Bionic Woman

The first season of Bionic Woman is available on DVD today in the United States, just as the show is revving up in Michelle Ryan’s home market of the United Kingdom.

The DVD set includes all of the show’s episodes as well as a limited number of special features, including commentary from executive producer David Eick and a feature on real life bionics. There is also a stunt feature, which devoted fans have probably already seen on various promotional shows last fall, and some profiles of the actors.

The feature that everyone really wants seems to be absent. Imagine if this DVD set included the unaired second episode “Birds” and some information about why the original plots (and characters) were abandoned after the show’s premiere.

A television DVD set that dared to admit that “mistakes were made” and discuss them honestly is a rare sight on the modern media landscape, and even people who never watched the show are curious about what happened to Bionic Woman. What happened to Sarah Corvus, and her plea to Jaime to save her life? What happened to the plans of Jaime were stolen while she was in South America? Where did Anthony Anthros go? A DVD set that talked honestly about these Bionic mysteries would be a must-buy.

The list price for the DVD package is $29.99, but Amazon and other retail outlets have it on sale for $19.99 during the early days of the release. Katee Sackhoff fans can purchase season one of Bionic Woman and season three of Battlestar Galactica for a combined price of $58.98, a deal that includes free shipping.

In another good sign about NBC’s intentions for Bionic Woman, NBC has added two Bionic Woman tees to its merchandise offerings on NBC.com. This addition of the shirts gives a positive clue to how the network is feeling about the show, and the possibilities of allowing the five remaining episodes to be filmed after the end of the writers strike.

The addition of the shirts is good news, and let’s not forget about the main NBC.com banner, which went up in December and is designed to promote the network’s hottest shows. Bionic Woman Michelle Ryan’s gorgeous head is the first in the lineup, which also features Heroes‘ Hayden Panettiere and Zachary Levi from Chuck.

Both of the Bionic Woman tees are hunter green and feature dark writing. The first one, shown above, references the Berkut Group. Berkut is the shadowy government agency Jaime works for on the show, who funded her bionic implants and may or may not be the “good guys.” The second one says “Science Fiction Isn’t Fiction Anymore” with the Bionic Woman logo.

Both shirts are one hundred percent cotton and retail for $24.00 USD, plus tax and shipping.

Want to jump like Jaime Sommers?  Leap over cars, fences, and small structures in a single bound?  Well according to this You Tube video, a new form of athletic equipment can help you have the leaping abilities of Jaime’s bionic legs.

These contraptions have numerous names, but are most commonly known as jumping stilts or velocity stilts.  Basically they are stilts in the sense that they make you taller, but the main feature is the giant spring that makes it possible to leap high in the air.  They have taken YouTube by storm, so if you like this clip there are plenty more where that came from (there are almost as many stilt clips out there right now as there are clips of cool a capella choirs).

If you are thinking about buying a pair for yourself, they look like a great way to burn calories, amaze your friends, and have fun.  The stilts will run approximately $300 to $500, give or take, and that does not include safety equipment and accessories which are highly recommended … especially since the anthracites that help Jaime heal so quickly are not included.  Walking on them takes practice, so don’t think you will be leaping like Jaime on the first day, but like any new hobby practice makes perfect and the payoff potential is definitely there.

More information about various models, including pricing and safety tips, can be found at web sites like GetJumpingStilts.com.  Be sure to watch the clips of the folks who are just starting out on the stilts so you can have a realistic idea of what you are getting into … and most importantly, if you try a pair, post below and let us know what you think!

Over 4,200 Bionic Woman items have been sold on E-bay so far this year, according to E-bay expert Jenny How.  That’s a lot of bionic parts, many times more than the show’s Wednesday night rival Pushing Daisies and almost as many items as those sold related to NBC’s Heroes.

While most of these sales relate to the classic Bionic Woman series, there are a few modern Bionic Woman items for sale in the Internet marketplace.  One is the t-shirt inspired by Sarah Corvus’ classic "Ta Da!" line from the series premiere, which Ryan created a few months ago and may still be for sale out there.  Other modern Bionic Woman items on E-Bay right now include autographed pictures of the show’s stars, including pictures of Michelle Ryan, Katee Sackhoff, Miguel Ferrar, and Chris Bowers.  There is even a line of golf gloves and athletic equipment inspired by the series, but it does not look like they have official rights to do merchandising tie ins and no Bionic Woman stars appear on the packaging.

The classic Bionic Woman items range from board games to action figures and everything in between.  Lindsay Wagner and her cast mates rose to fame in the 1970s when merchandising was in its prime, and if you are nostalgic for those days then E-bay retailers are happy to sell you a lunch box just like the one Ryan has at his house, plus jigsaw puzzles, purses, comic books, and scripts from the original episodes.  You can even buy 20 year old packets of Bionic Woman bubblegum.

Apparently one of the hottest toys this holiday season is the Eyeclops, a toy that resembles a microscope in function but has a design that makes people compare it to Jaime Sommers’ famous bionic eye.

According to the Eyeclops web site, the Eyeclops can magnify anything up to 200 times making it possible for kids to explore their world on a microscopic level.  While we have not seen Jaime use her eye to search for something impossibly tiny yet, it seems only logical that if she can spot a sniper rifle several blocks away she too can find a needle in someone’s carpet.

If you are interested in purchasing an Eyeclops for your kid, or your own toy collection, you can find them at most major retailers or on Amazon.com.  If you buy it on Amazon.com be sure to click through using a site like Ittybiz, where Naomi is donating all of the profits from her Amazon affiliate program to charity from November 15 through the end of the year.  The Eyeclops sells for approximately $39.99 USD.

Katee Sackhoff as the evil Sarah Corvus delivers one of the best lines in the new Bionic Woman during the pilot, “Second Chances,” announcing to Michelle Ryan as Jaime Sommers that she is indeed the “first bionic woman.”

After making this shocking pronouncement, Corvus playfully concludes, “Ta Da”. 

Fan gear pops up around every show and Bionic Woman is no exception.  Inspired by this classic Sarah Corvus dialogue, t-shirts in different styles and colors bearing this iconic phrase are now available. 

Fun stuff.

More t-shirts, gear and the YouTube clip after the jump.

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Mark Sheppard of Bionic Woman and Battlestar Galactica has autographed an Avon Breast Cancer Awareness teddy bear that is currently up for auction on E-bay. Any bids you place on Mark’s bear will help support breast cancer research and the “Save the Boobs!” campaign.

The bear sale is coordinated by Lisa Spodak of LisaWalks.com, who has over fifty autographed items up for auction on Ebay right now. When I checked this morning the bear signed by Joe Flanigan from Stargate: Atlantis was (by far) the most popular, inspiring over thirty bids and going for more than $200.

The bear from T.R. Knight, who plays George on Grey’s Anatomy, was in second place in terms of asking price, followed closely by bears signed by Oliver Phelps, who plays one of the Weasley Twins in the Harry Potter movies, knighted actor Sir Ian McKellen, Heroes‘ hottie cheerleader Hayden Panttierre, and Anthony Stewart Head who played Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Other items for sale are autographed by Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk from Firefly and Serenity, Michael C. Hall from Dexter and Six Feet Under, and Sean Astin from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There are also bears signed by America Ferrera of Ugly Betty and a set of pink Everlast boxing gloves signed by cast members of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so for more information about efforts to help combat breast cancer check out DiscussingBreastCancer.com or there will be plenty of posts about pink-themed products all month at LimitedEditionFoods.com.

Battlestar Galactica, breast cancer, Nicki Clyne, T.R. Knight, Grey’s Anatomy, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Firefly, Serenity, Stargate, Atlantis, Joe Flanigan, Oliver Phelps, Harry Potter, Ian McKellen, Hayden Panttierre, Heroes, Anthony Stewart Head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mark Sheppard, Bionic Woman, Michael C. Hall, Dexter, Six Feet Under, Sean Astin, Lord of the Rings, America Ferrera, Ugly Betty, Angel

Sarah Corvus explains that anthracites filter out impurities in her blood and heal bionic women faster.

WARNING: MILD SPOILERS BELOW.

The pre-air pilot of Bionic Woman contained a lot of action, and the finale was a massive, rain-soaked slug fest between Michelle Ryan’s Jaime Sommers and Katee Sackhoff’s Sarah Corvus. During the battle, via Sackhoff’s Corvus, we learn that the 2007 Bionic Women have “anthracites” coursing through their veins.

NBC has released an iconic shot of Sackhoff smoking during the rainstorm battle (which is a topic for a future post) and Corvus explains to the newly activated Sommers (and the audience) how the “anthracites” filter out the impurities in their blood and heal them quickly.

The word “anthracite” refers to a variety of coal, and its use on Bionic Woman seems to have been inspired by the word “nanite,” which refers to tiny robotic components familiar to science fiction fans. Another option for inspiration could be the word whatis.com, we learn that a "nanoite":

is a mechanical or electromechanical device whose dimensions are measured in nanometers (millionths of a millimeter, or units of 10^-9 meter).

The word nanocite generally pops up in articles focusing on real life bionics and medicine. I don’t recall the original Jaime Sommers having anthracites but I like the new concept. It will be a reasonable way to explain how Sommers can kick butt in numerous battle sequences and in just a short time later get up and do it all again, effortlessly. The concept is also ripe for many side themes and allegories.

Primitiveskin at bionicwomancentral.com offers her take on anthracites.

Bionic Woman, Michelle Ryan, Katee Sackhoff, Jaime Sommers, Sarah Corvus, anthracites, anthrocytes, NBC, science fiction, nanite