References

Parodies, homages and satire which reference The Six Million Dollar Man and/or The Bionic Woman.

Movies[]

Austin Powers movie series - The fembots were parodied. And just like in the bionic series, they were both beautiful and deadly.

In Scrooged, the employees of a fictitious tv station present christmas movie trailers to their boss, who is played by Bill Murray. In one of those trailers, some terrorists attack Santa's Workshop and the only person who is able to safe Santa and Christmas respectively, is Lee Majors, whom Santa excitedly identifies as "The Six Million Dollar Man". John Houseman also appears later on as the narrator of A Christmas Carol.

The first Caddyshack movie featured Chevy Chase apparently mimicking the "bionic" sound in one scene, as he putts several golf balls.

In Zoolander, top male model Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) competes against his rival Hansel (Owen Wilson). In the following catwalk sequence, the bionic sound is used.

In Shrek the Third the little Gingerbread Man sees his life pass by before his inner eye. We can watch him grow up, go to school and finally witness how his legs were broken by Lord Farquard (1st movie!). Then, Gingerbread Man is put on an operation table and gets freshly baked legs. In the next shot we see him run on a treadmill and through a field of flowers... the scene is accompanied by the Six Million Dollar Man theme and the bionic sound effect.

In National Lampoon's TV: The Movie (2006), Lee Majors parodies The Six Million Dollar Man in a mock TV ad, for "The Six Million Year Old Man". The parody includes Oliver Nelson's original TV theme music.

Ben Browder (Farscape, Stargate SG-1) was cast as Lee Majors in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels', a 2004 Canadian-produced NBC telefilm on the history of the series, Charlie's Angels, which starred Majors' then-wife (and frequent Six Million Dollar Man guest star), Farrah Fawcett-Majors (played by fashion model-turned-actress Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica). The film does not cast a particularly positive light on Majors, portraying him as somewhat controlling of his then-wife. It also depicts him as frustrated over his role as Steve Austin. The telefilm includes a recreation of a scene from "The Secret of Bigfoot" showing Browder-as-Majors-as-Austin in bionic combat with Bigfoot, with John DeSantis (Lurch in the early-2000s remake of The Addams Family) standing in for the late André the Giant (the actor is not credited as André, however, just as Bigfoot). Also, the telefilm pays homage to The Six Million Dollar Man by clothing Browder in outfits based upon what Lee Majors wore as Austin in the TV series (the outfit Browder wears in the Bigfoot scene also more or less corresponds with what Majors wore in that episode).

In Toy Story 3, Buzz Lightyear grabs onto a magnetic Six Million Dollar Man lunchbox to escape a garbage crusher.

In Dogma, after God revives Bethany at the end, Metatron says: "She can rebuild you. She has the technology. She can make you better... stronger... faster."

Quicksilver wears a Steve Austin t-shirt in X-Men: Apocalypse.

TV Series[]

References Xfiles S11E07 Rm9sbG93ZXJz — *The X-Files*

The X-Files In the 11th season episode, "Rm9sbG93ZXJz," Mulder relaxes at home and begins to watch The Six Million Dollar Man but the transmission is disrupted during the main title.

Arrow In the sixth season episode, "Divided," Felicity calls John Diggle to Arrow HQ to install a computer chip into his injured hand to help prevent it from trembling. She says, "We can fix you, we have the technology." Diggle replies, "Ha, I'm not the Six Million Dollar Man." Felicity: "Not yet you're not - and more like the 2.24 Million Dollar Man..."

Pimp my Ride is an MTV show where old cars are augmented with new mechanical and electronic devices. In the comparison sequence shown after the completion of the new car, the bionic sound is used.

Jake 2.0 is about Jake Foley, an NSA computer technician who, during a lab accident, gets infected with nanites that give him superhuman abilities, included enhanced hearing and vision, increased strength, and the power to mentally interface with technology. He soon goes from tech-support to secret agent. In the 12th episode, "Double Agent" Foley teams-up with former NSA agent Richard Fox played by guest star, Lee Majors. In the final scene, Foley flips through a sports car magazine, admiring the Mercedes-Benz SLR Coupe. Fox quips, "Gimme a break, I could run faster than that heap." The show ends as the bionic sound is heard.

That 70's Show there is one episode full of references to the Six Million Dollar Man. In one scene, Fez, who is trying to forget about his girlfriend, is shown being operated to be better and stronger (s05, e21: Trampled under Foot). Here is a clip

Queer as Folk more than once paid its tribute to the bionic universe. During the release-party of Michael's comic book at the Babylon club in season 2, the bionic sound is used as a background noise. Then again, in season 3, Debbie tries to stop her lover from eating a dish spoilt by salmonella. In an attempt to grab his plate before he can have his first bite, Debbie is shown running in slow-motion while the bionic sound is played.

Sex and the City one of the female leads, Charlotte, is having problems with her husband's sexual shortcomings. While searching the internet for a cure, Carrie - by voice-over - mentions how these technical devices might turn Charlotte's husband Trey into the bionic man.

Veronica Mars In one segment of Lord of the pi's (s3, e8), teenage-investigator Veronica jumps the fence of Selma Rose's mansion, imitating the bionic sound.

Friends In The One where Phoebe runs Rachel and Phoebe go jogging together. Being ashamed by Phoebe's weird way of running, Rachel complains to Monica and Ross, "You guys, I'm telling you. When she runs she looks like a cross between Kermit the Frog and the Six Million Dollar Man!"

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Ragtag" features Ian Quinn attempting to sell an army of cyborgs to the U.S. government. He describes them as "better, stronger, faster."

Circle Square was a show that taught lessons in moral values and Christian faith with the aid of puppets and featured The Bionic Farm Boy, a character that rescues a girl from a fallen log.

Fuller House: The season 4 episode "Angels' Night Out" features Lindsay Wagner and Lee Majors playing a divorced couple on a 70s cruise. During a musical montage, the bionic sound effects accompany Majors running past someone riding a scooter. The effect is used again later when DJ throws a life preserver across the deck of the boat to catch Majors' character.

Animation[]

The_Bionic_Weirdo — The Bionic Weirdo

*Muppet Babies* "The Bionic Weirdo"

Simpsons2 — *The Simpsons: Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy*

Mickey_Mouse_in_Tokyo_Go — Mickey Mouse in Tokyo Go

"Mickey Mouse in Tokyo Go"

DC_Nation_-_DC_Super_Pets_-_Have_Your_Cake_and_B'Dg_Too — DC Nation - DC Super Pets - Have Your Cake and B'Dg Too

DC Nation Super Pets

The Six Million Peso Man — Robot Chicken

Bionic Six was a cartoon series that had a family transformed into superheroes using modern bionics that would give each of them one special power. Unlike The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, the characters in Bionic Six were only able to use their bionics when they "turned them on". Fun Fact: In Germany, the show was called Die Sechs Millionen Dollar Familie (The Six Million Dollar Family) and featured opening narrations similar to those used for The Six Million Dollar Man. (German intro)

Muppet Babies
- The 1988 episode "Masquerading Muppets" features Baby Gonzo as the Bionic Weirdo, "scientifically altered to do all kinds of great stuff", with a computerized diagram of his inner workings that references the opening title sequence of The Six Million Dollar Man. (video embedded to the right)
- The 2018 episode "Animal Kong" uses the bionic sound effect for when Baby Animal grows and shrinks. (video)

The Simpsons
- "Burns' Heir" (s05 e18): Marge has a fantasy about Lee Majors (as Steve Austin) who picks her up and does a bionic leap into the sky.
- "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" (s05 e14): the creator of a Barbie-like doll (which she creates in her own image) comments on how she was once married to Steve Austin.

Futurama - In the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" (s03 e05) Bender finds out that the giant Femputer on the planet of the Amazons is actually run by a fembot.

Family Guy featured Peter Griffin as the bionic man. Since the OSI doesn't want to spend too much on him, they simply equip him with a trash can and plunger for legs, a tennis racket replacing his right arm, and magnifying glass replacing his left eye.

Southpark
- "Prehistoric Iceman" (s2, e18): Kyle can be heard saying "He looks kinda like Steve Austin from The Six Million Dollar Man".
- In "Up the Down Steroid" (s8, e2) and Make Love, Not Warcraft! (s10, e8) there are bionic fanposters shown that allude to the Six Million Dollar Man.

She-Ra, Princess of Power used the bionic sound whenever there was a scene cut. The bionic eye and ear sounds were also used many times for weapons and other items.

Rocket Power - This Nickelodeon cartoon show used the bionic sound in its intro.

Duck Dodgers - In the episode titled "The Six Wazillion Dollar Duck" (s03 e07), Duck Dodgers is severely injured and repaired with "cyborganic" parts. Then he is assigned a mentor named Steve Boston. Steve Boston is married to Jaime Wynters, the Cyborganic Woman. A cyborganic Bigfoot also makes an appearance.

The Venture Bros. - Six Million Dollar Man Steve Summers lives in the woods with his lover, a Sasquatch ("Home Insecurity", s01 e03). The government expects him to pay off the cost for his bionics. Brock Samson, one of the main characters of the show, is an agent of the OSI, the Office of Secret Intelligence.

In the 1980 Animalympics, a boar is made bionic after a terrible accident. The animal is operated in a Rudy Wells.

The 2013 Disney cartoon short "Mickey Mouse in Tokyo Go" features Mickey trying to get from one moving train to another. Once he's in a position to jump onto his train below, the scene goes to slow motion, and the familiar "bionic" sound effect can be heard.

The 2014 DC Nation Super Pets short "Have Your Cake and B'Dg Too" features an Amazonian kangaroo jumping over a trampoline making the bionic sound.

In the Archer episode "Double Trouble" Barry is transformed into a cyborg in a word for word remake of the opening scene, from then on Barry wears Steve's iconic red tracksuit.

A "Robot Chicken" sketch parodied the how with "The Six Million Peso Man" who returned in various other sketches.

Comedy Shows[]

Comedy legend Bob Newhart was "The Six Million Dollar Bob," with new voiceovers from Richard Anderson.

The Benny Hill Show had a skit featuring the bionic duo who became parents to the world's first bionic baby. This episode originally aired January 26, 1977 (season 8, episode 1).

During the September 13, 1977 broadcast of The Tonight Show, Muppet character Link Hogthrob tells Johnny Carson that "Bionic Pig" is one of the TV shows he plans to star in. [1]

Dave Allen at Large featured a skit with bionic secret agents (Dave's one of them), that run into each other, and their bionic limbs go flying. Afterwards, when you see them lying there in pieces, their arms and legs move by themselves as their heads look on.

Sesame Street featured a news flash segment in which Kermit the Frog meets Dr. van Fission, the creator of the famous "Six Dollar Man".

The Electric Company had a recurring sketch, featuring Steve Awsome: "The $6.39 Man". The 39 cents referred to the cost of his bionic brain, which made Steve seem rather dull.

Wayne and Shuster, the Canadian comedy team had a SMDM skit, where the government would give them a $6 budget. They used a rump roast as a replacement part and the bionic agent had to be plugged into a wall outlet in order to function. When this proved impractical (Austin had a tendency to freeze in place whenever he pulls out the plug), they decided to try batteries instead. In this skit, Johnny Wayne played Austin, while Frank Shuster played the Rudy Wells-like character.

In one episode of The Carol Burnett Show, Jaime Sommers (played by Vicki Lawrence) crashes through her mother's door with a bionic baby!

In Misfits of Science Johnny B. (Mark Thomas Miller), who can run incredibly fast, is shown running past a man in slow motion.

Dr. Croc: Charles Nelson Reilly had a Saturday morning show in the 70's. He was dressed in a foam rubber croc suit with his face where the croc's would be, and he had several recurring guests: one of which was a perennially falling apart "Six Dollar Man".

The Captain and Tenille Show featured an occasional skit called "The Bionic Watermelon", namely one that fell off the back of a truck and broke, followed by bionic parts being put inside, in order to revive it.

In The Donny and Marie Show that was produced from 1976-1979, Lee Majors often appeared as himself / Steve Austin. In one of their sketches he comes running out of the woods, and Donny and Marie tell him that his show isn't on for another half hour.

In Goodness Gracious Me (a British comedy series) there was a parody called "The Six Million Rupee Man" who had the ability to go shopping the bionic way.

In the sixth season of Trailer Park Boys, there is a chicken called Oscar Goldman.

In Robot Chicken, second season, The Six Million Dollar Man is spoofed by Mexican test pilot Pablo Rodriguez (who crashes a burro into a saguaro cactus). Pablo becomes the Six Million Peso Man who uses his powers to escape to the United States.

During the final season of The Carol Burnett Show, a musical number dedicated to popular TV shows of the day included a segment on The Six Million Dollar Man. Dick Van Dyke plays Austin and is shown running in slow motion, surrounded by dancers moving at normal speed. Van Dyke's segment ended with him singing, his voice exaggerated and slow, "Would ... you ... believe ... I ... married...an...angel?" followed by a mock bionic eye effect, at which point the segment segued into a spoof of Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Charlie's Angels.

Commercials[]

Mazda_CX-5_Commercial,_60-second — Mazda CX-5 Commercial, 60-second

2012 Mazda spot

Coors had at least two commercials in 1994, featuring "The Six Million Dollar Can", as part of their "Coors Light Channel" series of ads.

IBM had a commercial for their "Thinkpad" which featured Lee Majors as a guest star. Two men talk about the biometric fingerprint reader that is included with the computer and one of them imitates the bionic sound. Lee, sitting behind a newspaper, suddenly comes by to correct the man.

Lotto 649 from Canada features a lottery winner. Lee Majors comes by in his red jumpsuit and the man decides to get bionics with that money. In the next scene, the man is on the operation table watching the loose bionic limbs next to him. Then he suddenly decides that he has changed his mind.

Comedy Central has a commercial to promote their cell phone goodies. The commercial uses the bionic sound effects and similar narrations to those from SMDM, "...we have the technology...".

Honda created a car commercial for their new 2007 CR-V that had Lee Majors in it acting like Colt Seavers.

AOL produced a commercial for American TV in the mid-2000s that featured its Running Man mascot in a recreation of the opening credits of The Six Million Dollar Man, complete with original music and voiceover by Richard Anderson.

A 2012 Portugese ad for AXE body spray uses the bionic jumping sound effect for when a runner hurdles over some street construction. YouTube

Mazda ran a commercial in 2012 for the Mazda CX-5 called "Better. Stronger. Smarter." The spot was a spoof of the Six Million Dollar Man main title. In 2013, Mazda ran another ad for the 2014 model of the CX-5.

Songs and Music Videos[]

The Six Million Dollar Man is a music video remix of the SMDM theme from the Dutch group "OSI Project". YouTube

Half a Man is a funny SMDM-themed music video by Peter Kambasis. In it, a man in a SMDM-jumpsuit who is supposed to be Steve Austin is having a bad day and tries to make himself feel better by singing.

Bionic Breaker is a dance/trance remix of the SMDM theme accompanied by some video shots.

The Six Million Dollar Man is a remix by the group "Dirt". Listen to it here!

In 2009 a rap singer by the name of Lee Majors released an album entitled The Six Million Dollar Man. [2]

Books[]

In the 2014 novel The Martian by Andy Weir, astronaut Mark Watney is stranded on Mars with a library of music and TV from the 1970s courtesy of a crewmate who is obsessed with the decade. During one stretch of time between tasks he undertakes to stay alive, he watches The Six Million Dollar Man. "I just watched an episode where Steve Austin fights a Russian Venus probe that landed on Earth by mistake. As an expert in interplanetary travel, I can tell you there are no scientific inaccuracies in the story. It's quite common for probes to land on the wrong planet. Also, the probe's large, flat-panel hull is ideal for the high-pressure Venusian atmosphere. And, as we all know, probes often refuse to obey directives, choosing instead to attack humans on sight."

Comic Books[]

The Mad Magazine featured several spoofs of the two shows:

172 (January 1975): SMDM comic strip "The Six Million Dollars, Man!"

188 (January 1977): Cover with bionic duo and BW comic strip "The Moronic Woman"

194 (October 1977): Steve Austin obituary

251 (December 1984): The TV Prime Time Graveyard (SMDM / BW tombstone)

One edition of the Mad Magazine in 1978 came with a special record containing a song called "Makin' Out". The lyrics include a Six Million Dollar Man reference.