Watching this pilot all the way through for the first is a pretty interesting experience. It is based sort of loosely on the Martin Caidin's 1972 novel Cyborg and the first half is really good. Lee Majors shows a range that is surprising, and I really enjoy his interplay with Nurse Manners. There is no Oscar Goldman, but instead we get the old man Darren McGavin as Oliver Spencer. I love Darren, and later on he would stalk mysteries in the night. Rudy Wells was played by Martin Balsam, then Alan Oppenheimer for until season 3. Martin E. Brooks finally showed up in for the rest of the series, plus the sequels and return movies. Oddly enough, I always remembered Brooks being Rudy Wells in every episode I saw. How the mind plays tricks on you after 50 years.The second movie, Wine, Women and War, tries to present Steve Austin as a James Bondian super spy, but that was dropped by the third episode. Oscar Goldman shows up, and Oliver isn't mentioned again until the final bionic movie. This second and third movie have an actual theme song, sung by Dusty Springfield. It is ever so early 70s. The second movie is enjoyable, especially since David McCallum as a good guy Russian (what a surprise). None of the TV Series tropes are present just yet, slow motion running, the eyeball use, etc. I'm glad they moved away from the spy stuff like that.
Still very enjoyable, for more than I remembered.
No comments:
Post a Comment