The Six Million Dollar Man

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Factual error: There is no physical way that Steve Austin could perform most of his superhuman feats of strength in the ABC television series, due to the fact that they simply replaced his arm and legs, but didn't rebuild or reinforce the rest of his skeleton and muscles to handle the physical loads. Interestingly, author Martin Caidin (creator of Steve Austin in his novel, "Cyborg") actually did describe an incredibly complex whole-body rebuild that included vertebral reinforcement and ribcage and pelvis replacement, which was far more scientifically-accurate than the subsequent ABC television interpretation. ABC only accepted the series on the condition that it was less technical for their audience.

Charles Miller

Show generally

Factual error: There is no physical way that Steve Austin could perform most of his superhuman feats of strength in the ABC television series, due to the fact that they simply replaced his arm and legs, but didn't rebuild or reinforce the rest of his skeleton and muscles to handle the physical loads. Interestingly, author Martin Caidin (creator of Steve Austin in his novel, "Cyborg") actually did describe an incredibly complex whole-body rebuild that included vertebral reinforcement and ribcage and pelvis replacement, which was far more scientifically-accurate than the subsequent ABC television interpretation. ABC only accepted the series on the condition that it was less technical for their audience.

Charles Miller

More mistakes in The Six Million Dollar Man

Trivia: Only mentioned in one episode early in the series, Steve Austin's least-referenced superhuman power was his ability to hold his breath for extraordinary lengths of time. Steve's phenomenal breath-holding ability was due to the fact that, even though he had two normal lungs, he had a much smaller circulatory system than a normal human being. Also, the Steve Austin in Martin Caidin's original book, "Cyborg," had an entire array of weapons, flares, communications gear, retractable swim fins, and scuba tanks built into his bionic body.

Charles Miller

More trivia for The Six Million Dollar Man

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