Cyborgs: A Bionic Podcast

Our Critical Assignment returns with a new episode taking a look at the premiere of a new Six Million Dollar Man comic book. John and Paul have mentioned The Bionic Man and The Bionic Woman comic books in the past and have found them both to be enjoyable series that offer bionic fans a little bionic action in a modern world. But now, Dynamite Comics, which produced the two former books, is producing a comic book that will take place in the continuity of the original series. The Six Million Dollar Man Season 6 will pick up where the fifth season left off with Steve facing off against a familiar (for us) foe. So what can one expect in this new series? John and Paul sit down with the driving force behind the development and writing of this new comic, James Kahoric. They talk writing for a tie-in property, Jamie Sommers place in this sixth season, and more.

00:00 - Show introduction

02:00 - John and Paul

05:00 - Paul introduces James Kuhoric

06:00 - James' personal connection to the Six Million Dollar Man

08:15 - How the idea came to James

09:40 - Convincing Dynamite

12:30 - James' approach to the Six Million Dollar Man

14:30 - What makes Steve Austin special?

16:15 - Capturing the 'voice'

18:45 - The 70s

19:00 - Juanan Ramirez

20:30 - Capturing the likeness Steve, Jaime, Oscar, and Rudy

23:35 - Familiar character cameos

25:00 - Maskatron

29:40 - Jaime Sommers

33:45 - What Six Million Dollar Man teaches us

37:30 - Major challenges

42:00 - Beyond the first arc

44:00 - "Pal"

44:40 - Find James Kuhoric on the web

45:25 - Sign-off

James Anthony Kuhoric is a multi-award winning author of fiction. For over a decade his published work in prose, comic book, and graphic novel format has been a mainstay of the sequential illustrated world. He has worked with many studios on high profile licensed books including Stargate SG-1, Battlestar Galactica, Army of Darkness, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and most recently the classic Six Million Dollar Man. With well over 100 comic books in print and 20 graphic novels in his library he continues to be a highly touted creator of original and licensed fiction.

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Steve agrees to serve his Air Force Reserve duty requirement by acting as temporary commandant for the Edward Air Force Base Flight Academy. A number of mechanical problems occur to both military and commercial flights in and around the area of the base. When Steve discovers the problems are tied into his own bionic malfunctions, he must figure out quickly who is behind these failures and ultimately, who is their target.​Joining John and Paul to see if "The Deadly Test" passes or fails is The Podcast Cowboy himself, Clay Dugger.

Purchase the season three Universal DVD release of The Six Million Dollar Man. In doing so, you help support the podcast.

Comment on the episode here or write [email protected].

Rating:

Bionic Wiki entry

The Six Million Dollar Blog entry

(coming soon)

Clay Dugger is the host of The Con Cast, a podcast devoted to interviewing guests of various science fiction and fantasy conventions. Clay is also the host of He Said, She Said, part of The Chronic Rift Network, which he co-hosts with his wife Debby.

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Steve's friend, Kuroda, returns to ask Steve's help in finding a wolf boy that was spotted on the island Hoyoko. Oscar is against Steve going, but Steve has an angle Oscar can't argue with. The wolf boy may be the son of an American diplomat who died, along with his wife, many years before. Their son was never found. But there's treachery afoot as another team of hunters are searching the island for the wolf boy and they're not there to help him. What secret does the wolf boy hold?

Joining John and Paul to discuss this episode is Calvacade of Awesome author Paxton Holley.

Purchase the season three Universal DVD release of The Six Million Dollar Man. In doing so, you help support the podcast.

Comment on the episode here or write [email protected].

Rating:

Bionic Wiki entry

The Six Million Dollar Blog entry

(coming soon)

Paxton Holley was born in Birmingham, AL. He currently lives in Jaxksonville, FL. where he co-hosts the Nerd Lunch podcast as well as the Cult Film Club podcast. In addition, he writes for the pop culture/humor blog Cavalcade of Awesome where he has an ongoing series of articles on the world of bionics from the TV shows to the comics to the games.

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John Perry is a world famous entertainer and an old college friend of Steve's. Oscar suspects him of being a traitor, selling government secrets to foreign agents. Perry hands the secret material to the agents at various locales on his concert tour. Steve joins the tour in order to prove Perry's innocence, but the more time he spends with his old friend, the more suspicions he begins to have. Is John Perry a traitor?

Joining John and Paul to discuss this episode is The Six Million Dollar Blog author Alex Green.

Special thanks to Robin Spanell for supplying us with the audio for the television ad for this episode featured at the start of the podcast. Check out Robin's music, some which has also been featured on the podcast, at his homepage.

Purchase the season three Universal DVD release of The Six Million Dollar Man. In doing so, you help support the podcast.

Alex Green was born in San Diego where he has lived his whole life, rarely venturing outside the safe confines of Southern California. Growing up, his parents tried to persuade him that the funny man running in slow motion on the television wasn't worth watching, but he knew better. He knew much, much better.

A lifelong fan of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, Alex hadn't been an adult for very long (some would say he still isn't) when he started making several trips a month up to Los Angeles to attend toy and collectibles shows in order to amass a huge collection of Bionic memorabilia. A vast collection that he no longer possesses due to an accident involving a pencil, a rabid weasel and a rapidly descending elevator (Actually, the advent of eBay in the late 90's took the thrill of the hunt out of it for him, so he gave it up).

Currently working out of his modest two-bedroom apartment (or twelve-bedroom mansion as he refers to it when describing his digs to people who’ve never visited him at home), Alex is a free-lance web designer and the webmaster of The Six Million Dollar Blog. The newest Bionic site on the web except for all the others that have come after. He hopes one day to meet his hero Lee Majors in person and his biggest regret in life is that he no longer fits into his Six Million Dollar Man jammies.

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A disgruntled government scientist and demolition expert, Robert Meyer steals the Liberty Bell just before its bicentennial tour. Steve tracks it down to an open field where the bell has been rigged to explode if an attempt is made to move it. The government concedes to Meyer's demands, but he dies before telling them the secret to disarming the bombs about it. Steve must work with a protégé of Meyer's in disarming the device before time runs out. The problem is the man has a huge chip on his shoulder Is this really worth, "The Price of Liberty"?

Joining John and Paul to discuss this episode is science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer.

Special thanks to Robin Spanell for supplying us with the audio for the television ad for this episode featured at the start of the podcast. Check out Robin's music, some which has also been featured on the podcast, at his homepage.

Purchase the season three Universal DVD release of The Six Million Dollar Man. In doing so, you help support the podcast.

Comment on the episode here or write [email protected] or better still use the "Send Voicemail" tab on the left of the page to leave a message via your computer. Take a moment to rate the episode by using our star system at the bottom of this entry.

Rating:

Bionic Wiki entry

The Six Million Dollar Blog entry

(coming soon)

Robert J. Sawyer has won the Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell Memorial, Aurora, Hal Clement, and Audie Awards, all for best novel of the year, as well as the top SF awards in Japan, China, France, and Spain. According to the Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards, he is the #1 all-time worldwide leader in number of award wins as a science fiction or fantasy novelist. His 21st novel,Triggers, a 2012 title from Penguin Canada, was a Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, and Locus bestseller, and he’s hit #1 on the Amazon.com Technothrillers bestsellers list. Rob’s previous novels are all in print, including The Terminal Experiment; Calculating God; Hominids; Mindscan; Rollback; FlashForward (basis for the ABC TV series); and the WWW trilogy of Wake, Watch, and Wonder(each of which separately won the Aurora Award for Best Novel of the Year). His website is at sfwriter.com.

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Jaime struggles with her newly discovered life and her attempts to remember everything she has lost. A trip to Ojai proves disastrous, so Oscar comes up with a surefire way to help Jaime cope - a dangerous mission. (Oscar failed his college psychology classes.) Steve tags along to make sure everything works out, but the mission turns into a disaster as well. Steve quickly realizes what is triggering Jaime's flashes of pain. Can he stand to lose her again?

Joining John and Paul to discuss this episode are James Sherrard of Bionic Woman Files and Betsy Dodd of The Bionic Blonde.

Purchase the season three Universal DVD release of The Six Million Dollar Man. In doing so, you help support the podcast.man

Comment on the episode here or write [email protected] or call 888-866-9010 .

Rating:

Bionic Wiki entry

Bionic Blonde entry

The Six Million Dollar Blog entry

(coming soon)

James Sherrard is a first generation fan of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. A collector of all things Bionic as a child, his interest in the shows was reignited when the first Bionic reunion movie was produced in 1987.The following year he met stars Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson for the first time through Lindsay Wagner’s Official Fan Club. In 1998, James reworked the Bionic Woman episode guide booklet that he had produced for the club into The Bionic Woman Files website…the longest running Bionic Woman site on the web! Over the years, James has contributed his Bionic knowledge to various books, articles, websites, and television productions. He has also amassed an amazing collection of Bionic memorabilia, from common toys to one-of-a-kind production items. Most recently, James has contributed to the 2010 DVD releases of The Bionic Woman Season One and The Six Million Dollar Man: The Complete Collection. James resides in New York where he is employed by a non-profit organization.

From Betsy Dodd's page:

Growing up in a one-TV household, I had 3 brothers who surrounded me in age—who often teased me for being a “sissy”—and who usually controlled the voting majority for which channel to watch. Back in the 70s, our whirling TV dial was pretty much destroyed because we fought over it so often. One night while the substitute pliers were pointed to their choice of The Six Million Dollar Man(again), suddenly there was OMG ...cue angelic chorus... Jaime Sommers, the world’s first Bionic Woman. Yes!!! Score one for us sissies! I was totally hooked. And the love story between Jaime and Steve was the best. Ever. But then they killed her the following week.

Why did I idolize Jaime Sommers so much? Just as the final season was being released on DVD in the fall of 2011, I stumbled onto some internet bionic fan forums and started posting these offbeat episode reviews. I’m not sure, but when some members encouraged me to go start my own blog, I think it may have been the equivalent of being politely shunned by the Bionic Amish community— puritans of the franchise. (Really, I’m kidding. They’re all fun people and super nice. And they even let me use electricity to sign onto the internet.) Once about ten years ago, I belonged to an online fan “cult” that was framed in a similar style of farcical humor about The X-Files, so to me, this is all a completely normal approach to a television drama.

These days, I am a freelance copywriter, graphic designer and video editor living in Tennessee. No, I am not a blonde, but I am threatening to become one soon if these little gray hairs don’t stop surfacing. I must confess I also did not actually keep a diary in the 70s, but wish now that I had, so I could remember the real reason why I missed so many episodes of my favorite 70s show. For now, I’m blaming my brothers. For everything.

Steve is injured on a mission and in need of bionic surgery. While recovering he spots a woman who looks like Jaime. But Jaime's dead. Steve watched her die on the operating table. What kind of sick game is Oscar and Rudy playing on him?!?

The good news - Jaime is alive.

The bad news - Jaime doesn't remember Steve or any part of her life before she came back to life.

To make matters worse, the young doctor who came up with the revolutionary technique that allowed Rudy and his team to save Jaime is falling for her and she for him. Can Steve keep it all together and finally be reunited with his childhood sweetheart?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Stay tuned as part two of this look at the third season premiere of The Six Million Dollar Man will be released in less than two weeks.

Joining John and Paul to discuss this episode are James Sherrard of Bionic Woman Files and Betsy Dodd of The Bionic Blonde.

Purchase the season three Universal DVD release of The Six Million Dollar Man. In doing so, you help support the podcast.

Comment on the episode here or write [email protected] or call 888-866-9010 or better still use the "Send Voicemail" tab on the left of the page to leave a message via your computer. Take a moment to rate the episode by using our star system at the bottom of this entry.

Rating:

Bionic Wiki entry

Bionic Blonde entry

The Six Million Dollar Blog entry

(coming soon)

James Sherrard is a first generation fan of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. A collector of all things Bionic as a child, his interest in the shows was reignited when the first Bionic reunion movie was produced in 1987.The following year he met stars Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson for the first time through Lindsay Wagner’s Official Fan Club. In 1998, James reworked the Bionic Woman episode guide booklet that he had produced for the club into The Bionic Woman Files website…the longest running Bionic Woman site on the web! Over the years, James has contributed his Bionic knowledge to various books, articles, websites, and television productions. He has also amassed an amazing collection of Bionic memorabilia, from common toys to one-of-a-kind production items. Most recently, James has contributed to the 2010 DVD releases of The Bionic Woman Season One and The Six Million Dollar Man: The Complete Collection. James resides in New York where he is employed by a non-profit organization.

From Betsy Dodd's page:

Growing up in a one-TV household, I had 3 brothers who surrounded me in age—who often teased me for being a “sissy”—and who usually controlled the voting majority for which channel to watch. Back in the 70s, our whirling TV dial was pretty much destroyed because we fought over it so often. One night while the substitute pliers were pointed to their choice of The Six Million Dollar Man(again), suddenly there was OMG ...cue angelic chorus... Jaime Sommers, the world’s first Bionic Woman. Yes!!! Score one for us sissies! I was totally hooked. And the love story between Jaime and Steve was the best. Ever. But then they killed her the following week.

Why did I idolize Jaime Sommers so much? Just as the final season was being released on DVD in the fall of 2011, I stumbled onto some internet bionic fan forums and started posting these offbeat episode reviews. I’m not sure, but when some members encouraged me to go start my own blog, I think it may have been the equivalent of being politely shunned by the Bionic Amish community— puritans of the franchise. (Really, I’m kidding. They’re all fun people and super nice. And they even let me use electricity to sign onto the internet.) Once about ten years ago, I belonged to an online fan “cult” that was framed in a similar style of farcical humor about The X-Files, so to me, this is all a completely normal approach to a television drama.

These days, I am a freelance copywriter, graphic designer and video editor living in Tennessee. No, I am not a blonde, but I am threatening to become one soon if these little gray hairs don’t stop surfacing. I must confess I also did not actually keep a diary in the 70s, but wish now that I had, so I could remember the real reason why I missed so many episodes of my favorite 70s show. For now, I’m blaming my brothers. For everything.

We're gearing up to review the third season of The Six Million Dollar Man and the first season of The Bionic Woman. But before we do that, we need to take one last look at the second season of Six Mill. John and Paul sit down to look back at their reviews of the past season. They talk about how their views on certain episodes changed and discuss some things they realized after recording certain episodes. In addition, they review the special features of the second season DVD release, discuss listener feedback, present a new Bionic Impression Theater, and give you an example of when they have to deal with "Skype Hell." It's all there and more on this Declassified episode.

Share in the memories Paul and John talked about by picking up the Universal release of season two of The Six Million Dollar Man.

Then, get ready for our look at season three of The Six Million Dollar Man by purchasing the Universal release.

Comment on the episode here or write [email protected] or call 888-866-9010 or better still use the "Send Voicemail" tab on the left of the page to leave a message via your computer. Take a moment to rate the episode by using our star system at the bottom of this entry.

Our Critical Assignment series takes a look at a panel on the 40th anniversary of the premiere of The Six Million Dollar Man on ABC. In this panel, John moderates with Cyborgs pal and bionic merchandising guru Matt Hankinson, RevCast host and DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track moderator Gary Mitchel, and writer and Earth Station One Podcast host Bobby Nash, a discussion on the pilot movie, Lee Major's acting chops in the series, the merchandising of the series, plus a whole lot more. The panel took place at this year's DragonCon in Atlanta.

Comment on the episode here or write [email protected].

Our Critical Assignment series concludes with the big bionic panel of DragonCon 2013. Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner both appeared on stage for the first time in many years to talk about their work on the bionic series. The panel took place on Sunday, August 31 and John got to host this extravaganza. Plus, Paul talks with The Bionic Blonde herself, Betsy Dodd, on how she developed the bionic reunion video that was shown to the audience prior to the duo taking the stage.

Comment on the episode here or write [email protected] or call 888-866-9010 or better still use the "Send Voicemail" tab on the left of the page to leave a message via your computer. Take a moment to rate the episode by using our star system at the bottom of this entry.