollars |date=12 January 2024 |publisher=in2013dollars.com}}</ref> His right arm, both legs and left eye are replaced with "[[bionic]]" implants that enhance his strength, speed and vision far above human norms: he can run at speeds of over {{convert|60|mph|kph|0|abbr=on}}, and his eye has a 20:1 zoom lens and infrared capabilities, while his bionic limbs all have the equivalent power of a [[bulldozer]]. He uses his enhanced abilities to work for the OSI ([[Office of Scientific Intelligence]]<!---Do not change this name without checking discussion on the talk page-->) as a [[secret agent]]. Caidin's novel ''[[Cyborg (novel)|Cyborg]]'' was a best-seller when it was published in 1972. He followed it up with three sequels, ''[[Operation Nuke]]'', ''[[High Crystal]]'', and ''[[Cyborg IV]]'', respectively about a black market in nuclear weapons, a ''[[Chariots of the Gods?]]'' scenario, and fusing Austin's bionic hardware to a [[spaceplane]]. In March 1973, ''Cyborg'' was loosely adapted as a made-for-TV movie titled ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' starring Majors as Austin. The producers' first choice was [[Monte Markham]].{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} (When re-edited for the later series, it was re-titled "The Moon and the Desert, Parts I and II".) The adaptation was done by writer Howard Rodman, working under the pseudonym of Henri Simoun. The film, which was nominated for a [[Hugo Award]], modified Caidin's plot and notably made Austin a civilian astronaut rather than a colonel in the United States Air Force. Absent were some of the standard features of the later series: the electronic sound effects, the slow-motion running, and the character of Oscar Goldman. Instead, another character named Oliver Spencer, played by [[Darren McGavin]], was Austin's supervisor, of an organization here called the Office of Strategic Operations, or "OSO". (In the novels, "OSO" stood for Office of Special Operations. The CIA did have an Office of Scientific Intelligence in the 1970s.) The lead scientist involved in implanting Austin's bionic hardware, Rudy Wells, was played in the pilot by [[Martin Balsam]], then on an occasional basis in the series by [[Alan Oppenheimer]], and, finally, as a series regular, by [[Martin E. Brooks]]. Austin did not use the enhanced capabilities of his bionic eye during the first TV movie. The first movie was a major ratings success and was followed by two more made-for-TV movies in October and November 1973 as part of ABC's rotating ''Movie of the Week'' series. The first was titled ''The Six Million Dollar Man: "Wine, Women and War"'', and the second was titled ''The Six Million Dollar Man: "The Solid Gold Kidnapping"''. The first of these two bore strong resemblances to Caidin's second ''Cyborg'' novel, ''Operation Nuke''; the second, however, was an original story. This was followed in January 1974 by the debut of ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' as a weekly hour-long series. The latter two movies, produced by [[Glen A. Larson]], notably introduced a [[James Bond]] flavor to the series and reinstated Austin's status from the novels as an Air Force colonel; the hour-long series, produced by [[Harve Bennett]], dispensed with the James Bond-gloss of the movies, and portrayed a more down-to-earth Austin. (Majors said of Austin, "[He] hates...the whole idea of spying. He finds it repugnant, degrading. If he's a James Bond, he's the most reluctant one we've ever had."){{citation needed|date=February 2014}} Use of deadly force by Austin - frequent in Caidin's novels and employed occasionally in the movies and early episodes - also decreased as the series progressed. The show was very popular during its run and introduced several [[pop culture]] elements of the 1970s, such as the show's opening [[catchphrase]] ("We can rebuild him; we have the technology", [[voice-over|voiced over]] by [[Richard Anderson]] in his role of [[Oscar Goldman]]), the [[slow motion]] action sequences, and the accompanying "electronic" [[sound effects]]. The slow motion action sequences were originally referred to as "''[[Kung Fu (1972 TV series)|Kung Fu]]'' slow motion" in popular culture (due to its use in that 1970s martial arts television series), although according to ''The Bionic Book'' by [[Herbie J. Pilato]], the use of slow motion on the series was inspired by its use by [[NFL Films]]. In 1975, a two-part episode titled "The Bionic Woman", written for television by [[Kenneth Johnson (producer)|Kenneth Johnson]], introduced the lead character [[Jaime Sommers (The Bionic Woman)|Jaime Sommers]] (played by [[Lindsay Wagner]]), a professional tennis player who rekindled an old romance with Austin, only to experience a parachuting accident that resulted in her being given bionic parts similar to Austin. Ultimately, her body "rejected" her bionic hardware and she died. The character was very popular, however, and the following season it was revealed that she had survived, having been saved by an experimental cryogenic procedure, and she was given her own spin-off series, ''[[The Bionic Woman]]''. This spin-off ran until 1978 when both it and ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' were simultaneously cancelled, though the two series were on different networks when their final seasons aired. ===Television movie reunions=== Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers returned in three subsequent made-for-television movies: ''[[The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman]]'' (1987), ''[[Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman]]'' (1989) which featured [[Sandra Bullock]] in an early role as a new bionic woman; and ''[[Bionic Ever After?]]'' (1994) in which Austin and Sommers finally marry. Majors reprised the role of Steve Austin in all three productions, which also featured Richard Anderson and Martin E. Brooks, and Lindsay Wagner reprising the role of Jaime Sommers. The reunion films addressed the partial amnesia Sommers had suffered during the original series, and all three featured Majors' son, [[Lee Majors II]], as OSI agent Jim Castillian. The first two movies were written in the anticipation of creating new bionic characters in their own series, but nothing further was seen of the new characters introduced in those produced. The third TV movie was intended as a finale.
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