Following the success of the 1970s science fiction action series The Six Million Dollar Man, ABC launched the spinoff series The Bionic Woman. This sci-fi drama starred Lindsay Wagner as professional tennis player Jaime Sommers, who first appeared in a two-part episode of The Six Million Dollar Man. During this episode, Steve Austin travels to his hometown to visit family and possible purchase a ranch. While here, Austin reunites with Sommers and the pair rekindle their old relationship to the point where Austin proposes marriage.
Later on, Sommers and Austin go skydiving when her parachute malfunctions and plummets her to the ground. She suffers traumatic injuries to her head, legs, and right arm. Austin pleads with his boss Oscar Goldman to save her life by implementing the same bionic surgical implants he received. He even goes so far as to commit Sommers to becoming an operative of the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI). Through the use of cybernetic implants, she receives an amplified bionic ear that allows her to hear at low volumes, different frequencies and across long distances. She also has extraordinary strength in her bionic right arm and in both legs that enables her to run at speeds exceeding 60 miles per hour.
Although Austin tries to resend his offer for Sommers to serve as an agent for OSI, she agrees to undertake a mission. Unfortunately, her bionics malfunction and it is revealed that her body is rejecting the implants. While Sommers seemingly died, the character was so popular that ABC asked the writers to find a way to bring her back. It is later disclosed that Sommers was kept in suspended animation until she was successfully revived. Austin was kept in the dark over Sommers condition and later discovers that her procedure caused her to develop retrograde amnesia. She is unable to recall previous events, including her relationship with Austin, and any attempt to remember causes her pain.
Austin reluctantly lets her go on to live her own life as an agent for the OSI, although the pair would frequently work together on missions and establish a new friendship. Both Austin and Sommers star in the made for TV movies The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, and Bionic Ever After?. After so many years, this latter film finally saw the bionic couple say their “I Dos.”
Over the years, The Bionic Woman spawned its own line of merchandise, comics books, novels, and more. More recently, Dynamite and DC launched the intercompany crossover miniseries Wonder Woman ’77 Meets The Bionic Woman. But did you know the Bionic Woman is about to gear up for yet another crossover? For the first time ever, the Angels of Charles Townsend Agency will be featured alongside the powerhouse cyborg. Read more about this upcoming crossover here on Scoop.
