We all love a sci-fi series that takes an ordinary guy and puts him into the most outlandish situation. We love them, because we love a “what if?” and we watch them because we want to see what they can do. And when you get something deep in the realms of science fiction as far back as 1973, you know that’s going to get eyes on your show. That’s exactly what happened 5 decades ago, and it’s happening again now on streaming and digital.
The Six Million Dollar Man has become a surprise PVOD hit on the Apple TV Store, climbing to No. 3 among the most-downloaded television series in the United States, according to FlixPatrol. That puts the 1970s sci-fi action series ahead of several much newer shows, including Landman and George & Mandy’s First Marriage. The series has also been performing well in Canada, where it has reportedly remained in the Top 10 since May 6. Not bad for a show that ended before half of today’s streaming executives were born.
The ABC series follows Colonel Steve Austin, a test pilot whose life is changed after a catastrophic accident leaves him badly injured. However, they can rebuild him, because they have the technology. Or so they say. A secretive government program rebuildings him with bionic implants and turns him into a $6 million super soldier, essentially. But obviously, sci-fi governments have zero chill so they send him all over the place as a secret agent.
The cast includes Lee Majors (The Fall Guy, Big Valley) as Colonel Steve Austin, Richard Anderson (Paths of Glory, Forbidden Planet) as Oscar Goldman, Martin E. Brooks (Dallas, The Bionic Woman) as Dr. Rudy Wells, and Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman, Nighthawks) as Jaime Sommers. Wagner’s character became so popular that she spun off into The Bionic Woman, turning the franchise into one of the most recognizable sci-fi TV worlds of its era.
The series first ran between 1974 and 1978, which followed a trio of TV movies that first began in 1973, and then as TV was wont to do, had a ton of reunion movies in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The series also holds an 80% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s highly regarded as well.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Will We Get a ‘The Six Billion Dollar Man’?
Hollywood has certainly tried. A modern reboot has been in some form of development for years, with Mark Wahlbergonce attached to star in a film version titled The Six Billion Dollar Man, because inflation comes for us all. Six million won’t get you much at Whole Foods these days, never mind rebuilding you. Warner Bros. has held the rights to the project, though there has not been a major recent update on the film. At this point, the reboot is basically bionic vaporware, but stranger things have happened. Plus, it makes a lot of sense because we have AI, surveillance states, paranoia, private defense contractors, you name it. It might be too on the nose, in fact.
The Six Million Dollar Man is available to buy or rent on the Apple TV Store.
