"The Six Million Dollar Man" Burning Bright (1974)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Jerry London

Writers:

Del Reisman (writer) &
Martin Caidin (novel)

TV Series:

"The Six Million Dollar Man" (1974)

Original Air Date:

12 April 1974 (Season 1, Episode 11)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Astronaut Josh Lang has been acting even more far out than usual after being affected by a mysterious electrical field during his last spacewalk...

Plot Keywords:

Bionics | Spy | Cult TV | Cyborg | Number In Title

Cast

Lee Majors	...	Col. Steve Austin
Richard Anderson	...	Oscar Goldman
William Shatner	...	Josh Lang
Warren J. Kemmerling	...	Ted (as Warren Kemmerling)
Quinn K. Redeker	...	Calvin Billings (as Quinn Redeker)
Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.	...	Ernesto Arruza (as Rodolfo Hoyos)
Anne Schedeen	...	Tina Larson
Joe Di Reda	...	1st Deputy (as Joseph di Reda)
Ron Stokes	...	2nd M.P.
Aaron Mitchell	...	2nd Deputy
Chas. Floyd Johnson	...	3rd M.P.
Trent Dolan	...	Technician
Mary Rings	...	Millie

Series Cast

These people are regular cast members. Were they in this episode?

Alan Oppenheimer

...

Dr. Rudy Wells

Runtime:

USA:49 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Silverton Productions

Quotes:

Oscar Goldman: Josh is right, there is a mistake in the computer program.
Col. Steve Austin: And his sun as the origin of space theory?
Oscar Goldman: Completely valid. I've got all the printouts here to prove it.

Movie Connections:

Edited from The Six Million Dollar Man (1973) (TV)

SMDM meets Captain James T Kirk

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Special guest star William Shatner as Josh Long pops up in this episode as an eccentric astronaut friend of Steve's from years back. Exposed to some gamma rays in space Josh goes a little too erratic for the suits in NASA and they want him grounded. Steve though, tries to figure out if they should do so or not by palling around with Josh and examining him with a friend's eye.

Shatner - being Shatner - is brilliant in this episode, hamming it up to the extreme. I almost expected Mr. Spock to appear from behind a cardboard rock halfway through the episode. Nobody can deliver a line like Shatner and especially if the line has to do with communicating with Dolphins !!! In the end - inner turmoil about a childhood act combined with the strange electrical impulse inflicted upon him in space - causes Josh to go one step beyond what he or anybody else wants.

Another episode where the old phenomenon of Steve's old friends ending up dead, raises its ugly head again. If I was an old friend of Austin's I'd keep my head down. But Shatnet for me was brilliant - his final scene spitting out a wave of mathematical equations is pure 100% Shatner. The only bad thing about him was his dreadful wig.