Six Million Dollar Man TV series coming to DVD for first time in U.S.

Just days after Wizard World confirmed that Lee Majors will make his first convention appearance in over 30 years during Wizard World’s Big Apple Comic Con in two weeks, Time Life has released details on the upcoming bionic collector’s release of the cult classic Six Million Dollar Man television series, which will be released on DVD for the first time in the U.S., in a massive 40-disc set, packed with every episode of the series, along with over 17 hours of bonus material. The seminal release will feature all five action-packed seasons, which have never before available in the U.S. on any format, along with a stunning collection of all-new extras, beginning November 23, 2010.

The Six Million Dollar Man: The Complete Collection is being put together by Time Life, the company responsible for bringing such classic television shows to disc as Get Smart, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

The set will be housed in a collectible package featuring an audio chip and 3D lenticular artwork. Across 40 DVDs, the complete series will feature all 100 digitally-preserved one hour episodes, including three presented in their original 2-hour broadcast editions, all remastered from the original, uncut broadcast versions. The set also contains more than 17 hours of all-new bonus material specially created for this collection, the centerpiece of which are new, in-depth interviews with Lee Majors (Col. Steve Austin) and Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman) among others. Also included will be the three pilot TV movies: The Six Million Dollar Man; Wine, Women and War; and Solid Gold Kidnapping, The three reunion TV movies: The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman; Bionic Showdown (featuring Sandra Bullock); and Bionic Ever After, and the never-before-released cross-over episodes of The Bionic Woman, all of which have also been digitally restored from the original source material. Additionally, for the true completist, the set also contains the alternative syndicated edits of the pilot and reunion TV movies.

Enhancing the series long-awaited release are countless hours of bonus features including intimate interviews with the cast and crew (including Lindsay Wagner (Jaime Sommers), executive producer Harve Bennett, and writer Kenneth Johnson. Also featured are a staggering seventeen original featurettes on everything from “Real Bionics: How Science Fiction Is Becoming Science Fact” and “The Bionic Sound Effects” to “The Search for Bigfoot” and “The Six Million Dollar Man’s Best Villains, Best Fights”; the two-part featurette “TV Goes Bionic: The Untold Story of The Six Million Dollar Man” which goes behind the scenes to explore the series like never before; and, several featurettes celebrating the series V.I.P. guest stars such as Lee’s then-wife, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, who made four guest appearances, Andre the Giant, Kim Basinger, Sonny Bono, Lou Gossett, Erik Estrada, Stefanie Powers, John Saxon, Cathy Rigby, William Shatner, Suzanne Somers and many more. Additionally, there’s audio commentary on six episodes by writer Kenneth Johnson and director Cliff Bole, and an interactive bonus entitled “Bionic Breakdown” that will allow fans the ability to click on Steve Austin’s eye, arm or legs to learn more about each one of his bionic enhancements; from night-vision to cauterizing veins to running speeds that exceed 65 miles per hour, “Colonel Austin’s” skills and abilities are catalogued here with episode clips as visual reference.

One of the pop culture smashes of the ‘70s, The Six Million Dollar Man starred Lee Majors as Colonel Steve Austin, a top NASA pilot critically injured when his experimental spaceplane crashed. Oscar Goldman (Anderson), head of OSI, used Austin as a test subject for an experimental procedure, rebuilding his body using cybernetic technology, making him the world’s first bionic man. Now, Austin works for Goldman and the OSI, protecting the nation from myriad threats. Based on the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin, The Six Million Dollar Man launched with several made-for-TV movies in 1973, which then spun off into a hit television show for ABC, running from January 1974 through March of 1978. During its run, the program made Majors a pop culture icon, spawned three reunion shows, another series (The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner) and thousands of licensed products, making The Six Million Dollar Man one of the defining TV shows of the “Me” decade.

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