Bionic Showdown The Six Million Dollar Man And The Bionic Woman
Roshan Fried
Bionic Showdown (also known by the longer title Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman) was a 1989 made-for-TV movie. It was the second of three reunion films featuring the original cast members of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman and, like the first film, was intended as a potential pilot for a new series, this one focusing on new bionic woman Kate Mason, played by a pre-stardom Sandra Bullock. It was followed by one final reunion film five years later, Bionic Ever After?.
A traitor within the OSI is leaking vital security information, that threatens the upcoming World Unity Games. That someone is also discovered to be bionic. Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers, who have been helping with preparations for the games, are now suspects. Can Austin and Sommers clear their names and prove that neither of them is the traitor?
The World Unity Games; a sports competition not unlike the Olympics, in the name of world peace is being held in Toronto, Canada. Oscar Goldman is asking Steve Austin to come out of retirement again, to become Chief of Security to the games. Austin reluctantly agrees. Later, someone manages to steal some information possibly vital to security of the games. It turns out that "someone" is bionic, because the thief tossed everyone about, including Goldman, like rag dolls.
Meanwhile, Jaime Sommers is giving a helping hand in preparing the OSI's newest bionic agent, Kate Mason, for her new life. She has been paralyzed since age six, and bionics will now allow her to walk for the first time in years. Mason's bionics are of a totally new design, which are based more on augmenting her present biological systems unlike her predecessors' cybernetic replacements. It proves to give her superior abilities over Austin and Sommers, while comparing favorably with Austin's son Michael Austin, who received the latest in advanced cybernetic replacements two years earlier.
As the story progresses, the enemy forces who planted the bionic thief at the OSI, want to eliminate Steve Austin so he doesn't pose any kind of obstacle for their eventual plans. At the same time, U.S. Army General John McAllister has now been temporarily placed in charge of the OSI, due to the serious nature of the information theft. McAllister's job is to re-evaluate the organization's current effectiveness, and make changes if necessary. He holds all the OSI's bionic agents suspect for the theft. Since Kate hadn't been "activated" at the time, and Michael Austin wasn't anywhere near the games: McAllister begins with securing Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers for questioning. However, McAllister is barking up the wrong tree, because the enemy has their own advanced bionic agent, like Kate!
Later when Austin and Sommers are free, the enemy bionic agent plants a bomb on Austin's boat in order to kill him. Instead of this happening, Oscar Goldman's nephew Jim Goldman is caught in the blast. Now Oscar schemes up a plan to flush out who's behind all this. Jim pretends to be severely injured by the bomb, and Goldman asks McAllister for permission to allow Jim to undergo bionic surgery. Goldman knows that McAllister would refuse, so he kicks up a big fuss and fakes his resignation, declaring he "would be better off with the enemy". The enemy forces take his words at face value and capture him. So now Goldman discovers who is behind everything, including the identity of the enemy bionic thief.
Since Kate Mason is coming along nicely with using her bionics, the enemy forces feel that she is a threat as well, and want to eliminate her. However, they fail in their attempt. Later, it turns out the whole thing is an inside job: with Deputy CIA Director Charles Esterman leaking bionic (and other) secrets to a Russian General Dzerinsky, and OSI agent Alan Devlin is the bionic thief. Mason manages to kill Devlin, and Esterman and his accomplice Dzerinsky end up in prison.
Allen: What, does a room with this many enemies in it make ya nervous?
Oscar: You're damn right it does! I didn't spend 30 years behind an OSI desk pushing pencils or shoving pins into Third World hotspots, I was out in the field! I was out in the action...
Jaime: Kate, you chose this. And they chose you. They chose you because of all the qualities that make you Kate.
Kate: Well, what if the OSI's made a mistake?! What if I'm not the person that they think?! What if I'm not a Jaime Sommers?!
Jaime: Hey! They don't want a clone of me, okay? They couldn't handle it. They've had too many problems with me over the years.
General McAllister: As far as I'm concerned, nobody is snow white. If some foreign power, if some group of terrorists, if some individual concern has found out how to build a bionic man or a bionic woman... just imagine what an army of them would be like...
Jim: It's temporary paralysis, though - isn't it, Steve? I mean, I'm gonna walk again...
Steve: You may walk again. And if you'll walk, you'll run - faster than any man has ever run before, including myself.
Jim: Sorry, Steve. It's... uh... it's a bit much to take in all at once, you know... kinda comes over me in waves, you know... the pain of the realization... I worked so hard for these games... I don't think I can deal with this right now. I can't even think of a good punchline.
Oscar: (Steve and Jaime are trying to take an unwilling Oscar away from a bar) They are cyborgs, would you believe that? And they're trying to kidnap me. I needs some help. Help!
Man in bar: Are you... sure you're his friend?
Jaime: Oh, absolutely. Listen, don't pay any attention to anything he says, he's very confused. Do I look like a robot to you?
Kate: Hey, if I'm gonna start working for the OSI, I've gotta start sometime, right? But you... you'll be close, right?
Jaime: Try and get rid of me. Just... please don't run, okay? Please...
Kate: Okay, we'll jog.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the hit ABC series The Six Million Dollar Man, which starred Lee Majors as Steve Austin. Majors will be appearing for the very first time at The Hollywood Show on June 7th and 8th at the Marriott Convention Center in Burbank, CA. Also in attendance will be his co-star and fellow Bionic Woman actress Lindsay Wagner, as well as actor Alan Oppenheimer, who played Dr. Rudy Wells. All three will be offering autographs and photo ops. Plus, there will also be a display of The Bionic Museum, the largest private collection containing tons of items from The Six Million Dollar Man & The Bionic Woman. Also, on hand at the event will be author Herbie J Pilato, who penned the book The Bionic Book: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman Reconstructed. Herbie will also be selling his book.
The Six Million Dollar Man, an ABC show starring Lee Majors as Colonel Steve Austin, an astronaut who was fatally hurt after a deadly crash and enhanced with cyborg technology, hit the airwaves on January 18th, 1974. Austin was given bionic legs, a bionic arm, and a bionic eye, then became a secret agent for the government, using his new superpowers to catch bad guys.
Fun Fact: Maximillion, the one-million-dollar bionic German Shepherd, had a bionic paw and legs, and he could run 90mph. There was rumored to be a spinoff on Max too, but it was scraped.
The Six Million Dollar Man also had three more TV movies made from 1987-1984: 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). In one of those movies there was a hopeful back-door spin-off show for the Bionic Boy, but that series never happened.
The Six Million Dollar Man also made a huge splash in the merchandising world of toys and collectibles, including puzzles, board games, action figures, backpack radios, transport and repair centers, critical assignment legs, critical assignment arms, cups, play sets, posters, records and more!
Vietnam veteran Colonel Steve Austin experienced a fatale accident after test piloting a new aircraft for NASA. Eventually he was "rebuilt" with bionic limbs in a six million dollar operation by the OSI and became their secret agent. A parachuting accident caused tennis pro Jaime Sommers to undergo bionic replacement surgery, to become the world's first female cyborg..
Here's a cast and character guide for sci-fi series The Six Million Dollar Man. The show was adapted from the novel Cyborg by the late Martin Caidin, which revolved around astronaut Steve Austin being left badly wounded in a crash. He's rebuilt with bionic limbs that make him faster and stronger and he's later forced to work for the government as a secret agent. The book formed the basis for The Six Million Dollar Man, which arrived in the form of three TV movies in 1973.
These TV movies were a huge success and a full Six Million Dollar Man show started airing in 1974. The series was incredibly popular during its five-season run, spawning novels, toys and comics, and paved the way for the success of The Incredible Hulk series. It also received a spinoff in the form of The Bionic Woman, and after it ended in 1978, cast members Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner returned for several TV movies, including 1989's Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man And The Bionic Woman. The latter was intended to create a new spinoff featuring a younger bionic woman played by Sandra Bullock.
A movie version of The Six Million Dollar Man has been in development for over 20 years now, with Mark Wahlberg currently attached to the lead role. Here's a rundown of the characters in the original show.
Lee Majors (Ash Vs Evil Dead) plays former astronaut Steve Austin, who is rebuilt for the pricey sum of six million dollars with new bionic parts, including a new eye. Steve is initially reluctant to become an agent and is especially resistant to killing, and while early TV movies portrayed him as a James Bond-style figure, this was toned down for the eventual show. He's also in love with Jaime Sommers, who becomes the Bionic Woman.
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