Synopsis: A Bionic Christmas Carol: After an accident at a NASA contractor, Steve Austin uses his bionic abilities to show the gruff, penny-pinching company head, Horton Budge, the consequences of his callous ways — ultimately guiding him toward a change of heart.
The Story
After an accident at a subcontracted NASA project, Steve Austin is pulled off his Christmas break to investigate possible sabotage at the contractor supplying life-support systems. Oscar suspects that Horton Budge, the penny-pinching head of the company, is cutting corners to save money but has no proof. Upon arriving, Steve discovers that Budge is mistreating his employees, forcing them to work through the holidays and meet impossible deadlines. Budge’s nephew, Bob Crandall, bears the brunt of his uncle’s sour moods. When Budge becomes delirious from medication and illness, Steve seizes the opportunity to stage a series of scenes showing the human cost of Budge’s decisions — ultimately guiding him toward redemption.
The Acting
Ray Walston is fantastically curmudgeonly, bringing Scrooge-like energy with a comedic edge that stops just short of caricature. Lee Majors plays his earnest, can-do Steve Austin as the moral centre, grounding the story. The episode trades the show’s usual high-octane action set pieces for domestic warmth and emotional payoff — the Bionic “action” appears only as gentle aids, like moving a big tree, staging a tombstone, or keeping Budge awake, rather than full-on stunts. I really enjoyed that tonal pivot from the typical action sequences to a more festive, heartwarming take.
Overall
From the outset, it’s clear that this episode borrows heavily from Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol — but it does so in a quietly clever way. Rather than relying on supernatural ghosts, the story reimagines Dickens’ tale through a distinctly 1970s lens: corporate greed, a space-program subcontractor, and a medical or chemical delirium that produces “visions.” The moral core of Dickens — redemption through empathy and awareness of the vulnerable — remains intact, but the mechanism is scientific and pragmatic. Steve’s bionics become the means through which the lesson is dramatized, rather than any unearthly visitation. This fusion of Victorian moral storytelling with Cold War and Space-Age anxieties makes the episode a uniquely 1970s adaptation of the Dickens template. A Bionic Christmas Carol is also widely recognized as The Six Million Dollar Man’s definitive Christmas episode — and notably, the only holiday-themed story across the entire Bionic franchise.
