Population: Zero
From The Bionic Wiki
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Production 40013 Original Airdate: 18 January 1974 | |||
 Steve's bionics get temperature-tested | |||
| Produced by Sam Strangis Donald R. Boyle | |||
| Written by Elroy Schwartz | |||
| Directed by Jeannot Szwarc | |||
| Guest Cast | |||
| Guest Star(s) Penny Fuller as Chris Forbes | |||
| Special Guest Star(s) Don Porter as Stanley Bacon | |||
| Co-starring Paul Carr as Paul Cord Paul Fix as Joe Taylor Walter Brooke as General Harland Tate Morgan Jones as Major Phillips and Colby Chester as Joe Hollister | |||
| With John Elerick as Corporal Ed Presby Virginia Gregg as Mrs. Nelson Stuart Nisbet as Harry Johnson Bob Delegall as 1st Technician David Valentine as Teletype Operator Mike Santiago as Frank | |||
| Broadcast Order | |||
| Season 1 | |||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||
| "The Solid Gold Kidnapping" | "Survival of the Fittest" | ||
| Related episodes | |||
| - | |||
Contents |
[edit] Summary
When all 23 residents of the small town of Norris appear to have died simultaneously from an unknown cause, Steve Austin dons a spacesuit and ventures into the town to investigate. He soon discovers that everyone was only unconscious. Dr. Chris Forbes utilizes narcosynthesis in order to elict the memory of what occurred from the residents. The cause is eventually identified as being high frequency sound waves. The source of these is soon revealed: deranged former OSI employee Dr Stanley Bacon is embittered that the OSI failed to continue his work into the military benefits of using high frequency sound waves to immobilize enemy forces. He demands a $10 million ransom and threatens to use his technology to kill people if his terms are not met. The government refuses to pay up believing that the sound waves cannot be fatal. However, anticipating that this will not be the case – as is soon confirmed – Steve defies the orders of Oscar Goldman and surrenders himself empty handed to Dr. Bacon and his men. Imprisoned in -20c conditions in a walk-in freezer, Steve has precious little time to escape and stop Bacon from carrying out his murderous intentions. The cold conditions severely impair Steve’s Bionics but by severing a gas pipe and igniting it in order to gain a blowtorch effect, he eventually succeeds in escaping. As he runs towards the location of Dr. Bacon’s control van his Bionics slowly regain their full functionality. The high frequency sound waves are on the verge of causing death when Steve destroys the van by launching a large metal fence post at it.
[edit] Quotes
Dr. Forbes: Thanks for saving my life, but would you mind telling me how you did it?
Steve Austin: Did what?
Dr. Forbes: Jumped across the room like that.
Steve Austin: I ate a lot of jumping beans.
Steve Austin: (responding to Dr. Forbes question if Oscar Goldman was his boss) He thinks so. (Steves pauses, then adds) No, that's not fair. I like Oscar. He's bright, straight, and underneath that shell of red tape, he's even got a heart.
Dr. Forbes: (in regard to his being bionic) Steve, how has it affected you? What does it feel like?
Steve Austin: (dripping with sarcasm) It feels just peachy, Doctor!
Dr. Bacon: (menacingly to Steve Austin) I will reduce you to a six million dollar pile of junk.
[edit] Deconstructed
As the first episode of the first season, "Population: Zero" has many firsts:
- The famed series intro debuts here, in a form slightly different from what would be used later, yet using very little from the TV Movie intro from "Wine, Women and War". Also, the communications between Austin and ground controllers before the crash are completely different from that heard on Wine, Women and War or the original pilot film. There is a photograph of Steve in his Air Force uniform (seen later for his wedding announcement in The Bionic Woman (Part II)), used as Harve Bennett says: "Steve Austin: a man barely alive." This photo was removed from the intro after several episodes, and then removed from all episodes for later airings.[citation needed] (The opening used during the first season does not include the close-up of Austin's bandaged face seen in the introduction to later seasons). Richard Anderson then narrates the Season One version of the intro with "We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster." At this point, unlike later seasons which cover the remainder of the intro with music, we hear heartbeats and a rising "buzztone," finishing with a minor musical flourish just as the image of Steve running freezes for the show title.
- This episode marks the first consistent use of a slow-motion effect, to indicate Steve Austin is moving at bionic speed. Slow-motion was used in the prior movies as well, but not consistently. The slow-motion effect becomes a series trademark from this point forward. However the sound effect associated with bionics is not yet in place; instead, Steve's bionic running is punctuated by the sound of a heartbeat.
- Oliver Nelson's theme for "Population: Zero" would become the series theme, as discovered by first time viewers through its use for the tail credits. This theme would be used throughout the show's run, and would be added to the opening intro for Season Two (the flourish at the end of the Season One intro can be recognized as a fragment of this theme). It would also be used for Steve's appearances on The Bionic Woman (e.g. when bending the Admiral's brass wheel in "Kill Oscar (Part III)").
- This episode establishes that bionics do not function correctly, in cold temperatures. (Below 32°F or 0°C.) This limitation is also demonstrated in Six Million Dollar Man episodes "Hocus-Pocus," "Bigfoot V," and "Dark Side of the Moon," along with the Bionic Woman episode "The Martians Are Coming, the Martians Are Coming."
- Another fact established by this episode, is that Austin's bionics give off trace amounts of radiation. This radiation is picked up by a geiger counter used by Dr. Bacon on an unconscious Austin, thereby revealing the artificial nature of his limbs. The same situation would apply to Jaime Sommers.
- The episode establishes in dialogue that Austin's top achieved running speed to date is 60 mph; the pilot telefilms were ambiguous in this regard. However Austin just says "I've reached 60" when asked, suggesting a greater speed is possible.
[edit] Trivia
- The story for this episode is remarkably similar to the 1971 Universal Studios film The Andromeda Strain, in certain respects. Both feature a small town whose entire population has apparently died, the cause initially unknown. Both also feature someone investigating the town while wearing an isolation suit to protect against any undiscovered hazard.
- The story for The Bionic Woman episode "The Deadly Missiles" shares some superficial similarities with this episode. Both episodes feature sonar/jammer devices. Both feature the protagonist's bionics not working correctly for a time. And both show the protagonist ripping a metal pole out of the ground, and flinging it at said sonar/jammer. In fact, select footage of the metal pole being ripped from the ground and thrown in this episode, is used in "Deadly Missiles."
- Both Paul Carr and Paul Fix appear as crew members of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the Star Trek pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Carr's character was killed off and Fix, playing the ship's doctor, was later written out in favor of DeForest Kelley.
[edit] Nitpicks
[edit] Real Science
There are many issues arising from the description of bionics in this episode:
- The idea that bionics immediately begin to malfunction when the temperature starts to drop below 32°F or 0°C, does not make sense. Using logical deduction, certain conclusions exposing the fallacy of this idea can be made.
- The bionic limbs operate on atomic power. This is established in the pilot, The Six Million Dollar Man. While heat from fissionable material — either Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239, which are readily available — is used to generate electricity to power the limbs: the majority of that heat is actually wasted. Neither a generator nor a thermocouple would be 100% efficient in converting the heat to electricity.
- Other inefficiencies would create additional heat. These would consist of resistance in the electronic components and wires, and minimal friction in the joints and other mechanical components.
- Heatsinks are shown inside the bionic limbs, whenever internal bionics are exposed in episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. A notable example is in Bionic Woman episode Kill Oscar. An electric charge strikes Steve Austin's bionic arm, damaging it. The exposed area, clearly shows a heatsink. The purpose of a heatsink, is to absorb and radiate heat from electronics, in order to keep them functioning properly. This heat would be transferred to the air inside the cavity of the arm, and even the "plastiskin" (as it is referred to in the Martin Caidin Cyborg novels) sheath.
- This waste heat would keep the bionic limbs warm. The heat would also be used to imitate the warmth of real human skin, whenever someone touches a bionic limb. The plastiskin would also act as an insulator and restrict the emission of the waste heat.
- Therefore, we can conclude that the limbs would be kept warm enough to function correctly in the cold — at least for a time. For them to begin failing almost immediately, is not credible whatsoever. Only extreme cold should have that effect, and even then not right away. In fact: Steve or Jaime could die of exposure to extreme cold, before their bionics fail.
- The opposite problem should have been true. Exposure to heat could cause the bionics to fail, because they would not be able to get rid of excess heat as easily. Which would mean that in such cases as the desert scenes in the pilot and "The Bionic Boy", Austin's bionics should have malfunctioned.
- The idea that Steve and Jaime's bionics give off a constant amount of low-level radiation, is not sensible. Why would Dr. Rudy Wells not make the radiation shielding of the bionic limbs (the shields are mentioned in the episode "Run, Steve, Run"), such that they would block all radiation? First, the radiation emitted, immediately raises suspicion about Steve and Jaime's nature. Second, constant low-level emissions are unhealthy for them, as well as any friends or relatives they are continually in contact with.
- When Dr. Bacon uses the geiger counter on Steve, it also gives a reading when held over his head. This indicates an atomic power source for the eye. First, how could even a thermocouple powered by a fissionable pellet, fit inside his head? Second, once again the radiation emitted would be dangerous to Steve: especially so close to his brain.
[edit] Conjecture
- While there are no particular issues arising from Norris being a small town, 23 seems a ludicrously low figure, given the glimpses we see of it. It is somewhat implausible that Norris' tax base would have allowed a defined "city center" of any kind, especially with sidewalks, paved streets, and an apparent business district. One imagines that, perhaps, the town marker (from which the population figure is derived), is a few years out of date.
