Would a 6 million dollar man (Bionic Man-type) reboot work now?)

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by jefferiestubes8, May 3, 2012.

  1. jefferiestubes8

    jefferiestubes8 Commodore Commodore

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    Would a cybernetic-implant show like the Bionic Man work now as a The Six Million Dollar Man reboot?
    Could this show have more focus rather than the 2007 Bionic Woman show not knowing if it wanted to go in the directions of Bionic Woman, Buffy, or Alias?

    Would there also be a possibility of a episode in which Michelle Ryan from the Bionic Woman (2007) show appears in it?

    a quick video recap:
    Six Million Dollar Man & Bionic Woman clips
    length: 1:30

    What do you guys think about a reboot of The Six Million Dollar Man?


    related threads about the original Six Million Dollar Man out on DVD in 2011 and the reboot of Bionic Woman:
    Revisiting The Six-Million Dollar Man...

    Rewatching the Six Million Dollar Man on DVD

    Bionic Woman 2007 - Your thoughts?
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2012
  2. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    As long as they remembered to make it cool and fun, which Bionic Woman was not.

    And they need to bring back the slow-motion bionic effect as well. It's what made the original shows so memorable and iconic; without it, you're pretty much just watching a generic superhero show.
     
  3. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    I liked the "speed lines" effect of Sandra Bullock's bionic woman running at mach speeds.
     
  4. Tom

    Tom Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Would inflation make it be the 20 miilion dollar man? lol
     
  5. Brikar99

    Brikar99 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Maybe each of his parts cost $6 million.
     
  6. Galileo7

    Galileo7 Commodore Commodore

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    Agree, on all points. If it was done right, then, even today, it would work.:vulcan:
     
  7. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    They had their chance - they should have cast Katee Sackhoff as the lead, and had her play the Bionic Woman as a headcase. And put it on cable.

    That general idea is still a good one, a show about bionic enhancements in the future and how it upends assumptions about what humans should be. Do bionic enhancements make humans more or less equal? And in what way? What happens if you have a partially bionic brain? (I'm thinking of the DS9 episode with Bareil.)

    That stuff is all good material, but there's no reason to shoehorn it into any sort of law-enforcement format. That's so tired.

    Six billion dollars would cover it, lol.
     
  8. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ^ I think it'd have to be six trillion. Does anyone really think that the kind of enhancements done to Steve and Jaime wouldn't cost at least that much?
     
  9. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Let's say six zillion and call it a day.
     
  10. Skellington

    Skellington Part-time poltergeist Rear Admiral

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    Kevin Smith has recently rebooted both characters in comic-book form to very good effect. Kevin Smith's Bionic Man used to be a film script and is eight issues in. It has several nods to the mythology, including a reference to the ongoing cost of the project - six million dollars a day. Bionic Woman is at issue #1 and looks promising.
     
  11. Galileo7

    Galileo7 Commodore Commodore

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    Agree.
     
  12. Tom

    Tom Vice Admiral Admiral

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    it would only be really that high is if the techs were in a union . lol
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2012
  13. Kelthaz

    Kelthaz Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Stick with the $6 million and have a lot of the comedy come from the low budget equipment that he's forced to use. Comedy gold.

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kse0MG5n9wI[/yt]
     
  14. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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    Well the Bionic WOMan remake that was on NBC flopped... :rommie:
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2012
  15. 23skidoo

    23skidoo Admiral Admiral

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    The Bionic Woman remake flopped because they abandoned everything that made the original series work. Plus I'll never forget watching behind-the-scenes interviews with the writers and some cast members (not, for the record, Michelle Ryan) who expressed general dislike for the original series. You must respect the original source otherwise the remake will suck.

    They also can't do what Kevin Smith did and take all the fun out of it. I like the comic book, and I bought a copy of the script for his movie a long time ago and thought it was interesting. But just as you must accept the suspension of disbelief that spaceships can go faster than light in order to accept Star Trek, and that time travel is possible so you can accept Doctor Who, you have to accept things like "A man with one bionic arm can lift a car without crushing the rest of his body" to accept Steve Austin. And I'm afraid too many of today's viewers have become too "Big Bang Theoried" to accept that. Hence you have Kevin Smith (both in the script and the comic) doing things like having Austin's real arm removed, both eyes removed oh, and let's replace all his skin while we're at it. It makes for an interesting story, but I don't consider this to be "my" Steve Austin (or "my" Jaime Sommers in the case of the new Bionic Woman comic book).

    Here's another comparison: Larry Niven's brilliantly funny "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" describes in uncomfortable detail why Superman and Lois Lane can never get together. It's funny. It's probably true (were a Kryptonian with super powers ever to try and romance a human). But it also destroys the romance.

    The only way for a Six Million Dollar Man remake will work in today's day and age is they have to go back to the novel. Martin Caidin's Cyborg has Steve Austin, a Vietnam veteran (substitute Afghanistan) and test pilot who gets mashed up in a plane crash. His bionics arm (that's not a typo: that's how Caidin writes it) is bludgeon with a poison dart gun in a fingertip; his legs do not run at superspeed, but he can run longer than regular people because his heart and lungs only have to power his torso, head and right arm (Steve's bionics arm is his left arm in the books); his eye is a camera, and he can't see out of it - a later book gives him a laser; his ribs are replaced by artificial ribs that double as a transmission antenna for a radio built into one of his legs.

    Oh, and on missions Steve acts like Mack Bolan.

    If they go back to the original, then it might fly. If they want to just do a riff on the TV series (thank you profusely to whomever killed the plan to do a Jim Carrey comedy based on it) it's gonna fail. That said, however, I saw enough of Ben Browder's appearance as Lee Majors in a TV movie on the making of Charlie's Angels that he'd have done fine in an SMDM remake 10 years ago.

    Alex
     
  16. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    Personally, I'm surprised it hasn't been redone before now. What with old tv shows being rebooted over the years, the penchant for Terminator/ Robocop cybernetic heroes and anti-heroes and, of course, the proliferation of superhero movies, you'd think TSMDM would be a shoo-in for revival. Ticks all tbe boxes.
     
  17. WillsBabe

    WillsBabe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm suprised that SMDM hasn't been updated, too. I think it could make great modern tv.
     
  18. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    We also had a show called Jake 2.0 which could be considered close to a reboot for the Six Million Dollar Man
     
  19. Galileo7

    Galileo7 Commodore Commodore

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    Jake 2.0 episode "Double Agent" featured Lee Majors.
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0614147/
     
  20. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Yes I remember that some what vaugely, well it has been several years since it was last on.