Seems like remake and spin-off season in sci-fi town. A new Flash Gordon, a spin-off from Terminator and now, a remake of the Bionic Woman... doubtless if they ever manage to get the Wonder Woman film off the shelf, they'll make a new TV show.

Refreshingly, this pilot episode doesn't dawdle. Not quite the running start of Sarah Connor Chronicles... but we've got the basic elements established by the end of the first episode... with a few fun fight scenes. It's pretty straight forward... ordinary student at university - with deaf sister - is doing just super with her professor boyfriend. Until resident bionic psycho bitch (Starbuck!) crashes a truck into them.

This leaves our heroine in pretty rough shape. Just as well her boyfriend is in charge of a secret project to give women bionic body parts, eh? So, she gets her bionic legs... a bionic eye, a bionic arm and bionic ears! Shouldn't they have thrown in a free breast augmentation? Anyway, as you might expect our Eastend girl is somewhat freaked out by getting spiffy new parts and with the help of her fiance, promptly escapes.

Naturally after a traumatic car accident, miscarriage and surgery - she goes straight back to work, where Starbuck stops by to say hello. Starbuck being a nutter prototype who tells our heroine that it's her bionic implants that are activating - kinda like a benign Terminator interface. After this, it's only a matter of time before the two women are battling on roof tops in what is actually a pretty passable display of speed and strength...

All in all, while it did tick several cliche boxes it was a much stronger start than one might have expected. It would have been very easy for the show to simply languish in self-reference and cheesiness but this looked quite promising. Which is surprising to say the least.