Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Regarding how boring they could be... absolutely. I worshipped "The Incredible Hulk" as a young boy, but watching the series now on DVD all I can usually say is about the big green guy is... "Is THAT it!?" Often the Hulk shows up for perhaps 5 minutes total per episode: he smashes through a door or the occasional wall, roars in anger, picks up the badguy and throws him around, hears a police siren and reacts, then roars again and runs away. Seriously, that was what got me so excited as a boy?? I watch them now more for Bill Bixby's pitch-perfect, multi-layered performance as Dr. Banner than I do for Ferrigno's Hulk.

I think as kids we must have some sort of wonderfully effective built-in ability take it all in and then sort of 'filter' out the boring talk and condense things down to the pure action stuff. Of course when the show is almost 50/50 action, like most classic Kamen Rider shows, that makes for more rewarding veiwing - at least from a kid (and kid-at-heart) standpoint.

The Bigfoot episodes are a rare treat on 6MDM in that there is so much screen time dedicated to Austin and the Sasquatch and the dramatics between the two; probably why they are among the most highly-regarded episodes of the entire series. The first Death Probe encounter has maybe 10 solid minutes of action spread over a 1hr 40min, 2-part episode! Man, that's a LOT of exposition and talking heads to screen out for a paltry handful of inventive, genuinely cool "fight" scenes between Col. Austin and that weirdo tank/space probe thingy. Still, the show has its good spy elements too, for those who like that sort of thing, but I agree that there should have been a lot more bionic exploits in a show that centered around a bionic man. The robot (Maskatron) shows, FemBot crossovers with Bionic Woman, and Bigfoot were the obvious highlights.

I'm still glad to own them, though. It's fun watching them with my friend's young kids. They laugh at some of the "action" but they still end up getting hooked on the bionic aspects and the fact that this is a "real" guy who could more or less be anybody. It's even more real to them nowadays what with "bionic" prosthetics in use in our everyday society. There are a couple of bonus feature segments regarding the advancement of these replacement parts from high-concept back when the show was first pitched, to real-world items in use today. 6MDM predicted several things pretty closely, which is pretty neat. Obviously, they still have quite a ways to go as far as total integration using brain-control of the limbs and invasive attachment for a "permanent" replacement. Also, they'll likely never be able to achieve (or at least make openly available) bionic limbs with super-normal "Steve Austin-level" abilities. ...but hey, it's still fun to imagine, even in today's high-tech world.

For many who are leery of the high-dollar price, it might be smarter to resist temptation and wait until the series hits retail stores, then hold off a little longer and snag a decent used set in good condition through Amazon or eBay.

All the extras may not make it to a complete series set for regular retail release (at least that was what I read on TVShowsOnDVD a couple months back).

I haven't picked up 6MDM yet (need save up a bit for that), but I did pick up the Season 1 release of The Bionic Woman when it was released in late October (Universal is handling TBW). I haven't finished watching the through the first season yet, but I'm enjoying every minute of it. I hope they get a move on and release the 2nd and 3rd seasons soon.

This first season includes the two 2-parters that introduced Jamie as well as the SMDM half of the 2-parter that kicked of TBW. The scenes of Jamie's first day teaching the rowdy class were great, particularly when she rips a phone book in half to get the kids to behave.

Would love to pick this set up, but what a price! Thanks for the lengthy description of its contents.

T6MDM was a cool show in the day. Still can remember the roar in school the day after the Bigfoot episode.

As for The Hulk... Found that a bore even back in "the day," although I know it had a lot of fans. To each his own, you know.

I've read elsewhere that in Lee Majors' subsequent action series "The Fall Guy" there's a throwaway scene where his character 'Colt Severs' is doing stunt work for a show and he's supposed to be threatening a young woman; we hear a roar off screen and suddenly the Hulk smashes through a wall and throws him around. Lou Ferrigno came back as the Hulk for this quick nod. Anyhow in this bit scene 'Colt' is hurt and the director yells "Cut!" and Lou walks over and apologizes for the rough treatment and Colt says it's no big deal and then winces as he limps off the set. That's as close as we ever got to The Bionic Man VS. The Hulk.

Yes, Andre The Giant made a great Bigfoot. Just too bad the make-up for the character was so lame. A little better attention to the tops of the feet and a more gorilla-ish head & face and he really would have been awesome. Watching those episodes (I cheated and HAD to watch all the Bigfoot stuff the first weekend I had the set. LOL), I can only imagine how amazing it would have been if they had gotten Andre The Giant to portray the Hulk! Lean him up a bit and slightly increase his muscular definition and he literally would have been The Hulk. At 7' 6" there would have been no need to use trick photography to make him look huge! LOL. Now THAT would have really been something. (No offense, Lou! LOL)

Regarding Jaime Sommers... I loved her as a young boy. Big time crush on her, plus I wanted to have Max the bionic dog as my pet. I plan to purchase "The Bionic Woman" once my GF and I finish working our way through all of 6MDM. That would normally take a while, but Christmas break is coming up, so it'll be a bionic holiday marathon for the two of us. LOL