Essential Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman Episodes

[EATERoftheDEAD]

I recently watched the 'new' Bionic Woman because I adore me some Michelle Ryan and it got me wanting to watch the old Bionic-verse shows. However, I don't have the time to sit through all eight seasons and six films so I am looking for an 'essentials' list of episodes compiling the best of both series and bringing together plotlines as much as any show from the 70s has recurring plotlines. There doesn't seem to be much of anything online listing the best episodes aside from a bunch of people screaming 'BIGFOOT!' which isn't as helpful as it might seem. lol

When I was a kid I was a huge fan of Star Trek as well as a host of other action/adventure/sci-fi shows (including The Fall Guy, Incredible Hulk, Airwolf, Knight Rider, and Dukes of Hazard) but never had the opportunity to watch the Bionic shows growing up because they were a bit before my time.

So what would you consider the top 10-30 'essential' episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman?

 

[1001001]

I used to love both of those shows when I was a kid.

It's been a very long time, though. One Bionic Woman episode I remember is when she's fighting some kind of automatic defense computer. I don't remember the name, but that one sticks out.

And of course, the ones where they introduce and spin off Jamie Summers.

 

[Green Shirt]

Just avoid any episodes where Lee Majors sings his "Jamie love song". Truly awful.

 

[sojourner]

Fembots. any episode with fembots. The 7 million dollar man episode of 6 Million Dollar Man.

That's all I can remember since seeing them when I was 7, oh, and BIGFOOT!

 

[Christopher]

One Bionic Woman episode I remember is when she's fighting some kind of automatic defense computer. I don't remember the name, but that one sticks out.

"Doomsday is Tomorrow," a 2-parter by series creator Kenneth Johnson, exercising his tendency toward, err, pastiche by pitting Jaime against a computer that's essentially HAL from 2001. A pretty good one despite that, though, with Jaime trying to convince the computer not to launch a nuclear war. I remember finding it very powerful when I was young, although I don't know what I'd think of it now.

 

[DWF]

One Bionic Woman episode I remember is when she's fighting some kind of automatic defense computer. I don't remember the name, but that one sticks out.

"Doomsday is Tomorrow," a 2-parter by series creator Kenneth Johnson, exercising his tendency toward, err, pastiche by pitting Jaime against a computer that's essentially HAL from 2001. A pretty good one despite that, though, with Jaime trying to convince the computer not to launch a nuclear war. I remember finding it very powerful when I was young, although I don't know what I'd think of it now.

There was no such tendency and in the end it was all a fake out to try and get the world's leaders talking.

 

[DWF]

The Six Million Dollar Man:

Day Of The Robot
Burning Bright
The Seven Million Dolar Man
Return Of The Robot Maker
The Bionic Woman(2 parter)
The Return Of The Bionic Woman(2parter)
The Bionic Criminal
The Secret Of Bigfoot(2parter)
The Return Of Bigfool(2 parter the second part was a Bionic Woman ep.)
Death Probe(2 parter)
Bigfoot V
Return Of The Death Probe(2 parter)

The Bionic Woman:

Welcome Home Jaime(2 parter)
Mirror Image
Kill Oscar(3 parter with part 2 being a Six Million Dollar Man ep.)
Tomorrow Is Doomsday(2 parter)
Deadly Ringer(2 parter)
Fembots In Las Vegas(2 parter)

 

[Galileo7]

The Six Million Dollar Man:

Day Of The Robot
Burning Bright
The Seven Million Dolar Man
Return Of The Robot Maker
The Bionic Woman(2 parter)
The Return Of The Bionic Woman(2parter)
The Bionic Criminal
The Secret Of Bigfoot(2parter)
The Return Of Bigfool(2 parter the second part was a Bionic Woman ep.)
Death Probe(2 parter)
Bigfoot V
Return Of The Death Probe(2 parter)

The Bionic Woman:

Welcome Home Jaime(2 parter)
Mirror Image
Kill Oscar(3 parter with part 2 being a Six Million Dollar Man ep.)
Tomorrow Is Doomsday(2 parter)
Dealy Ringer(2 parter)
Fembots In Las Vegas(2 parter)

Agree. Excellent episodes.

 

[Davros]

Fembots
Bigfoot

 

[feek61]

Start with the original Six Million Dollar Man TV movie first. Still one of my favorites.

 

[Christopher]

The pilot movie has its points of interest (especially the really authentic test-flight sequence, which was clearly made with USAF and/or NASA cooperation), but is also rather slow-paced. It's more drama than action, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but I feel its story just kind of fizzled out at the end. Also it's not quite in continuity with the subsequent series: Steve Austin is a civilian test pilot rather than an Air Force colonel as in the series, and the bionics program is initiated by Oliver Spencer (Darren McGavin) rather than Oscar Goldman as in the original book and the series.

The other two pilot movies are skippable, basically James Bond knockoffs produced by schlockmeister Glen Larson, but the third movie is better than the second.

 

[EATERoftheDEAD]

Sweet! Thank you for the replies. I was trying to make a list on my own using the episode ratings in imdb but it was tough not knowing if the episodes contained some kind of continuity that made something later make sense or simply just avoid spoiling it for myself.

Also, I can only assume that the reunion movies from the 80s and 90s are a vital part of the overall continuity, right?

 

[EATERoftheDEAD]

That last sentence was sarcasm, also, BIGFOOT!

 

[sojourner]

The only thing interesting about the reunion movies is seeing Sandra Bullock early in her career.

 

[feek61]

The pilot movie has its points of interest (especially the really authentic test-flight sequence, which was clearly made with USAF and/or NASA cooperation), but is also rather slow-paced. It's more drama than action, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but I feel its story just kind of fizzled out at the end. Also it's not quite in continuity with the subsequent series: Steve Austin is a civilian test pilot rather than an Air Force colonel as in the series, and the bionics program is initiated by Oliver Spencer (Darren McGavin) rather than Oscar Goldman as in the original book and the series.

The other two pilot movies are skippable, basically James Bond knockoffs produced by schlockmeister Glen Larson, but the third movie is better than the second.

Actually I liked the pacing. The accident at the beginning, surgery and recovery in the middle along with Steve's struggle to accept what had happened to him, followed by a mission. I thought that the slow-pacing in the middle gave the viewer time to sympathize with Steve Austins plight. I was riveted by it as a kid when I first saw it and still enjoy it when I see it today. It wasn't quite as silly and unbelievable as the series was IMO.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, the worst part of the pacing for me was at the very beginning, with those glacially slow, dialogue-free, and pointless scenes of Darren McGavin taking an elevator ride up to a meeting interspersed with the more interesting stuff of Steve's test-flight preparations.

But yes, it was definitely more dramatic and serious, and those aspects worked pretty well. I was actually kind of impressed with Lee Majors's acting for once; he never varied far from that deadpan, but he did a good job conveying an underlying intensity and anguish. But as I said, I felt it came to an end kind of abruptly.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I saw Return of Deathprobe recently and it was ridiculously fun, or maybe that should be ridiculous and fun. However, some other episodes were rather dull. One of the oddball stations shows them but rather sporadically.

 

[EATERoftheDEAD]

Is there any point in watching the final episodes of either show? This was the 70s so wrapping up the story wasn't always important to a series.

 

[Christopher]

^As you say, shows at the time didn't usually have series finales; the final episode would generally have been just another episode. So the only consideration is whether those episodes are enjoyable on their own merits, in which case there certainly is a point in watching them. I don't remember whether that's the case here, though.

 

[DWF]

Is there any point in watching the final episodes of either show? This was the 70s so wrapping up the story wasn't always important to a series.

The Bionic Woman ran for two years on ABC and was cancelled, but was picked up by NBC and the third season finale was something of a series ender. The movies ended up finishing the story of Jaime and Steve though.