Oh my god --the British are coming!
A British soap opera actress has been cast as the lead in a remake of one of the most legendary cult shows of the '70s. EastEnders actress Michelle Ryan has been cast as the new Bionic Woman, a heroine who, through the power of — well, bionics, is transformed into something of a partial cousin to The Flash (replace lighting and add electronic implants).
Don't worry; according to Superhero Hype, this series will be a re-imaging of the original series. That of course makes sense considering the rather complicated history people would be in store for if it did continue from its distant '70s counterpart.
The Bionic Woman started out life as a two-parter during the end of the second season of The Six Million Dollar Man. In it, Linsday Wagner played Jamie Sommers — an exceptional tennis player who was an old girlfriend of Col. Steve Austin (Lee Majors). After Jamie is gravely injured in a parachuting accident, Steve gets his boss Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) to give her the same bionic treatment he got. Although the operation was a success, it was only temporary. Jamie's body rejected the bionics eventually and she died — leaving Steve without someone with whom to share oil changes.
After a flurry of mail, producers decided to bring Jamie Sommers back from the dead and put her in her own show. Although it didn't go on as long as The Six Million Dollar Man (1976-1978), it garnered her an Emmy win and she became an inspiration to women who often felt men were the only ones who could don goofy names and have convoluted origins.
You would think if studios in this country insist on making remakes of shows decades old, that they would do it for shows that were actually good — for instance, The Waltons.
Meanwhile, there have yet to be any DVDs available for The Bionic Woman or The Six Million Dollar Man.
Article comments
1 - Brent
The thing about remaking shows that were actually good is that you risk screwing them up. If you remake shows that were bad in the first place you had least have a hope of improving them.
And by the way, "The Waltons" was actually based on a movie called "Spencer's Mountain" starring Henry Fonda as the father.
2 - lvogt
I disagree with the idea that you remake good shows. They've already succeeded. You take a bad show with a good idea at its core and make something of it. Especially science fiction can be brought to life with newer production capabilities. The perfect example is Battlestar Galactica. The premise was good but the original execution was terrible. The new show is exceptionally good.