Hey folks, a couple of bits and pieces for you today:

Syfy Portal report that original BW series star Lindsay Wagner believes the “re-imagined” version is too violent:

“It’s very much like what the shows are today … kind of dark and broody and violent,” Wagner said. “It’s not at all what we were doing. We were doing a show for kids intentionally and making it fun in such a way that adults could enjoy it, too.”

It’s interesting that she would say that because personally I thought the series would be alot ‘darker’, especially after hearing Miguel Ferrer repeatedly say that “this isn’t your mom’s Bionic Woman”. But I guess from Wagner’s point of view the show is alot more violent than the original version that she starred in. What I like about this new version is the ‘comic-relief’ that has been incorporated over the past few episodes, in particular the Nathan / Jaime combination has added another dimension to the show, which has helped to balance the ‘gritty’ appeal with shades of ‘humour’.

This is interesting, apparently the use of the Apple iPhone in last weeks episode, “The List”, was all wrong – the wrong way around to be precise. Did you notice? Can’t say I did. I would have thought the powers that be would be water tight on the use of technological gadgets in the show, but maybe they were testing us to see whether we’re paying attention? We’re still watching guys, don’t worry! ; )

TV fodder give last weeks ‘List’ episode the thumbs up whilst comparing it to an episode of Mission Impossible. They suggest that the episode was helped by, what they call, the ‘dropping of dead weight’:

Personally, I think it was pretty good. The show seems to work a lot better when they drop all the dead weight, i.e. all the supporting characters like quiz-master Ruth, one-note Jae and Mr. YawnFest Isaiah Washington. The plot made sense and had a somewhat logical conclusion. The tone felt a lot like old Mission: Impossible episodes, which works for the format. The writers should definitely amp up the espionage portion of the show, and maybe team Jaime up only with new boyfriend Tom.

This is an interesting point – whilst I don’t consider Ruth, Jae or Antonio to be “dead weight”, I have been slightly frustrated with the under utilisation of Ruth (who deserves a far bigger role in my humble opinion) and the rather ‘one-tone’ use of Jae Lee, who often leaves me wondering what else Burket pay him for when he’s not taking Jaime ‘beyond the demo’. Don’t get me wrong, I like Jae..when he’s good, he’s really good. I’d just like to see these characters used in a more..whats the word? ..‘constructive’ way. Anyway, it’s good to see a positive review!

G4 TV have a rather funny Bionic Woman parody called “lesbionic” – check it out here.

Ryan over at WBW.com has a recap of Nathan’s  (“The Tech Guy”) -  performance in last weeks episode. Nathan is fast becoming one of my favourite characters and I take my hat off to Kevin Rankin!

That’s all for now – apologies for those of you waiting for the next Caption Contest, Episode Investigations and my review of “The List”. I’ve been especially busy this past week but I hope to have some more content up sometime on Tuesday. Cheers folks.

TVGuide.com: Already we have seen some evolution in Jonas. He started off as such a hard-ass with Jaime, and now he’s more like a father-figure type.
Ferrer: Yeah, yeah — and he’s catching himself surprised by that. He’s got more humor, and you’ll see more humanity, but at the end of the day, the guy is a pragmatist who is forced to make difficult decisions for what he believes are the right reasons.

TVGuide.com: Are we going to get any more backstory on him?
Ferrer: His wife died and he’s got a daughter who no one has seen yet but has been alluded to. They have a difficult relationship. I learn more every episode.

TVGuide.com: The teaser for this week’s episode says, “Becca ends up in jail, and Jonas must bail her out.” What’s going on there?
Ferrer: [Laughs] Jaime goes away to do a mission in Paris, and before she leaves, she gives Becca Jonas’ phone number, saying, “If there’s an emergency, call this guy.” Becca winds up in a ton of trouble and calls Jonas, and they have a very….

TVGuide.com: Is Becca like, “Who are you?!”
Ferrer: Yeah. “Who are you? Is my sister really selling timeshare condos?” [Laughs] It’s a couple of nice scenes with the most unlikely pair on the whole show. It was a lot of fun.

TVGuide.com: Are things starting to “settle down” now with Jason Cahill coming on?
Ferrer: Jason hasn’t started yet, but he’s about to. They’re in the middle of the changing of the guard from Katims to Cahill. This is our third Jason! [Laughs] But seriously, even before that, it really is starting to normalize finally. The scripts are finding a voice and finding a tone. This kind of show, in the beginning it’s just so big and expensive there are going to be growing pains, a learning curve. We’re coming to the tail end of that.

TVGuide.com: Have you started shooting, or have you seen the script for the two-part episode that will serve to “relaunch” the show in January?
Ferrer: I have not seen a script. We started shooting the episode before that one [on Nov. 1]. We’re still a good week and a half off from that.

TVGuide.com: Are there still secrets we have yet to learn about the Berkut Group?
Ferrer: I think so…. I can’t tell you what they are, though!

TVGuide.com: Do you think Jaime is fully committed at this point, or is there still a part of her that wants her old life back?
Ferrer: It seems like she is onboard with reservations at this point.

TVGuide.com: Everybody wants to be a hero.
Ferrer: Yeah. She likes that idea. But it’s not like, “Hey, I’m bionic! This is bitchin’!” It’s not quite there yet, not that I think it should ever be there.

TVGuide.com: Do you think it unfair to Michelle Ryan that fans keep comparing her to Katee Sackhoff? Obviously, Sarah Corvus is supposed to be splashier….
Ferrer: Sarah Corvus gets all the sweet lines! That’s why I’ve enjoyed my long career of playing many bad guys.

TVGuide.com: If you’re quotable, you’re memorable.
Ferrer: Absolutely. That’s what they’re there to do — stir things up. They don’t sit there and wait for things to happen.

TVGuide.com: Do you think that as Jaime gets more comfortable in her own skin, the character might gain some attitude?
Ferrer: Probably. That’s definitely already happened to an extent, especially when she and Isaiah Washington’s character faced off. There were some pithy exchanges there. But in terms of it being unfair that Katee is getting some nice attention, who said that any of this s–t was fair? [Chuckles] That’s just how it is.

TVGuide.com: Any interest yet from Lindsay Wagner in swinging by for a cameo?
Ferrer: I haven’t heard a word.

TVGuide.com: I think there was an interview with her a few weeks ago where she wasn’t liking the show. She had some self-righteous take on it.
Ferrer: Oh, god, I love that. A couple of months ago I was in L.A. and Richard Anderson, the guy who played Oscar [Goldman on the original Bionic Woman], was driving by. His license plate still says “BIONIC.” [Laughs] All I can tell you is if in 30 years my license plate says BIONIC, you have complete permission to cut my throat.

TVGuide.com: Obviously there are a lot of sci-fi shows out there, a lot of characters full of crazy powers…. What do you think it will take for Bionic Woman to have legs and survive and fulfill its promise?
Ferrer: First and foremost, it’s got to be on the page. It starts with the writing. It’s got to be drama that can be taken seriously, with elements of sci-fi and action. But if it’s cheesy on the page, we don’t have a chance. There’s a lot of talent, and Jason Cahill comes with an extraordinary pedigree. I’m hoping for really good things.

Interesting stuff, especially the regarding ”2 part episode” which will serve as the relaunch. I’ve been wondering what they meant by ‘relaunch’. Also, he’s right about the foundations of good sci-fi – the writing.

You can read the entire interview here.

 A few people have asked me whether the 1970′s Bionic Woman series is available on DVD. This article helps explain why getting Wagner’s Bionic Series isn’t so easily available on that format:

Like why The Six Million Dollar Man and the original Bionic Woman aren’t available on DVD yet!

Yes, tonight (even as I post this!) we’re watching the second episode of the new re-imagining of The Bionic Woman with Michelle Ryan, but what fans from back in the day want to know is, “Why isn’t the original Lindsay Wagner version on DVD?” For that matter, “Where’s Col. Austin?” comes up a lot, too. Everyone wonders, in an era of TV-DVD success, why the original Bionic shows haven’t made it out on disc yet.

The concepts of the original Six Million Dollar Manwhere based on the Martin Caidin novel Cyborg, which is where Steve Austin comes from. So Universal had to get the rights to that book in order to make the show in the first place. But licenses like that periodically come up for renewal, and one such time happened back a few years ago, when all of Uni’s lawyers were distracted with the then-impending buy-out by NBC (when Vivendi was still trying to sell them off). Uni really ought to have been paying attention to that license expiration, because then they could simply have renewed it, and that would have been that. But they overlooked it in the confusion, apparently.

Dimension Films (formerly part of Disney and now owned by The Weinstein Company) seemingly had some lawyers who took it upon themselves to be watching that license on its way to expiration. As soon as Uni’s time was up and they no longer had first dibs on renewel, it was then possible for Dimension to claim the rights via a big old wad of money…and they did so. Ergo, Cyborg and the “bionic concepts” that were behind the shows are now Dimension’s, not Uni’s.

So Uni still owns the footage with Austin and (the original) Sommers, of course, but Dimension owns the rights to the mechanical-based bionic concepts that underly those stories. That’s why these shows don’t seem to be able to come to DVD: because these two companies must now come to an agreement first. An agreement that certainly involves a nice chunk of cash.

I frankly don’t know what Dimension’s presently doing with the Cyborg property. The original idea back in Oct. 2003was that Jim Carrey would be Bionic, but play it for laughs in a big-budget parody sendup of SMDM. Many fans – myself included in that number! – booed that concept, and therefore booed Carrey in the role. So many that he withdrew from the part, and Dimension wisely chose not to pursue the property with that angle. At least that is what was said publicly in early 2004. Since then, Dimension’s been quiet on the concept.

Universal was going to reportedly team with Dimension to help them finance the Jim Carrey film, in exchange for deal-withable financial terms on releasing the DVDs. That is why Uni originally said that the DVDs would come out starting in 2004. When the Carrey film got scrapped, I suppose those plans went back to square one, since there was no longer a quid-pro-quo on the film financing.

Then again, the first two seasons of each of these shows are available on DVD in the U.K., so what’s up with that? Well, that’s why “Region 1″ and “Region 2″ and all that stuff exists: because there can be different rights to a given property in different parts of the world, and this is one of those situations where the American and European rights don’t match: Universal has all the rights needed to put DVDs out in Europe. But hey have to use region coding to keep those discs from working on players sold in the USA and Canada.

So how can NBC-Universal put out a new Bionic Woman, then? If you notice, there’s no Steve Austin or any other character name that originated in the book Cyborg, and the concepts behind the bionics are completely different than the ones that originated in the book (closer to the concepts in another MIA-on-DVD show, Jake 2.0, if you ask me). So there is no rights conflict between the new show and the original book.

So it’s to do with rights and all that legal stuff. However you can still buy some Bionic Woman DVD’s via import through Amazon or if you’re in the UK you can buy them from Amazon UK. Check out our Bionic Store in the header above, or see the following links for more information:

The Bionic Woman: The Complete Season One [Region 2 Import] from Amazon
The Bionic Woman [Region 2] from Amazon
The Bionic Woman Vol.1 – (3 Episodes) from Amazon

Or, for those in the UK:
The Bionic Woman – Series 1 from Amazon UK
Bionic Woman – Series 2 from Amazon UK
The Bionic Woman – Vol. 1 [1976] from Amazon UK
The Bionic Woman – Vol. 2 [1976] from Amazon UK
The Bionic Woman – Vol. 3 [1976] from Amazon UK

———

Before ‘Hiro’ on Heroes, there was ‘Steve Austin; – The Six Million Dollar Man. Before ‘Buffy Summers’ on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, there was ‘Jaime Sommers’ – The Bionic Woman. Now, television’s classic wonder people of the 1970s are back and stronger than ever in – THE BIONIC BOOK: The Six Million Dollar Man And The Bionic Woman Reconstructed, written by best-selling author Herbie J Pilato(Bewitched Forever, The Kung Fu Book of Caine).Co-billed as the Cybernetic Compendium To TV’s Most Realistic Sci-Fi Superhero Shows, THE BIONIC BOOK is chock-full of commentary culled from Pilato’s exclusive interviews with Bionic stars Lee Majors (who played half-superman/half-mechanical marvel Steve Austin), Lindsay Wagner(Jaime Sommers – Steve’s female counter-part and one true love), series creator (and science fiction novel icon) Martin Caidin, executive producer Harve Bennett (who would later help to ignite the Star Trek feature film franchise), producer/director Kenneth Johnson (The Incredible Hulk and Alien Nation) and actor Richard Anderson, the latter of whom portrayed Oscar Goldman – Steve and Jaime’s stoic but understanding superviser (and who has penned the book’s foreword).Much more than a mere TV trivia guide, THE BIONIC BOOK explores in-depth the social, psychological, medical and scientific influence, appeal and message behind two of the most popular and heroic science fiction television programs of all time.

Format: Softcover; 6″ x 9″; 400 pages, 75 photos Price: $19.77 from Amazon: CLICK HERE TO BUY THIS BOOK.

 Release: September 2007 About the Author Herbie J Pilato is an author, actor, producer, director, and singer/songwriter who resides in Rochester, New York. Herbie J’s books include Bewitched Forever, The Kung Fu Book of Caine, The Kung Fu Book of Wisdom, and BearManor Media’s upcoming book, entitled, Life Story – The Book Life Goes On: TV’s First and Best Family Show of Challenge. Herbie J has appeared on hundreds of radio and TV shows (including the E! True Hollywood Story, Entertainment Tonight and General Hospital), and is presently developing several television shows and feature films. About BearManor MediaBearManor Media – a small press that publishes BIG books – takes pride in publishing quality entertainment/nostalgic books and biographies on unique subjects, including: Que Sera, Sera: The Magic of Doris Day Through Television and Son of Harpo Speaks, and Hold That Joan: The Life, Laughs and Films of Joan Davis.To learn about this or other BearManor Media titles, please visit www.bearmanormedia.com.

You can purchase the ‘Bionic Book Reconstructed’  from Amazon using the following  link:

Bionic Book Reconstructed

Microsoft and Cisco continually test and update the all certifications. Juniper JN0-570 JNCIS-SSL and JN0-541 IDP Associate certification credentials are the best and have the same popularity as PMI-001 and Cisco 642-975 DCASI exam have. Oracle 1z0-048 Oracle Database 10g R2: Administering RAC is a most popular exam among the IT professionals.

Eick on his hopes for the series:

“I’d like people to leave room for the possibility that a show called ‘Bionic Woman’ is going to reach deeper than they might expect. We’re not doing Chekhov, we know that. But I do think we’re definitely pushing the theme in some really compelling and sort of meaningful directions.

“In a way you want the title to work for you, to get people to watch the show, but at the same time you don’t want it to act as the kind of thing that makes people feel like you don’t deserve to go into that more serious territory. I hope people will leave room for the possibility that a show called ‘Bionic Woman’ can be great.

Eick on ‘Bionic Woman’ in comparison to ‘Battlestar Galatica’:

“When Ron Moore and I first started talking about ‘Battlestar,’ it was in December of 2001, right on the heels of 9/11. And we saw ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ at its heart, as a story about desperate people in the aftermath of a holocaust, searching for a way home. So our intention was to write a drama that reflected our times that just happened to be called ‘Battlestar Galactica.’ ‘Bionic Woman’ is a more sociologically contemplative idea, which is, simply: ‘Are the rules different for women? When their desire is to be a professional success and an emotional, domestic, interpersonal success, how do we judge that differently than we might a man?’ ”

Eick on his inspiration:

“I was raised by a single woman, who was an entrepreneur, so I knew the force of a successful female businessperson who’s also a successful mom. And I wondered why we hadn’t seen more of that on television.”

Eick on Sarah Corvus:

“Sarah was a good way of showing this as a cautionary tale. And if you look at the storytelling tools of the great science fiction writers, it’s all about be careful what you wish for. H. G. Wells and Ray Bradbury are always talking about that which we create eventually destroying us unless we heed the warnings. And Jaime will have to make moral choices that may or may not move her down the path toward becoming another Sarah.”

Eick on the ‘Dark’ themes of ‘Bionic Woman’:

“I never thought this series should be as dark as ‘Battlestar,’ it would be impossible to maintain the heaviness of the pilot, which is about a girl getting pulverized by a Mack truck, barely surviving and struggling to come to terms with this incredibly traumatic thing. You can’t do that story every week. Sometimes she has to feel that this is exhilarating, sometimes it’s terrifying and sometimes it’s just fun.”

Read the entire interview here.

Show creators apparently hate technology, especially when used to successfully save lives. At what price, they want to explore, do we do so? A character who suffers terrible trauma must continue to suffer long after they have transcended their human weaknesses and been relieved of their pain. The price, we learn, is generally too high, and it would have been better if the character had just died. Because they did not die, they now must spend the seasons performing altruistic acts, to give back to simple unenhanced humans who are owed some unexplained debt. The moment the transhuman start enjoying her powers, she will be taught a terrible lesson.

This bionic woman is a creation of nanotechnology and cybernetics, packaged in a beautiful and indistinguishable-from-human body. A simple bartender enriched by her involvement with a man of education and science must now pay the ultimate price for becoming transhuman. We do not learn in one episode, of course, exactly what price she will pay during her upcoming ordeals, but we can be sure it will be gratuitously gory and tearful.

Modern medicine is marvelous and technologies in labs and on the horizon suggest great things ahead. We know from experience that most people in pain, experiencing great suffering, or nearing death, will, no matter what their prior belief system, embrace relief. Relief is so obviously joyful that relief as horror as depicted in fiction simply rings false, yet writers go back to that same dark well over and over again.

Could there be conflict in a depiction of a transhuman that was joyful and thankful for her transcendence? Absolutely. We have already seen one such character on television, albeit with her own moments of angst and depression and confusion. Her name was Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and she was always at her best when she gave into the morally valid pleasures of her power.

And Buffy Summers, of course, was partly inspired by another woman of incredible power who could, sometimes at least, enjoy her powers. She was the original Jaime Sommers in the original 1970’s Bionic Woman. If her joy was not always apparent, she was a superior role model compared to the current ungrateful incarnation. Until writers embrace the potential joys of transhuman existence, they will continue to “re-image” old material while popular storytelling continues to stagnate.

He also says that the show is a “disaster” and labels Katee Sackhoff’s portrayal of Sarah Corvus as ’painful’ and “badly acted”.

Whilst I did enjoy reading his article and can appreciate several of the points that he made, I disagree about the performance of Sackhoff and his calling the show a “disaster” – afterall, he’s only seen the Pilot..and that was far from being a ‘disaster’. As for his point about the show not celebrating the ‘gift’ of ‘transhuman’ abilities, I can understand his viewpoint, however doesn’t the show also have a responsibility to reflect the potential reality of such a ‘gift’? Afterall, most ‘heroes’ (if you will) are burdened with responsibility – “With great power, comes great responsibility” – being in a position of power is often a lonely burden..one could call it the ‘gift and the curse’ effect.

Yes, it would be nice to explore the joys of human transcendence and I’m sure that along the way Jaime will experience moments where she is at one with herself and ‘happy’ with her role. However, it’s much more fun and realistic to experience the light and the shade of the human condition..because that’s what life is often about..light and shade. Nevertheless, it’s a great piece and you can read all of it here.

Lindsay Wagner (the original BW) was a woman. Lynda Carter (the original Wonder Woman) was a woman. The producers should have paid a little more attention to the title of the show. It’s called Bionic Woman, not Bionic Babe. They should have cast Molly Price (who plays a psychologist on the series). She’s sexy, strong and most definitely a grown-up.

Since when was being a 24 year old surrogate mom to a teenage sister, holding down a steady job, having a mind of her own and having a mother die from Cancer, make someone a ‘babe’? Yes, the show is called ‘Bionic Woman’ and yes (in my opinion) the modern take on Jaime Sommers is that of a ‘woman’..and not the ‘immature babe’ they paint her as being. I’m sorry but are they saying that the only way to define a woman is by age and strength? What about her weaknesses, values, experiences etc? I’m not a woman so I can’t speak on behalf of women but surely Jaime Sommers is actually a grown woman?

It sounds to me like someone is stuck in the 1970′s..

Personally I find the idea of Jaime being a young ‘woman’ very interesting because I sense that alot of people will be able to identify with her. Whilst changes can happen to people at any stage in their life, I think that people will be able to relate to the idea of being young and trying to find your place in the world. And I think Miguel Ferrer said it best:

“This isn’t your mom’s Bionic Woman”

Whilst I respect the original, we must move on and judge this new version on it’s own merits and in relation to ‘modern’ society. Yes, Jaime will have a lot to learn..but whether you’re 24 or 44, isn’t that what life is about?

That’s my opinion..perhaps other people think differently?

Kanye is no stranger to re-inventing himself and re-birthing popular culture, so it would seem possible that he is or was a fan of the 1970′s classic.

Here’s an idea, perhaps NBC could use ‘Stronger’ for the shows theme tune? Though it might cost them what it cost the Burket Group to install Jaime’s Bionics..

Anyway, Kanye, if by some unlikely chance you read this, feel free to send me any tickets to your next show ..failing that i’d settle for an interview regarding the thinking behind that rather awesome video!

Wow..so perhaps Katee Sackhoff (Sarah Corvus) should be worried when they next meet for a face/off? Speaking of which, I wonder what fighting style will be used in the show itself? I was too busy with my mouth open to pay attention to the techniques adopted by Jaime and Corvus in that rooftop scene. Perhaps we’ll see some Krav Maga in the show itself, afterall bringing such a brutal discipline into the show should help with the realism-factor, which I think NBC are aiming for.

All this talk of ‘Krav Maga’ and roof-top fight scenes has actually reminded me of an interesting article I read earlier today which comments on the apparent return of strong woman to our TV screens. If Michelle and Katee are anything to go by they could well be right. From what Ive seen of the (pre-aired) Pilot, both of their characters (at times) displayed steel and strength. But what is strength..how can we quantify it? Personally I think that Corvus is without a doubt a strong lady – she’s been through a lot from what Ive seen and read. As for Jaime, in the space of one episode she’s goes from being vulnerable and pregnant to being vulnerable and kicking butt. Of course I don’t want to give too much away to those who haven’t seen the pre-aired Pilot (which has been re-shot by the way), but I find it interesting how she seemed to tread the fine line between strength and vulnerability ..even at this early stage. That’s something which I will be looking out for in the future episodes – how will she handle the changes that have been forced upon her? Will she embrace them or try to run away from who she is..who she has become..?

I wonder what Lindsay Wagner would make of the way the women look set to be portrayed in this new series? She is a cult icon, largely due to her portrayal of 1970′s Jaime Sommers. She helped bring women’s empowerment to the screen and I would imagine that alot of people gained strength and encouragement from that. It’s perhaps too early to compare Michelle with Lindsey, but you know it’s going to happen anyway.

As a series this new version will be alot grittier and strength will be depicted in different ways than it was 30 years ago – and well it might, the times has changed and so has technology and women. Let’s not forget the men in all of this – namely Dr. Will Anthros (Chris Bowers), who has come in for some almighty stick from what I’ve read online. The fans are bashing him because of what he does to Jaime in the first episode..but was his choice really that simple? I submit that sometimes we hold onto what is dear to us in any way that we can, but ultimately love always comes with sacrifice and Will, it would seem, is paying the price, as is Jaime..as is Corvus..as is Jae.

You can check out some sweet pictures of Jaime Sommers in combat in our Spoilers section! You can read up on Krav Maga here, and if you’re looking for some info on the 1970′s and current Bionic Woman you should check out Watching Bionic Woman, who have recently posted up some helpful quicklinks.

Michelle has also been speaking about removing any ideas of the original show from her mind, as it helps her to focus on this completely “new” project. I think that’s the right thing to do since this new version is going to be really different from the original. I think this will also be good for completely new viewers of ‘Bionic Woman’, as they wont have to worry about researching the original and can just plug straight into the show.

I guess that at the end of the day, theres no such thing as a ‘new idea’ anymore - shows like ‘Lost’ and ‘Heroes’ (love em as I do) borrow many themes from past TV shows and popular culture, but they repackage them in an interesting and vivid way. This is what I think the 2007 Bionic Woman has to do – it has to capture the minds of the people, play on those interesting themes and keep the viewers guessing. That’s what we want right..an ‘experience’..a ‘journey’? So with that in mind it would appear that the trick (so to speak) is to borrow and repackage. I’m a BIG fan of Lost and i’ve loved the way they have presented the viewers with familiar themes such as faith, science, sacrifice, ethics, love, revenge etc and thrown them together (Mish-Mashed them, if you will ;)) and given us a vibrant take on all of these elements which impact us in real life. Yes, Lost is Sci-Fi, but at it’s heart it is a ‘human story’ and I for one would love ‘Bionic Woman’ to adopt a similar technique.

Time will tell, huh?