episode #66 - The Thunderbird Connection

episode #9 of 4th season / Air Date: 11/28/76    written by Jim Carlson,Terrence McDonnell   directed by Christian Nyby II

This was a double-length episode, like the previous The Bionic Boy, and was presented as a TV Movie (recalling the first 3 6MDM telefilms in 1973). This episode utilized the real-life Thunderbirds demonstration squadron of the U.S Air Force, so there's lots of footage of the jets swooping through the air - a treat for fans of such. The leader of the team is played by an actor, Jim McMullan, but the others were, I believe, real pilots. Their misson will take them to another of those small fictional mideast countries, where they are to ostensibly perform their usual tricks in the air. The real mission is to rescue a young prince; the prince's father had recently been killed by the corrupt air marshall (Robert Loggia) over there, so the prince is naturally next on the death list, even though the prince himself doesn't realize this.  Austin is to train with the Thunderbirds for a short time (hey, it's Steve Austin - he'll do OK) and go over there as a member of the 5-man team.

This episode included more malfunctioning bionics for Austin, recalling how his bionics acted up when he went into orbit (The Rescue of Athena One).  In this case, performing in negative G's has a similar detrimental effect, with his vision getting blurry and perhaps even causing him to damage interior controls. Besides this, it's a standard mission in a foreign country, with show ups by Ned Romero and Martine Beswick as helpful locals. The story suggests that Loggia's character is all that stands between poverty and a good life in this desert country - but he's not disposed of by the end so it's a rather downbeat episode even if the prince gets through alive. Austin also romances a hotshot female pilot back home and dialog refers to Farrah-Fawcett's pilot/astronaut character from, again, The Rescue of Athena One.  BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10
Star Trek TOS actor alert:
Ned Romero appeared as a Klingon in A Private Little War; he was also in a previous 6MDM episode, Divided Loyalty, as a Soviet.