Disc News: Six Million Man Busts Out in November

Disc Announcements, News

After years of rumors and legal wrangling, The Six Million Dollar Man finally arrives this Fall. Don’t worry about waiting months or years between seasons since Time-Life is releasing everything at once with The Six Million Dollar Man: The Complete Series. They did a stellar job with complete collections of Get Smart and Man From U.N.C.L.E. The series was an instant sensation as Lee Major (The Big Valley and The Fall Guy) became part robot after a nasty NASA accident. While there isn’t a pricetag given yet, it should cost less than $6 million. Here’s the exciting press release from Time-Life:

“STEVE AUSTIN. ASTRONAUT. A MAN BARELY ALIVE. WE CAN REBUILD HIM.
WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY. WE HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO MAKE THE WORLD’S
FIRST BIONIC MAN. BETTER THAN HE WAS BEFORE.
BETTER…STRONGER…FASTER”

THIS FALL, TIME LIFE GIVES TV DVD FANS SIX MILLION
REASONS TO GET EXCITED WITH A CULT CLASSIC
NEVER BEFORE AVAILABLE ON ANY FORMAT!

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN:
THE COMPLETE SERIES

Outfitted in a Muscular Completist’s Set Sporting Sound Effects and Limited Edition
Lenticular Graphics, the Spectacular 40-Disc Collection Will Feature All 100 Hour-Long
Episodes and More Than 15 Hours of Bonuses Including the Three TV Pilot Movies,
the Three Reunion Movies, the Bionic Woman Crossover Episodes and Much More

FAIRFAX, VA; July 22, 2010 — This Fall, Time Life – the home of such classic TV as GET SMART, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E and THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS – will give TV DVD aficionados, cult classic completists and genre fans six million reasons to get excited about one of the most eagerly anticipated and buzzed about home entertainment releases in years with THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: THE COMPLETE SERIES. The set, which will initially be available exclusively online at a specially branded site, will be released in November 2010 and feature all five action-packed seasons of the futuristic, fan-favorite adventure series never before available in the U.S. on any format!

Although the collection will not be bionically-enhanced, the singular set – the 4th most requested unreleased show at TVShowsonDVD.com – is certain to thrill fans both old and new. Across the 40-disc configuration, housed in a box sporting an audio chip and eye-popping lenticular images, Time Life proudly presents the series in its entirety with all 100 digitally-preserved and re-mastered hour-long episodes. Also included will be the three pilot movies (“The Six Million Dollar Man”, “Wine, Women and War”, “Solid Gold Kidnapping”), the three made-for-TV reunion movies (“The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman”, “Bionic Showdown” and “Bionic Ever After?”), the never-before-released cross-over episodes with The Bionic Woman and more than eight additional hours of never-before-seen bonus programming, with all-new cast and crew interviews, featurettes and docs featuring – among others – Lee Majors and Richard Anderson (“Oscar Goldman”) and much more.

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 (Richard Anderson), head of the 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 a myriad of 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 for ABC, running from January 1974 to March 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.

“As the show that introduced me to TV audiences the world over, I have a fond place in my heart for The Six Million Dollar Man,” says Lee Majors. “And over the past several years, the one question I get asked most is ‘when will it be available on DVD?’ So, I’m truly excited to be involved in bringing the series to a new generation of fans.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity to deliver such a long-awaited classic to DVD for the first time,” says Jeff Peisch, head of Time Life’s video division. “We have a long history of reverential treatment towards the packaging of cult classic TV and we now have the technology and capability to build a better DVD set. Better…stronger…faster. Actually, we’re pulling out all the stops for The Six Million Dollar Man, making sure that it’s both a completist’s dream set and the perfect DVD homage to an unreleased classic.”

The Six Million Dollar Man is a copyright and trademark of Universal Studios, and used under license.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.