875. The exploitative Eliminators review! 1986

The 80s sure were a fun time for movies, even with all the excesses!

HOTW- Deathlok (I guess?)

 From Wiki- Colonel Luther Manning is an American soldier from Detroit, Michigan, who, after being fatally injured, is reanimated as a cyborg by Simon Ryker in a post-apocalyptic future. He verbally communicates with his symbiotic computer, to which he refers as the abbreviated "'Puter".^[8] He escapes from Ryker's control,^[9] although he dreams he has regained his humanity.^[10] He battles the evil corporate and military regimes that have taken over the US, while simultaneously struggling not to lose his humanity. He battles Simon Ryker and the first Warwolf, and he encounters his wife and son for the first time after becoming a cyborg.^[11] He battles Simon Ryker's Super-Tank,^[12] and then begins a hunt for a "cyborg doctor".^[13] He battles Simon Ryker as the Savior Machine, and his mind is ultimately transferred into a Luther Manning clone.^[14] He battles mutants alongside a time-traveling Spider-Man.^[15] He begins working for the CIA, encounters Godwulf for the first time, and is then finally sent back in time to the modern era.^[16] Back to me:

Hero of the Week: Steve Austin, the original

From Wiki- When NASA astronaut USAF 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 $41.6 million in 2024).^[3] His right arm, both legs and 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.  And now returning to me!

601. The return of 7 Song Friday on 08-15-2025!

                 This video may or may not survive in the future, which is where we all must live.  So watch it now!

HOTW- Cyborg 009

 

Joe Shimamura, also known as Cyborg 009, is the main protagonist of the 1968 anime television series of the same name. Before becoming a cyborg, he was a famous racer by the name of "Hurricane Joe".  He was changed into a cybernetic organism, or cyborg by the terrorist group Black Ghost.  He joined with the first eight cyborgs in their rebellion against Black Ghost and fought to eradicate them from the Earth.

Cyborg 009 (1966)

 

Joe Shimamura has an awful race car accident... but it was engineered by Black Ghost.  They turn him into a cyborg, and introduce him to the eight other cyborgs they have created.  The cyborgs rebel and escape, along with Professor Gilmore and vow to battle Black Ghost to the end.  They actually do defeat Black Ghost, but also promise to reunite if any form of the evil group shows up again.

Bionic Reconstruction (2007)

 

I have been watching the first season of The Six Million Dollar Man,  and have one other season set, plus the complete Bionic Woman.  She had to cost more than Steve did, right, inflation and all?  Anyway, there are a lot of guest stars in that first season of Six Mill and I wanted to know more about both shows.  Sure, there is wikipedia, but books are just so much easier to use and read. I looked about and discovered this book here.  It is almost 400 pages of bio-electronic goodness.  It is written by Herbie J. Pilato, who has written many other books about televisions shows.

Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla

 

The original and best version, that is.  I recently got a great article about this movie, and it will be featured in Xenorama #40, the 30th Anniversary issue.  I am really grateful for all the contributors to Xenorama over all the years.  I also love this movie a lot, and think it is the best of the five 70s Godzilla movies.  It is really engaging and just fun.  I could watch it once a month, if I had the desire to do so. I like to make my viewings not so frequent, though.

Cyborg: The Six Million Dollar Man (1973)

 

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.

Six Million Dollar pilots

 

I remember the first time I watched The Six Million Dollar Man.  I thought it was the first episode, since it was the show to watch that year.  Later I read the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin, which the show was based on.  He wrote a few more of stories starring the original Steve Austin, and they are enjoyable.  I was really surprised to learn that there had been three pilot movies before the series started.  I found this out on the Sci-Fi Channel, when it aired the bionic series sometime in the mid-90s.  Seeing Darren McGavin as Oscar Goldman Oliver Spencer was also a surprise.  I haven't seen this movies or episodes now for about 20 years, so I am looking forward to watching them now.