Wednesday 9 March 2016

352 Wonder Woman


First  viewed : 1  July  1978

This  series  ticked  both  the  super-hero  and  jiggle  TV  boxes  for  the  BBC  but  as  with  Petrocelli  they  were  late  in  picking  up  the  option  on  the  series  and  we  came  in  at  the  start  of  Series  Two  hence  no  pilot  episode.  Wonder  Woman  was  from  the  DC  Universe  and  her  transfer  to  live  action  TV  series   is  quite  a  complicated  story. The  original  pilot  starred  a  different  actress  in  the  role  and  the  first  series  was  set  during  World  War  Two.

Wonder  Woman   and  her  alter  ego  Diana  Prince  as  we  knew  them  were  played  by  Lynda  Carter  a  former  Miss  World  semi-finalist. Unlike  her  bionic  counterpart  she  did  have  a  large  though  slightly  saggy  pair  and  an  ample  behind   as  displayed  in  the  iconic  costume  closely  based  on  the  original  comic  book  design. Episodes  would  often  feature  her  running  towards  the  camera  for  the  full  bouncing  boobs  and  camel  toe  effects. Her  regular  co-star  was  Lyle  Waggoner  as  her  boss  Steve  Trevor  but  to  be  honest  I'm  struggling  to  picture  him.

Unlike   The  Incredible  Hulk  on  the  other  channel  Wonder  Woman  was  campy  and  cheerful  , much  more  akin  to  Batman  than  David  Banner's  gloomy  dilemmas.  She  got  to  battle  aliens   and  other  super-powered  vixens  with  her  bullet-deflecting   bracelets  and  golden  lasso. I  thought  it  was  good  fun  but  I  remember  both  my  mum  and  sister  being  quite  negative  about  it; something  about  Carter  seemed  to  rub  them  up  the  wrong  way.

The  show  was  cancelled   in  the  US  in  1979 and  shown  here  until  1980  by  which  time  Carter  was  trying  to  re-launch  herself  as  a  singer. She  was  semi-successful  in  that  endeavour   but  better  known  for  advertising  Maybelline  cosmetics  then  starring  in  another  TV  series  Partners  in  Crime. She's  done  a  lot  of  TV  movies  since  then  and  is  still  acting  and  making  music.

1 comment:

  1. Looking at it now, it was nice to switch the usual roles by having the male character (Steve Trevor) be the "damsel in distress" needing to be saved by the female lead. Though obviously Steve wasn't prone to Lois Lane levels of screaming.

    Good timing, on your part, what with the Wonder Woman character making her return in the forthcoming Batman v Superman film. This show, I barely remember anything but the theme tune. But I did recently encounter Carter's work when playing "Fallout 4" in which she voiced a character and wrote/performed a few songs that the role required. Did a good job, I thought.

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