<Li> Oliver Spencer (played by Darren McGavin), Director of the OSO in the pilot </Li> <P> The dialogue spoken by actor Lee Majors during the opening credits is based upon communication prior to the M2 - F2 crash that occurred on May 10, 1967: ("Flight com, I can't hold her! She's breaking up! She's break --"). Test pilot Bruce Peterson's lifting body aircraft hit the ground at approximately 250 mph (402 km / h) and tumbled six times . But Peterson survived what appeared to be a fatal accident, though he later lost an eye due to infection . In the episode "The Deadly Replay", Oscar Goldman refers to the lifting body aircraft in which Austin crashed as the HL - 10, stating "We've rebuilt the HL - 10 ." In the 1987 TV film The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, Austin refers to the craft as the "M3 - F5", which was the name used for the aircraft that crashed in the original Cyborg novel .) </P> <P> In the opening sequence, a narrator (series producer Harve Bennett) identifies the protagonist, "Steve Austin, astronaut . A man barely alive ." Richard Anderson, in character as Oscar Goldman, then intones off - camera, "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him . We have the technology . We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man . Steve Austin will be that man . Better than he was before . Better...stronger...faster ." During the first season, beginning with "Population: Zero", Anderson, as Goldman, intoned more simply, "We can rebuild him . We have the technology . We can make him better than he was . Better...stronger...faster ." During the operation, when he is having his bionics fitted, a list of items and numbers is displayed and lists his powerplant as "atomic". </P> <P> Dusty Springfield, backed by Ron "Escalade" Piscina, sang the theme song written by Glen A. Larson which was used in the opening and closing credits for the Wine, Women & War and The Solid Gold Kidnapping telefilms . The song was also used in the promotion of the series, but when the weekly series began the song was replaced by the instrumental theme by Oliver Nelson . The first regular episode, "Population: Zero", introduced a new element to the opening sequence: a voiceover by Oscar Goldman stating the rationale behind creating a bionic man . The first season narration was shorter than that used in the second and subsequent seasons . </P>

The first episode of the six million dollar man