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 While
Michael Caffey has directed more than 200 hours of television, including
Westerns, comedies, medical thrillers anc cop shows, it's his fatansy
work that makes the strongest impression. His career has showcased some
of the finest horror and fantasy ever made for the small screen... |
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"...It all starts
with a story and a good situation. That makes it more than a job. Wonder
Woman wasn't all that great, just straightforward, but if you've got
something with a lot of imagination to it, you can do something, as long
as you can be visual with it..." |
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 TRAINING
WONDER WOMAN |
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Asked about his three episodes of Wonder Woman, the director grins
mischievously. "There are shows like that which you hesitate to put
on a résumé." he admits. "Like The Dukes of Hazzard [which
he also directed], it's not something you get hired for having
done." |
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Caffey has interesting memories of America's favorite Amazon:
"Lynda Carter was a good-looking woman and a fun |
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then, she started doing Wonder Woman and took it seriously. She was
Wonder Wpman, to a certain extent! She was very serious. We had Henry
Gibson, the funny little guy from Laugh-In, in one episode
["Screaming Javelin"]. |
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"I
remember a little moment with him where Gibson goes [lustfully],
Wonderrrr Womannnn." Lynda hit the roof! She said, 'You're notgonna
let him say that, are you? He can't belittle Wonder Woman that way!' I
said, 'Al right,' I went to Henry and said, 'Tone that down,' he goes
'OK, just trying it,' but to Lynda, it had to be Wonder Woman-the
'wonder' has to be in the voice!" |
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Caffey directed Part One of the show's biggest SF storyline, "The
Mind Stealers From Outer Space," in which Wonder Woman fought the
Skrills, a race of evil alien invaders. "When you do a thing like
that, you've got to suspend disbelief -beacause if you start laughing...
I did one half of the two-parter and a really nice guy named Alan
Crossland did the second. I was his assistant when he directed
Combat." |
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For "Diana's Dissappearing Act," he pitted Wonder Woman
against Count Cagliostro (Dick Gautier), an evil alchemist. "Dick
was interesting. On that episode, he came in and was playing it 'vith a
Dracula accent.' The executive producer came down and said, 'No, we
don't want you to do that, we want you to play it staright." Dick
did it straight and then they re-dubbed the whole shole show and put the
Dracula accent back in!" |
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Caffey has a theory on how to make the fantastic seem real. "You
don't treat it as fantasy," he explains. "You treat it as
real. There's nothing fantastic about it. Wonder Woman is real; when she
spins around, she really does it. You can't even consider, 'How can I
make the audience think this is real' -you can't. You just have to do it
as if it's real. You don't laugh," he explains. "You play it
as real, you have to suspend disbelief -it's real, it exists." |
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Some fantasy series on which Caffey worked, like Logan's Run and
Kolchak, didn't last very long on the air. "Kolchak should
have," he states. "Some shows didn't have an audience, but
Kolchak did have an audience - I think it was costing too much. These
shows were cult programs, like the first Star Trek. It didn't have a
huge audience, just a modest following." |
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The
director is pleased to see the return of SF prgramming. "It's nice
to see these fantasy shows come back in style. The original Star Trek
wasn't a ratings getter, but now it's back and it's big. I also enjoy
The X-Files, it's really well-done." |
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"I would love to do a Star Trek. It's imaginative stuff, they have
good, clear storylines. If I could just get in there, I could do it
well, and," Michael Caffey smiles, "my kids would go
nuts!" |
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