"The Six Million Dollar Man" Day of the Robot (1974)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Leslie H. Martinson

Writers:

Del Reisman (teleplay) &
Harold Livingston (story)

TV Series:

"The Six Million Dollar Man" (1974)

Original Air Date:

8 February 1974 (Season 1, Episode 4)

Genre:

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

Plot:

Steve Austin's good buddy Major Fred Sloan has invented a microwave circuit card he calls the 'activator'...

Plot Keywords:

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

Cast

Lee Majors	...	Col. Steve Austin
Richard Anderson	...	Oscar Goldman
John Saxon	...	Major Frederick Sloan
Henry Jones	...	Dr. Dolenz
Lloyd Bochner	...	Gavern Wilson
Charles Bateman	...	Master Sgt. Parnell (as Charles W. Bateman)
Noah Keen	...	General Tanhill
Robert Rothwell	...	Al
Martin Speer	...	Neil
Buster Jones	...	Captain
Michael Alaimo	...	Bread Truck Driver

Series Cast

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

Alan Oppenheimer

...

Dr. Rudy Wells

Runtime:

USA:48 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Silverton Productions

Trivia:

The robot sound effect is recycled from How to Frame a Figg (1971).

Goofs:

Continuity: The photograph that the robot's makers show the robot changes from shot to shot.

Quotes:

Gavern Wilson: When was the last time you saw Mr. Austin?
Robot: [imprinted with Fred Sloan's memories] Mister? You mean Colonel Austin, don't ya? Steve would cringe if anybody would call him mister. He's all airforce, there's not a drop of mister in him. The last time I saw my buddy Steve Austin was on the tennis court this morning.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "The Six Million Dollar Man: Run, Steve, Run (#1.13)" (1974)

Day Of The Rip Off...Admiral Nelson Where Are You?

An old friend of Steve's is replaced by an identical robot (John Saxon), while the robot maker Dr (Henry Jones) looks on at the events with a TV screen. Steve soon suspects that all is not right.

It would seem the makers of this now dated series were fans of the now semi-timeless Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-68). Day Of The Robot is the shining light in a revolting first season of The Six Million Dollar Man (the 2nd season is better).

Firstly the story, it is taken from a 1965 Voyage/Sea episode called The Cyborg. The bit where the robot starts talking non-sense to Steve for a second was very like the bit in Voyage/Sea where the identical robot (of Nelson) can't remember a minor detail.

In Voyage/Sea, it is Victor Buono who is looking on via a TV screen.

Henry Jones? He never appeared in The Cyborg but did appear in three episodes of Voyage/Sea, twice as time traveller Mr Pem, and once as a Dr stuck in a "night of terror" on an island of giant monsters.

But this $6 Man episode is really rather good, and once we get past the Voyage/Sea rip offs, well, we really take in a rather clever and solid hour of comic strip adventure.

Loaded with bionic action, outstanding location filming in a field of grass, and the final frames probably rank as the best moments of the entire series (but I think the totally under-rated Shazam 1974-76 series leaves the bionic shows for dead!)

John Saxon is a standout and had been in Time Tunnel's Attack Of The Barbarians (1967).