Cyborg I: The Retro-con Cut

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Cyborg I: The Retro-con Cut
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1973
Original Running Time:
44 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
74 minutes
Time Cut:
3 minutes
Time Added:
37 minutes
Synopsis:
This fanedit reconstructs its namesake in favor of a more fitting origin. BionicBob has Retro-con Steve Austin’s bionic origin so it fits better with the television continuity.
Intention:
Retro-con Steve Austin’s bionic origin so it fits better with the television continuity.

My absolute favorite hero of my childhood was THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. For me, it was a comic book come to life before my very young eyes. Each week I would watch Colonel Steve Austin do battle with spys, evil masterminds, robots, aliens and even a bionic sasquatch! It is in my mind, one of the greatest adventure televisions shows of all time. It would be years later that I would finally watch the original trilogy of tv movies that inspired the regular series. To my surprise, there were many discrepancies and outright contradictions between the movies and the series proper. The main ones being no Oscar Goldman, different actor playing Dr. Rudy Wells, Steve as a civilian test pilot and how Steve was written (as a bionic James Bond) in the second and third movies.
Additional Notes:
My intent is to try and reconcile some of these elements from the tv movies with the established continuity of the television series. Using the season one premiere episode “Population: Zero” as my foundation, I have created a series of flashback scenes which retro-con Steve’s bionic origin.
Release Information:
DVD
Cuts and Additions:
–New Opening Titles
–added 4 flashbacks using footage from the tv movies and episodes
–reorder a couple of scenes
–cut Oliver Sempler
–cut Martin Balsam as Rudy Wells
–removed references to Steve as a civilian pilot
–added bionic sound effects
–added additional music by original series composer Oliver Nelson
[Trailer]

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cyborg_disk_art
cyborg_cover
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1973
Original Running Time:
44 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
74 minutes
Time Cut:
3 minutes
Time Added:
37 minutes
Synopsis:
This fanedit reconstructs its namesake in favor of a more fitting origin. BionicBob has Retro-con Steve Austin’s bionic origin so it fits better with the television continuity.
Intention:
Retro-con Steve Austin’s bionic origin so it fits better with the television continuity.

My absolute favorite hero of my childhood was THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. For me, it was a comic book come to life before my very young eyes. Each week I would watch Colonel Steve Austin do battle with spys, evil masterminds, robots, aliens and even a bionic sasquatch! It is in my mind, one of the greatest adventure televisions shows of all time. It would be years later that I would finally watch the original trilogy of tv movies that inspired the regular series. To my surprise, there were many discrepancies and outright contradictions between the movies and the series proper. The main ones being no Oscar Goldman, different actor playing Dr. Rudy Wells, Steve as a civilian test pilot and how Steve was written (as a bionic James Bond) in the second and third movies.
Additional Notes:
My intent is to try and reconcile some of these elements from the tv movies with the established continuity of the television series. Using the season one premiere episode “Population: Zero” as my foundation, I have created a series of flashback scenes which retro-con Steve’s bionic origin.
Release Information:
DVD
Cuts and Additions:
–New Opening Titles
–added 4 flashbacks using footage from the tv movies and episodes
–reorder a couple of scenes
–cut Oliver Sempler
–cut Martin Balsam as Rudy Wells
–removed references to Steve as a civilian pilot
–added bionic sound effects
–added additional music by original series composer Oliver Nelson
Cover art by Rogue-Thex (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

[Trailer]

Like before right clicking on

Trusted Reviewer reviews

4 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.5(2)
Audio Editing
 
10.0(2)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(2)
Narrative
 
8.5(2)
Enjoyment
 
8.8(4)
Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I love, love, love this kind of edit. Putting a revered, long-running TV franchise/series like this into a more easily digestible (not to mention coherent) form is a real public service, and BionicBob's love of the material shines through, from the care put into the artwork, the extras, the explanation featurettes explaining what has been changed and why -- this is a fantastic package, to say nothing of the edit itself.

Oh yeah, the edit itself! Well, by integrating parts of the pilot/TV movies into an early episode of the series proper as flashbacks, we're given an excellent in medias res explanataion of Steve Austin and his background, without a lot of tedious origin story buildup. Re-structuring and bobbing-and-weaving amidst continuity plotholes could have yielded a murky mess, but BB's edit has the narrative drive and thrills of a good modern action movie, and has left me eager to watch the rest of his Cyborg series.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
(Updated: March 08, 2013)
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
mar 3 2012

This was a great edit. BionicBob has grown stronger as an editor and it really shows with his Cyborg edits.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
(Updated: August 29, 2012)
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
N/A
Audio Editing
 
N/A
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N/A
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N/A
Enjoyment
 
9.0
TMBTM Apr 21 2012

Very enjoyable fanedit! Always loved this show.
The few little problems I had were already brought to attention by the others reviewers but they are all minor ones.
Edit is cool, menus are (very) cool, Steve Austin is cool, so is Bionic Bob!
Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
(Updated: August 29, 2012)
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
N/A
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N/A
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N/A
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9.0
LastSurvivor Feb 24 2012

I can’t deny that television series from the 70’s and 80’s have certainly remained ingrained in my memory banks. Needless to say, the idea of a fanedit from one of my most fondly remembered shows, The Six Million Dollar Man, certainly set that old “nostalgia” part of my brain ticking – and when it’s a Bionic Bob edit, well, you know you’re in pretty safe hands.

The main bulk of the edit is based on the 1st episode proper once the series was given the green light, “Population:Zero”. It’s a wise choice, as it’s certainly one of the strongest from the first season, with a wonderful eerie “small town” style atmosphere to it. Not only that, but it actually lends itself remarkably well to the way in which Bob wanted to approach this edit, which is to basically make this as the perfect TV pilot to introduce us to the man who is, Steve Austin. This in itself is a blessing, for as much as I like the first TV movie, “The Moon and the Desert”, it really does drag in terms of pacing and once you push aside all the intriguing scenes of Steve’s accident and his process of recovery after becoming the world’s first bionic man, there is little else left to engage the viewer – well, at least this viewer anyway.

By inserting scenes from the first TV movie in the form of flashbacks, CYBORG becomes a much more multi layered version of the Population Zero episode. Of course, there is a real danger of such scenes feeling very random if they’re used too much or at the wrong moment, but one of the advantages by using this particular episode comes in the fact that Steve ends up wearing what appears to be the same space suit which he wore during the ill-fated test flight, resulting in the flashbacks feeling very natural for the most part. A shame therefore that the very last one, between Oscar and Rudy, whereby they discuss the psychological affect which the bionics are having upon Steve, does feel a bit forced. This is due to a) the fact Steve was not present and therefore would have no memory of this and b) because it also involves the shady activities of another villain from a different story which therefore have no relevance to this edit. However, Bob kind of gets away with this because on the flip-side it does work in relation to leading up to the “Lost Adventure” which makes for a very enjoyable bonus feature.

Having started to watch season1 of SMDM recently, one aspect I did miss was the bionic sound effects which I remember so fondly. I didn’t even realise that they simply didn’t exist in the first season! So, I was very relieved to see Bob has inserted these at every “bionic super feat” opportunity (Even if I think I worried my girlfriend, as every time it happened I appeared to have the smile of a 8 year old plastered across my face!). The added music also works very well – to the point where it’s hard to tell when it’s new and when it’s part of the original source. I also liked the POV zoom effect for Steve’s bionic-eye – very nicely done.

On the technical side, Bob’s editing is nicely executed, particularly the way in which the flashbacks are utilised (nice use of the heartbeat sound effect and they feel very much like they come from the time period in which the programme was originally produced). Picture quality is fine throughout for a programme of this age and I couldn’t really notice any interlacing on my TV, something which I know he had issues with when making the edit. As DwightFry mentioned, the aspect ratio appears off a little – it’s still 1.33:1 (or 4.3 if you prefer) in theory, but it does have little black bars at the top and bottom which give the impression of something in the region of 1.66:1. if you were to zoom the picture up. But hey, it’s not a real big deal and after about 5 minutes I’d forgotten about it.

Now, as much as I’m a fan of all BionicBob edits, the audio side of the equation can occasionally fall a little short. Certainly it’s a side of fanediting which has got better for Bob on each edit and I’m glad to report that CYBORG continues the upward trend of smooth transitions and sound levels which for the most part appear just about right. Good job mate

All in all then, CYBORG is everything I wanted this edit to be. It genuinely has become the ultimate Six Million Dollar Man pilot for me and to anyone who was coming to the series for the first time, I would quite honestly show this over any of the three TV movies. A well deserved 9/10.

Oh, and as for the news that there will be at least one more SMDM edit to come? All I can say is you’ve made me so excited that I want to go on ebay and purchase the “Bionic Transport and Repair Station” – my favourite toy which I used to have when I was about 5 or 6! Thank you Bob
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User reviews

7 reviews
 
71%
 
29%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.5(2)
Audio Editing
 
10.0(2)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(2)
Narrative
 
9.5(2)
Enjoyment
 
8.7(7)
View all user reviews View most helpful
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Always watched the Six Million Dollar Man. This set of dics brings back such good memories and makes them more fun to watch. Thanks for the great work lookinh forward to watching the other titles.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
(Updated: August 17, 2014)
Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I loved The Six Million Dollar Man as a kid. I had the cool Steve Austin ...uh, doll, where you could look through the back of his head through his bionic eye. I used to make him beat up Stretch Armstrong. Sorry, not important :-)
This was a great edit. I really liked the opening black screen with the sounds of the launch and subsequent crash while the credits were happening. It was slightly disappointing to then open with the motorcycle cop, but we quickly got to Steve and his backstory. The flashbacks work very very well, though in my mind, everytime we got the eye close-up my brain reverted to my much younger self and mentally made the sound "buppabuppabuppabuppabuppa..."
When an edit is done this well, there is little to say. Any issues were with the somewhat cheap production of the original TV show, or some of the somewhat bad acting and casting. Or the not-very-attractive love interest. I'm glad Jamie Sommers is soon on the way; Steve could do a lot better than that doctor. And who on earth cast the backwoods cop from Live and Let Die as a NASA employee? I would not trust that guy around rockets.
All I can say is -- Well done! And highly recommended, particularly for those who grew up watching this show.

Quick addendum--I had not watched the 13 minute bonus of The Lost Mission when I reviewed the movie. I just corrected that and it was awesome! The music was especially cool. I love that the mission seems to be "grab the hot girl and run away!" despite whatever Goldman states earlier. 13 minutes of pure fun! Lots of button-pushing and wire re-arranging too. Also, one of Steve hidden bionic powers is the ability to pass people ahead of him while climbing up a ladder! This short gets 10's across the board for me and an 11 for pure enjoyment. (I didn't realize how much this show had been deeply ingrained in my psyche until the real TV show opening credits started and I spoke every line in unison with Goldman. "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him...."

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
(Updated: August 29, 2012)
Overall rating
 
8.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
N/A
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N/A
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N/A
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N/A
Enjoyment
 
8.0
blueyoda mar 3 2012

*This rating was given before reviews were required*
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(Updated: August 29, 2012)
Overall rating
 
7.0
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N/A
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N/A
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7.0
geminigod mar 18 2012

*This rating was given before reviews were required*
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(Updated: August 29, 2012)
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9.0
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N/A
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N/A
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9.0
garp aug 10 2012

*This rating was given before reviews were required*
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