Steve Austin was a man barely alive. If you grew up in the seventies, that phrase probably just triggered a Pavlovian response of electronic grinding noises and slow-motion running. The Six Million Dollar Man wasn't just a TV show; it was a cultural pivot point that changed how we looked at technology, disability, and the human body. Honestly, it's kind of wild to think about now. In an era of multi-billion dollar Marvel blockbusters, the idea of a guy being "rebuilt" for a mere six million bucks seems like a bargain. Today, that barely covers the catering budget for a single episode of a streaming series.
But back in 1973, when the first TV movie aired, six million dollars felt like infinite money. It was astronomical. It was "better, stronger, faster."
Lee Majors stepped into the flight suit of Steve Austin, an astronaut and test pilot who gets absolutely wrecked in a crash. We’re talking losing an arm, both legs, and an eye. Instead of a gold watch and a disability pension, the government—specifically the Office of Strategic Intelligence (OSI)—decides to use him as a guinea pig for "bionics." It’s a classic sci-fi setup. But what made the show stick wasn't just the gadgets. It was the weird, sometimes melancholy vibe of a man who was no longer entirely human.
The Bionic Breakthrough That Defined a Decade
Most people remember the slow motion. You know the look. Steve Austin would be sprinting at "60 miles per hour," but the film was slowed down, accompanied by that iconic ching-ching-ching sound effect. It was a brilliant move by producer Harve Bennett and the crew. Why? Because actually filming someone running 60 mph in 1974 was expensive and looked terrible. By slowing it down, they made the superhuman feel ethereal. It felt powerful. It became the universal playground language for "I am now a superhero."
The show was based on the 1972 novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin. If you ever read the book, you'll realize the TV show is actually much "softer." The book version of Steve Austin is a bit of a cold-blooded killer. He’s a blunt instrument of the state. The TV version? Lee Majors gave him a soul. He played Austin with this sort of weary, blue-collar charm. He wasn't a god; he was a guy doing a job he never really asked for.
Lee Majors was already a star from The Big Valley, but The Six Million Dollar Man turned him into a global icon. He had this specific squint. This way of looking through his bionic eye—which, by the way, had a 20:1 zoom lens and infrared capabilities—that made kids everywhere squint one eye and pretend they could see through walls.
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Oscar Goldman and the OSI
You can't talk about Steve Austin without talking about Oscar Goldman. Played by Richard Anderson, Oscar was the director of the OSI and Austin's handler. Their relationship was complicated. Oscar was technically Steve’s boss, and he often sent Steve into situations that were essentially suicide missions. Yet, there was a genuine paternal bond there. Anderson played Oscar with a sharp, crisp authority that perfectly balanced Steve's more relaxed, sometimes rebellious personality.
Then there was Dr. Rudy Wells. The character was actually played by three different actors over the years: Martin Balsam in the pilot, Alan Oppenheimer for a good chunk of the series, and finally Martin E. Brooks. Rudy was the genius who actually maintained Steve's hardware. He was the one who had to deal with the fact that bionics weren't just machinery; they were integrated into a living, breathing human system. This wasn't just "robotics." It was biology meeting metallurgy.
The Bigfoot Factor and Weird Sci-Fi
If you ask a casual fan what they remember most, it’s usually the Bigfoot episodes. Yes, Bigfoot.
In a move that would be considered "jumping the shark" today, the show introduced a bionic Bigfoot. And he was played by none other than André the Giant. It sounds ridiculous on paper. In practice? It was terrifying for a seven-year-old in 1976. The reveal that Bigfoot was actually an alien-constructed android (an "exo-biologic" creation) was a massive twist. It shifted the show from grounded spy thriller into full-blown sci-fi fantasy.
These episodes, like "The Secret of Bigfoot," were ratings monsters. They proved that the audience was willing to go anywhere with Steve Austin as long as the stakes felt real. We also got the Bionic Boy and, eventually, the Seven Million Dollar Man (Barney Miller), a competitor who didn't have Steve's mental stability. These characters served as cautionary tales. They showed that the bionics were easy, but being the man inside them was the hard part.
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The Bionic Woman and the Heart of the Show
Then came Jaime Sommers.
Lindsay Wagner played Steve’s childhood sweetheart, a tennis pro who suffers a catastrophic skydiving accident. Steve, desperate to save her, begs Oscar to give her bionics. She becomes the Bionic Woman. It’s one of the great tragedies of 70s TV. Her body rejects the bionics, she suffers brain hemorrhages, and she eventually "dies" in Steve's arms.
The fans went absolutely ballistic. They hated it. They wanted Jaime back.
The writers eventually succumbed, revealing she hadn't died but was instead put into cryogenic suspension and revived. However, she had total amnesia. She didn't remember Steve. This led to her own spin-off series, The Bionic Woman, which was arguably just as popular as the original. The crossover episodes between the two shows were the "Avengers" events of the 1970s. It created a shared universe before that was a standard industry term.
Why it Works: More Than Just Action
The show dealt with some surprisingly heavy themes. Think about it. Steve Austin is a man who was literally broken and put back together by the government. He is, quite literally, government property. There are several episodes where Steve questions his autonomy. He wonders if he's a person or just a very expensive piece of equipment.
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- The Cost of Progress: The show constantly weighed the benefits of bionics against the loss of "normal" human experience.
- The Cold War Context: Steve was often a tool of diplomacy, sneaking behind the Iron Curtain to stop "mad scientists" or rogue generals.
- Physical Disability: While Steve was "super," the show never shied away from the fact that he lost his original limbs. It was a subtextual exploration of what it means to live with prosthetic technology.
The technology of the show—the idea of "bionics"—actually inspired real-world research. Engineers and doctors have frequently cited the show as the reason they got into the field of advanced prosthetics. While we don't have 20:1 zoom eyes yet, we do have neural-linked limbs that allow people to touch and feel. We are living in Steve Austin’s future.
The Merchandising Juggernaut
We have to talk about the toys. The Kenner Six Million Dollar Man action figure was a masterpiece of 70s engineering. It had a hole in the back of the head so you could "see" through the bionic eye. It had "bionic skin" on the arm that you could roll back to see the circuits underneath.
It was one of the first times a TV show drove a massive toy line that rivaled things like G.I. Joe. If you had the bionic transport repair station or the Mission to Mars flight suit, you were the king of the neighborhood. This commercial success kept the show’s legacy alive long after it went off the air in 1978.
The Bionic Legacy and Modern Context
By 1978, the show ran its course. The "Bionic" craze was being replaced by the "Star Wars" craze. But the influence never really left. You can see Steve Austin's DNA in RoboCop, in Cyborg from the DC Universe, and in almost every modern "super soldier" trope.
There have been rumors of a big-budget movie reboot for decades. Everyone from Mark Wahlberg to various directors has been attached to "The Six Billion Dollar Man" (adjusting for inflation, naturally). But the project has sat in development hell for years. Maybe that's okay. Sometimes the original magic is hard to replicate because it was so tied to its era—that specific blend of post-Apollo optimism and Cold War anxiety.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
If you're looking to dive back into the world of Steve Austin, you don't need a bionic eye to find the good stuff.
- Watch the TV Movies First: Before the episodic series, there were three TV movies. The Six Million Dollar Man, Wine, Women and War, and The Solid Gold Kidnapping. They have a much more "James Bond" feel than the later series.
- Check the Comics: Dynamite Entertainment released some fantastic "Season Six" comics that continue the story, capturing the 70s aesthetic perfectly.
- Authentication Matters: If you’re hunting for those vintage Kenner toys on the secondary market, look closely at the "bionic skin." Over the decades, that rubberized material tends to degrade and become sticky or cracked. Finding one with intact skin is the "holy grail" for collectors.
- The Bionic Reunion Movies: In the late 80s and early 90s, three reunion movies were made. The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987) is actually pretty decent and features a young Sandra Bullock as a new bionic character.
The Six Million Dollar Man wasn't just a show about a guy who could jump over fences. It was a show about resilience. It was about taking a catastrophic, life-ending tragedy and turning it into a superpower. Steve Austin didn't just survive; he became "better than he was before." That’s a sentiment that resonates just as much in 2026 as it did in 1974. Whether it's through the classic episodes or the influence it left on modern sci-fi, the bionic man is still running—just, you know, in slow motion.