Turning a camp, day-glow sci-fi romp into a gritty, shaky-camera-laden Iraq war polemic did the trick for Battlestar Galactica, but can producer David Eick pull off the same stunt with Bionic Woman?
Viewing figures in the US suggest not - but there's no reason why we can't enjoy it. ITV2 screened the pilot this week and British viewers flocked to see how little Zoe Slater would fare as technologically enhanced Jaime Sommers. And she fares very well indeed – Michelle Ryan looks the part, has mastered the American accent and plays the role exactly as required for this re-imagining.
Only problem is, the re-imagining isn’t really what we were expecting. We were hoping for a Bionic Buffy or a super-powered Alias – splicing action, melodrama and humour into a neat little 42 minute package. Bionic Woman is relentlessly grim. Drained of colour, peppered with hints of grim cover-ups and starring a refreshingly un-Hollywood-looking cast, the new series isn’t going to win any beauty contests. So much happens in the pilot, we don’t know which plot points are going to prove pivotal and which are just throw-away. Who’s the dude in the underground prison, what’s with original bionic Sarah Corvus, what's in Jaime's sealed court record, where’s her diabolical dad, who's a good guy and who's really evil? We just don't know.
Obviously, being smashed to smitherines by the excellent Katee Sackhoff and rebuilt by your mad scientist boyfriend is going to be a tad traumatic, so hopefully Jaime will brighten up as the series as progresses. Bionic Woman 2007 has the potential to be an engrossing, action-packed romp – and having a political subtext really shouldn’t be an obstacle to that. Let’s just hope the big suits in the States reckon there is life in the show. With a few nips and tucks, it could be amazing.
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