THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

Steve Austin in an agent for the O.S.O.

In 1972, noted science fiction writer Martin Caidin published an outstanding novel detailing the use of cybernetics. It was in this book that most people got their first exposure to words like 'cyborg', 'cybernetics' and 'bionics'. In that novel, an astronaut named Steve Austin, test-piloting a revolutionary aircraft, was critically injured in an horrendous crash. The government, through the services of the Office of Special Operations, chose this opportunity to test its cybernetics program by rebuilding the man better than he had been before. As a service to his country to repay for the high cost for the repairs, Austin is pressed into action as a agent.

The next year Caidin followed up the first book with a sequel, Cyborg 2: Operation Nuke. That same year, three different pilots for a proposed television series was shown: "The Moon and the Desert" in March, "Wine, Women and War" in October, and "The Solid Gold Kidnapping" in November.

In January of the next year, the actual series began as a mid-season replacement. The show would last 101 episodes with the final one airing in March of 1978. It would also produce three made-to-TV movies, shown in 1987, 1989, and 1994.

The starring role of Steve Austin was admirably played by Lee Majors, a 33-year old actor who was already well known from his years as Heath Barkley in The Big Valley and who was co-starring as an assistant lawyer in Owen Marshall: Attorney at Law. In the show, the role of Oscar Goldman, operations head of OSO, was played by Richard Anderson.

Lt. Col Steve Austin was a highly skilled Air Force pilot who was assigned to NASA for most of his military career. As lead pilot on Apollo 17, Austin was the last American to walk on the moon. With the reduction in the space program, Austin took a position with the test pilot program he had worked with prior to his NASA stint. It was while working with this group that the near fatal crash occurred that changed his life so much.

While Austin's entire body was severely damaged in the accident, the major injuries that were corrected by the cybernetic wizardry of his friend, Dr. Rudy Wells, were two leg replacements, one new arm, and a new eye. While the entire matter of the change took considerable amount of time to accept, eventually Austin came around and began to use his new powers in the assistance of OSO and U.S. activities.

*Note on the Organization:

In the books, the organization that Austin worked for was the OSO. In the television show, however, the agency was the OSI, the Office of Strategic Intelligence, headed by Oscar Goldman.

This is a rather interesting series, to say the least. It consists of nine books but four of the books were by the original author and were themselves originals while the other five were by different writers and were novelizations of teleplays from the TV show.

The first book was obviously a total original - a completely unique blending of science fiction and espionage in a way that worked incredibly well.

From there on, the series went downhill.

I was a big fan of the television series but novelizations are never satisfying as they give the body without the soul, so to speak. They'll do only if nothing else is available. Thankfully, the original works of Mr. Caidin were wisely interspersed among the teleplays.

Regarding the grade, had it been rated on the books by Mr. Caidin alone, it would have been a B+ or even an A-. Adding in the novelizations, however, dragged it down.