Year: 1974

Oscar is unusually tense about a routine flight to Washington with Steve Austin in tow. Their car has a blowout on the way to the airport, and he has to wait for another flight, one carrying military passengers and cargo. Once the plane’s in the air, Steve learns that, due to Oscar’s participation in top-secret negotiations with Russia, he may have assassins on his tail. The plane encounters a severe storm and is damaged, forcing the pilots to ditch the plane at sea near an isolated island; Steve quickly organizes the survivors into a camp that can hold its own until rescue arrives. But it quickly becomes apparent that Oscar’s would-be assassins are on the island with them, which means they were aboard the plane all along…and help may not arrive in time.

written by Mann Rubin
directed by Leslie H. Martinson
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: Lee Majors (Steve Austin), Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman), Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wells), James McEachin (Maj. Cromwell), Christine Belford (Lt. Colby), William Smith (Cmdr. Maxwell), Jo Anne Worley (Mona), Laurette Spang (Helen [Wave]), Randall Carver (PFC Barris), Reid Smith (Navy Lt.), W.T. Zacha (A.F. Sgt. Roberts), Dick Valentine (1st Pilot), Jim Raymond (1st Co-Pilot)

Notes: Glen A. Larson’s “Battlestar Galactica rep” continues to take shape with the appearance of Laurette Spang in this episode, who would play the part of Cassiopeia in Larson’s later, Star Wars-inspired series. She would also go on to appear in Gemini Man, Man From Atlantis, and Project UFO.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The OSI calls Steve Austin into action when a weapons designer, who has access to top secret information, goes missing. No trace can be found of him anywhere, though there are records of the man having ESP contact with his daughter, so finding her becomes Steve’s top priority. Getting her to talk about either her father or her unique link with him is difficult, but eventually Steve convinces her that her father is in danger, and she tags along with him, providing what may be clues from “visions” she receives. These clues lead them to the Florida Everglades, where they find a small army guarding her father…and his kidnappers demand that he build them a powerful laser weapon.

written by Sy Salkowitz
directed by Reza Badiyi
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: Lee Majors (Steve Austin), Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman), Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wells), Pamela Franklin (Susan Abbott), Simon Scott (Dr. Abbott), Jack Hogan (John Belson), Joe Kapp (Frank), Vic Mohica (Eddie), Joseph Ruskin (Le Duc), Erik Holland (Ed Rawlins), Bill Conklin (Hobbs), Margarita Cordova (Desk Clerk)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Steve and his old friend and colleague Major Fred Sloane are tasked with the delivery of an activation device to a top-secret weapons test, something that cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands.  But plans are already afoot to steal the activator, plans that involve replacing Sloane with a robot duplicate so perfect that even Austin can’t tell it from the real thing.  But when the robot Sloane demonstrates strength equal to Steve’s bionic limbs, it’s clear that this isn’t the real Sloane – and that, for once, Steve will be fighting an adversary with the same powers that he has.

teleplay by Del Reisman
story by Harold Livingston
directed by Leslie H. Martinson
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: Lee Majors (Steve Austin), Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman), Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wells), John Saxon (Fred Sloane), Henry Jones (Dr. Dolenz), Lloyd Bochner (Wilson), Charles W. Bateman (Master Sgt. Parnell), Noah Keen (General Tanhill), Robert Rothwell (Al), Martin Speer (Neil), Buster jones (Captain), Michael Alaimo (Bread Truck Driver)

Notes: Ironically, this episode marks the debut of the “bionic sound” that would come to be heard frequently in later seasons of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman…but it isn’t used for Steve Austin here, but rather for the robot Sloane clone.  Writer Del Reisman was the showrunner of The Lieutenant, the first television series created by a young Gene Roddenberry (later of Star Trek fame), while Harold Livingston later locked horns with Roddenberry many times over the screenplay of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Livingston also wrote numerous episodes of the 1977 series Future Cop – somewhere between robo-Sloane, Future Cop, and V’Ger, his work history is jam-packed with robots.  Dr. Dolenz resurfaces to cause more trouble for Steve and the OSI in the first season’s finale.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A plane photographing contested weapons on the border between Africa and the Middle East goes down. The pilot sends a coded message before parachuting out, with the message informing western intelligence that he’s photographed an illegal arms buildup. Now the race is on to see who can reach the pilot (and his film) first: Steve Austin, or a government that would rather not tip its hand about an arms buildup. Steve finds his rescue mission under fire even before he gets off the ground, and has to parachute down behind enemy lines. Steve has to save the pilot and reveal his discovery to the world…or he’ll be as trapped as the man for whom he’s searching.

written by Elroy Schwartz
directed by Reza Badiyi
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: Lee Majors (Steve Austin), Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman), Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wells), Scoey Mitchell (Major Chooka), Marge Redmond (Sister Annett), Lincoln Kirkpatrick (Captain Braco), Greg Morris (Josh Perkins), Stack Pierce (Bajad), Tierre Turner (Jajamin), Dave Turner (Farmer), Ji-Tu Cumbuka (Soldier), Arnold Turner (Sergeant), Donald Mantooth (1st Radio Operator), Reb Brown (2nd Radio Operator), Susan Gay Powell (Sister Teresa)

Notes: Reb Brown, star of the two late ’70s Captain America movies, is seen here in a small role. Greg Morris was one of the stars of the original Mission: Impossible.

LogBook entry by Earl Green