Line #62 Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Six_million_dollar_man_8770.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:Flare collar included.]]
3
4	->''"Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster."''
5	-->-- '''OpeningNarration'''
6
7	''The Six Million Dollar Man'' -- the TV show that put "bionic" in the popular lexicon. More importantly, it set the stage for the SuperHero genre to be taken seriously in popular entertainment.
8
9	Creator/LeeMajors starred as Col. Steve Austin (no, not [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin that one]][[note]]Steven James Anderson picked his stage name after the character as a ShoutOut.[[/note]]) in this sci-fi action-adventure series that ran from 1973 to 1978. Austin, an astronaut, is seriously injured in a test flight and given artificial ("bionic") replacements for his legs, his right arm, and left eye, leaving him with superhuman speed, strength and telescopic vision. He can run more than 60 MPH, jump several stories, see objects from miles away and in the dark, and lift enormous weights. Upon his recovery, he goes to work for Oscar Goldman (Creator/RichardAnderson), head of the Office of Scientific Investigations, and [[TheyFightCrime fights crime]]. Other regular or recurring characters includes:
10
11	* Dr. Rudy Wells (Martin Brooks), the inventor of the bionic technology.
12	* Barney Hiller, another bionic agent who went rogue (originally named Barney ''Miller'' in his first appearance, but his name was changed due to the success of the [[Series/BarneyMiller Hal Linden sitcom]]).
13
14	In a spring 1975 episode, Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner), a tennis pro and Austin's love interest, is injured in a skydiving accident. Austin pleads with Goldman to save her life, and she too is fitted with bionic parts (legs, one arm, and an ear). Eventually her body rejects her implants, and she dies, at least as far as Austin is concerned. Fan outcry was so great, [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]] demanded the series reorganize the start of the third season and run a two-parter bringing her back to life. So after Jaime is rescued by a radical medical procedure, she goes to work for the OSI in her own spinoff series, ''Series/TheBionicWoman'' (1976-1978), living undercover as a schoolteacher on an Air Force base when not on missions for the OSI. And Jaime herself became a recurring character on ''Six Mil'' during its third and fourth seasons, taking part in a number of crossover stories until ''Bionic Woman'' was cancelled by ABC in 1977 and moved to NBC, ending these crossovers for good.
15
16	''The Six Million Dollar Man'' was based upon the science fiction novel ''Cyborg'' by Creator/MartinCaidin, and the original pilot TV movie, aired in 1973, was written by Henri Simoun and an uncredited Creator/StevenBochco (''Series/NYPDBlue''). It was followed by two more TV movies produced by Glen Larson (''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'') that unsuccessfully tried to turn Austin into a more Film/JamesBond-like character. When the series returned as a weekly hour-long show in January 1974, it was now produced by Harve Bennett (''Franchise/StarTrek''), who restored much of Caidin's original characterization to Austin (though Caidin's version of the character was rather different -- he was more of an assassin, carried a poison dart gun in a bionic finger, and his non-seeing bionic eye was a miniature camera). Later, Kenneth Johnson, who would go on to be involved with ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977'', ''Series/AlienNation,'' and ''Series/{{V 1983}}'', joined as a writer and went on to create the character of Jaime Sommers and produce the spin-off. Johnson advocated a somewhat "kindler, gentler" show, and it was in a two-parter he wrote that the show's most iconic recurring character, Bigfoot, first appeared.
17
18	The series was followed by made-for-TV movies in the late [[TheEighties 1980s]] and early [[TheNineties 1990s]]. In the [[GrandFinale last of these]], ''Bionic Ever After?'' (1994), Steve and Jaime finally got married. As for bionic kids -- Austin's estranged son by a pre-series marriage, Michael, appears in ''The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman'' (1987), where he is fitted with bionics far, far exceeding those possessed by his father. In the second film, ''Bionic Showdown'' (1989), a new bionic woman named Kate Mason is introduced, played by Creator/SandraBullock in one of her first roles.
19
20	The series is known for its slow-motion special effects which, while sometimes derided by modern-day viewers, were based upon similar slow-motion effects used by NFL Films in its sports archive films (and even before that, films like ''Olympia'' had also used the technique). The slow-motion action actually wasn't consistently used until midway through the second season, but it was decided that speeding up the action usually didn't work (Lee Majors on the 2010 DVD release of the series commented that it looked like something out of the Keystone Cops).
21
22	Majors, an acclaimed actor from such films as ''The Ballad of Andy Crocker'' and ''The Francis Gary Powers Story'', but best known for his work in westerns like ''Series/TheBigValley'', was chosen because of his stoic demeanor. His co-star, Richard Anderson (''Film/ForbiddenPlanet''), played Oscar Goldman and provided a fatherly figure to both Steve and, later, Jaime. Three actors played Dr. Rudy Wells: Oscar-winner Martin Balsam in the first pilot, noted voice actor Creator/AlanOppenheimer for the first 2 seasons, and Martin E. Brooks thereafter. In 1977, Anderson and Brooks made US TV history by becoming the first lead actors to play the same roles in two ongoing series on two competing networks, when they were allowed to appear on both ''Six Mil'' on ABC and ''Bionic Woman'' on NBC. They also reprised their roles for the later reunion films.
23
24	Two award-winning episodes were written by ''Franchise/StarTrek'' veteran DC Fontana -- "The Rescue of Athena One", starring a pre-stardom Farrah Fawcett (then Mrs. Lee Majors) as America's first female astronaut, and "Straight on 'Til Morning" starring Creator/MegFoster (''Series/CagneyAndLacey'') as a stranded space explorer. Creator/MonteMarkham, who was Caidin's first choice to play Austin, portrayed Barney Hiller, the Seven Million Dollar Man.
25
26	The show was immensely popular and served as a template for later sci-fi action-adventure shows that leaned more toward action than sci-fi. Glen Larson's ''Series/KnightRider'', for instance, is cast from the same mold, although some elements were changed: the mortally-injured Michael Knight was given a talking supercar rather than superhuman abilities, and fought crime for a foundation rather than for the government. ''Jake 2.0'' is a more recent homage, with Lee Majors actually appearing in an episode (and the "bionic sound" is heard more than once in the episode just to drive the point home).
27
28	In the 1970s, the utterly exorbitant $6 million (equivalent to about $41 million in 2023 USD) seemed about the right cost to create a bionic man.[[note]]You could say it [[ObligatoryJoke cost an arm and a leg]].[[/note]] Oddly enough, due to the rapidly-falling costs of technology, it might still seem about right. A proposed film remake starring Creator/MarkWahlberg will be [[RidiculousFutureInflation heavily inflation-adjusted]] with the name, ''"The Six '''Billion''' Dollar Man"''.
29	----
30	!!''The Six Million Dollar Man'' provides examples of the following tropes:
31
32	* AchillesHeel
33	** Extreme cold could make the bionic limbs stop working until they warmed up.
34	** In "The Rescue of Athena One", Steve discovers that the normal cosmic radiation in space interferes with his bionics, effectively reducing him to the strength of a normal man (or worse).
35	** Steve's natural arm is vulnerable and often injured.
36	** He seems to also have the skull equivalent of a glass jaw (which is in contrast to the original novels in which his skull was also replaced).
37	** Several episodes also establish that if you take out Steve's legs, it leaves him at death's door.
38	** There are limitations to how far down Austin and Sommers can fall safely--in one episode, Jaime is forced to leap down from a ''very'' high rooftop. She knows it's too high ("I'm not ''that'' bionic"), but has no other choice. Upon landing, her legs basically ''explode'' on impact; she suffers severe injuries, and severe radiation poisoning from her ruptured power cells as a result.
39	** His bionic parts are powered by miniature nuclear fuel cells. In one of the Bigfoot two-parters, the cells burst when his legs are damaged, exposing him to lethal levels of radiation (this is likely why Austin was incapacitated in "Return of the Bionic Woman" as well). An early episode also referenced the dangers of radiation leaking from his limbs.
40	* AesopAmnesia: in 'Straight on Til Morning' both Steve and Oscar encounter a crew of lost aliens. Yet in 'The Return of Bigfoot' Oscar doubts Steve's story about a colony of aliens living in the Sierra Nevada mountains? Futhermore in 'Death Probe' Steve is sceptical about the unidentified radar trace being a flying saucer?
41	* AmnesiaEpisode: "A Stranger In Broken Fork", [[spoiler: his bionic arm develops a defect with this as one of its side-effects.]]
42	* AnchoredShip: Jaime Sommers, due to her [[spoiler: losing all memory of Steve, including being in love with him after being brought back to life and (briefly) falling in love with her doctor. Although Steve attempts to weigh anchor, and the two become close friends, it is not until the reunion TV movies - by which time Jaime's memories of being in love with Steve have returned - that the ship set sail once again.]] RealLifeWritesThePlot also applies here due to ''Series/TheBionicWoman'' changing networks for the 1977-78 TV season, which prevented any further interaction between Jaime and Steve.
43	* BackdoorPilot: An uncommon example of an unintended pilot. The two-parter that introduced Jaime Sommers, the Bionic Woman, was only ever intended and commissioned as a one-off story, but it proved to be so popular that it ended up acting (in tandem with the quickly commissioned "The Return of the Bionic Woman" follow-up) as a backdoor pilot for the eventual spin-off series (forcing the producers into some very creative thinking considering the first story [[spoiler: killed the character off]]).
44	** "The Bionic Boy" is sometimes cited as a backdoor pilot, though watching the actual episode reveals this to be unlikely given its resolution.
45	** "The Ultimate Imposter", unlike "The Bionic Woman" and "The Bionic Boy", was conceived as a backdoor for a potential spin-off.
46	* AndStarring: Elaine Giftos gets "And" billing in "Date With Danger".
47	* BackwardsFiringGun: "Wine, Women and War" has Steve Austin crimp the barrel of a mook's gun closed with his bionic fingers. The mook doesn't notice this and, despite Austin warning him not to fire, he shoots and nails himself (though it's unclear whether he actually shoots himself or gets knocked out by backfire).
48	* BatmanGrabsAGun: Steve expresses a dislike of them after serving as a fighter pilot in Vietnam. He does however occasionally utilise both them and grenades, killing several foes in the early episodes.
49	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Austin was in a horrible, limb-ruining crash - but his face and skin came through just fine, thank you. No scars or anything.
50	* BetterThanNew: Austin is given [[ArtificialLimbs bionic replacements]] for his legs, his [[FashionableAsymmetry right arm]], and [[ElectronicEyes one eye]], leaving him with superhuman speed and strength and telescopic vision. The iconic opening credits come close to citing the trope by name.
51	* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: A recurring "guest star". [[spoiler:[[VoodooShark Bigfoot's actually a cyborg like Steve, built by aliens hiding in the woods to keep people away, though he appears to be more cybernetic than organic.]]]]
52	* BroughtDownToNormal: Happens to [[spoiler: Barney Hiller/Miller when it is determined that he cannot handle being bionically powered]].
53	** Happens occasionally to Austin when his bionics malfunction or are exposed to extreme cold.
54	* BulletTime: The series made iconic early use of this to illustrate bionic superspeed.
55	* TheCaper: "The Madonna Caper" where Steve has to steal a painting. Despite the title, it isn't [[Series/AlloAllo the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies]].
56	* CarpetOfVirility: Lee Majors had this, and the wardrobe department took every opportunity to let the viewers know.
57	* ComicBookAdaptation: Charlton Comics published both a color comic book and a black and white illustrated magazine aimed at adult readers during the run of the series. In the 2010s, Dynamite Comics launched ''The Bionic Man'', a reimagined version of the story based upon an unproduced Creator/KevinSmith script for an SMDM film. In 2014, Dynamite dropped the reimagined ''Bionic Man'' in favor of ''The Six Million Dollar Man Season 6'', a direct continuation of the TV series; it has since published several more titles set in the TV continuity, including a crossover with, of all things, Franchise/GIJoe. In the UK, the magazine ''Look-In''[[note]]a kind of a children's version of ''TV Times''- a TV listings magazine covering Creator/{{ITV}} and after its introduction, Creator/Channel4[[/note]] published a weekly comic strip titled ''Bionic Action'' in the 1970s that featured both Steve and Jaime. In the mid-1990s a new US comic book series titled ''Bionix'' was announced, again to feature both Steve and Jaime, but it was cancelled despite being promoted in various magazines, though a few pages of sample art were published.
58	* ContrivedCoincidence: Not once, but ''twice'', injuries similar to Austin's are inflicted on people close to him. Jaime loses her right arm and both legs, while in the ''Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman'' reunion movie, Austin's son suffers the ''exact same injuries'' as his father, except he loses his right eye instead of his left.
59	** Fortunately for Steve Austin, his personal physician and close friend, Dr. Rudy Wells, is also the creator of bionics. (This is in the original TV movie; the series proper subtly retcons this away over time as it establishes that Rudy was involved with the OSI (and bionics) well before meeting Austin.)
60	* ConvenientlyClosePlanet - In the two-parter with the Venus Probe, we're told that we sent an unmanned space probe to UsefulNotes/{{Venus}}, it grazed the Venusian atmosphere (thus activating its [[KryptoniteFactor internal pressurization]]), then it ''accidentally missed Venus'' and, after hurtling blindly through interplanetary space, crash-landed ''back on Earth.'' While it's true that a transfer orbit that takes you from Earth to Venus will eventually take you back to the Earth's orbital distance from the sun, ''the Earth won't be anywhere nearby when you get there.''
61	* CryptidEpisode: The infamous episode where Steve Austin fights with Bigfoot.
62	* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Barney Miller (later renamed Hiller) narrowly misses this trope in his first appearance.
63	* {{Cyborg}}: The TropeCodifier, if not the TropeMaker, for this type of character in fiction.
64	* CyberPunk: the show itself ''isn't'' CyberPunk, but almost every cybered-up "Street Samurai" looks to Steve Austin as inspiration. Many a CyberPunk novel, anime, comic, and film will use some variant of the line 'We can rebuild him. Faster. Stronger. Better.' in homage to the show
65	* DayInTheLimelight: "The Most Dangerous Enemy" gives Dr. Wells something to do other than fix up Steve (or Jaime) [[spoiler: when a chimp who's been used in scientific experiments scratches him, he develops strength to rival Steve's... also it'll kill him in mere hours.]]
66	* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: Austin makes a few clumsy mistakes in the early episodes, such as hitting a golf ball too far in "Wine, Women and War" and throwing a heavy door open too fast in "The Rescue of Athena One".
67	** Jaime Sommers' iconic accidental tennis ball crush takes place during her original two-parter on 6MDM.
68	** And the 1994 reunion movie is even more vicious: Steve lands in the drink after an attempt to deal with Jaime's poorly functioning arm doesn't go as hoped (he responds by shoving water at her). Their racquetball match starts off innocently enough, but then their bionics kick in without them realizing it.
69	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The pilot episode has Austin working for the OSO, not the OSI, and his boss is Oliver Spencer, not Oscar Goldman. Subsequent episodes retconned Spencer out of existence, except for the syndicated episodic version of the pilot, which had to make do (it wasn't until Dynamite Comics' ''Six Million Dollar Man'' comic series in 2014 that an attempt was made to incorporate Spencer into the overall continuity).
70	** Many of the famous tropes of this series - the slow-motion running, the "na-na-na-naaa" sound effect and the procedure for depicting the bionic eye at work - were not finalized until the second season. In fact, the first time we see the bionic eye work (in the second TV movie), it glows green! (And the bionic eye surprisingly is not used at all in the first TV movie, other than the implication that Austin's sight is restored by it.)
71	** The second and third TV movies that launched the series depicted Austin as a Bond-like secret agent, a womanizer with something of a license to kill and a knack for wearing rather ridiculous tuxedoes. The third pilot film also attempts to introduce a SPECTRE-like big bad. Much of this was dropped when the weekly series began, and by the third season Austin was almost never shown killing anyone. Or wearing a tux. And the SPECTRE {{expy}} was never heard from again, although a similar organization would be featured in the first reunion movie.
72	* EasyAmnesia: In "Stranger at Broken Fork," Steve finds himself in a strange town and can't remember who he is or how he got there. Or that he's a super-powered cyborg.
73	* EverythingIsOnline: A major plot point in the two-parter "Date With Danger."
74	* ExtraLongEpisode: "The Lost Island."
75	* EverybodyLaughsEnding: "The Lost Island" [[spoiler: when Steve shows Oscar a souvenir he brought back from the title island in the Pacific - Rudy's [[ImpossiblyTackyClothes rather garish Hawaiian hat]].]]
76	* EyeScream: A minor case in the opening credits with a brief shot (taken from the pilot movie) of a doctor holding onto part of Austin's bionic eye. However, the series omitted an aspect of the original novels in which Austin's eye, as it was initially a camouflaged film camera, had to be removed whenever the time came to develop the film.
77	* {{Fanservice}}: The only possible reason to have Steve Austin and Dr. Leah Russell (both played by sex symbols of UsefulNotes/TheSeventies - in Dr. Russell's case Creator/JennyAgutter) meet for the first time half-naked in a sauna.
78	* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: The fact three different actors played Rudy Wells becomes evident on numerous occasions: by the time of the episode "Return of the Bionic Woman", Martin E. Brooks had taken over the role from Creator/AlanOppenheimer, but flashbacks to the first Bionic Woman episode were required, which featured footage of Oppenheimer. The pilot movie, aired in syndication as "The Moon and the Desert", featured Creator/MartinBalsam as Wells, and Balsam recorded new dialogue for the syndicated version. However, the opening credits still credited Martin E. Brooks. One later episode of SMDM featured a number of key flashbacks to an Oppenheimer episode, resulting in the actor returning for a one-off guest appearance and substituting for Brooks.
79	* FlawedPrototype: Barney Miller/Hiller, the Seven Million Dollar Man--More powerful than Steve, with both legs and ''both'' arms replaced by bionics, he was carried away by the power of what he'd become, while also coming to hate himself for what he'd become.
80	* FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome: Steve Austin never lost his bionic capabilities, but the "bionic boy" who appeared in one of the early episodes (no relation to Steve Austin's long lost son in one of the later TV movies, who also got bionic parts) lost his bionic legs again by the end of the episode.
81	** Also Barney Miller/Hiller, who after proving himself incapable of handling his bionic powers has his bionics "tuned down" to human capabilities.
82	* GlassesPull: Oscar Goldman seemed to love these.
83	* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The O.S.I. (Office of Scientific Information)
84	* TheGreatRepair: "Little Orphan Airplane"
85	* HeroicBSOD: Steve, after the [[spoiler: apparent death of Jaime]].
86	* IconicOutfit: Steve's {{Captain Ersatz}}es that appeared on ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' and ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' were both wearing the red tracksuit seen above. (They're also both on at least friendly terms with [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfoot]].)
87	** The tracksuit sported by the Kenner action figure is based upon the outfit Steve is shown running in during the pilot movie (footage later featured in the opening credits -- the high-speed run along a fence). In "The Seven Million Dollar Man", "The Bionic Woman" and at least a couple other episodes, Steve wears a version of the tracksuit that is even closer to the action figure.
88	** Steve also often wore a leisure suit, which became quite fashionable at the time.
89	* InnateNightVision: In addition to a 20-to-1 zoom, Steve's bionic eye can see in the thermal infrared.
90	* LensmanArmsRace: While Steve and Jamie's bionic legs could propel them at 60 miles per hour[[note]]An early episode of ''The Bionic Woman'' actually shows Jaime outrunning a race car going ''100 MPH'', but this may have been due to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.[[/note]], the bionic legs given to Steve's long-lost son in the later TV movie could make him run at '''300''' miles per hour.
91	* LicensedPinballTable: Produced by Creator/{{Bally}} in 1978. [[Pinball/TheSixMillionDollarMan Click here for details.]]
92	* MaleMightFemaleFinesse: "The Secret of Bigfoot," which has Steve encounter a band of aliens living in a secluded woodland. They have a huge android called Sasquatch, whose strength keeps Colonel Austin in check. Sasquatch's chief controller is Shalon, an alien humanoid female with a device on her UtilityBelt that allows her warp time around herself, an effect that mimics teleportation. Only Steve's bionic eye can track Shalon in this accelerated mode.
93	* ManipulativeBastard
94	** Oscar falls into this category in the early episodes.
95	** His predecessor, Oliver Spencer (featured in the pilot TV movie) is the epitome of this trope as [[spoiler:he orchestrates a dangerous mission for Steve simply to see if he would survive; if he hadn't, Spencer was prepared to simply build another bionic man and try again. He also asks Rudy if it's possible to "turn off" Austin like a robot when he wasn't needed for missions.]]
96	* MarketBasedTitle: "Welcome Home, Jaime - Part 1" and "Kill Oscar, Part II" were shown in the UK as part of ''Series/TheBionicWoman''. (Note: Unlike the American broadcasts, both series remained on [[Creator/{{ITV}} the same network]] for their first runs.
97	* MindReading: In one episode, a psychic man was captured by the Bad Guys and forcibly hooked up to a psychic-amplifying machine. The O.S.I. used ''another'' psychic (a plucky teenage girl) to track him down. Her mind reading abilities provided Oscar with an excuse to do another GlassesPull.
98	* MissionControl: Oscar, in many episodes.
99	* MistakenForBadVision: In one episode, an elderly man sees Steve sprinting across a field at his top speed. He then turns to his wife and says he needs a new pair of glasses.
100	* MoodWhiplash: A rather odd case in the original ''Bionic Woman'' two-parter. Several scenes showing Jaime and Steve romancing and enjoying themselves - clearly getting on well - are accompanied by a song called "Sweet Jaime" sung by none other than Lee Majors (meaning it wasn't an off-the-shelf track, but written and recorded specifically for the episode). The lyrics heard are all about the romance breaking down and things going "flat" even though what we see on screen indicates nothing of the sort! ([[spoiler:This does not include the verse heard playing after Jaime's "death", of course.]])
101	* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Stephen F. Austin (1793 – 1836) was the man after whom the city of Austin, Texas was named.
102	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Occurred occasionally with Steve, often involving his bionic eye. Although its best-known functionality, telescopic zoom and night vision, were established from the start, other functions were revealed in later episodes including the ability to see people rendered invisible and, in the final TV movie, it was suddenly given a targeting capability. In the Charlton comic books, one story randomly gave Steve the ability to shoot a powerful laser beam out of the eye, while the very next issue gave the eye the ability to receive transmissions from a tiny bionic eye inside a ''Steve Austin doll''. One episode also randomly gave Steve's bionic arm the one-off ability to act as a Geiger counter. It could be argued that most of Steve's powers count as this if one bases things on Martin Caidin's original novel in which Steve's bionics were nowhere near as powerful or flexible as they became on TV (but they had gadgets added for mission-specific situations, like ''pop-out fins'' for an underwater raid).
103	* NonHumanSidekick: Bigfoot, after Steve becomes the Sasquatch's BFF.
104	* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Other than the failed experiment with Barney Hiller, and the fact Jaime was rebuilt only after Steve's urging, there is no indication of another bionic person being created until the reunion movies. In "The Secret of Bigfoot," Austin makes the false claim that there is an entire army of bionic men. The possible reasons why there isn't:
105	** Candidates for bionic implantation need to be missing limbs. There are plenty of amputees among the general population, but since the technology is top secret, you have to find an amputee ''with a security clearance'' who is willing to put himself into danger after he's been modified. There isn't a very big recruiting pool to choose from. (That said, it should be noted that Jaime Sommers was a civilian tennis player with no security clearance and that didn't disqualify her from not only being implanted, but becoming an active field agent within weeks of the surgery.)
106	** Also, we should note that the technology ''didn't always work right''. In the case of Steve Austin, it worked spectacularly, his body adapted superbly, ''and so did his mind''. He was able to control his power and his temper, he continued to think of himself as a "normal man" for most purposes, etc. He was the exception. Jaime Sommers was able to handle the power all right, but her body kept trying to reject the bionics and this brought her close to death on several occasions. Barney Miller/Hiller had not been able to handle the temptations of power, and some of the other instances of bionic implementation also went wrong in various ways. Steve Austin was both lucky and an exceptional man before he was made bionic.
107	** Further complicating development of the technology in-story was that there had been a prototype before Barney, a lovable German Shepherd dog. Audience reaction to dwelling on the fact the dog was implanted after being horribly injured in a lab fire wouldn't have helped.
108	** A possible real-life contributing factor is the economic downturn that was underway through much of the 1970s might have made the notion of spending another $6 million (or more) politically undesirable. Of note is the fact the opening credits to ''The Bionic Woman'' point out explicitly that her cost is classified, whereas Austin's cost seems to be widely known in government circles.
109	*** However, these rationalizations aside, there is an episode of ''Series/TheBionicWoman'' titled "Doomsday is Tomorrow" in which a Russian character confirms that the USSR is attempting to create its own bionic men; although he states they have thus far been unsuccessful, this puts into question the wisdom of having only three (two active, one not) bionic people, particularly towards the end of the series. Even by the time of the first reunion TV movie, set nearly a decade after both Austin and Sommers have ceased to be active field agents, no indication is given of any more American bionic operatives being created until Michael Austin has his accident.
110	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Gary Collins as Russian Colonel Vasily Zuchov in "Doomsday, And Counting".
111	* NotWearingTights: Despite being a superhero, Austin doesn't have a stock outfit. The closest he came to one was the red tracksuit he's seen wearing in the opening credits, which came from footage from the pilot TV movie; he wore the same outfit again a few times in later episodes (most notably ''The Bionic Woman'') and Kenner's best-selling action figure depicted him in the same outfit.
112	* {{Novelization}}: Several episodes were adapted into novels, including one book, ''International Incidents'' by Mike Jahn, that combined several storylines into one narrative. The books are notable for having the writers attempt to follow Martin Caidin's original ''Cyborg'' continuity with regards to Austin's bionic abilities and his demeanor. Several novelizations, for example, have Austin killing people who remain alive in the episodes and using bionic capabilities not shown on TV.
113	* OddlySmallOrganization: The OSI, which tackles problems around the world, appears to be staffed by one bureaucrat and one or two cyborgs. They can call on the Army or local police when needed for legwork, but unless Goldman is picking problems out of the newspaper and waiting for other offices to call, OSI should at least have a dozen analysts.
114	* Older Than Dirt, or at least OlderThanCableTV: Creator Martin Caidin was writing about bionics as early as the 1960s; it wasn't a concept created for his novel or the show (see, for example, ''The God Machine''). And the concept of "cyborgs" or machine-augmented humans dates back even further, possibly all the way to the original ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' tale.
115	** Or older. In Irish mythology, the pre-Christian Celtic god/king Nuada received a working silver arm fashioned by the physician Dian Cecht and the wright Creidhne, after losing his arm in battle.
116	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Creator/PamelaFranklin as a mildly psychic (not particularly) MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter is a bit prone to this in "Operation Firefly".
117	* OneEyedShot: Steve's bionic left eye is given a closeup whenever he sees something that is far away.
118	* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: the episode "The Ultimate Imposter" barely featured Steve at all. The hero was an OSI agent who had skills directly uploaded to his brain; this was an example of a BackdoorPilot.
119	** "The Return of the Bionic Woman" turns into this towards the end; it was not widely known at the time of broadcast that a ''Bionic Woman'' series was coming.
120	** The first two reunion films were pilots for potential revival series, the second of which (''Bionic Showdown'') introduced Creator/SandraBullock as a next-generation bionic woman.
121	* RequiredSecondaryPowers: As noted in [[Headscratchers/TheSixMillionDollarMan Headscratchers]], the non-bionic parts of his body would have trouble handling the forces created by his bionic limbs (the pilot film is one of the only places where something related to this is addressed, where it's mentioned that Austin's heart and lungs are only responsible for taking care of his natural arm, allowing increased stamina). He's also subject to the SuperStrength issues of this trope. When later adapted as a comic book in the early 2010s, this was lampshaded by having virtually all of Austin's body replaced by bionics, except his brain, essentially making him a variant of Franchise/{{Robocop}}.
122	* SequelEpisode: Two in season two to season one episodes - "The Return Of The Robot Maker" followed up "Day Of The Robot", "Steve Austin, Fugitive" was a sequel to "Eyewitness To Murder". And then there's the fifth episode of season five "Bigfoot V".[[note]]Only if consider the two-parters "The Secret Of Bigfoot" and "The Return Of Bigfoot" as being four episodes. If you see them as [[ExtraLongEpisode feature-length episodes]] cut in two...[[/note]]
123	** And of course the two-parter "Death Probe" in season 4 was followed by another two-parter is season 5 called "Return of Deathprobe" [[note]]Yes, "Death Probe" was written as one word this time.[[/note]]
124	* SignatureSoundEffect:
125	** All together now... WHIRRRRR... CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CHH!
126	** When he used his bionic eye: Doot-doot-doot-doot-doot-doot-doot-doot-doot...
127	** When he threw something: Feweweweweweweweweweeeeeewooo
128	** When he jumped: Booooooooooooooooooooing!
129	** When he landed after a high jump, or punched somebody, we hear a sound reminiscent of the flapping of a high-dive springboard.
130	** When he bent something made of metal, there was a sound like an enormous plumbing valve being turned.
131	* SpinOff: ''Series/TheBionicWoman''.
132	* StockFootage: Most notably the footage of a real-life test flight crash that opens every episode (though the pilot in that crash wasn't nearly as badly hurt... he did lose vision in his right eye) and numerous episodes using NASA spaceflight and moon walk footage.
133	** Combines with SpecialEffectsFailure whenever Steve takes off in one model of plane... and lands in a completely different plane.
134	* StockSoundEffects: The Venus probe sounds suspiciously like your Kenmore washing machine....
135	* SuddenNameChange: Barney Miller, "The Seven Million Dollar Man" suddenly becomes Barney ''Hiller'' for his second appearance, with no reason given. Behind the scenes, the producers were forced to change the name because in the interim between the two episodes the popular ''Series/BarneyMiller'' sitcom had debuted. Lampshaded (and poked fun at) in the 2014 ''Six Million Dollar Man Season Six'' comic book.
136	* SuperHero
137	* SuperSoldier: Although downplayed as the series went on, and almost non-existent in the ''Bionic Woman'' spin-off, the original pilot film has the concept of a rebuilt bionic man described in all but name as a super soldier, and it is made clear that this is what Oliver Spencer has in mind for Austin.
138	* TapOnTheHead: Steve may be the most powerful man alive, but his head is made of eggshells as he's knocked unconscious from behind on many, many occasions. (Martin Caidin actually lampshaded this in his original novel by giving Steve a steel-reinforced skull as part of his bionic replacements, but the writers chose not to incorporate this into the TV character.) Not that the steel skull would really help. Unconsciousness results from the shock wave disrupting the function of a structure called the Reticular Formation. Hit too hard, and the shock wave is still strong enough to disrupt function when it reaches the brainstem and the person dies instantly.
139	* TestYourStrengthGame: Steve Austin tries this at a carnival. Using his bionic powers, he knocks the bell off the hook, freaking out the barker.
140	* ThemeTune: Recognizable even today, as well as its SFX sounds.
141	** However the second and third pilot films did not have the recognizable music. Instead, they featured a theme ''song'' performed by Dusty Springfield. (You can still hear it at the end of the syndicated version of the films.)
142	* ThereIsAnother: For the first season, Steve Austin thought he was the only Bionic man ever made. Then he came across OSI's little skeleton in the closet, Barney Miller/Hiller, whom it turned out had been given Bionic limbs before Steve.
143	* ThouShaltNotKill: In the pilot, Austin directly states that he doesn't want to kill anyone if he works for the OSI. By the end of the pilot, however, he's actually done so a couple of times (once with a grenade), and in the other pilot movies and during the first season, he uses deadly force a number of times. By the second season onwards, however, the show adopts a general "no kill" rule, with Austin rarely using deadly force. Averted in the novelizations, however, that added violence to the storylines, with one novel, ''International Incidents'' (which adapted several episodes into one storyline) actually changing the ending of the episode "Love Song for Tanya" so that Austin kills the villain.
144	* ThreateningShark: Unsurprisingly one turns up in the two-parter "Sharks."
145	* TruthInTelevision: Steve's off duty car is a Chevrolet Corvette C3, a car in real life provided for free to Apollo astronauts by the company as a publicity stunt.
146	* WeCanRebuildHim: The TropeNamer.
147	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Austin's son is introduced in the first reunion TV movie and made bionic; a new bionic woman is introduced in the second film; the third and final film makes no reference to either character.
148	* WheelProgram: The original intent for the series, until the network decided it would work better as a weekly series. Only two "wheel" installments were produced.
149	* WindsAreGhosts: In the episode "Straight On 'til Morning", a group of aliens crashlands on Earth. When they die, their bodies vanish, and a wind blows through the area.
150	* WroteTheBook: In "The Return of Bigfoot":
151	-->'''Steve:''' I don't know. It's... it's like there's something there. I can almost remember, but not quite... it's frustrating.\
152	'''Jaime:''' Tell me about it. I'm the one who wrote the book on partial memory, remember?
153	* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: "A Bionic Christmas Carol".
154	* YouRemindMeOfX: Austin keeps running into different women who look like [[StuntCasting Farrah Fawcett]] ([[RomanceOnTheSet to whom Majors was married at the time]]). Lampshaded in one episode where Steve and Oscar are shown looking at photographs of the ''real'' Farrah.

Context Series / TheSixMillionDollarMan