"The Bionic Woman" Doomsday Is Tomorrow (1977)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Kenneth Johnson

Writers:

Kenneth Johnson (creator) &
Kenneth Johnson (writer) ...

TV Series:

"The Bionic Woman" (1976)

Original Air Date:

19 January 1977 (Season 2, Episode 13)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Adventure

Plot:

Dr.Elijah Cooper invites four eminent scientists to present his Doomsday device - a Uthenium bomb that...

Plot Keywords:

Bionics | Spy | Super Power | Cyborg | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Lindsay Wagner	...	Jaime Sommers
Richard Anderson	...	Oscar Goldman
Martin E. Brooks	...	Dr. Rudy Wells
Lew Ayres	...	Dr. Elijah Cooper
Kenneth O'Brien	...	Dr. Victor Evtuhov
David Opatoshu	...	Mr. Satari
Sam Chew Jr.	...	Russ
James Hong	...	Kurosawa
Guerin Barry	...	ALEX 7000 (voice)

Runtime:

USA:47 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Harve Bennett Productions

Quotes:

Dr. Elijah Cooper: If any country anywhere explodes a thermal nuclear bomb in the atmosphere, either for testing, or for warfare, it will trigger an irreversible chain of events here, and in six hours, the doomsday device will detonate. And life on Earth will be ended.
Dr. Rudy Wells: So you intend to blackmail the world into peace?
Dr. Elijah Cooper: I hope so, Dr. Wells.

The Best Episode of the Series (Some Spoilers)

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

There is a rarity in television, and that is a story that compels on all of the basic dramatic levels. It has humor, suspense, horror and a very sobering message. Jaime goes undercover to find out if a massive supercomputer, designed by Dr. Elija Cooper, really has the power to obliterate all life on Earth, as he claims. Upon the discovery that this is indeed the case, Jaime is compelled to find a way to disable the computer. She finds herself fighting a faceless foe (no offense to the fembots) whose sole purpose in existence is to carry out Dr. Cooper's agenda; To monitor the entire planet for signs of any kind of thermonuclear detonation, and destroy all life if one is detected. Cooper's intent is to scare the world into an immediate cessation of all tactical nuclear operations. His hope, albeit a naive one, is that this will force all of the powers of the world to come together, talk, and perhaps attain a lasting peace. He'll settle for a world where all wars are fought with conventional weapons, theoretically reducing the loss of civilian life.

Unfortunately, a foreign power with it's own newly developed nuclear arsenal believes Dr. Cooper's "Doomsday Ultimatum" to be nothing more than a foolish hoax, and refuses to cancel a planned test blast. With literally less than a day to do it, Jaime has to do battle with Cooper's supercomputer, ALEX7000. It seems an impossible task, as the computer is so advanced, it can even scan Jaime and determine that she is a cyborg, and adjust its defensive strategies to compensate.

What makes this episode so amazing is the deftness of the handling of such a fantastical premise by Lindsay Wagner. She shows just what a genuinely talented and insightful actor she is, as she literally carries the majority of the action in part two with nobody to play off of but a disembodied voice. ALEX7000 is dispassionate, omnipresent, and horrifically clever. It can do something one would not expect of a computer (outside of a Doctor Who or Star Trek episode); it can improvise. When Jaime realizes this, the terror she feels becomes all the more real. On the one hand, yes, she is able to surprise the computer. On the other, it is able to learn from her and adapt.

This episode is a success in all directions. From the lighting, cinematography, and the use of music, to the directing, script, and Lindsay Wagner's outstanding performances, it stands out as not only the most enthralling episode of this and its parent series, "The Six Million Dollar Man," but also as one of the best stories told by virtually any other episodic television series of its time. It is as stark a departure in quality and intensity for "The Bionic Woman" as "The Body" was for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Not to say it doesn't have a few faults. ALEX7000 is obviously a thinly veiled rip-off of the HAL9000 from "2001: A Space Odyssey," and some of the effects belie the lack of budget a bit too much, but that still does not diminish the episode as the ultimate tour de force for Wagner and the series as a whole.