‘Bionic Woman’ gets an upgrade

Lindsay Wagner never had to use jujitsu or save Canada from Bosnian terrorists — or worry about her boss watching her take a shower through her bionic eye.

Well, times have changed.

Today’s “Bionic Woman” (airing at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on NBC starting Nov. 7) is one superhuman leap from the now-seems-tame series of the 1970s.

A spinoff of the hugely popular 1970s series, “The Six Million Dollar Man,” the original starred Wagner as Jamie Sommers, the female recipient of some high-tech replacement parts who went on secret missions to stop bad guys.

But the similarities with the new show stop there (her name is even spelled differently — it’s “Jaime” now).

Known for reinventing the classic space series “Battlestar Galactica” into a current hit for the Sci Fi Channel, exutive producer David Eick wanted to give the new series a different twist.

After tossing around an idea for a show about a female crime boss, he decided to change his anti-hero to a hero and wrap the idea around the “Bionic Woman” title after several unsuccessful attempts had been made by other networks to bring the series back to life.

Unlike the original, Eick envisioned “a younger person, who, like Spider-Man’s Peter Parker, had these unique abilities hoisted upon her without asking for them, and then have her personal life be in constant competition with her newfound abilities.”

Sommers’ personal life consists mainly of watching over teenage sister Becca, for whom she’s now responsible following their parents’ split. The difficulty lies in the fact that, for the sake of her sister’s safety, she must keep her secret activities just that, a secret.

“Becca’s really at the center of it all for Jaime,” notes Michelle Ryan, the 23-year-old London-born actress who portrays Sommers. “She’s off doing these missions, but it’s Becca’s needs and issues that keep Jaime grounded and real.”

Though she started the series wandering through life as a young bartender, Sommers is now a “consultant” with the ubiquitous Berkut Group, a clandestine organization that fixes problems that can’t be handled by the police, military or FBI.

“ Sommers, after suffering a near deadly auto accident, has had her legs, one arm, an eye and one ear replaced with bionics — though not in a 1970s mechanical way.

The new show uses “anthrocytes” injected into Sommers’ blood to regenerate the missing parts, instead of replacing them.

“They’re nanobots,” Eick explains. “They’re just microscopic anatomical machines in your body that you don’t feel or aren’t aware of. It’s like having cells with brains.”