In turning former professional tennis player Jaime Sommers, 28, into 'The Bionic Woman', Kenneth Johnson told 'Starlog' in 1976, "I decided to treat her with cryogenic therapy and neurosurgery. A few weeks later, quite coincidentally I met a NASA scientist and a neurosurgeon. I posed my hypothetical problem to them, asking what procedures they would have followed had this been an actual circumstance. They both agreed with my handling of the case!
"I am dealing in science fact, rather than science fiction. The difference? What is really here. I take it only a half-step beyond so people will say, 'Oh yes, I've heard of cryogenics.' I want it to be believable. We do not deal in a 'time-warps.' We keep it credible. There is a $2300-arm on a man which can pick up a cup of coffee and hold a newspaper. As yet, he has no feeling in the arm, the scientists who supplied us wth this information have assured us that next year he will have feeling.
"Wright Patterson Field in Ohio is replacing parts of people right now (in 1976). Will there ever be a totally bionic person? No. You wouldn't have a person then: you'd have a robot. We get letters from scientists. Recently one enclosed silicone chips, explaining that they were instrumentation to be used inside people. One of the episodes of 'Bionic Woman' was used as a teaching tool at Harvard University as an example of male and female models in the proper use of power. Yes, I'm very proud of this.
"Gene Roddenberry once told me that 'Star Trek' gave him a chance to philosophize. If I can make our shows convey a message like a morality play, I'll be very content." It was reported Jaime Sommers was named after a water skier who worked with killer whales at Sea World. Lindsay Wagner insisted, "I don't want the character to turn into a 'Wonder Woman' type. I want to keep her as 'real' as possible. After all, the only bionic parts about her are the legs, arm and the ear."
Isobel Silden reported in August 1976, "Scientist Mike Homigman, of Human Ecology and Follicle Bionics Inc., has been working in the field of bionic devices to replace human organs in appearance and/or function for years. His is the result of heavy aerospace technological research, dealing with phantom nerve endings felt by amputees. The research now has diversified into bionic hair for balding men, thus proving that what man can envision can indeed come to fruition."
Born to a wealthy family who lost their money during the 1929 stock market crash, Richard Anderson did his part to help save the world for democracy in World War II. On 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'The Bionic Woman', Richard played Oscar Goldman, who was the head of the government agency, the Office of Scientific Intelligence (also known as OSI). Richard told Isobel Silden, "Movies can sometimes be an art but they are always a business.
"An actor has to act, has to work. I don't have a crystal ball, but I feel both shows are turning into institutions. I am for the institution of marriage. I've been broke: listen, I came back here (Hollywood) from New York in the winter of 1959 with my car and 46 cents in my pocket. I spent the money on some shrimp and regarded the situation as a challenge. Being broke isn't so horrible. You can always make money.
"Success is great. Success is easy to handle, believe me. Recognition is great. I can't go to the grocery store as easily as before (the Oscar Goldman role), but I can still move around, because I’m really very low key. There's no such thing as over-exposure. I had always said I wanted to do every TV episode I could. They don’t see all of you of every show – the audience, that is. They only peek at you. At the same time, the producers and network executives, who are also peeking, figure: 'He's working, he must be good. Let's get him for our show."
In an interview with Kerry O’Quinn in November 1985, Gene Roddenberry remarked, "As the human race moves into adolescence and adulthood, it can no longer afford to guide its affairs via those simple myths. Almost none of us has any rational understanding of what we are – where we come from – where we are going – what our purpose is. How can I take seriously a God-image that requires that I prostrate myself every 7 days and praise it?
"We have an abundance of theories about the Big Bang and black holes and all that, but almost no scientific thought considering the purposes of the universe. Our human ancestors thought long and hard on who and what they were and came up with the best explanations they could make. The frightening thing is that we – almost at the end of the 20th century (in 1985), entering the space age, becoming a society based on knowledge – are still hanging onto those explanations, which date back to our Stone Age.
"I think we need a more fruitful way to analyze these questions. We need exciting philosophical thought. I don't dislike religion, but I am in considerable fear of what today's (in 1985) brand of it can lead to? Religion, even child-race religion is a super-powerful force because it's rooted in our most basic instincts. Hasn't anyone noticed that religious nonsense all over the world is responsible for oceans of pain and suffering and hatefulness and jealousy and fear and violence.
"I don't look down on people who need to believe that brand of 'magic' – any more than I would scorn a child's need for Santa Claus. We sense that we're part of something incredible, but we have enormous difficulty naming and understanding it. The spiritual quality that you see in my writings comes out of my conviction that we humans are a piece of whatever 'God' is.
"We're still a very young form, and it seems to us that we make terrible mistakes and do so much wrong, but really, we’re just growing out of childhood. What I've discovered is that the practice seeing the world through an invented alien's eyes, totally unconnected with Earth, it has changed the way I view us – the human animal. All of us carry a considerable amount of prejudice about ourselves around with us. The secret is identifying with the alien so completely that prejudice about myself and Earth begins melting away – and somehow shedding of personal prejudice seems to open up a person's mental processes. You think in new dimensions and at new speeds."
In conclusion, "What we face is the excitement of evolving as a life form. We're not ugly or bad or wrong, we're just growing. I'm glad they chose a show ('Star Trek') that believed in the sanctity of life. But it can be painful to see the old TV episodes because I realize – oh, if we had just $2000 more or an extra day – the things we might have done. It's in the nature of an artist to always wish he could have done better. "
In conclusion, "What we face is the excitement of evolving as a life form. We're not ugly or bad or wrong, we're just growing. I'm glad they chose a show ('Star Trek') that believed in the sanctity of life. But it can be painful to see the old TV episodes because I realize – oh, if we had just $2000 more or an extra day – the things we might have done. It's in the nature of an artist to always wish he could have done better. "
