Survival of the Fittest

Second episode of the TV series is another good one, as assassins are after Oscar Goldman(Richard Anderson) because he is undertaking top secret negotiations with the Russians, which they want to stop. Steve Austin(Lee Majors) is accompanying him on a military aircraft transport that is suddenly hit by lightning in a fierce storm, causing it to crash on an island, and forcing the would-be killers to improvise a new plan, nearly succeeding by shooting Oscar, and fooling the other survivors before rescue, but of course Austin is there to stop them in his usual style. Though plot details are vague, this is still an exciting episode.

During important negotiations with Russian officials, Oscars's life is threatened. When the plane Steve and Oscar are flying in crashes, Steve must protect Oscar from being killed by those who want the negotiations to fail. Things get complicated when Oscar is wounded in an assassination attempt and Steve must save him.

Solid episode with Steve Austin helping the survivors of a plane crash as well as trying to keep Oscar alive. A couple of guys are trying to kill him. The island enhances the suspense, and the killers never tire in their schemes. But Austin shoots their attempts down and even when Oscar gets shot he proves that his bionic powers has a healing touch as well as a destructive one. There's a neat twist at the end.

Only the second episode and it tries to riff the disaster movies of the 1970s. Especially the Airport movies.

Unfortunately it comes across like the Airplane films. Only the hilarity was unintentional.

Oscar Goldman believes that someone is out to kill him because of some top secret negotiations with the Russians.

So he gets on a military plane with both civilian and military passengers. Only the pilot never checked the weather forecast.

The plane hits a storm, it crash lands in the ocean. The passengers are in a deserted island with lots of snakes.

At first the conspirators want to make Oscar's death look like an accident. Then they try to shoot him with Oscar seriously injured.

It is left to Steve Austin to bring the conspirators down and help save Oscar.

The motivation of the baddies seem to be money but nothing else. That island sure had a lot of snakes. The nervous medic would had been home in the Airplane movies.

It is also a cheap looking episode. Stock footage and a lot of stuff done off screen.

This is among my favorite episodes from the entire series of SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN EPISODES -- An assassination skittish Oscar Goldman joins Colonel Steve Austin on a military transport flight over the uncharted wilds of Southern California. Unbeknownst to them, a trio of hired killers (all of them military officers, oddly) are also on board with some scheme to bag Oscar & a fortune in payoff money. Just how they had planned to carry out the execution is never made clear as the plane is hit by lightning and crash lands in the sea near a previously unknown Pacific Island off the coast of Baja. Or whatever. Steve then more or less takes control of the situation, using his NASA survival school training to help the survivors escaped the wrecked plane, make their way to the island, and gather local fruit (including unpeeled coconuts just like you find at the store) & firewood until Air Force rescue can drop them survival equipment and arrange pickup by submarine.

Meanwhile, the assassins try a couple of ruses to kill Oscar including death by poisonous snake before opting to simply shoot him. Steve must then literally use his bionics to save Oscar, kill the bad guys, and teach the confidence lacking young Army medic a thing or two about having a pair if he wants to get anywhere in the world, including into the bed of the pretty blonde Air Force cadet on board.

This is one of the finest examples of what THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN really should have been like -- A mean, gritty, somewhat cold hearted action/adventure show for adults. Steve uses his bionic powers to kill people in this episode, something that would be phased out by the middle of the show's phenomenally popular 2nd season. During this early period in the show things were more experimental, and one of the things that works best about this particular episode is the atmosphere it creates. Shot on Universal back-lots and nameless park lands, the show eschews the technological angles usually pursued by science fiction shows and quite literally becomes a survival parable. Steve's character is also solidified into an unflappable government agent specializing in, well, everything, and if it has one short coming it is that he comes off as a bit of a know-it-all at times, though the supporting cast does regard him with a certain amount of reverence that would stroke anyone's ego.

A pity that by the time Bigfoot was introduced the show had become more family oriented, softening the edge of brutality that makes this installment much more an adventure for adults. Kids like me at the time keyed into the show's coolness factor and quite probably ruined the show by adopting it as our own. But here there is still a sense of adventure with a human cost, with lives actually in the balance and Steve the only thing keeping them from certain doom. Add to it a cast of very talented veteran character actors/actresses -- and even 70s icon Joanne Worley on board as a Mai Tai buzzed comic relief housewife -- and this episode represents some of the best television ever devised for the entertainment of mankind.

9/10; Bravo!!