  |
 Hollywood
takes on the superhero!. |
 |
 What
attracts filmakers to comics? Sometimes, comic book readers can
barely recognize their favorite hero or heroine after filmakers
have "sanitized" them. Other times, the characters'
amazing worlds are captured perfectly. What makes the
entertainment community spend so much money and time to adapt a
comic, especially if they plan to drastically alter crucial
elements? |
|
|
When
adapting favorite comic book characters to the screen, how do
members of Hollywood's creative community preserve teh comic's
charm? How much thought goes into keeping a certain crusader's
quirks and appeal? What happens when your favorite comics
characters lose staples and gain sprockets? Some of today's film
and TV creators address the task of bringing comics characters
to life.
|
|
|
Stanley
Ralph Ross - producer/writer Wonder Woman TV Series: |
|
|
"I
want to do Wonder Woman for television the right way. There had
been a really lousy TV movie that changed her costume and they
had Cathy Lee Crosby -a blonde- play her! It was like having a
redheaad play Superman. When I did my Wonder Woman, I kept
everything- the invisible plane, Paradise Island, the costume,
the golden lasso, the bulletproof bracelets and Steve Trevor.
Those were all great things. I also kept her in the 1940s like
she was in the comics; there was no greater evil she could face
than the Nazis. When they moved her into the 1970s, I quit. It
just didn't work." |
|
|
|
| THE
UGLY AMAZON |
|
|
In
the 1960s, TV's Batman set a trend for comic characters. Both on
stage and screen, they became camp comedies. The Man of Steel
appeared as a singing oaf in the Broadway musical It's a Bird,
It's a Plane, It's Superman and campy approaches were taken with
every major character, from Dick Tracy to Doc Savage. Comic
strip wornen Barbarella and Modesty Blaise reached the screen in
farces. |
|
|
Comics'
first superheroine, Wonder Wornan, stayed out of the camp era.
With her self-determination and skill, Wonder Worman was a role
model for '60s feminists and nothing to be made light of; she
even graced the cover of Ms. magazine! With
her bulletproof bracelets, invisible plane and golden lasso (a
weapon that predated the lie detector), she might have seemed an
easy target for spoof treatment. |
|
|
Although
the Wonder Woman TV show of the '70s carne from Batman veterans
Stanley Ralph Ross and Charles B. FitzSimons, the camp elements
were kept to a minimum and Lynda Carter gave a straight
performance as the Amazon princess. What many fans do not know
is that Wonder Woman was targeted for camp in the '60s, in a
never-seen short film that the producers shot for the network. |
|
|
"We
didn't do a pilot for her," FitzSimons recalls, "but
Bill Dozier and I did a presentation for a camp version of
Wonder Wornan. Because of Batman, we were the kings of camp. My
idea was different and 1 think Stan Ross wrote the
presentation." |
|
|
The
show took an offbeat approach to Paradise Island's most famous
resident. "Our idea was that when Wonder Wornan was a baby
and all of the gods are giving her gifts, the goddess of beauty
comes, leans over her bassinet and says, 'Vanity.' Instead of
giving her beauty, she gives her vanity. We went with a Wonder
Wornan who looked like Ruth Buzzi! |
|
|
"And
we found a girl who looked like Ruth Buzzi and had all of Ruth
Buzzi's talent," he says proudly. "She was
flat-chested and spindly. We dressed her up in a Wonder Wornan
bodice, so that when she tumed quickly, the bodice stayed there.
We made her pants too big and her legs looked like sticks. |
|
|
"We
did everything with the Wonder Wornan costume, but it was
exaggerated so this poor lady looked ridiculous. She was a
brilliant dancer and comedian and the whole plot was that she
was an ugly bitch who, because she got vanity instead of beauty,
thought she was God's gift to men! This Wonder Wornan thought
she was the most beautiful thing in the universe!" |
|
|
Ironically,
the presentation also showed how Wonder Woman might look if the
show had been done straight. "When she would pass by a
window or mirror and see her reflection, we had Linda Harrison
in the costume looking back at her. Linda looked even better as
Wonder Wornan than Lynda Carter did years later. |
|
|
"Linda
Harrison was [20th Century Fox execl Dick Zanuck's then-wife and
she was gorgeous. [Best known as Nova in Planet of the Apes,
Harrison was profiled in STARLOG #213. We had the homely Wonder
Wornan look in a mirror and see this stunning image of Harrison
in the costume and over it we would play this song 'Oh, You
Wonderful Girl!"' |
|
|
Steve
Trevor, her longtime hoy friend from, the comics (who never
guessed that Wonder Wornan was also his secretary Diana Prince),
was also on hand. "We had this poor guy who was perplexed
because he had the ugliest secretary in the world and an ugly
Wonder Wornan who drove him crazy," FitzSimons laughs. |
|
|
"Wonder Woman didn't have the invisible plane in our show, she would
fly like Superman and then land on her feet like an airplane,
running down the runway. In the presentation, there was a
Russian spy she had to get to talk. She does the 'Dance of the
Seven Veils' for him, a sex dance and this poor Russian will
confess to anything to get away from this girl! Wonder Wornan
thinks it's her sexiness that wins him over." |
|
|
The
network wasn't quite ready for the concept of the ugly Amazon.
"We wanted to do this as an outrageous camp comedy, but we
couldn't sell it," Charles FitzSimons notes. "Years
later, I did the 'normal' Wonder Woman for Warner Bros. it was a
fun show and not really campy at all." |
