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Meeting the Bionic Woman
Ok, so I'm a little too young (fortunately) to remember the original "The Bionic Woman" series. I'm sure I was probably more interested in "Sesame Street" at the time. Just the fact that hearing the name "Bionic Woman" brings up an emotion to me shows the impact it had on pop culture. Don't believe me? There is actually a convention celebrating all things bionic called, I kid you not "Bionicon." Their second annual convention is right here in beautiful Burbank, June 29th through July 1st. Last year they had the original and iconic Bionic Woman herself, Lindsay Wagner, as a special guest. This year they have lined up the "Six Million Dollar Man", Lee Majors aka Col. Steve Austin. There is even a Bionicruise scheduled for next year!
Will a crowd so enthralled with a TV show they would throw a convention embrace a brand new Bionic Woman? This remains to be seen as NBC's updated version won't premiere until the fall. If the internet buzz is any indication then NBC could find themselves with a "Heroes" size hit on their hands. The woman picked to fill Lindsay's shoes and step in as Jamie Sommers is British import, Michelle Ryan. A complete unknown in this country, Ryan does have a nice following over in England thanks to five years on the widely popular UK soap "EastEnders."
When I met up with her on the set of an NBC promo shoot even she was shocked at the early buzz, "It's scary I know. I keep getting friends emailing me saying there is so much, they have set up websites about you already. It's amazing. It's brilliant."
Ryan was picked over hundreds of girls who tried out for the role. After putting herself on tape for NBC she then went in for a screen test and landed the job. Her piercing blue eyes may have something to do with that.
Watching the pilot I was waiting for the famous sound effects that accompanied Jamie whenever she would run on her bionic legs or throw something with her bionic arm. You know that duhduhduhduhduhdud sound. It's not there. The more I thought about the more I realized that's really what makes the original so campy nowadays. The 2007 version is far from campy. So, it makes sense that the producers would choose to lose the sound effects.
It's much darker, edgier and of course technology has come a long way since the 1970s. According to Ryan, "It's completely different to the original. I think the title is the same and the name is the same and that's it."
What I think Sci-fi fans will like about Ryan is that while she is a pretty girl, she is completely relatable. On screen and in person she comes across as a regular, relatable girl much like Jennifer Garner did in "Alias." It's a comparison Ryan doesn't mind, "That's a huge compliment. I think it's great and I loved 'Alias' and if that's the buzz and that's what people are saying then that's lovely."
Filming begins next month in Vancouver and Access Hollywood will be all over it!
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