This week for The League Brian asks us what property would we like to see rebooted/return? And how do we imagine that it would be different?
Tough question. CT and Jeeg over at the Nerd Lunch blog enjoy doing Reboot Challenges that are similar to this. I like the idea of reimagining a favorite property. So my pick to have a new reboot will no doubt be no surprise to readers of this blog. I want to see a TV reboot of The Six Million Dollar Man. This reboot, of course, would also lead into a reboot of The Bionic Woman.
There is a mostly successful reboot of the property going on right now in comic books. I’d like to bring that success to a TV show. However, I wouldn’t necessarily adapt what Dynamite is doing in their comic, but I like several aspects of what they’ve done so I might use them.
So let’s begin.
Premise: I’ll keep the origin roughly the same. Steve is a military pilot. Special Forces, I haven’t decided the branch; Navy Seals, Army Rangers, whatever. Steve is an excellent soldier and pilot and due to his proficiency will pilot experimental aircraft for the military from time to time. During one of these test flights, something goes wrong and Steve crashes in a horrific explosion and he barely survives. Like in the original novel and the show, the accident will damage Steve’s head, both legs and one of his arms. OSI, a clandestine military department, chooses Steve to receive prototype nanotech plus bionic implants to repair his body. The surgeries are done by OSI’s bionic specialist Dr Rudy Wells. During Steve’s multiple bionic surgeries Rudy decides that for better balance and performance he will need to replace both arms. The bionic limbs are controlled/regulated by microscopic nanobots that are implanted into his body. This allows for “software upgrades” on the fly for mission specific details, tech and intel. It also allows for better monitoring of Steve’s bionics and vitals from Rudy’s control center at OSI. After the surgeries and physical therapy, Steve joins OSI as an agent and is placed under the supervision of Audrey Goldman who doles out his assignments and briefs him on intel.
Storylines: The first part of the first season will deal with the aftermath of the accident and Steve’s subsequent physical therapy and testing of his bionic limits. After he joins OSI, Steve is used as a black ops agent. He performs impossible missions that no one but Steve and his bionics could accomplish. For the most part, starting mid-season, the episodes of this series, like the original, will focus on Steve’s “missions” for OSI. Steve does infiltration, recon, sabotage and maybe even a little assassination. I also want some stories to delve a bit more into the OSI operations side. Maybe even a few “between missions” episodes where we see Steve get tune ups and upgrades from Dr Wells. This allows us to see that Steve gets damaged during his missions has to have a new arm or leg fitted. This will also show some testing of new “special missions” bionic gear like underwater legs with a built in oxygen respirator and a new arm with lasers in the fingers. Stuff that the 70s toys were built upon but never made it into the show. This time at OSI will also show the building of the working relationship with Audrey Goldman and Rudy Wells.
Cavalcade of Awesome 