Very interesting. Thanks for that info. Is the real, original version available anywhere? It's a shame that the box set uses the re-edits.
Apologies for any confusion - the versions of the movies in the Season 1 set that was just released are the original broadcast versions - the good ones. The reedits are included in an additional 5-disc set (which also includes the reunion TV movies) which is likely only going to be available as part of the mail-order Time-Life set (though I'm expecting the reunion movies to get some sort of release on their own as they did in the UK).
In terms of what seasons to get, you're pretty safe getting the first 3 seasons. Season 1 had a vitality to it as they were testing the show's sea legs. Two words to recommend Season 2: Jamie Sommers. Season 3 for the same reason, except moreso because she appears in a number of episodes, plus you get the introduction of Bigfoot and Stefanie Powers (famously a onetime candidate to play Jamie) as alien babe Shalon. As a fan of the series since it first aired as a weekly in 1974, Season 3 has, pound for pound, more of my favorite and well-remembered episodes.
Season 4 and 5 are starting to get into "fan only" territory. Season 4 had more Jamie crossovers, but it was also the season of "The Moustache" and the show started to falter. (If you want to avoid Season 4 altogether but want to see the Jamie episodes, they're all included in the Season 2 Bionic Woman set). By Season 5, the show was running on fumes. There were still some very good episodes, and I'm looking forward to seeing them (I'm intentionally going through my Time-Life set slowly because I don't want to end my fun too soon after a generation waiting for this thing to hit home video, so I'm only in early Season 4 right now), but the Bionic Woman had switched networks by this point so they weren't allowed to feature Jamie anymore. But Lee Majors did shave off his 'stache, so that's something.
The movies are a nostalgia trip, but weren't particularly very good, though they tried some interesting experiements. The first movie was clearly a pilot for Steve's now-bionic son Michael, but it's mostly interesting for a) having Steve do things with his bionics he'd never have been allowed to do in the original series, and b) featuring Martin Landau as a scenery-chewing villain - after having got stuck in this rut for the previous decade, very soon after making "Return of the SMDM and the BW" Landau experienced a career resurgence that climaxed with him getting the Oscar for Ed Wood a few years later. The second film was another pilot for a new Bionic Woman series starring Sandra Bullock. I'll let that sink in - and man she was hot in that movie. The last film was a straight-up reunion film and was more relaxed, and gave Jamie some kick-ass action along the way.
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We have a decent story and decent performances from all. And to boot we have the right music. The opening credits are worth the price of admission alone. And at this stage the sound f/x are still low-key and the stunts are made to look reasonably credible.
Essentially there wasn't much of interest going on in this episode.
I imagine a lot of the fun of revisiting this show will be seeing the popular stars and character actors of the day making their appearances.
