On November 30, 2018 German media company TURBINE released The Six Million Dollar Man on Blu-ray with English audio track. Descriptions below. ORDER HERE at Amazon.de — they ship to USA!
ORIGINAL GERMAN DESCRIPTION:
DER SECHS MILLIONEN DOLLAR MANN
Die komplette Serie - ab 30.11. auf Blu-ray Disc!
Astronaut Steve Austin wird bei einem Absturz lebensgefährlich verletzt. In einer sechs Millionen Dollar teuren Operation wird er mit bionischen Körperteilen ausgestattet. Fortan kämpft er mit dem Verstand eines Menschen und der Unverwüstlichkeit eines Cyborgs für den Geheimdient OSI...
Lee Majors wurde mit der Kultserie zu einem der größten Action-Helden des amerikanischen Fernsehens der 1970er-Jahre. Hierzulande lief die SciFi-Actionserie ab 1988 auf RTLplus. Bislang gab es in Deutschland nur Staffel 1-3 auf DVD, jetzt erscheint erstmals die komplette Serie auf 12 Blu-ray Discs - ein Muss für jeden Serien-Fan.
Ausstattung:
-Die komplette Serie in echtem HD – alle fünf Staffeln (106 Folgen) der deutschen TV-Ausstrahlung
-Pilot als Filmfassung* + längere Doppelfolge mit optionalen deutschen Untertiteln
-Pilotfilmfassungen der Doppelfolgen „Der Waffenschieber“ und „Das Verbrechersyndikat“
-Filmfassung der Doppelfolge „Das Sechs Millionen Dollar Girl“*
-TV-Filme „Rückkehr der Roboter“ (1987)*, „Bionic Showdown“ (1989)** und „Bionic Ever After?“ (1984)**
-Bonus-Featurettes**: Echte Bionik, Eine legendäre Titelsequenz, Die Gaststars aus Staffel 1 und 2, Interview mit Produzent Harve Bennett, Bionische Soundeffekte
-Booklet mit Episodenführer
-Exklusives Artwork von Adrian Keindorf
* SD, mit deutscher Videosynchronisation
** SD, englischsprachig mit optionalen deutschen Untertiteln
Wir haben diverse Testencodes geprüft, um uns von der Bildkompression zu überzeugen. Die Serie wurde in 4:3 gedreht und durch die schwarzen Balken lässt sich ordentlich Bitrate einsparen. Außerdem ist sie aus den 70ern, also keine Wackelkamera, keine hektischen Schnitte, die die Blu-ray-Technik aus der Reserve locken würden. Und die Actionszenen laufen in Zeitlupe - um den bionischen Effekt zu unterstreichen ;-)
GOOGLE ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN The complete series - from 30.11. on Blu-ray Disc!
Astronaut Steve Austin is critically injured in a crash. In a six-million-dollar operation, he is equipped with bionic body parts. From then on he fights with the human mind and the resilience of a cyborg for the secret servant OSI ...
Lee Majors became one of the greatest action heroes of American television in the 1970s with the cult series. In this country, the sci-fi action series ran from 1988 on RTLplus. So far, there was only season 1-3 in Germany on DVD, now appears for the first time the complete series on 12 Blu-ray Discs - a must for every series fan.
Domestic equipments:
-The full series in real HD
- every five seasons (106 episodes) of the German TV broadcast
-Pilot as a movie version * + longer double sequence with optional German subtitles Pilot episodes of the episodes "The Gunner" and "The Crime Syndicate" Movie Version of the Double Sequel "The Six Million Dollar Girl" *
-TV Films "Return of the Robots" (1987) *, "Bionic Showdown" (1989) ** and "Bionic Ever After?" (1984) **
-Bonus-Featurettes **: Real Bionics, A Legendary Title Sequence, Season 1 and 2 Guest Stars, Interview with Producer Harve Bennett, Bionic Sound Effects Booklet with episode guide
-Exclusive artwork by Adrian Keindorf
* SD, with German video synchronization
** SD, English with optional German subtitles
We have tested various test codes to convince ourselves of image compression. The series was shot in 4: 3 and the black bars can save neat bit rate. It is also from the 70s, so no shaky camera, no hectic cuts that would lure the Blu-ray technology from the reserve. And the action scenes run in slow motion - to underline the bionic effect ;-)
Review by Joseph Burns 12-11-18
It’s a revealation! It’s a disaster. It’s fantastic! It’s deeply flawed. It’s a Bionic Home Video release, so what else is new?
Much, as it turns out.
The first release of a Bionic Show on 1080p Blu-Ray* is a thing to rejoice. Here’s some details:
The version of the 3 1973 TV movies The Six Million Dollar Man, Wine Women and War and The Solid Gold Kidnapping are the originals, and they've never looked better. The two-part versions are also available on the same disc. Interestingly, the first film is counted as the Pilot Film, while the other two are given the 1-4 Season numbers, despite film versions being available.
The transfer is a fantastic modern scan, of a very early generation print or the original negative. New titles appear to have been struck from a textless element. Color is just great, blacks and whites are clean, flesh tones are correct and natural, this aspect mostly a home run. Occasionally oversaturated, some small amount of crush and minimal clipping, some installments fare better than others. Fine detail abounds; noise, dirt and grain are minimal; this is a great transfer from mostly great elements. A vast improvement over the 2010 DVD releases. Mostly.
The sound provides some great detail and often seems to come from better elements.
Logos at the beginning are skippable, a nice touch. Menus all in German, of course.
Bonus Features:
Disc 3 has the bonus featurettes:
"Real Bionics," "An Iconic Opening," "Season 1 VIPs," and the Harve Bennett interview.
Disc 5 includes:
The "Movie" version of "The Bionic Woman." A strange choice, given the presence of the episodic version on the same disc, but does include some shots otherwise missing from the 2-part cut from this release.
Bionic Sounds (featuring yours truly, yay!)
Season 2 Guest Stars
Disc 8 should have Season 3 bonus, but does not.
Disc 10 should have Season 4 bonus, but does not.
Disc 12 contains the 3 reunion TV Movies. All featurettes and reunion movies are standard definition.
Package:
The outer packaging is a very sturdy cardboard box, which holds two plastic disc cases and a very nice booklet, which mein Deutsch is not proficient enough for me to properly evaluate, but clearly got a lot of attention, and nicely exploits the new ability to get HD pix from the whole show. They created a nifty, if overly Germanic seal for the OSI which adorns the art.
The plastic cases have 4 spindles per 6 discs, so 2 out of 3 discs are pressing against another disc. One of mine came with some loosies, luckily undamaged.
The flip side:
This is the German version of the show. English is available for 90% of the material here, but the show intro for Seasons 1-3 is a uniquely German version of the Season 2 credits, and of the Season 4 intro for 4 + 5. Interesting exception is the 2-part versions of the 1973 TV Movies: the original Season 4 intro is seen here.
No Season 1 version, IOW. All cold opens now show after the aforementioned intro, disrupting both intent and fans’ memories. Certain elements are cut as they were in Germany since the beginning; this is not uncut. Most are small cuts familiar to Americans from our own cutdowns, as can be seen on the early UK releases from Playback. Some are more significant; I can’t stand losing Barney saying “It’s wild Steve, it’s wild!” in “The Seven Million Dollar Man,” which is too bad, since otherwise is the first time this episode has actually looked good on any release. “The Bionic Woman” removes some great moments like the run after Steve proposes.
The very sharp and mostly noise-free. high-contrast image is very modern, and digital-looking. This might be a negative for some folks who want an image that looks like its era. Further, the whites occasionally look like a parade job. That is, white was equalized between all color channels (using the parade waveform monitor or equivalent), stripping any natural cast from the light out along with the casts you legitimately want to get rid of. This leaves a stripped, stark look that works in some scenes, but not in others. That said, it’s still very nice-looking and far superior to anything seen to date.
*The Reunion Movies are still in SD, MPEG-2. There is no English track for these, so hang onto your english DVDs.
The average is nine episodes per disc. A firm but not overdone DNR pass was doubtless necessary given the stingy bit-budget here, which removed most grain and some fine detail. DNR and compression have come along way, but those with big screens/ refined sensibilities will see the hit. It’s not a film look, mostly, and some will be disappointed here, but grain is a major casualty of the DNR and compression.
OBP
Those who have heard from me in the past on this know that I’m a stickler for the Original Broadcast Package. How’d they do?
Mixed. The 1973 TV movies are the only OBP element changed for syndication that are here. No “Kill Oscar, Part II,” and the version of “The Return of Bigfoot, Part II,” is the Sixified version with Eurostile supers, but nonetheless is plagued by the muffled sound of the 2010 release! The three movie events from Season 4 and 5, “The Bionic Boy,” “The Thunderbird Connection,” and “The Lost Island,” are in their two-part form.
Time-Life Home Video, which produced the 2010 DVD release, worked with fans and found OBP elements for “Kill Oscar, Part II,” “The Return of Bigfoot, Part II” (and included all episodes of both epics, while “Kill Oscar” is not present in any of it’s parts here, in keeping with the syndication package), as well as the 3 movie events from Seasons 4 and 5. They also released the original, two part version of “The Bionic Woman,” previously only available as the “movie version” edit.
I glad to report that this is the case here, as well, and one better: the opening scene where Steve steals the plates from Wrona, is properly day-for-night! Strangely the effect was removed in 2010 as well as earlier releases, excepting the 1979 laserdisc. Looks real good.