MAGS AND BOOKS
Serial and Year: ISBN 0-345-39736-3 / 1979 (first edition) / 1995 (fifth edition).
Pages: 1/3 page.
Pictures: No pictures.
Article: Descripton of the "Wonder Woman" series.
Author: Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh.
Publisher: Ballantine Books.
Country: USA.
Adventure FIRST TELECAST. December 18, 1976
LAST TELECAST. September 11, 1979
BROADCAST HISTORY
Dec 1976-Jan 1977, ABC Sat 8:00-9:00
May 1977-Jul 1977, ABC Sat 8:00-9:00
Sep 1977-Feb 1979, CBS Fri 8:00-9:00
Aug 1979-Sep 1979, CBS tue 8:00-9:00
CAST
Yeoman Diana Prince "Wonder Woman' (Lynda Carter).
Maj. Steve Trevor / Steve Trevor, Jr. (Lyle Waggoner).
Gen. Blankenship (1976-1977) (Richard Eastham).
Corp. Etta Candy (1976-1977) (Beatrice Colen).
Joe Atkinson (1977) (Normarnn Burton).
Eve (1977-1979) (Saundra Sharp).
Voice of I.R.A. (1977-1979) (Tom Kratochzil).
Wonder Woman, based on Charles Mouton's comic-book superheroine of the 1940s, developed gradually into a regular TV series. It was first seen as a TV movie in March 1974 (with Cathy Lee Crosby in the title role), then in another try in November 1975 (with Lynda Carter), then in a series of specials called The New Original Wonder Woman beginning in March 1976. After popping up in various spots all over the ABC schedule, it had a short consecutive-weeks run in December 1976-January 1977. Finally, in the fall of 1977, it moved to CBS and became a regular weekly series.
     The show was comic-strip, pure and simple, set in the 1940s. Wonder Woman came from a "lost" island where a band of Amazon women had fled ca. 200 B.c. to escape male domination by the ancient Greeks and Romans. On Paradise Island they found the magic substance Feminum, which when molded into a golden belt gave them superhuman strength and in golden bracelets could deflect bullets. it didn't help their love life much, though, so when Major Steve Trevor of the U.S. army crash-landed on the island during World War II, Wonder Woman fell in love and returned with him to the U.S. in the guise of his secretary. Major Trevor did not know of her powers, but when trouble threatened, Yeoman Prince could disappear for a while, and whirl herself into Wonder Woman! She then reappeared, clad in sexy tights and draped in a cape that looked something like the American flag.
     Her opponents were mostly Nazi agents, plus a few aliens from outer space, all of whom were dispatched in slam-bang-biff-pow style. Once the Nazis even found and occupied Paradise Island in their quest for Feminum, and they had their own Wonder Woman in Fausta. Seen occasionally on Diana's side was her younger sister, Drusilla, the "Wonder Girl" (Played by Debra Winger).
     When the series moved to CBS in the fall of 1977 there were a number of changes made. The title was now The New Adventures of Wonder Woman and the period was contemporary, rather than World War II. The heroine returned to America to fight terrorists and subversive elements for the Inter-Agency Defense Command (IADC), where her boss was Joe Atkinson. Working closely with her was Steve Trevor, Jr., the son of the Major Trevor with whom she had been associated during World War II. Since she had not aged at all-residents of Paradise Island had life spans measured in centuries, not decades-and Steve, Jr., was a dead ringer for his father, the couple seemed virtually unchanged. Eve was Steve's secretary. By the end of 1977 Mr. Atkinson had been phased out of the show and Steve had been promoted to Diana Prince's boss, leaving her to go alone on missions. A primary source of information for all IADC agents was the Internal Retrieval Associative computer. This wonderful device, called IRA by the staff, could actually communicate by voice with the agents. Despite the fact that Diana was no longer wearing glasses to conceal her real identity, as she had done in the ABC version of Wonder Woman, only IRA knew who she really was.
     Lynda Carter, who portrayed Wonder Woman, did fit the part. A former "Miss World-U.S.A.," she was very athletic, tall (5' 10", not 6' as some publicity releases claimed), and extremely wellendowed.
© 1995 by Ballantine Books.
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