When I was a kid there was a small diner very near my home. This place was a true "hole in the wall". The food was your very basic diner fare. I loved the chicken nuggets. they came out of a huge brown bag in the freezer. It was the sort of food that kids love. Anyway this diner had something different going for it. In the window facing the street were a number of toys. One of those toys was from the series "Bionic Six". The "Bionic Six" was one of those series that came out just a few years too early for me to latch onto. However, thanks to syndication and the Sci-Fi channel I did get to enjoy a few episodes. After looking back at "The Centurions" I got a case of nostalgia and this show is one of the most nostalgic for me. It also happens to be a Sci-Fi show. Which makes it perfect for Sci-Fi Saturday.
The Bionic Six was a American/Japanese show that originally aired in 1987. It was produced by TMS Entertainment. Osamu Dezaki, a man who had worked on a number of Anime including Golgo 13, was the chief supervising director. As such the show had an Anime flavor.
An unofficial DVD release. Sadly there has yet to be a true DVD release for this series.
The premise of the show was quite basic. It centered around a family of cybornetically enhanced individuals. The family just happened to be multi-cultural which was a thing in the late 80's and early 90's. They fought against Doctor Scarab, a mad scientist, who wanted to rule the world. Don't they all. As I said the show was fairly straightforward.
It succeeded, in my opinion, by giving the audience someone to identify with. Like most of the successful series of the time, there was a character for every one.
Or Karate-1 (Bunjiro "Bunji" Bennett) the bionic marital arts master.
Ah the bane of all 80's cartoons. The adorable/hideous comedy sidekick. This is basically a robot Snarf.
Hell if you were one of the weird kids you could even look up to F.L.U.F.F.I. the robot gorilla house keeper.
If you were the kind of kid that rooted for the bad guys you had many to choose from. Such as Madame-O the femme fatale, Chopper the motorcycle riding thug, or Mechanic the resident stupid big guy with a temper.
The key to a show like this is to provide the viewers with someone to identify with. It worked with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Power Rangers", and even "Voltron".
Having really cool toys doesn't hurt and Bionic Six had some really cool toys. The big gimmick was that the figures featured die-cast and translucent plastic. These materials gave the toys a look and fell all their own. As with "The Centurions" this is another series that is just waiting for a revival.
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