Customer Reviews

El Hombre Nuclear: La Temporada Uno Completa

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The El Hombre Nuclear DVD boxset has the original edits of the pilots and the season one episodes.

This means you can see the un-botched versions of Cyborg and the other two movies.

It also means that episodes like "Survival Of The Fittest" have the teaser BEFORE the opening credits, not AFTER.

I got my set today and I just watched Cyborg. I checked the credits of Kidnapping (I can't believe I finally have this) and checked Survival. It opens with the car driving, not with the credits, so I assume any episode with a teaser that was previous edited behind the credits is correct on this set.

As for Cyborg...

Even it didn't introduction one of the most iconic fictional characters of all time this would stand up as a great movie. However, since it does introduce Steve Austin (one of TV's best-ever characters and greatest superheroes), this raises it up to be something truly special. Watching it is something akin to a religious/spiritual experience. Trying to write an impartial review is next to impossible, since I love every second of this thing with passion. But I'll have a go...

Pace. The movie has a tight pace. The opening minutes show two men in parallel: a pilot called Steve Austin who is about to test a new type of plane, and very serious government official who is proposing a new type of soldier/spy to a room of very stuffy and self-important people. As we move into the second quarter of the movie, Steve Austin has been catastrophically mutilated in a crash and is being kept alive by machines. His suffering is succinctly brought across in several short/ingenious scenes. The mid-section of the movie shows us the new Steve Austin: rebuilt by science and trying to master his new limbs. By the time we enter the final quarter of the movie, Steve is fully in control of his new body parts and we see him start to use them: first to save a boy in a traffic accident, and then on his first mission.

Steve Austin/Lee Majors. In one of the great marriages between character and actor, Majors takes the reins of Austin and makes him his own. Right from the first moment he saunters into shot Steve Austin is a likable hero: a very real, very human superhero. There are corny moments (like Steve addressing the entire flight crew by first name and seeming to know all about them) but Majors sells everything in the script. And adds to it. Two minutes into the movie, 50% of the guys watching will want to invite Austin for a few beers on the town and the other half will wish they were Austin. When the action gets dramatic (Austin trying to end his pathetic life, or - later - examining his own right arm) Majors is 100% committed to the role and he's make you feel everything Steve does.

Cleverness. The movie is clever, and subtle, in ways that the (wonderful) TV series never tried to be. The man who orders the rebuilding of Austin is, himself, in poor physical shape and walks with a cane. He is also heartless and - because of this - is more of a robot than Austin will ever be. The storytelling is wonderfully subtle in other ways, too. As Austin is told of his accident, the camera cuts away (we hear no dialogue) and we see/hear the reaction of the heart monitor. The sound, I suppose, of a breaking heart. And, later in the story, as Austin is on the verge of giving that heart to the pretty young nurse that has fallen in love with him, the story takes another unexpected turn: Austin orders her off the case and she overhears. We expect that she will run away in tears. Not so. Instead, to our surprise, she confronts Austin and calmly (but passionately) states her case. She doesn't behave like a 'tv character', she behaves like a real woman. Not an emotional fly-off-the-handle one, either. A mature, stand-on-her-own feet type. It's the character's best scene. And demonstrates that she deserves to be in the movie. Finally, the mission that Steve goes on is not quite what it appears to be. Clever scripting makes everything, and everyone, shades of grey and makes the entire story much more enjoyable.

Casting. Across the board, this is a fantastic cast: Darren McGavin almost steals the movie from Majors with a truly fascinating portrayal of the man who orders the rebuilding. Martin Balsam and Barbara Anderson round out the cast and each one gets scene after scene of quality material. Every scene means something, every scene advances the story and adds to these characters.

Continuity. The three movies that started the SMDM series are an oddity. None of them really fits in with the continuity of the series. (In a nice bit of symmetry, the three movies that ended the series are exactly the same: Part of the franchise, but not quite...) Cyborg has many elements that are exactly the same as the series. The character of Steve Austin is consistent, even if his rank/status within the Air Force is not the same. Rudy Wells, the doctor that saves Steve and makes him bionic is also exactly as you will find him in the television series. It's a different character, yes, but he has the same heart and intelligent. He has the same bond with Steve, too. But there are many elements that are not even close to the TV series. Instead of beloved Oscar Goldman, we get a hard-nosed bastard called Oliver Spencer calling the shots. This guy sees Steve as a weapon. Nothing more. In the episodes that followed, many scripts made it clear that there was a very strong bond/friendship between Steve and his so-called boss. Some episodes made them seem like partners working side-by-side, and most episodes made it clear that they loved one another as only best friends can. It's fascinating to see what direction the show could have taken. Fascinating, but not better. Then there is the lover. She disappears after this and is never mentioned again (though the series does introduce a similar character at one point). We can presume that Nurse Jean got over her infatuation and she and Steve called it quits. There are other things, too. Minor things, mostly, like the name of the OSI being something different. Things that mean, if you want to look at it this way, that the events of this story take place in a parallel universe.

Or something.

I don't care.

It's a superb movie. I gasped when his plane crashed (like I had never seen this before), I had tear in my eye as Steve learned what had become of him and tried to end it all, and I felt a cheer rising within me as Steve kicked down the cell door at the end and made his bid for freedom. It captured my imagination when I first saw it, as a child, and it still has a firm grip on my imagination (and my heart) all these years later. For a good chunk of those years, I made do with re-watching it on an old VHS tape, but now thanks to a DVD boxset called El Hombre Nuclear I can - once again - see this thing in all it's crystal clear wonder. The real deal, not some stupid botched re-edit.

The DVD presentation of the first season of The Six Million Dollar Man ("SMDM") is available from the UK much more cheaply, so, other than catering for DVD players fixed for Region 1 and/or 4 encoding, what reasons are there for buying this expensive South American version? Well it essentially puts right all the problems exhibited by the British set...

For those unfamiliar with or only having vague memories of SMDM, its premise was of astronaut and test pilot Steve Austin (played by Lee Majors) losing multiple limbs in an aircrash but given artificial, nuclear-powered replacements in a high-technology experiment. The new parts have a useful side-effect: they make him "better, stronger, faster!". Austin's capabilities are then put to use with government agency Office of Scientific Intelligence in undertaking military and espionage operations and strikes against major organised crime.

The show debuted in 1973 with three 70-minute "pilot" TV movies before returning as a weekly 50-minute adventure series comprising 13 episodes. All sixteen adventures are present and, crucially, correct on this set.

Since 1978 the pilot movies have usually been televised in a format wherein the runtimes have been lengthened by the insertion of scenes from certain regular episodes. Unfortunately the additions only serve to render the continuity rather nonsensical. Frustratingly the British DVD set presents the same versions. Thankfully, then, the South American disks provide the movies in their original, untouched form - a very rare treat!

As to the stories themselves, the opening "Cyborg" pilot movie is by far the best. Being mainly a thought-provoking drama, Austin has to come to terms with being left with half a body but then has an even greater challenge in accepting that while the miracle replacement parts render him outwardly normal again, he is an amalgamation of human and machine. The other two movies try a different angle but are rather unsuccessful attempts at James Bond style. The regular episodes then fall somewhere in between the two ideas. the better ones being "Population: Zero" (the inhabitants of a small town are found to have inexplicably died), "Doomsday and Counting" (a Russian nuclear installation becomes unstable following an earthquake). "Eyewitness to Murder" (an assassin has a perfect alibi), "The Last of the Fourth of Julys" (world leaders at a summit meeting are to be destroyed by means of remote laser and satellite technology) and "The Coward" (Austin sets out to uncover the truth behind accusations that his missing father left his crew to perish in an aircrash). There are silly scripts, too, such as "Day of the Robot" (a friend of Austin's is replaced by a lookalike automaton), "Burning Bright" (a fellow astronaut acquires super-intelligence after exposure to solar radiation), "Dr Wells is Missing" and "Run, Steve, Run!" (both of which feature villains uncovering Austin's secret and putting him through gruelling tests to assess his powers). Overall, though, the series works well even though most of its plots are unsophisticated even by the standards of the time.

Despite not being remastered, the visual quality throughout the pilots and regular episodes is excellent - an aspect that the UK set notably falls down on. Colours are well-presented and strong while, although not perfect, the picture is remarkably free of scratches and dirt. The digital sampling rate appears to be well-judged as I never noticed any compression artefacts.

On the regular episodes some fans may be caught out by what appears to be an abbreviated form of the legendary aircrash/surgery/recovery opening titles. In fact this is not a case of editing: these are as per originally transmitted. For example the memorable bodypart "computer graphics" were not introduced until the second season, along with an expanded version of the iconic "We have the technology" voiceover. Although the later revamp takes the sequence to even greater heights, the retention of the original with the first season stories is, again, to be applauded.

Similarly the pilots and a few early episodes do not feature the unforgettable "bionic" electronic sound effects. Again this is as per original transmissions.

Each regular episode runs to a shade over fifty minutes on the set and hence appears to be complete. (At least one instalment on the UK version had cuts for unknown reasons).

The DVDs understandably default to overdubbed Spanish dialogue but switching to the original English soundtrack (via the "Idioma" menu option) is easy enough, However on some episodes the audio quality suffers from notable "tape hiss" in places. This seems to coincide with speech that was dubbed/lip-sync'ed by the actors in post-production. As such it is not fair to criticise the DVDs themselves: today's audio technology simply exposes the shortcomings of that of yesteryear! Although a little distracting, it doesn't detract from one's enjoyment.

With regards to the physical presentation, the outer paper box is flimsy but the disks are contained in standard, sturdy cases. The on-screen menus are simple to use, though contain a few textual mistakes (eg Disk 2 is announced as 3.) Furthermore "The Solid Gold Kidnapping" pilot movie has been placed *after* the first regular episode - a very minor problem but odd and/or careless nonetheless.

The set contains no extras - not even subtitles for the hard of hearing (contrary to the claims on the packaging) - but, after over thirty years of waiting, the inclusion of the proper versions of the pilot movies is a bonus in itself!

Overall, then, a must-have for fanatics of the show (I'm not surprised that prices on this set are at a premium!), Unless the ongoing rights problems in North America are resolved, this set is likely to remain the definitive representation of SMDM's first season.

A pesar de no ofrecer nada adicional a los capitulos de la primera temporada, el ofrecer el doblaje al español lo hace unico en su especie. Lastima que series clasicas como Hunter, Swat, dos tipos audaces, el santo... no ofrezcan el doblaje en español. Muy buen producto para coleccionistas

Great production - DVDs are of better quality than the previous set my brother had. No problem getting the English dialog to play.

Even though it is stated on the outside of the box that the DVD has subtitles, it DOES NOT. You can pick the spoken language between English and Spanish, but there are NO SUBTITLES available. This was a huge disappointment to me, being that the only reason I bought this version was for the subtitles. So, if that is why you're buying this, DON'T!

"The Six Million Dollar Man" was far and away my favorite TV show ever. As for this particular offering of season one -- "El Hombre Nuclear" -- I can only confirm the glowing praise offered by the above reviews. Dave Matthews and rikerdonegal are dead-on in their critiques of this product. In fact, it was reading their comments that made me comfortable buying this DVD set; if two people who obviously are huge fans of the series give this item the thumbs-up, then I had no reason to doubt the purchase was worthwhile. And it was; "El Hombre Nuclear" is everything they said it was. My only concern, with all this Region-this and Region-that, was whether it would play on my USA DVD player. But all is well; the discs play perfectly. And they arrived in excellent condition, by the way, right on time. So, if you are a fan of "T.S.M.D.M." and have been looking for a great DVD set of the first season, look no further.

Todos los capítulos de la primera temporada de esta emocionante serie de televisión en audio latino.