The Bionic Woman (TV Series) Fembots in Las Vegas (1977) User Reviews

Better than I Feared

[prdeller · 7/10 · 4 July 2021]

I'll admit I approached this with a great deal of trepidation.

"The Return of...." anything stories rarely hold up and any mention of Las Vegas usually means cheesiness and tackiness to the extreme, but this actually holds together pretty well and is visually one of the most spectacular stories of the entire series. Nice to see Jaime really cutting loose with her bionic powers - something that she only very rarely does as she is so reluctant to harm a human opponent. Even the plot just about makes sense. Spectacular and fun. As always, if you can suspend your disbelief and don't take it all to seriously, you'll enjoy this.

Actually better than I remember from 1977.

[bgaiv · 9/10 · 5 January 2022]

And I was 7 years old at the time. That's rare, usually the thing you remembered from when you were a kid is not so good decades later.

I remember finding this a bit disappointing back then compared to the Kill Oscar trilogy that introduced the fembots, and I'm not sure why. I don't think it's the absence of Steve, considering Jaime had many great solo episodes.

I agree with another viewer on some flaws. There are some shots where Wagner's stunt double's face is extremely visible. Some of this is due to much larger screens and quality of today's TVs, but several would have been obvious even on TVs in the 70s. Note particularly when Jaime jumps off the moving jeep.

Also, the Carl Franklin actor is far too pretty to take seriously. There IS a justifiable story reason for this- he's not really the son of Dr Franklin, he's a male robot as fake as the beautiful fembots. But the reveal he's a fembot comes extremely late and without any foreshadowing. Jaime's horror at Carl's (literal) unmasking is pitch perfect though.

Also, while Carl's actor does a fine job, the actor can't hope to compete with John Houseman as Dr Franklin.

Still a great two parter. It's actually really scary when Carl Franklin reveals he's a fembot and starts chasing Jaime. Though it felt like that battle could have been longer, and it seemed like Carl completely lost his personality as soon as he was unmasked.

I also liked the vroom sound effects of the fembots here. And I remember quite clearly from 1977 that tall building where Franklin is set up and from which he eventually falls.

Two Part Bionics

[sambase-38773 · 7/10 · 28 August 2021]

I'm not a big fan of 2-part TV episodes because they tend to drag on and have too much filler. So I'm a little biased against them. When season 3 started the producers knew this show was falling in the ratings and they tried various ways to juice the ratings. The Bionic Dog was one such gimmick and it was awful. Bionic Dog? Ugh! Fortunately, Fembots are more entertaining and much nicer to look at.

I kept in mind that this episode was just meant to be popcorn TV, some silly fun for a Saturday afternoon (which is when I just watched this). And it's okay to that extent. You got your bionics, your got your Vegas, you got your beautiful women running around in sexy outfits. There is some poignancy and seriousness in this episode, too. And some very-well written lines that still sound good today. One of my favorite lines is the Bionic Woman saying: "I've never started a mission naked before, but there's always a first time." Naked Bionic Woman!

The weakest part of the episode is the actor who plays the lead bad guy. He's strictly a lightweight and has a squeaky clean look and it looks like he belongs in a toothpaste commercial. They should have picked an actor with more gravitas and visual grit.

One goof is that they shoot Lindsey's stunt-woman too close as she's jumping down and toward the camera and you can clearly see that it's not Lindsey.

Okay, so to sum up this episode is okay for what it's trying to be and that's popcorn TV. Make sure you got some popcorn. And something to drink. Fighting all those Fembots makes you thirsty.