That other superwoman named “Sommers” returns to television, a little darker than her 70s incarnation.
Directed by Michael
Dinner
Written by Laeta
Kalogridis
Michelle Ryan as Jamie
Sommers
Katee Sackoff as Sara Corvis
Full Cast and Crew
Premise
The tv-bionics craze made a lot of money in the 1970s, and contemporary executives, hoping that lightning will strike again, have reinvented one of the old bionic shows. After her vehicle is struck by a transport, a brilliant underachiever has her damaged body parts replaced and augmented with…. Well, that’s a good question. These aren’t conventional cybernetics.
High Point
Sackoff shines as the evil bionic woman, Faith to Ryan’s Buffy, and the episode uses their doppelganger relationship to explain Jamie’s decision at the conclusion. There’s actually some hope for characterization.
Low Point
It’s not very interesting, it’s definitely not original, and the pilot appears to have been edited by someone with A.D.D. It lurches and jumps choppily from one scene to another.
I recognize they’re leaving the role and character of Jamie’s sister to be developed further in future episodes, but they needed to have some reason for her sporadic presence in this one.
The Scores:
Originality: 1/6 It’s not enough that someone is revisiting an old show. It’s not enough that, for the umpty-hundredth time, someone is taking a squeaky-clean peachy-keen hero from the past and making her darker. No, the pilot also steals from every pop-heroic fantasy of the past few decades, from Superman to Buffy and Dark Angel.1
Effects: 4/6.
Story: 3/6. It’s not so much bad as it is dull and predicable, and they’ve also riddled the first act with wooden expository dialogue.
Acting: 4/6. The guest-star gives the strongest performance. The others are passable.
Emotional Response: 3/6.
Production: 5/6.
Overall: 3/6. The original was cheesy, but it had simplicity and purity of premise. Jaimie Sommers had mechanical replacement parts that gave her superpowers. She worked for a shadowy but noble secret agency. In this version, Jamie Sommers has poorly-defined and wildly advanced technology implanted in her and works for a truly shady agency. In order to pull this version off, they need exceptional scripting and acting. The pilot does not leave me hopeful.
In total, the pilot of The Bionic Woman receives 23/42
1. The Superman sequence, granted, could be viewed as homage.
C’mon
It wasn’t that bad. However at many times, I wondered if Battlestar Galactica were back on already.
Re: C’mon
Agreed: there were a few other BSG cast members I was pleasantly surprised to see in this.
I enjoyed this show. I think it’s got a lot of promise. There wasn’t anything I loathed, and there was quite a bit I enjoyed. Oh well, your mileage may vary.
I always enjoy coming back to B42 when the new reviews start. Here’s to another season of semi-amiable fan banter.
Cheers,
-Joe G.
Re: C’mon
Yeah, I’m a big fan of most of the BSG staff, but to see so much of them in the same place actually became a distraction for me.
All in all, I was not excited about the promise of this, but like you mentioned, There wasn’t anything I actively hated, and there was actually a bit I enjoyed.
meh… who knows… I had almost the exact same opinion of "Encounter at Farpoint" and THAT turned out OK.
Cheers bak at ya’ Joe G.
– Fozzy
A sneaky cameo …
In the first scene with Jaime, look in the background. Who else is tending bar besides Michael Hogen, good ole Saul himself? :)
I love it. Great cameo. :)
-Joe
Re: A sneaky cameo …
Ooooh, I missed that. I’m gonna have to go back and check it out.
Re: A sneaky cameo …
He’s very easy to spot. I’m wondering if he’s not there because later on in the season his character will actually become a part of the show.
Those darned Cylons are infiltrating *another* TV show. Galactica had better do something quick or we’ll have Cylons on game shows, Cylons on news programs, and Cylons in our schools.
My gods, THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN.
-Joe
Re: A sneaky cameo …
Too late. Obviously Galactica and the fleet have already reached earth and we are being prepared to fight off the imminent Cylon attack. Why else is series 4 being put off till next year, they’re still setting up the cameras in orbit to film the finale! :-)
Re: A sneaky cameo …
I kept looking for Lindsay Wagner the entire episode and was disappointed she didn’t show up as some kind of character.
Overall, I was bored with the episode, the music during the ‘big fight scene’ was extremely distracting and overall I don’t see what the fuss was about. The complete lack of techno babble was interesting and the ‘implants randomly coming online’ was a new take. Overall though, not a worthy successor and I don’t think it’s gonna last.
Re: A sneaky cameo …
I was too! LOL
Glad I’m not the only one!
I wonder if they even asked her…
Condensed?
It seemed to me that the story skipped ahead at various times like it had been edited down from a two-hour pilot with all of the exposition removed. This left us with lots of action but no description of what this shadow agency does or how Mark Sheppard’s character got out of prison. If this is true I’d love to see the original cut.
Re: Condensed?
That thought had crossed my mind, too! It just seemed like a lot was missing….
Re: Condensed?
Yeah. But with the way things were going…. I’ll bet the prison warden was played by Edward J. Olmos… :D
Re: Condensed?
I think you’re right. Also there’s been a lot of press on the show lately, that I think points to creative differences between the showrunners (one of whom left). I think they really need to get her in "mission" mode soon.
BTW: Does anyone have any idea if he boyfriend lived or died? They never really cleared that up – as far as I can see.
Re: Condensed?
The lives … they are taking him to the hospital as Jamie walks up to the head of the agency in the last scene. you can see that they aren’t in a huge hurry, suggesting it’s not that serious of an injury … probably went clean through.
although i think there is a gaff in there … i think they describe it was a GSW to the left sholder, but i’m pretty sure you see him get hit in the right shoulder.
Re: Condensed?
There were some significant differences, but ironically the "skipping ahead" wasn’t one of them … that stuff with the "villians" that is very confusing and shadowy and leaves a lot unexplained was actually very faithful to the original. you never find out how the first bionic woman lived or who the guy who ordered her to kill the doc is or who the guy in prison was and why they broke him out.
On the whole i think the original pilot was *MUCH* better, below is an email i sent a friend regarding the differences. apparently one of the reasons they changed the character of the sister was because deaf advocacy groups complained about a deaf character being played by an actress who can hear fine — but frankly the solution to that is to recast the actress, not completely change the character so that you lose huge aspects of the "body image" and "physically superior/disabled" themes.
Anyway here’s the full details…
Re: Condensed?
That’s kinda sad. I thought the pilot was alright, at least enough for me to give it a few weeks chance. Now I’m much less optimistic. The original sounds like it was far superior, and I won’t be so surprised now if it turns out the series is crap.
I was just waiting for
Previously an Bionic Galactica…
Or would it by Battlestar Woman?!?
Re: I was just waiting for
I figure with the short seasons a lot of these shows do these days, it gives them a chance to alternate between series. I’m looking forward to seeing Mark Sheppard as a regular!
In any case, put me in the "I rather liked it" camp…
Katee
I think Katee Sackoff is going to be really good when they make a TV show out of The Matrix.