TVXOHOF, 08/2019 - WE CAN REBUILD HIM

For those who have not been paying attention all year, 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  This called for a special theme to run with each montly showcase.  And with the proliferation of superhero TV shows, I decided that super-powered characters – both heroes and villains – would be that theme.

But traditionally, each month has its own theme and so I decided to choose those heroes & villains who fit those themes.  For instance, January is Classic TV, so we kicked off 2019 with a double-header: Batman & Robin.  February is Black History Month, so we conflated three TV characters played by Eartha Kitt to be the full biography of her version of Catwoman.  And for April?  Who else but the Joker?

But with August, the tradition clashed with the anniversary theme.  Every year August has been the showcase for celebrating the TV Westerns in my Toobworld sites since before the TVXOHOF even existed.  However, even though there have been Western heroes in the super-powered worlds of both Marvel and DC – Jonah Hex and the Two-Gun Kid come to mind.  But on TV, we’ve only seen Jonah Hex so far and then, only on one series.

I came up with a great idea – to play with the concept of “Western” and thought a perfect candidate would be the super “man” considered to be one of the first heroes of the Western World.  It’s a character whom we’ve seen in TV, movies, and yes, comic books.  And the main actor not only had plenty of credits to qualify for the Hall as this hero, but it was eventually shown that the actor really was that hero!  That would lead to a few extra appearances in which the actor played his own televersion as a member of the League of Themselves.

But in doing my research on that actor in the role, I learned things about him that really disturbed me.  And since his appearance as himself in other shows would be included, I didn’t feel good about including him.  Someday he will get in, but this was the wrong time.

So thanks to Michael Trupia’s suggestion, we do have a replacement who – truth to be told – should have been inducted ages ago…

COLONEL STEVE AUSTIN:

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

From Wikipedia:

‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ is an American science fiction and action television series about a former astronaut, Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by American actor Lee Majors. Austin has superhuman strength due to bionicimplants and is employed as a secret agent by a fictional U.S. government office titled OSI.  The series was based on the Martin Caidin novel “Cyborg”, which was the working title of the series during pre-production.  

Following three television pilot movies, which all aired in 1973, ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ television series aired on the ABC network as a regular episodic series for five seasons from 1974 to 1978. Steve Austin became a pop culture icon of the 1970s.

A spin-off television series, ‘The Bionic Woman’, featuring the lead female character Jaime Sommers, ran from 1976 to 1978. Three television movies featuring both bionic characters were also produced from 1987 to 1994.

That rundown sums up all the reasons why the Six Million Dollar Man is so deerving of the chance to be in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

More from Wikipedia:
When NASA astronaut 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 $34 million in 2018). His right arm, both legs and the 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 60 mph (97 km/h), 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) as a secret agent.

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. (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 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, Dr. 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.

In 1975, a two-part episode entitled "The Bionic Woman", written for television by Kenneth Johnson, introduced the lead character 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 actually 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.

Thanks again for an incredibly appropriate candidate to the Hall, Michael Trupia!

And welcome to the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, Colonel Austin.  You’ve opened the floodgates as you won’t be the last one from that corner of Toobworld to join….

BCnU!