Preview
The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman was an American science-fiction Television series, which spun off from “The Six Million Dollar Man”. It debuted in January 1976 and was an immediate hit. It claimed the title role on the 1976 “TV Season’s hottest late entry”. Its runtime was 60 minutes and continued up to 58 episodes with three seasons. The show aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for two seasons from 1976 to 1977, and was picked up by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for its final season from 1977 to 1978.
The Bionic Woman was played by Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers, a professional tennis player who almost died in a skydiving accident but saved and became The Bionic Woman through the help of Oscar Goldman and Dr. Rudy Wells, who had also rebuilt The Six Million Dollar Man. Goldman was played by Richard Anderson while Martin Brooks played the role of Dr. Wells. As Jaime became a hero, she did not stop saving the world from the villains; battling spies, fembots, mad scientists and aliens.
The Bionic Woman History
The Bionic Woman actually began
her Television career as she first appeared in a two-part episode of The Six
Million Dollar Man in 1975, entitled "The Bionic
Woman". In this episode, Steve Austin (The
Six Million Dollar Man, now a colonel and former astronaut) happens by
chance to reunite with Jaime Sommers, his childhood love who became one of America’s top tennis player. They
meet again in their old hometown as Austin
visits his mother and step-father and take a vacation from his work.
Their relationship progresses rapidly with some matchmaking from Austin’s mom to the point
where he proposes marriage.
At the end of Jaime’s appearance on the Six Million Dollar Man, she was a victim of a serious skydiving accident. Her parachute malfunctions and she plummets through a clump of trees and hits the ground, suffering traumatic injuries to her legs, right arm, and head. Desperately, Steve Austin begs his boss, Oscar Goldman, to equip Jamie with the same bionic implants he himself received, even going so far as to commit Jaime to become an OSI (Office of Scientific Investigations) operative. Goldman agrees to assign Dr. Rudy Wells and the bionics team to rebuild her and has outfitted with two bionic legs, a right arm and an artificial right ear. The implants give her incredible strength and speed while her ear is augmented by a bionic device that gives her the ability to hear a whisper a mile away regardless of volume and frequency.
Jaime was given new life and new body parts as she recovers well from her operation. Over Austin's initial objections, Jaime agrees to go on a mission for Oscar Goldman. In the middle of a mission, unfortunately her body starts to reject the bionic transplants as she begins experiencing mental instability and blinding headaches. Dr. Wells determines that her body is rejecting the bionic implants, a massive cerebral clot apparently causing her headaches and malfunctions. Soon after, she goes amok and crashes her way out of the hospital. Steve takes pursuit and eventually catches up with her, where she collapses in his arms. Soon after, Jaime appears to die on the operating table, her body shutting down. The downbeat episode ends with Austin weeping at her memory.
ABC realized how phenomenally successful Lindsay Wagner's portrayal of Jaime Sommers had become. So, they brought her back to life and spun her off into her own series, The Bionic Woman. Now the story revealed that Jaime hadn't died after all, although Steve Austin was not informed of this fact. Jamie was brought back to life via cryogenic suspension methods by Dr. Michael Marchetti, her new implants kicked in successfully. Her heart was restarted and she was rescued from death. However, the resulting trauma from the operation left Jaime with no memory of having known her fiancé, Steve. Another surgery restored a lot of her memories, but the feelings of love that she had felt for Steve seemed unrecoverable.
Jaime, now retired as a tennis player, takes a job as a schoolteacher in Ojai. She lives in a converted farmhouse rented from Austin's mother and stepfather, who were aware of her and Steve's bionic nature and their double lives as secret agents. Jaime was sent on numerous covert missions. She also worked frequently with Austin on missions and the two reestablished their friendship, although no romance resulted initially. In later years, the love between Jaime and Steve rekindled and this was further explored in three made-for-TV reunion movies in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Other Bionic Technology
The Bionic Boy
He was Andy Sheffield played by Vincent Van Patten, a paralyzed teenager who had both legs replaced. He has been injured in a landslide that also killed his controversial father. OSI chooses the youth to receive atomic/bionic implants that will restore his paralyzed legs. The result is superhuman strength in those legs. Andy immediately uses this new power to do what he can to restore the good name of his father. Once he gets in over his head, Colonel Steve Austin comes to his aid.
The Bionic Dog
Maximillion "Max" the Bionic Dog, a German shepherd injured in a laboratory fire equipped with a bionic jaw and four bionic legs at a cost of one million dollars. In the later episodes of The Bionic Woman, Jamie adopts Max and became her pet. Max was an experiment to see if trained animals could benefit from bionics.
Bionic Race Diver
A bionically rebuilt race driver, Barney Miller played by Monte Markham, who was given nuclear-powered parts in a 1974 episode. He was the only living man stronger than Steve Austin. He is dubbed the "Seven Million Dollar Man" because both of his arms are replaced. Miller, however, becomes seduced by his powers and turns to evil.
Super Powers and Abilities
Jaime Somers’ bionic powers and
abilities were depicted as being similar to Austin's. Her right ear
is augmented by a bionic device that gives her the ability to hear a whisper or
even footsteps from a mile away (she is often shown using this ability to break
into safes). She can
run more than 60 mph, bend steel bars with her right arm, jump to the roof of a
12 story building with her new legs, catch villains who are endangering our National security,
and still have enough energy and motivation left over to use her talent and
knowledge as a schoolteacher.
Super Power Limits
In one episode, "Kill
Oscar" Part 1, we saw the limits of her abilities. After jumping out of a
particularly tall building to escape the Fembots, Jaime's legs explode upon
impact when her legs' shock absorption function is overwhelmed. Her right ear
is an extremely sensitive implant as it is encased in her body, it is also
typically not subject to the negative effects extreme cold has on bionic
implants.
The Bionic Woman's List of Episodes
Season 1 (1976) ABC Network
· The
Bionic Woman, Part 1 (March 16,
1975) *The Six Million Dollar Man episode
· The Bionic
Woman, Part 2 (March 23, 1975) *The
Six Million Dollar Man episode
· The Return
of the Bionic Woman, Part 1 (September
14, 1975) *The Six Million Dollar Man episode
· The Return
of the Bionic Woman, Part 2 (September
21, 1975) *The Six Million Dollar Man episode
· Welcome
Home, Jaime, Part 1 (January 14,
1976) *The Six Million Dollar Man episode
· Welcome
Home, Jaime, Part 2 (January 21,
1976)
· Angel of
Mercy (January 28, 1976)
· The Secret
of Big Foot, Part 1 (February 1,
1976) *The Six Million Dollar Man episode
· Love Song
for Tanya (February 15, 1976) *The
Six Million Dollar Man episode
· A Thing of
the Past (February 18, 1976)
· Claws (February 25, 1976)
· The Deadly
Missiles (March 3, 1976)
· Big Brother (March 7, 1976) *The Six Million Dollar
Man episode
· Bionic
Beauty (March 17, 1976)
· Jaime's
Mother (March 24, 1976)
· Winning is
Everything (April 7, 1976)
· Canyon of Death (April 14, 1976)
· Fly Jaime (May 5, 1976)
· The
Jailing of Jaime (May 12, 1976)
· Mirror
Image (May 19, 1976)
· The
Ghosthunter (May 26, 1976)
Season 2 (1976-1977) ABC Network
· The Return
of Bigfoot, Part 1 (September 19,
1976) *The Six Million Dollar Man episode
· The Return
of Bigfoot, Part 2 (September 22,
1976)
· In This
Corner, Jaime Sommers (September 29,
1976)
· Assault on
the Princess (October 6, 1976)
· Road to Nashville (October 20, 1976)
· Kill Oscar,
Part 1 (October 27, 1976)
· Kill
Oscar, Part 2 (October 31, 1976)
*The Six Million Dollar Man episode
· Kill
Oscar, Part 3 (November 3, 1976)
· Black
Magic (November 10, 1976)
· Sister
Jaime (November 24, 1976)
· The Vega
Influence (December 1, 1976)
· Jaime's
Shield, Part 1 (December 15, 1976)
· Jaime's
Shield, Part 2 (December 22, 1976)
· Biofeedback
(January 12, 1977)
· Doomsday
is Tomorrow, Part 1 (January 19,
1977)
· Doomsday
is Tomorrow, Part 2 (January 26,
1977)
· Deadly
Ringer, Part 1 (February 2, 1977)
· Deadly
Ringer, Part 2 (February 9, 1977)
· Jaime and
the King (February 23, 1977)
· Beyond the
Call (March 9, 1977)
· The DeJon
Caper (March 16, 1977)
· The Night
Demon (March 23, 1977)
· Iron Ships
and Dead Men (March 30, 1977)
· Once a
Thief (May 4, 1977)
Season 3 (1977-1978) NBC Network
· The Bionic
Dog, Part 1 (September 10, 1977)
· The Bionic
Dog, Part 2 (September 17, 1977)
· Fembots in
Las Vegas,
Part 1 (September 24, 1977)
· Fembots in
Las Vegas,
Part 2 (October 1, 1977)
· Rodeo (October 15, 1977)
· African
Connection (October 29, 1977)
· Motorcycle
Boogie (November 5, 1977)
· Brain Wash (November 12, 1977)
· Escape to
Love (November 26, 1977)
· Max (December 3, 1977)
· Over the
Hill Spy (December 17, 1977)
· All for
One (January 7, 1978)
· The
Pyramid (January 14, 1978)
· The
Antidote (January 21, 1978)
· The
Martians are Coming, The Martians are Coming (January 28, 1978)
· Sanctuary
Earth (February 11, 1978)
· Deadly
Music (February 18, 1978)
· Which One
is Jaime (February 25, 1978)
· Out of
Body (March 4, 1978)
· Long Live
the King (March 25, 1978)
· Rancho
Outcast (May 6, 1978)
· On the Run
(May 13, 1978)
Television Movies
1. The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (May 17, 1987)
Jaime Sommers and Steve Austin are reunited after nearly ten years of living separate lives. Jaime's memory is apparently fully restored (according to Oscar Goldman, Jaime was in an accident that involved an explosion, and "she remembered everything" after she recovered from her concussion) and she tries to reconcile her feelings for Steve. The sequel also introduced Steve's son, Michael Austin (played by Tom Schanley) from an earlier marriage who sustained major injuries when his Air Force jet malfunctioned/crashed during his solo flight. Again, at the insistence of Steve, the OSI fitted Michael with a microchip computer in his chest, a new bionic right arm, 10 artificial ribs, reinforced spine, a laser equipped right eye and two new bionic legs. Due to the advances in technology, Michael was even faster than Jamie and Steve.
2. Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (April 30, 1989)
Again teamed Steve and Jaime with a new bionic woman named Kate Mason (played by Sandra Bullock) to battle a renegade cyborg.
3. Bionic Ever After (November 29, 1994)
Jaime Sommers, now a Family Counselor in Washington, DC, experiences a failure of her bionic limbs caused by a mysterious robot virus which puts a delay in her wedding plans to Steve (who also gets infected). The story has a happy ending and, finally, Dr. Jamie Sommers and Colonel Steve Austin marry on September 4, 1994.
The Cast from ABC to NBC 1976-1978
· Jaime Sommers as Lindsay Wagner
· Oscar Goldman as Richard Anderson
· Dr. Rudy Wells as Martin E. Brooks
· Mark Russell as Sam Chew Jr.
· Peggy Callahan as Jennifer Darling
· Jim Elgin as Ford Rainey
· Helen Elgin as Martha Scott
· Chris Williams as Christopher Stone
· Col. Steve Austin as Lee Majors
· Baxter as Michael Santiago
· Teddy as Christian Juttner
Other media
DVD
The first season of the original series was released to DVD in the UK on September 26, 2005. The second season is due to be released in the UK on October 23, 2006.
Books
· Two novels adapting various episodes were published to coincide with the series: Welcome Home, Jaime and Extracurricular Activities, both by Eileen Lottman.
· A short-lived comic book series by Charlton Comics was published in 1976-77. The character was also to have appeared in a 1996 comic miniseries entitled Bionix by Maximum Press. Although the magazine was advertised in comic book trade publications, it was ultimately never published.
Other Stuffs
The Bionic Woman attracted a wide range of viewers, from the bubble gum crowd to a sizable adult audience stuck on Lindsay Wagner's sexy looks. She was so popular, she had dolls, cards, lunch boxes and even coloring books fashioned after her.
Comic Appearance
Photoshoot Appearance
SuperHeroines
More Heroines
