In the near future, Professor Sharp, head of the Special Projects Labs (SPL), creates a new form of technology to augment humans through bionics. His first subject was Jack Bennett, a test pilot who secretly acted as Sharp's field agent, Bionic-1. On a family ski vacation in the Himalayas, an alien spacecraft triggers an avalanche that buries the entire family, exposing them to the unusual radiation of a mysterious buried object. Jack frees himself but discovers his family in a comatose state. Theorizing that Jack's bionics protected him from the radiation, Professor Sharp implants bionic technology in the others, awakening them. Afterward, the family operates incognito as a publicly lauded team of adventuring superheroes, the Bionic Six.
The Bionic Six are a team of superheroes fighting the evil Scarab and his team of mutated super humans. The Bionic Six are in everyday life also a family headed by father Jack Bennet and Helen Bennett, and includes their (adopted) kids Eric, Meg, J.D. and Bunji.
The thing I didn’t get as a kid is how no one every recognised the Bionic six. They don’t wear masks or anything to hide their faces and still no one recognised them in daily life. I know logic in TV cartoons often isn’t present, but the secret identity thing for the Bionic Six is just ridiculous. Even Clark Kent used to wear glasses to hide his secret identity - and that was one of the lamest disguises ever! Other than that the Bionic Six is one of the best action/sci-fi cartoons from the 80’s. It has sci-fi elements, a fight between good and evil, one of the best animation for TV cartoons, and compelling story lines.
The animation is very good in general, but especially for a TV cartoon. The character designs are very realistic and the animators didn’t just try to create movements, but actually tried to put some facial expressions and acting into the characters. There are quite some sci-fi elements in the Bionic Six including futuristic vehicles and equipment which are well design and look realistic enough. Finally even in the background lots of work has been put in, making this a high quality animated series.
The plot usually revolves around Scarab trying to conquer the world or steal something of great value which triggers the Bionic Six to get into action. At the end of the episode Scarab is of course defeated, but will try his luck again in the next episode. The origin of the Bionic Six, as well as the formation of Scarab’s team, is told in episode 10 Bionics On! The First Adventure. Though the basic premise is simple, the plot of each episode offers sufficient variety. Especially the 2 part episodes are good where the first episode ends in a cliffhanger.
Professor Amadeus Sharp is the genius scientist who infused the Bionic Six team with bionics. All of his research is supported by the government, and Sharp's technology must be periodically reviewed by government agency Q10.He lives alone in his private museum, which houses his secret Special Projects Lab, the hidden base of the Bionic Six. Amadeus is also Scarab's brother. Sharp excels in the fields of aeronautics, animatronics, archaeology, bionics, and neurology.
Voiced by: Alan Oppenheimer. Born April 23, 1930. Image via IMDb.
Jack Bennett, aka Bionic-1 is an engineer, expert test pilot, and the secret agent known to the world only as "Bionic-One". He enjoys gourmet cooking, even participating in the Paris Food Conference. Bionic-1's powers are mostly related to his bionic eyes (including "x-ray vision", telescopic sight, energy blasts, and low-powered beams that temporarily cause electronic devices to malfunction or even turn against their users), and enhanced hearing (this last capability beyond even the powers of the other team members, who each possess superhuman levels of hearing in their own right). His family was initially unaware of his secret bionic identity until bestowed with powers of their own.
Voiced by: John Stephenson. Born August 9, 1923. Image via Behindthevoiceactors.
Helen Bennett, aka Mother-1, is Jack's wife. She is an oceanographer and an accomplished marine biologist. Mother-1 possesses various ESP powers that allow her to occasionally see glimpses of the future, telepathically communicate with other sentient and non-sentient beings, determine the function and operation of mechanical devices by mentally "tracing" their internal workings, and can mentally project hologram-like optical illusions. She is also an accomplished fighter, having bested Madame-O on the occasions when the 2 physically fought each other one-on-one.
Voiced by: Carol Bilger. Born March 3, 1935. Image via Aiowiki.
Eric Bennett, aka Sport-1 is Jack and Helen's blond, athletic son. At local Albert Einstein High School, Eric is a shortstop on the baseball team, the Einstein Atoms. He routinely employs baseball vernacular in his dialogue. As Sport-1, he affects electromagnetic powers to attract or repel metallic objects with tremendous force, meld them together, or even rip them apart. This force is directional and – by varying the configuration of his hands, or by using one or both arms – Sport-1 can adjust the strength of attraction or repulsion.
Voiced by: Hal Rayle. Born January 3, 1955. Image via Behindthevoiceactors.
Meg Bennett, aka Rock-1 is Jack and Helen's daughter and is Eric's younger sister. Meg is an excitable and somewhat ditzy teen who loves music. She is prone to habitual use of the future-slang phrase "So-LAR!" (comparable to "awesome"), as well as the prefixes "Mega-!" (as befitting her first name) and "Ultra-!" At Albert Einstein High School, Meg is a member of the debate team and in a number of episodes is seen dating a classmate named Bim. As Rock-1, she can emit sonic beams from blaster units mounted on her shoulders – the blaster units are only visible when she assumes "bionic mode"
Voiced by: Bobbi Block. Image via Behindthevoiceactors.
J.D. Bennett, aka IQ, is Jack and Helen's remarkably intelligent, adopted African-American son. He enjoys amateur boxing, although he is not particularly skilled at it. As IQ, he has both super-strength (he is even stronger than the other, superhumanly-strong members of the team, making him the strongest member of the team) and super-intelligence. J.D. was the only team member whose bionic codename did not include the number "1" as a suffix.
Voiced by:Norman Bernard. Born August 27, 1954.
Bunjiro "Bunji" Bennett, aka Karate-1, is Jack and Helen's Japanese foster son. He was placed under their guardianship after his own father disappeared 10 years earlier somewhere in the East. Bunji is an avid karate enthusiast. As Karate-1, he has enhanced martial arts skills, made more formidable when applying his bionics. As such, his agility levels surpasses that of his teammates, and his reflexes are among the sharpest, surpassed only by Rock-1 (due to her super-speed).
Voiced by: Brian Tochi. Born May 2, 1959. Image via Behindthevoiceactors.
F.L.U.F.F.I. is a gorilla-like robot who lives as a housekeeper with the Bennetts. He regularly demonstrates a comical craving for aluminum cans that extends to casually devouring the Bennetts' cookware, vehicles, or other metal objects.[23] Despite his bumbling behavior, he nonetheless proves helpful around the Bennett home, or assisting the Bionic Six with physical tasks in the field.
Voiced by: Neil Ross. Born December 31, 1944 . Image via Behindthevoiceactors.
Real name: Dr. Wilmer Sharp
Scarab is a hefty, egotistically brilliant and occasionally comical man who yearns for the secret to eternal life and world domination. His right eye has been modified with a monocle that has a low-powered scanner that can detect individuals with bionics, even when they are disguised, and a destructive, high-powered beam. In rare instances throughout the series, he seemingly demonstrates superhuman, bionic strength of his own.
Voiced by: Jim MacGeorge. Born October 15, 1928. Image via Behindthevoiceactors.
Glove is a purple-skinned villain named for his left-handed blaster glove which is capable of firing both beams and projectiles. He serves as the field leader in Scarab's evil plans (hence made a frequent target for punishment for failures) and constantly vies to replace Dr. Scarab as leader. Although cunning and vicious, he tends to retreat at the first sign of defeat. His strength varies, as in some instances, he seems to be the equal of Bionic-1, while in one instance, he was able to physically overpower and dominate both Bionic-1 and Karate-1 at the same time.
Voiced by: Frank Welker. Born March 12, 1946. Image via IMDb.
Madame-O is an enigmatic blue-skinned femme fatale who wears a full face mask and uses a harp-like weapon to fire sonic blasts. She has a verbal tic of ending many of her statements with the word "...darling." While possessing super strength, she is not as strong as many of the other characters; Mother-1 was able to defeat her in physical struggles in various occasions. Before her transformation, she actually appeared to be an elderly woman.
Voiced by: Jennifer Darling. Born June 19, 1946. Image via Behindthevoiceactors.
Mechanic is a dim-witted, childish brute who employs various mechanical tools as weapons – nail or rivet guns, throwing circular saw blades, using a large wrench as a bludgeon. Despite his a short-tempered nature, he has a soft spot for animals and an engrossing fondness for (in-universe) children's television cartoons.
Voiced by: Frank Welker. Born March 12, 1946. Image via IMDb.
Chopper is a chain-wielding thug who articulates sounds mimicking a revving motorcycle. He is sometimes depicted riding a three-wheeled motorcycle vehicle.
Voiced by: Frank Welker. Born March 12, 1946. Image via IMDb.
Klunk is a patchwork monstrosity who appears to be made of living glue, and who rarely speaks coherently. Immediately after his creation, Scarab noted to himself to "use a little less power next time." While relatively unintelligent, he is considered one of the most dangerous opponents to engage in battle with, due to his unparalleled strength, high resistance to physical attacks, and his gooey body's ability to engulf his opponent – even Dr. Scarab fears him to some extent. Unlike the other minions of Dr. Scarab, he is horrified by his own transformation and longs to be human again.
Voiced by: John Stephenson. Born August 9, 1923. Image via Behindthevoiceactors.
We are a family, I fight for them, And they fight for me.
As close as we can be, High in the mountain, Or deep in the sea.
Bionic...Bionic 6, oooouuu, oooouuu,
We are together, We fight for right.
Bionic...Bionic 6, oooouuu, oooouuu,
We are so proud to be, A super future family.
A family, brought together by fate,
And given superpowers,
Through the miracle of modern science
Bionic...Bionic 6, oooouuu, oooouuu
We are together, We fight for right.
A super future family, And we're so very proud to be Bionic 6!
