Bionic '70s

POP Ninja Blog #1: Bionic '70s

Welcome to the Blog! Hope you enjoy reading it. Here we go...

Evel Knievel

The 1970s were a fun time to be a kid! Disco was in the air, Evel Knievel was the "King of the Daredevils," the Space Shuttle program was born, 

Space Shuttle Enterprise

the Krofft Brothers & Filmation dominated Saturday morning television with shows like "H.R. Pufnstuf,""Shazam!,"
"Wonderbug," "Ark II," "Land of the Lost," and "The Krofft Supershow."

"H.R. Pufnstuf"

Jackson Bostwick as Shazam!

Also, kids everywhere were running around in slow motion making "bionic" sounds as they ran because of one hit television show... 

    ..."The Six Million Dollar Man." 

The series was based on a novel called 'Cyborg' by Martin Caidin. It starred Lee Majors as a test pilot (Colonel Steve Austin) that crashed and was put back together with bionic parts making him a super cyborg secret agent. (The cost of this operation was six million dollars.)

He could outrun cars, jump fences, lift car engines, and see miles away thanks to all his bionic parts.

Two of the most memorable episodes were: 1.) when he fought a robot that could change faces to look like anyone, even Steve Austin himself. In the episode, Steve knocks the robot's face of revealing nothing but circuitry. 

The Robot

Later, Kenner released a line of action 
figures and the robot was named "Masketron" and came with 3 interchangeable faces.



Maskatron action figure with interchangeable faces

The toy line featured a figure of Colonel Steve Austin himself which had a hole in the back of his head that you could look through like a telescope and would simulate his bionic vision. There was also a rocket and spacesuit you could get for him and tons of accessories. This was one of my favorite toys of all time. I still have one on a bookshelf in my office!

Colonel Steve Austin action figure with bionic eye

2.) The second fan favorite episode was when Steve Austin fought "Bionic Bigfoot." Yes! A robot sasquatch tangles with the Six Million Dollar Man! But, you didn't know it was a robot until Steve rips its' arm off revealing the wires. Bigfoot was played by actor Ted Cassidy (Adams Family) and later played by legendary wrestler Andre' the Giant. They made a cool figure of Bionic Bigfoot too!



Lindsay Wagner as Jamie Summers, The Bionic Woman

The series was so popular that it had a spinoff series "The Bionic Woman" which followed the adventure of Steve Austin's girlfriend, Jamie Summers, who was also a bionic secret agent. The two shows would often have crossover episodes or the two actors would cameo on each other's show often. There were also 3 telefilms made featuring both characters and in one they finally get married. 

The reason I'm going on about "The Six Million Dollar Man" is not only because it was a huge part of my childhood (the TV show ran for 5 years) but also because presently there has been a new interest in the franchise. A couple of years ago, Kevin Smith launched a brand new ongoing comic book series of the Six Million Dollar Man called simply "The Bionic Man." 

Issue #1 of the new Bionic Man comic book by Kevin Smith

In issue #12  Kevin Smith brought back Bionic Bigfoot because fans of the series begged him to. Maskatron shows up in some of the later issues too.

Bionic Bigfoot returns in the Bionic Man #12

Also,  for the 35th anniversary of the show, all 5 seasons were released on DVD in one incredible box set. (which I scored for Christmas!)

Complete series DVD box set

Last year a toy company released a whole line of new action figures based on the franchise including Masketron and Bionic Bigfoot. There are also some new T-shirts, water bottles and other swag hitting the market featuring the Bionic Man character.

A wonderful part of my childhood memories is returning and that makes me happy! 2014 marked the 40-year anniversary of the TV show and I can't wait for the theatrical film starring Mark Wahlberg which is in development (as long as they don't try to make it into a comedy like they did with other TV shows like "Charlie's Angels" and "Starsky & Hutch.")



Here's a few pics of me and some of my bionic memories:

 Here I am with actor John Saxon who played the robot Maskatron in the series.

You might also recognize him from 'Enter the Dragon' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street.'

Here are a couple of pics from one of my birthday parties in the '70s where I got several toys from the series. 

Anyways, that's it for the first blog. Just a little trip down bionic memory lane. Next time I hope to discuss one of my favorite super heroes of all time...  The Incredible Hulk!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett

Thanks for reading. Your comments are welcomed!