The new “Bionic Woman” series produced by NBC bears little resemblance to the original series, “The Bionic Woman,” which aired in the mid-1970s. The new “Bionic Woman,” which stars British actress Michelle Ryan, opens at the Wolf Creek Biotech Research Facility with an extremely brutal and violent scene. We see Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackhoff hovering over the body of a man she has killed. Several other of her victims line the hallway. Then Jae Kim, played by Will Yun Lee, shoots the woman in the chest and face.
The plot line of this “Bionic Woman” premiere episode is dark and extremely adult in tone. We learn about Jaime Sommers, a bartender who has been saddled with the responsibility of caring for her younger sister, Becca (Lucy Kate Hale). Jaime informs her professor boyfriend, Will Anthros (Chris Bowers) that she’s pregnant over dinner. Then the couple is involved in a serious automobile accident. Will turns to Jonas Bledsoe (Miguel Ferrer) who replaces Jaime’s damaged legs, right arm, right eye and ear with bionic implants. In one scene, Jaime reacts with horror when she awakens to find the bionic arm and legs attached to her body. We discover that the accident was no accident. Jaime and Will were deliberately run over.
We discover that the killer in the hallway at the research facility is not dead at all. In fact, she is the one who purposefully smashed into the car which Jaime and Will were traveling in together. It becomes clear, later in the show, that this villain, Sarah Corbus, will become a regular in the series.
There are violent fight scenes and sexually suggestive scenes throughout this episode. Despite all this, “Bionic Woman” is only rated TV 14. I do not believe this show is appropriate for fourteen year olds. Parents deserve a much stronger caution regarding this program than they have been given by NBC.
Worse, the new “Bionic Woman” has departed severely from the premise of its namesake. The original concept for “The Bionic Woman” came from the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin. This novel eventually became the basis for the television show, The Six Million Dollar Man starring Lee Majors as an astronaut named Col. Steve Austin. In the novel Cyborg, Jaime Sommers died from the rejection of her bionic limbs.
Lindsay Wagner had made a guest appearance on The Six Million Dollar Man, which spawned the spin-off “The Bionic Woman.” In However, in the spin-off series, “The Bionic Woman” incurred her injuries through a skydiving accident, and survived the rejection of her implants. Lee Majors made many appearances in this show in his role as Steve Austin. The show also starred Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman, the scientist responsible for Austin’s and Jaime’s superhuman bionics.
The original series “The Bionic Woman” featured some clunky special effects. Slow-mo accompanied by odd sound effects was usually used to indicate running at high speed. The bionic limbs were filled with wires, with gaping holes in them, and were oddly user-serviceable. But “The Bionic Woman” had a few things the remake seems to lack. There was a strong moral thread throughout “The Bionic Woman.” Lindsay Wagner’s Jaime Sommers felt grateful for the fact that her life had been saved by bionic implants. Michelle Ryan’s Jaime Sommers feels as if she’s being put upon, even when she’s told she would have died without the implants. She feels as though she’s being kept prisoner, and shows no gratitude to those who reconstructed her and saved her life. She also seems to feel no sense of obligation to do something in return.
Furthermore, the new Jaime Sommers basks in self-pity, as if getting superhuman strength is some sort of catastrophe. The rest of us, in her place, would be jumping for joy, going, “Whoopee! Look what I can do!”
Also, Isaiah Washington will appear as Antonio Pope, one of Jaime’s trainers. Isaiah Washington, if you’ll recall, was dismissed from “Grey’s Anatomy” for making repeated homophobic slurs. There is a high likelihood that Washington will be a liability in the series. However, “Bionic Woman” producer David Eick seems to think that bad publicity is good publicity.
“The Bionic Woman” was one of my favorite series in the 1970s. It was one of the few series I actually watched with regularity. I must, by necessity, feel some sense of loyalty to “The Bionic Woman” original series. The new “Bionic Woman” seems to betray the ethic of the original. It isn’t true to the purpose which the original series intended to serve. NBC has figured out that it can gain viewers by producing programs with extreme violence and graphic sexuality. Underlying these low-brow ratings generating tactics are a general sense of self-pity, selfishness and social irresponsibility.
I am a fan of sci-fi, so I will probably continue to watch “Bionic Woman.” However, I have to say it has gotten off to a weak start. Titillating people’s lust for sex and violence is not a way to get on my good side as a viewer. The “Bionic Woman” producers will have to make some serious changes if they want to keep a consistent viewership. Shock value just isn’t going to cut it.
“US success as Bionic Woman debuts.” BBC News. URL: (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7017760.stm)
‘”Bionic Woman” kicks in for NBC.’ Reuters. URL: (http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN2629074720070928)
“‘Bionic Woman’ remake plugs into modern mind-set.” USA Today. URL: (http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-08-20-bionic-woman_N.htm)
“Cyborg by Martin Caidin. New York: Arbor House, 1972.” UMD. URL: (http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Colleges/ARHU/Depts/History/Faculty/JAbbate/cyborg/cyborg.html)
“Six Million Dollar Man on ABC.” TV Guide. URL: (http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/six-million-dollar/100395)
“The Bionic Woman Files.” Bionic Woman Files. URL: (http://www.bionicwomanfiles.com/)
“The Bionic Woman.” IMDB. URL: (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277606/)
