Doomsday, and Counting
From The Bionic Wiki
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| Production 40005 Original Airdate: March 1, 1974 | |||
 Vasily activates the deadly laser defenses | |||
| Produced by Sam Strangis and Donald R. Boyle | |||
| Teleplay by Larry Brody | |||
| Story by Larry Brody and Jimmy Sangster | |||
| Directed by Jerry Jameson | |||
| Guest Cast | |||
| Guest Star(s) Gary Collins as Vasily Zhukov Jane Merrow as Irina Leonova | |||
| Special Guest Star(s) William Smithers as General Koslenko | |||
| With William Boyett as Air Force General Walker Edmiston as Russian Operator Anne Newman as Female Technician Rico Cattani as Male Technician | |||
| Broadcast Order | |||
| Season 1 | |||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||
| "Little Orphan Airplane" | "Eyewitness to Murder" | ||
| Related episodes | |||
| Death Probe Death Probe (Part II) | |||
While trying to rescue the fiancée of a cosmonaut friend, Steve must also prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb that would destroy Kamkov Island.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
Col. Vasily Zhukov, a Soviet cosmonaut and friend of Steve Austin from his NASA days, travels to Washington, D.C. to seek help from the U.S. Government in developing a joint U.S.-Soviet nuclear powered manned mission to Mars. Five cosmonauts and five astronauts will be recruited. The plan is to use a former early warning station located on Kamkov Island in eastern Russia, which contains a nuclear reactor deep underground, to develop and test the new spacecraft. While he is still in Washington, Zhukov is informed that a major earthquake has taken place on Kamkov Island and he therefore cuts short his visit in order to return to the U.S.S.R. immediately. Steve insists on going with him to help. When they arrive on Kamkov, they learn that the earthquake has caused extensive damage to the facility and that Zhukov’s fiancée, Irina Leonova, is trapped underground. Shortly afterwards another tremor strikes the Island and Steve’s bionic powers are exposed when he saves Zhukov from a falling girder. As a result Zhukov convinces Steve to help him rescue Leonova - against the express orders of his superior, General Koslenko. Once they are beneath the Island a further tremor occurs and results in the two men becoming trapped. They eventually locate Leonova, who was knocked unconscious during the earthquake but is otherwise unharmed. She reveals that the former early warning station is protected by a computer which controls a nuclear bomb that is designed to be activated in the event of the base ever being attacked. They must disable the computer as there is serious risk that the computer will interpret the earthquake as being an attack. However, before they can make any progress, they find that the computer has indeed activated the detonator sequence for the bomb giving them less than an hour to reach and disable the computer. Soon afterwards Oscar Goldman arrives on Kamkov and General Koslenko briefs him on the situation. Both agree to remain behind whilst the Island is evacuated. Meanwhile underground, Zhukov inadvertently activates a defense system and is tragically killed by lasers. Steve and Leonova struggle on and eventually reach the main computer room. There, with the aid of technical information relayed to him by telephone from General Koslenko and through the use of the geiger counter in his bionic arm, Steve uses his Bionic powers to short-circuit and destroy the computer with only two seconds to go before detonation.
[edit] Deconstructed
[edit] Quotes
Oscar: (on phone) Steve, nobody, nobody is going to aprove the outlay of billions of dollars for construction and equipment on land that's on an earthquake's fault.
Steve: (in public phone booth) Tell that to the people in San Francisco, pal.
Steve Austin: Say, is Irina a comsmonaut?
Col. Zhukov: No. Uh, women in the space program are not interested in marriage. No, Irina is definately a perfect woman.
Col. Zhukov: That girder, how did you do that?
Steve Austin: Well sometimes that potato vodka does more for you than just give you a headache.
Steve: And as long as being trapped down here, we are only trapped as long as we sit here crying in our Vodka's, right?
You Americans, you are always so... so optimistic.
Steve: My friend, I don't know any other way. Let's go.
Koslenko: The last tremor that we had here disrupted our computer. Now Mr. Goldman, our computer has activated a nuclear weapon which is going to go off in less than one hour.
Oscar: General, there was no mention of a nuclear weapon.
Koslenko: Well, there was no need to mention it. Now my two officers and Colonel Austin are trying to stop the detonation, but I must tell you that it's hopeless.
Oscar Goldman: (Discussing the pending nuclear detonation) Do you think you can stop it?
Steve Austin: I don't know Oscar. Get yourself on a helicopter and watch it on the late news.
Oscar Goldman: I didn't come all the way out here to talk to you from an airplane Steve.
Steve Austin: Look Oscar, there's nothing you can do. I don't know if there's anything I can do. Now you get out of here and get out of here now.
Oscar Goldman: Pal, I've got more faith than brains.
Irina: Of course! You have a geiger counter in your arm.
Steve: It came with the equipment. I never thought I'd have a use for it, though.
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Bionic Ability
- It is revealed in this episode that Steve Austin's Bionic arm contains a geiger counter for detecting radioactivity.
[edit] Story
Steve's "NASA detente" was first hinted at in Survival of the Fittest, where he's returning to Washington after dialogue with cosmonauts. However, Wine, Women and War also revealed that Austin and the crew of Apollo 19 were once invited to Moscow where he met and befriended Alexi Kaslov, a Russian rocket scientist.
[edit] Real World
- Steve and Zhukov's friendship may be inspired by the real space program. At the time this episode was aired, US astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts were training for the joint Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission, flown in July 1975.
[edit] Gaffes
[edit] Credibility
- The director makes an atypical choice for an American-produced bit of filmed entertainment. Instead of having the actors playing Soviets attempt Russian accents, he allows them to keep their American accents.
- The large national crest hung prominently in the command center is that of the DDR (East Germany), not the USSR.
- Framed photographs displayed around the command center appear to show US space achievements (e.g. a Gemini launch), not Soviet ones.
[edit] Gallery
 Steve splints Vasily's leg. |
 Irina and Steve wait while Vasily contacts the command center. |
Vasily activates the deadly laser defenses. |
 Irina tries to deactivate the defense system. |
 National crest of East Germany in the USSR. |
 Episode collage |
