Bionic Six: Part 1 - Can We Get Some Logic? Classic Cartoon Review 1987 

Bionic 6: You don’t need logic when you have FAMILY.

I'm a total nerd and not afraid to admit it, the theme song still gives me chills.

The actor who voices Madame O is called Jennifer Darling...that has to be an inside joke

I busted a gut laughing at: “Gentrification-new from Milton Bradley!” Good work, Michael. Loved this!

I actually chuckled at JD’s disappointment when he got turned down. I imagine his lines were delivered with the subtext of him mourning just how dense the girl he was pining for really was. He was more bummed that she somehow thought JD and IQ were two different people than he was that she didn’t want to go out with him. For a smart guy like him, dating someone with the observational intelligence of a box of rocks would be torture.

Loved the show has a kid, and nearly 30 years later, every now and then the chorus from the theme song will randomly pop into my head. Bionic Bionic six oooooouuuuu ooouuuuuu. We fight together. We fight for right. Bionic bionic six oooouuuu oooouuuu We are so proud to be A super future family.

Until this the only thing I remembered about the bionic 6 was that the toys were diecast metal and you got in a lot of trouble when you hit your brother with them.

In elementary school, you don’t really follow or notice many plots or continuity issues, it’s all about the action and toys. I used to pretend I had bionics and could turn them on at will…that was just a kid using fantasy to enrich the world that he/she is in. Although I can see the flaws now, this cartoon will still always have a special place in my heart.

My lord michael took so many notes he wore out the black pen and had to get a blue one.. that's dedication..

"what makes a person stupid is when they deny the stupidity they like..." Kinda how I got aware of RetroBlasting. His TF video caused a big rant on one of the FB groups I was a part of. Watched it, loved it! Been an adict ever since

This episode was brought to you through miracle of modern science:)

" is everybody in this universe terminally stupid" that's going to become a new meme. Thats my new favorite phrase.

This show was one of if not THE best animated shows of the 80’s. Mighty Orbots is also up There but that was only 13 episode. Bionic Six is beautifully animated for all 65 episodes. I loved this show as a kid. I never even realized how much better of a name “Smart-1” is over “I.Q.” But Michael did you ever think that the non-pattern superhero names were because they weren’t trying to hide their superhero identities - but their civilian ones! How many meals did Jack cook that no one ever got a chance to eat? They didn’t want to be Sharp’s muscle - They just wanted to be a family! I mean - they never even got to finish their ski trip from the pilot episode, darling!

I had bionic 1 (the dad), karate 1 and sport 1. Kinda cool the way the figures were part metal and that clear plastic to show their “bionics”.

Never had the toys, but I loved this cartoon as a kid. In Buffalo, it was on channel 29 every morning at 5:30 a.m., right after Spiral Zone, and I would get up that early to watch it because it was the best looking cartoon on TV. None of the criticisms detailed here bothered me at all.

*"This prison won't let me die"* Marvel's Darth Vader comic runs in a nutshell; I'm not complaining though

Holy cow the wait was worth the entertainment in this video. I laughed far too many times out loud

Mighty Orbots had some top tier animation too and the intro for that is great as well.

The X-Men were basically recruited to fight Xavier's best friend and his brother.

When I was eight and nine years old, I watched this cartoon at 6 AM every weekday from its debut in the fall of 1987 through the fall of 1988. I loved it. I had every figure except IQ, whom I could never find. Sadly, the figures rusted pretty quickly. I even had the elaborate playset, which, unlike most playsets of its era, required tools to assemble.

I was a freshman in high school when this was on the air. Watched it every morning before school. I was heavily into karate at the time, so Karate 1 sold me on it.

The 80's was the greatest time to live. The Bionic 6 is just a small sample 👌

I really liked the show growing up. Yes, like most 80s cartoons when you sit down and analyze it, it doesn't make sense, but to me that's part of the charm of these shows. There was one episode that stands out to me, Scarabs crew infiltrates a school for children with special needs. Glove bonds with one boy who is confined to a wheelchair and thinks he's worthless, even though he's very handy like Glove. In the end the Bionic 6 save the day but not before Glove makes a replica of his gauntlet for the young boy telling him he isn't worthless.

This was great-just hilarious. My brothers and I watched this show in reruns in the late 80s and early 90s and remembered it fondly. We loved the cheese theme song, too. I have not watched it in decades, holy cow was this video enlightening and funny. Stellar work, Michael. Long live Retro Blasting.

It's funny, I had the reverse experience... saw the show (when it premiered) before I became aware they even had toys (about 10 years later).

I am so sorry to have missed the premiere, thank you Michael for this long awaited feature! I also noticed that Bionic Six also uses a lot of the music and sound effects used by other shows like The Real Ghostbusters. I am still floored to this day by the detail of the animation. You can only got that level of quality nowadays from a top animation studio in Japan with a high budget. Love how expressive the Bennets are. Even the background one-off characters are better animated than the usual Saturday morning cartoon.

I use to watch the show often during its original run. I had the episode “Extra Innings” on tape and watched it often. I agree with a lot of the points made but did not noticed them at the time. Great review.

Great Police Squad ending Michael!😄

Memory unlocked. This and thundercats was just the best. What a time to be alive.

Bionic Six was one of my all time favorite cartoons growing up in the 80s. The animation was really well done and the storylines and characters were so cool. Definitely a product of the 80s but in the best possible way. I think it’s so awesome that RetroBlasting is finally doing a video on the Bionic Six! It’s been a long time coming!

Another great video by Retroblasting. I am a child of the 80s and saw this show growing up. The "secret" identities and naming convention was weird to us too but my friends and I didn't care because the show rarely came on, intro song was catchy, and the animation was superb.

Didn’t realize all these plot holes lol but as a kid this was my favorite show and still love it to this day! 🙌🏽

Another great installment of the juggernaut amongst OBJECTIVE 80ies Cartoon review channels. great job once again , Retroblasting !

> Chopper did an impression of a motorcycle engine. > Everyone was offended!

I appreciate your honesty and fully agree with you on folks remembering the intros better then the actual shows themselves.

I felt the bots master toon from the 90s drew a lot of inspiration from this show. Innovative animation, blue and yellow colors (with splashes of red), sports theme member(s), karate/ninja themed member, memorable theme song... well, maybe I was one of the few that saw the similarities.

Hahaha! That was fantastic, thanks Michael. One of the best things about your channel for me is your objective criticism of things that as adults should be obvious but you take it to the next level and analyze everything in the subject. I respect that even though I may not agree with everything, that’s what having an opinion is about. You were on point with this topic and I really enJoyed this video. Cheers!

They definitely need to put this out on Blu-ray Remastered, it was a gorgeous show and one of my favorites as a kid. The beautiful animation was done by TMS Entertainment who had done a number of American cartoons including Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters, Rainbow Brite, DuckTales, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, and Spider-Man: The Animated Series. As well as many Japanese anime such as Akira, Lupin 3, Detective Conan, Megalo Box and Dr. Stone.

I commend you Michael for not only sitting through all 65 episodes of a show which is stupid but even paying attention and taking notes on every single episode! That is real dedication. Thank you for doing so I don't have to sit through rewatching Bionic Six again. The cool intro is what I remember most and it's best to leave it at that. The toys were cool and heavy with die-cast metal parts. I had most of the Family along with the Van from an amazing toy lot on ebay which I received about 2 decades ago, but ultimately decided against keeping the Bionic Six and sold them to someone who would appreciate them more than I did.

Also… I kinda like the Masters of the Universe movie. It is stupid, I know, but I don’t care.

As a kid, I had such a crush on Rock-1. I was 13, don't judge!

Another great RetroBlasting video! Well done, good work! I enjoyed it very much, i always do because i know i will get something honest, well thought out and well made. Keep up the awesome work! Keep the love and passion alive! Many hugs!

Silverhawks is a cartoon/toyline I had no idea existed until about ten years ago. Somehow it completely went under my radar as a kid.

Most cartoons in the 80’s were terrible but at least we enjoyed them as kids,but the toys made it that much better. Great job guys well done.

Great video. I have fond memories of the cartoon, but then I only saw a few episodes. I caught it watching satellite feeds back when home dishes were huge and you had to wait for them to rotate to watch different stations. The animation was and is lively and gorgeous. I took it all at face value and loved every second of it. And the theme song still pops into my head. Seeing this, I'm glad I didn't know what channel it was on or when. I would have watched it all and be looking back on it in a completely different light.

I knew next to nothing about this show. I don't know if it was in a strange timeslot where I always missed it, but like Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Dino Riders, and a couple of other popular cartoons I did not watch these as a kid. I'm so glad I got to see this review of yours Michael, even still. Well worth the wait whatever the issues were lol.

I always thought Meg was modelled on '80s Meg Ryan. After your review, I am certain of it, seeing as they didn't bother putting much thought into codenames etc. SOME CREATIVE OR OTHER: "This character is modelled on Meg Ryan, so what should we call her... ?"

It's amazing how when you're a kid you never realise any of these loopholes we observe as Adults

Great video Michael. I'll probably leave this in the good feels of my memories and not revisit this with grown up eyes. I loved how the toys had metal bodiesas well as clear plastic sections. They'll felt so much more substantial than my other action figures because of the heft. Now to wait for Tyler from Fans of Power to see this. Lol

I agree with everything you said about this show, yet I can’t help but love it. Great video as always Michael

16:54. Gotta correct you there Michael. The Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four has the ability to create invisible force fields and turn herself or other things invisible. To my knowledge, she’s never had the ability to project illusions or images of things that aren’t really there.

Michael that Millennium Falcon behind you looks amazing with that orange bulb!

Excellent Bionic Six overview Michael! Great video!

Regarding the toys, it bugged me that Mechanic was so large and Klunk was smaller. Makes me think the manufacturer mistakenly mixed those two up.

Great review. Very comprehensive. And we await the toy review part lol

Most vehicles that can fly have tires. In case you've never seen a plane or a jet before.

It was the 80's...Entertainment over logic...but, they did nail diversity along with great animation long before it were in conversation. Even better when it was done innocently for character distinction.

Born in the 80's, grew up watching all the cartoons, forgot about Bionic 6 until I watched a small report on a touch-sensing bionic attachment for those who've lost limbs, Immediately remembered Bionic 6, pulled out laptop to watch the series all over again (30+ yrs later), clicked the first video that popped up (this one) and Thanked God that I was educated about the garbage we enjoyed yet played a role in messing with our minds LMAO! thank you for your dope and hilarious efforts .... I'm watching the rest of your videos!

Bro , everypoint u made is valid but when your 6 years old and this show came on TV , it was the coolest cartoon to watch. Just the intro brings back crazy nostalgia. I'm 35 now and it just hit different when u are a little kid. We all know all these 80s show scripts made no sense but it was a fun time.

Great vid as always Michael! I love the Bionic Six toy line and TV show but you do make some valid points. I guarantee you would have a different opinion if you watched it as a kid in the 80s. Look forward to your toyline review!

Radical! And on my birthday, too!

That secret identity thing was HILARIOUS!! As a kid I never realized that myself.

It is a stupid show. But man it was fun to watch as a kid.

I like bionic six, but I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that what we actually like is what we wish the show had been according to the stuff we DO remember, like the really cool intros. That's very insightful!

Firstly, woo! Bionic six is out “cue the church music and doves” . Secondly, while the show may not have been amazing, at least the animation was good 🤣and hopefully the toys are better. Also the abject awkwardness of the closing shot had me dying. Great video to shed some light in a show from a bygone era and a I can’t wait for part 2.( also also, great to see Tim in a main line video finally)

That. Was. Hilarious. Very clever writing and top notch delivery. No denying it was an in depth analysis of the show. Full credit for all that hard work. Never seen this as a kid but glad I missed it. And that ending. Oh that ending. The joy. Your joy yes but I did get joy from it.

I keep hoping this series will come out on DVD. It's one of my absolute favorites...had all the toys.

29:43 I laughed and enjoyed the video throughout but nothing had me laughing more than this part. Awesome Mr. French

I missed this during Iconicon Michael and I'm so glad I watched it now. As for Bionic Six. I remember seeing a few episodes and then stopping around halfway through for many of the reasons you brought up. BUT AT LEAST THE ANIMATION WAS GREAT!

I was born in the late 70s. So I was in the key demographic for all the big cartoon/toy releases of the 80s. Masters of the Universe, GI Joe, Transformers, Ghostbusters, all of it. But Bionic Six was hands down my favorite. Give us a home video release Universal!

Hi Micheal, I don't know if you read these. I get the enjoyment of analyzing and critiquing these shows. But do you ever shut off that side of your brain and watch it with the mindset of the target demographic? Say 7 to 12 years old.

Bionic Six is one of my favorite cartoons of all time! I loved every minute of it!! The title itself was a portmanteau of The Bionic Woman & the Six Million Dollar Man. Genius! Anything from TMS in the 80s & 90s was the gold standard in animation! They animated an overwhelming majority of the cartoons I watched as a kid! From the DiC cartoons and Disney Afternoon lineup of the 80s to the Warner Bros. cartoons of 90s. Lupin the 3rd and Space Adventure Cobra (the same character designer for Bionic Six). I still have my fan-made DVD set until an official set is released. If Mighty Orbots got one, then this surely has a chance!

Fantastic Video Michael! In Germany, Bionic Six was fairly popular and featured prominently on Saturday mornings, but I never saw the toys. In the German Version (die sechs Millionen Dollar Familie = the six million dollar family) the names where changed, and I think they were slightly better: Bionic one = Bionic one Mother one = Bionic two Sport one = Baseball Rock one = Rocky (sometimes wrongly pronounced Roxy in some episodes) IQ = IQ Karate one = Kamikaze So the parents are „numbered“ and the kids have Codenames matching their personality / gimmick / hobby

I never heard of the show until the Sci-Fi channel started airing it in the wee morning hours but I gotta admit the animation is excellent.

Damn. You're a 100% correct. Up until now, I remembered the Bionic Six as an unappreciated gem, but as the video went on, I realized I couldn't remember a single episode of it, possibly because it was so inane. Still, what a kickass intro.

Dude I love your videos. I loved bionic 6 when I was a kid and I love your analysis of it!

I remember little parts of this from my childhood, but after watching just two episodes on RU-vid, I support everything you said. Lol! Moreover, Samurai Pizza Cats made a gag that I more think pointed to this show (as they also had little dogs about other 80s cartoons), pointing out that nobody recognized them out of uniform, citing it was a quirk of the show... Maybe it was about He-Man, but it also fits this perfectly. ;)

That "Come on guys, there must be an outlet around here somewhere" edit made me spit my drink.

Loved the review -well done!!!

Very well said! You mentioned He-Man, but what about the PSA at the end of every GI Joe ARAH episode? Also, I think our childhood memories of these shows include those things we wish it was. Or how the shows influenced our play patterns with other IP toylines. I still believe the "American" Robotech saga is one of the best things I watched as a teenager! Thanks for the thorough review...dahling!

Long time coming. It would be funny to see Micheal with tights like those.

Haven't seen this show since 1989. Thanks for the history lesson. It filled me in on some of the things I missed.

Oh My Lord Michael, this is hilarious! Thank you. One of my fav shows but so silly.

Good job, Michael. And thanks for the review.

This iZ one of the pros of social media being able to go back and revisit childhood favorites like this

Hahaha I loved it! When is part 2 coming!?

Dr. Scarab as an imitation of George C. Scott...I always thought Scarab being the most affable and sardonic villain of 80's toytoons was the one saving grace for watching the show, but for some reason I never actually made that voice connection. Scarab, you magnificent bastard, I read your book! (And this, coming from one who recognized Fat Cat on "Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers" as an imitation of Zero Mostel...)

Great video Michael, well done!

I loved the show as an adult a lot more than as a kid. Yes the show is stupid, but also a lot of fun when looked at from the right perspective. I think the key to everything, is to realize that Scarab and his crew are the protagonists, and Bionic Six are the antagonists. Notice how the intro doesn't even show Scarab or his team. I think the intro is actually something that exists in the Bionic six world. It's produced by Sharp as a promo for his tech. Scarab is purposefully hidden and dismissed, and would be furious if he saw the intro. Scarab, I do agree is protected, but he's also marginalized by Sharp. Sharp discovered immortality, and won't even share it with his own brother. You mention how Scarab fails to be cool, but he never is supposed to feel cool. He wears fuzzy slippers and loves to snack on bonbons. He wants to pamper himself. Sometimes he just stays at home and watches TV, demanding snacks. He wants an eternal life of comfort. But he also likes to glam out. The stuff like the fairy wand are essential parts of his personality, and it makes him endearing, as long as you don't think he is supposed to be cool. Then I can see how it'd be viewed as a failure to hit a target. Anyway, I loved this review, and I thought you had a lot of insightful points. It's interesting seeing so many things I loved looked at from the perspective of the Bionic Six being heroes, or being made with the intention of them being heroes. It definitely does not work as a show from that point of view, and that is the main one people have when watching.

This may have been the best retroblasting episode ever. Also thought it was interesting that frank Welker did the voice of three of the villians, did they not have enough room in the budget for some more voice actors?

Loved this show and the action figures made great weapons to throw at my older siblings.

This show is my guilty pleasure. As a 80’s latchkey kid. I watched this eating my instant oatmeal, grabbing my necklace key, then riding my Kmart bike to school…. Yes I wore Denim/ sweater/ jacket vest. It had a Megadeath Peace Sells backpatch.

Gods, this show is a meme factory.

"It's the same dude!!" 🤣🤣🤣 I love these videos

I had Mechanic as a kid. I thought he was awesome because he had big metal feet. Also, the way his hands were sculpted he could hold all kinds of stuff. I liked the figure a lot.

"Bionic six" was a cartoon I happened to catch at 6:00am. I only caught about three episodes, but it was so weird I remember it.

I do remember watching this back in Costa Rica, but somehow I forgot how great the animation was (story notwithstanding). Never saw a single toy for it though.

Love love love your videos and sense of humor!

Towards the end, Michael turned into Paul Harrel. Lov it!

I watched a couple episodes but the only one I remember is where Scarab convinced Sport 1 that it was the future and that Scarab had turned over a new leaf. Sport 1 figures out his "evil" plan because of his baseball glove or something like that. I was an adult when I realized how beautifully animated this show was. One of those extremely rare cartoon shows where the animation continues to match the quality animation of the intro. American Cartoons typically have beautifully animated intros but the regular animation never matches the intro. Toys were pretty cool with the figures specific body parts being die cast.