The Six Million Dollar Man 1.04

Day of the Robot

Steve escorts USAF Major Fred Sloan to a test for a new missile defense system that is designed to shoot down incoming missiles. Major Sloan, an old friend of Steve, designed an important component to the missile defense system.

Fred doesn't think he needs an escort but Oscar Goldman insists. A criminal organization led by Gavern Wilson and Doctor Chester Dolenz uses a robot built by Dr. Dolenz to try and steal the components designed by Fred Sloan.

Steve and Fred stop during their drive to the test site at a gas station. Steve doesn't notice it but Fred is kidnapped and replaced by a robot duplicate while they are at the gas station. It isn't until later that Steve realizes that something isn't quite right with Fred.

Steve gets separated from the robot who continues on to the test site. Oscar is there are asks him why Steve isn't with him. The robot brushes off Oscar's questions. The test begins but before it can end the robot grabs the component designed by the real Fred Sloan and take off running.

Steve runs to the test site and gets there just in time to prevent the robot from escaping in a helicopter. Steve and the robot fight. The robot is destroyed. Steve later finds Fred sitting in a park near where they were supposed to meet to play tennis. Fred's memory is very fuzzy as to what happened but he remembered the tennis date.

Thoughts

John Saxon played the dual roles of Fred Sloan and the robot. I've seen John Saxon in a number of other things but the thing that I associate him most with is Enter the Dragon (1973).. I have also seen him recently in a couple episodes of Wonder Woman (1.04 and 1.05, The Feminum Mystique Parts 1 and 2) and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980). He returned to the bionic world playing a different character in a two-part story that began in an episode from season four of The Six Million Dollar Man and concluded in an episode from season two of The Bionic Woman.

This is the first of three appearances of Doctor Dolenz. He appears in one more episode from the first season and in one episode during the second season.

Lloyd Bochner played the part of Gavern Wilson. He returns in three episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and one of the Bionic Woman but he played different characters in each of those appearances.

The robot in this episode was the basis for the Maskatron toy which I had as a child.

This episode was a lot of fun. It is without a doubt my favorite to date. It isn't great but I enjoyed it very  much. I wish that Steve had not found Fred quite so easily. I would have been perfectly happy if they had ended it inconclusively as to Fred's fate but I guess that would have made it a much darker episode than they were willing to show on network television at that time.