The Six Million Dollar Man: The Infiltrators
episode number: season 4, episode 18 (1977)
viewing setting: home DVD, 7/12/12
episode synopsis: Steve goes undercover as a boxer to expose an infiltration ring.
impressions: Fun. This one was mainly about boxing, but also had a sub-plot (which I don't want to give away) that was actually pretty ingenious. The method used to convince the original boxer to drop out of the exhibition was unusual, and involved Steve performing feats of bionic strength while pretending he was a normal person. Also of note, they had to use a drug to knock Steve out in the ring. Final thing: Lee Majors was pretty ripped in 1977 - he had abs and muscles at age 38. I bring this up because a lot of people made fun of him in the 1994 six Million Dollar Man movie, when at age 55 he was a bit overweight. People age, and most of us won't or didn't look as good at 38 as Lee Majors. Just saying.
notable guest stars: Harold Sylvester is a fellow boxer whom Steve befriends. Tony Burton (who played Duke in all of the Rocky movies) makes a brief appearance here as a boxing manager.
significant bionic antics: Steve catches a falling rack of weights, kicks a barstool to make it a missile, rips off a steel footrest and ties some bad guys up with it, hits a punching bag hard enough to send it flying, breaks open some padlocks, boxes bionically (which was technically cheating), breaks some straps and kicks some bad guys away, snaps a pair of handcuffs, kicks open a vault door, stops a thrown knife with his bionic arm, stops a 4200-pound rolling safe, and then sends it back at the bad guys.
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