The Second Cyborg novel

Martin Caidin published the novel Cyborg in 1972. This was the beginning of the character better known now as the Six Million Dollar Man. Steve Austin is a former combat pilot and astronaut who suffers catastrophic injuries while working as a test pilot. He survives, with three limbs and one eye replaced with bionics. An intelligence organization called the O.S.O. begins using him as an agent, sending him on Cold War-style missions.

The book version of Steve was grounded a little more firmly in reality than the subsequent TV series. His limbs give him increased strength, speed and endurance, but he can't hit the 60 mph he was capable of on TV. Perhaps most significantly, his bionic eye does not give him sight, much less telescopic vision. Instead, it acts as a camera when this is needed on specific missions.

The first sequel, Operation Nuke, was published in 1973. I don't know the story behind this. I don't know if Caidin wrote it to cash off the popularity of the original novel or to cash in on the increased popularity of the character that the TV show would bring. In either case, he was a good storyteller and both the book Steve Austin and the TV Steve Austin have a lot of story potential in them.

Operation Nuke, though, is flawed, which is why I think its possible that Caidin turned it out quickly to cash in on the TV series. It's still good and the climax is great, but it does have a few pacing and plot problems.

The bad guys are an evil organization hiding their operation within the confines of a large, well-known corporation. And, boy, these guys are evil. They've gotten their hands on some nukes and, as the story opens, have been paid eighteen million dollars to nuke an African city.

Steve and a fellow agent are tasked with infiltrating the organization, though initially they have no idea who the bad guys are. This is where the novel is weakest. First, it takes over a third of the book before Steve's mission begins. Up to then, we've been following along with some of the bad guys and having the investigations of various intelligence organizations described to us. This is all good stuff, but we're here for the bionic guy.

Also, the plan for getting Steve and his partner into the evil organization depends on far too much dumb luck. Steve starts a fight while appearing on a talk show, making sure that his new status as a criminal is publically known right away. Then the two agents steal a 707 from Kennedy airport and fly across the Atlantic. They pretty much hope that the bad guys will hear about all this, realize Steve is a potential asset and move quickly to contact him.

This is indeed what happens, but its definitely a stretch.

Once Steve gets recruited, though, the novel picks up speed and gets really good. Another potential complaint here is that Steve doesn't have much reason to use his bionics through most of the novel, especially since he needs to keep his increased physical power a secret from his new "co-workers." But he slowly uncovers information about the organization and staves off several assassination attempts. The identity of a Russian spy inside the organization provides a really nifty plot twist.

The book's climax involves Steve tied to a chair with a ticking nuke in the room with him. This is where he finally gets to use some bionics, though this presents a problem. How does he use his bionic arm to snap his bonds without tearing out his real arm in the process? Having super strength on just one side can be a problem.

The villains in the novel are another strength--intelligent, cold-blooded and dangerous. They don't nuke people out of fanaticism or for political reasons, but simply to make money. It makes them interesting and leaves you really looking forward to their getting their cumuppance.

So Operation Nuke is worth reading. It's not as good as the excellent Cyborg, but its strengths out-weigh its weaknesses.

The Whole Town is Dead!

When I was a little 'un, the scene shown in the picture above was one of the coolest things I'd every seen. Steven Austin--the Six Million Dollar Man--used a big metal fence post with its concrete anchor still attached as a javelin to take out the truck containing a super-weapon. I loved it.

The Six Million Dollar Man (based on the novel Cyborg, by Martin Caidin) came to TV with three made-for-television movies that aired during 1973. It became a regular hour-long show on January 18, 1974 with the airing of "Population Zero," in which Steve gets his chance to throw that make-shift javelin at the bad guys.

It was the beginning of a five-year run. Science fiction on television in the 1970s being what it was, it had its share of silly episodes. But "Population Zero" gave it a strong start as a regular series. It was a tautly written by Elroy Schwartz, whose long list of credits as a TV writer include both dramas and comedies. It had strong moments of suspense and several nice character moments for Steve Austin (Lee Majors).

It certainly had a memorable beginning:

If that scene doesn't grab your attention, then nothing will.

So everyone in the town seems to be dead and anyone who also goes in is also hit by whatever it is. Eventually, Steve Austin walks in while wearing his old space suit, but by then the people are starting to wake up. They were merely unconscious.

They were victims of a sonic weapon and the bad guys are soon threatening to amp up the volume and commit mass murder if they aren't paid ten million dollars.

The government refuses to pay up, but Steve lets himself get captured by the villains in hopes of stopping them. Technically, I suppose that Steve falling into the hands of the villains represents 60% of what they asked for, but they don't see it that way. They plan to wipe out an Army battalion to prove they're serious.

Steve is locked in a big freezer with a door too thick for him to simply kick down even with bionic limbs. The logic is that he would be around if something goes wrong with the mass murder attempt, they would still have Steve as a hostage. If everything works, Steve will eventually freeze to death and no longer be a problem.

So Steve has to "macgyver" his way out of the freezer and then improvise a way to destroy the sonic weapon before its too late. (Is it okay to use a term from an '80s TV show when writing about a '70s TV show?)

In addition to the well-constructed and straightforward main story, the script really does give Steve some strong character moments, such as getting short-tempered when an army doctor asks him about his bionics. He's simply gotten sick of being an object of medical curiosity.

Another good line is when someone asks him if his boss Oscar Goldman (played by Richard Anderson) is indeed his boss. Steve replies: "He thinks so.... No, that's not fair. He's bright, straight and underneath that shell of red tape, he's even got a heart." Anderson--an excellent character actor--was already giving Oscar a definable personality and dialogue like this helped this along and set up his eventual close friendship with Steve.

There's a nice attention to detail present in the episode as well. For instance, when Steve is running through the desert with that fence post, his real left arm is soaked in sweat, while his bionic right arm is bone dry.

But the thing I remembered most from first seeing this as a kid was Steve throwing that fence post through the villains' truck. The heck with subtle character moments. The fence post javelin was the really cool part!