WONDERLAND • The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

	She's a wonder.

	The "she" in question, of course, is Lynda Carter, who successfully transformed the classic comic book heroine Wonder Woman from the pages of DC Comics to television screens, simultaneously fueling the imagination of a generation.

	From 1975 to 1979 (first in a World War II setting on ABC, followed by a contemporary version on CBS), the statuesque, 5' 10" actress portrayed the super heroine and her meek alter ego Diana Prince with humor, grace and style. Incarnating physical prowess and strength, self-confidence, beauty, and intelligence, Carter's Wonder Woman remains a pop icon to new viewers as well as long-time juvenile and adult audiences, as she's currently seen in reruns on the Sci-Fi Channel and worldwide.

	Carter resides in Washington, DC with her husband, lawyer Robert Altman, and their two young children, James and Jessica. Of the long-lasting appeal of her classic screen persona, she offers, "I think Wonder Woman has always kind of had a life of her own, for whatever reason. Its charm of why it reached into the hearts of so many people may never be fully explained."

	When the series debuted, positive role models for women on television were just beginning to appear. It's Carter's opinion that shows like "Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman were really the first to sort of break the glass ceiling of women having their own series, other than Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett and Angie Dickinson, all of whom were of a different generation. With Wonder Woman, people had a chance to look at something new and different, something that they had not been exposed to before on TV. They saw a physically able, emotionally and psychologically stable and independent woman who possessed a fantasy element to her personality."

	Many fans were attracted to the program, because Carter was (and remains -at 45) so attractive. By the same token, there are many watchers who viewed the series removed from the romantic allure of its lead or the program's magic/adventure premise, there were those who screened the Princely Wonder not as a whimsical heroine, but rather as first a person, second a female, and third a "wonder" woman. Put simply, Lynda Carter made Diana Prince human. "That's exactly what I tried to do," she says. "Wonder Woman possessed super powers, but her special abilities did not solely define who she was."

	Besides Carter's approach to the character (the human quality), Wonder Woman's time altering format may have also contributed to its success, in much the same way Dick York and Dick Sargent's Darrineras may have advanced the long-term appeal of TV's Bewitched (allowing the sitcom to almost be viewed as two different shows).

	The Wonder Woman wartime segments hold definite appeal for those who are drawn to the full-on period piece. They are three-dimensional versions of the comic strip, with Nazi villains and evil allies at every turn. The 1970s adventures, with its concentration on more autonomous evildoers, including mad scientists, ambitious warlords, alien invaders, underworld hoods, and occasional goofball adversaries (such as Martin Roseanne Mull's Pied-Piper, in a 1970s episode of the same name who mesmerizes youthful admirers), may have their own followers. As could be the case with even the ambitious initial Wonder Woman TV-film, which was screened by ABC in 1974 and featured Cathy Lee Crosby in a non-traditional update of Charles Moulton's original comic-book character of the 1940s. Still, the 1970s Carter stories may, for some, seem more dated than the 1940s tales due to the lack of instant visual recognition of wartime nostalgia.

	Anyway you spin her, Wonder Woman has made television history.

Though producers Wilfred Baumes, Charles B. Fitzsimons and Mark Rogers offered their Wonderful talents for the various Wonder Woman shows through the years, it was executive producer Douglas S. (Schoolfield) Cramer who was responsible for initially retooling the show to match the standards of Charles Moulton's classic image, following the unsuccessful Crosby project.

A one-time supervising producer for Paramount Studios, Cramer helped to cultivate TV hits like Star Trek, Love American Style, Mannix and Room 222. He's also a former vice-president of development at ABC (under Ed Sher, who was head of programming). Harve Bennett, future executive producer of TV's The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (and big screen versions of Star Trek II through V), was his assistant.

Cramer's overall take on the key to Wonder Woman's success is four-fold:

[1] The Ugly-Duckling-into-A-Swan Theory: "There really was the sense that this plain, sort of ordinary woman in Diana Prince could turn into someone special like Wonder Woman. I think this aspect, which gave hope to many who were without hope, combined with the legitimate naiveté of Diana Prince, a fish-out-of-water with magic powers who was forced to live a double life, was really at the heart of the show's appeal."

[2] Non-Violent Content: "Virtually no one was ever really killed on the show. People would get tossed and even shot at, but no one would ever die. They'd always bounce right back."

[3] Mythical Wonder-land: "Wonder Woman's heritage of coming from another place [Paradise Island] was equal with the Superman myth, and his origin of coming from another planet [Krypton]. That kind of ethos and concept has always appealed to people."

[4] Woman's Liberation: "We have to remember that the Wonder Woman series appeared just as women in our country were really beginning to display their liberation. So, in many ways it was a sign of the times."

Of the latter conjecture, we may make the same correlation for success with Moulton's comic book, which had its premiere publication during the actual second World War, when thousands of women were obligated to join the once male-dominated workforce and support their own families - a result of the drafting of American men for battle overseas.

In any era, as long as Lynda Carter was involved with the small screen adaptation of Wonder Woman, the part - and the costume fit the actress like a glove.

Carter's co-star in the twin versions of the series was Lyle Waggoner (the handsome, romantic-comedy veteran from The Carol Bumett Show), first, as the unassuming World War II flying ace, Major Steve Trevor, and in the 1970s version as government agent, Steve Trevor, Jr., both of whom were unaware of Wonder Woman"s desire for him or her true identity as, respectively, his yeoman and peeroperative, Diana Prince.

Writer Stanley Ralph Ross, then contracted with Warner Brothers (proprietor of Wonder Woman), penned the 1975 pilot for the show, one year after the dismal Crosby movie of the week. Ross, an acquaintance of Waggoner's, wrote the words for Steve with Lyle in mind. "He called me and told me so," recalls the actor. "He said, 'This is the perfect Lyle Waggoner part."

"He was always so chipper on the set," recalls Lynda of Lyle who, during the filming of Wonder Woman, had initiated Star Waggons, Inc., a side profession as manufacturer and supplier of studio location trailers. Today, this enterprising venture has become the industry standard and top choice by production companies in Hollywood. "So because his business was off to a good start," Carter continues, "and because he really is a content and happy guy, all that joy and excitement just kind of bubbled over into his performance as Steve."

"He was ideal," adds Doug Cramer. "With his good looks, leading-man ability, and the years of experience and polishing of his comic flare on the Bumett show, there was no one better to fit the role. In fact, all those who were cast around Lynda were essentially actors who were also comics. We had people like Richard Eastham [as General Blankenship] and Beatrice Colen [Corporal Etta Candy], and they were each tremendous at playing camp, and adept at comedy."

Like Eastham and Colen, however, Waggoner still had to audition. "And I almost didn't get it," he laughs. As to his general involvement with the series, Waggoner's perception was matter-of-fact. "I knew it was a cartoon, and that it was a put-on, but you had to play it with a straight face. You had to say silly lines seriously, and hopefully make the viewer at home smile."

Lyle Waggoner's type of tongue-in-cheek thespian technique fit perfectly the premise of the 1940s Wonder Woman, and he was "quite fond" of those early editions of the program, but times were changing. At the end of its second season, Wonder Woman left the 1940s and ABC for a then-modem era and CBS; a network/time continuum development which did not please Waggoner. "I think they should have kept it the way it was," he says. "The entire laugh-at-yourself view of the show was gone when we moved into the 1970s. There were not many shows at the time that took jibes at itself, like we did. It was really unique and I was sorry to see all that altered."

It was in the 1970s re-do when, for example, after only a few episodes the central disguise between Wonder Woman and Diana Prince was merely a pair of glasses. The officer's uniform that Yeoman Prince had won during World War II, along with her military cap and hair up in a bun, was no more. Diana now was more glamorous, and soon was not wearing spectacles at all, with her tresses only swept back in a pony tail. "I always felt kind of silly playing Steve in those moments," Waggoner admits. "He would look straight at Diana and not be able to say that he recognized Wonder Woman. Now that took a bit of acting." But, seriously, he add, "I just think the show would have stayed on a lot longer [than its original four seasons] if they would have kept her fighting Nazis. It was so much more.”

Lynda Carter says ABC perceived otherwise. "They thought the World War II storylines were too limiting," she reveals, "with the only major villains being the Nazis. The thinking was that if we took it into the 1970s, there would be a more to explore, from a creative standpoint."

CBS agreed, while ABC passed on the show after two years. Jerry Lieder, then president of Warner Brothers, went to CBS with the idea of shifting the series into contemporary times, which Doug Cramer was "terrified of doing." "But Alan," he says, "had promised CBS that it would be a brand-new start, if they went with a modem setting."

The "eye" network bought Leider's idea hook, line and magic lasso. "It was a fresh approach," Cramer construes, "which CBS thought would reach a wider audience. Because, at the time, the other superhero shows, like The Incredible Hulk [also on CBS] and The Six Million Dollar Man [ABC], seemed, in comparison, more real, if you can imagine anyone saying such things about science fiction/adventure shows."

It was the World War II/campy version of the series that first appealed to viewers and, as Cramer assesses, presented "the episodes that people still talk about and remember the most." In these segments, Wonder Woman dispatched German spies in the same slambang-biff style that was introduced to the TV audience with the Adam West series, Batman.

No wonder. Batman and Wonder Woman were both assembled by Cramer, who would later partner with the mega-successful television producer Aaron Spelling (The Love Boat, Dynasty, Hotel, and Vega$). As Cramer calls it, the Crosby 1974 movie "was a mess. I don't know what their thinking was. But they didn't want it to be too campy, like Batman."

Yet with the West bat-comedy back in 1966, that's precisely what ABC ordered: an early evening serial, broadcast twice-a-week, with cliff-hangers, which would have duplicated the success of Cramer's once-every-seven-days, middle-night-time soap, Peyton Place, which had been retaining solid ratings since its ABC debut in 1964. "At first, we tried to develop Dick Tracy," the producer discloses, "but we couldn't get the rights. We then went after Batman, which became a huge hit."

Having transformed one archetypal animated strip into a camp TV classic, Cramer envisioned working the same magic with Wonder Woman, though such an outgrowth would not transpire until nearly ten years later. By the airing of the 1974 Crosby Wonder pilot, Cramer had left Screen Gems (better known today as Columbia/Tri-Star Television), became an independent producer, and was nearly signed to partner with Spelling (which he would later do, while producing Carter's Wonder Woman). He lunched with Warner man, Jerry Lieder, and said he would "love to get involved with Wonder Woman, only if it was done the right way." Meaning, he says, "that there was no way to play it straight, in a contemporary setting, and that it must be produced with its tongue firmly implanted in its check."

Cramer convinced Leider of what he thought Wonder Woman could and should be, and sold the idea to ABC. The network executive in charge of series production at the time was programming-whiz Brandon Tartikoff who, Cramer maintains, "also understood exactly the concept of Wonder Woman, and what it was supposed to be. It's amazing to me how many of the people who were involved with the show were just really grown-up children. We had writers like Bruce Shelby and David Ketchum [both of whom penned dozens of episodes of Love, American Style for Cramer when he was at Paramount]. They had never done one-hour drama shows before, and they had to have the story and dramatic beats worked out for them. But they brought to it the humor that I thought Wonder Woman required."

Also aboard from Love, American Style was the comic genius of Stuart Margolin (Angel, from TV's The Rockford Files) who directed several episodes of Wonder Woman, and who co-starred with the series' Beatrice Colen in many wrap-around Style segments. Others of the youth-oriented set, including directors Seymour Robbie (Bewitched) and the late Herb Wallerstein, who had been production manager for Cramer at Paramount, and when the producer formed his own company. "Herbie was always a frustrated director," Cramer states, "so we let him direct Wonder Woman, mostly because his particular sense of the world was right for the show. He was just a great big kid at heart. He had the passion that we all shared. We were all very clear on its vision, and respected that vision. We were all very particular on what Wonder Woman and Steve would or would not do. There were often long, detailed discussions about whether or not she, under one particular circumstance with one particular villain, would or would not use, for example, her magic lasso. It was a crazy, upside-down world."

As with Batman. "It was set in its own mythical Gotham City," he says of Michael Keaton's pre-big-screen Caped Crusader, "a city in which you would never discover the crowd from say, The Mod Squad [1968-1973, ABC], who would also certainly never have appeared in Wonder Woman." [Though Squad's Michael Pete Cole appeared in the 1970s segment, "The Man Who Wouldn't Tell"]. "One thing that we didn't do, that I always wanted to do, was run with more regular heavies, as we did on Batman. But everyone at ABC was really afraid of doing that."

Another adult who did not fear Cramer's passionate vision (who is in touch with his aesthetic inner-child), was Alan Shane, head of casting for Warner Brothers. It was Shane who had introduced Carter to Cramer, whose obstinate optimism was responsible for Lynda's coup as TV's top patriotic super woman. "She was so far ahead of any other actress who was up for the role," he says.

Unfortunately, ABC did not agree with Cramer's assessment. The web wanted someone with more experience than Carter had at the time. Today, the actress is well known for her strong performances in highrated TV movies like The Last Song (1980, CBS), Born to Be Sold (1981, NBC), Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess (1983, CBS), and Daniel Steele's Daddy (which was aired 1992 on NBC and executive produced by Cramer), among many others. In 1975, it was a different story.

"There were those at ABC," Cramer offers, "who felt that Lynda could not have carried a show of her own, because she had not previously appeared in a series in any regular capacity. But the minute she stepped into that wild costume, I knew, and we all knew, that we had found our Wonder Woman."

That "we" group included co-star Lyle Waggoner, who had screentested with the actresses who were up for the superlady/Diana role, including Joanna Cassidy, who would later appear with Dabney Coleman in TVs acclaimed, though short-lived sitcom, Buffalo Bill (NBC, 1983-1984), "She was good," says Waggoner of Cassidy, "but it was Lynda, in my opinion, who looked the part. I don't know how much weight that carried, but that was my suggestion."

The web-heads were still not convinced. Yet Doug Cramer was relentless in his pursuit of placing Lynda in that the red, white and blue apparel. So adamant was he, that he refused to produce the series, minus the Carter component. "Unless I get to cast this girl," he told ABC, "you can forget it. She is Wonder Woman. She resembles her exactly, she can pull it off, and there's just no point in doing it without her."

Carter was actually one of the many who tested for the first Wonder Woman film lead, which eventually went to Crosby. "I didn't even get a call back for that one," she says. Then, approximately eight or nine months hence, when Cramer was set to revamp the concept, Carter did hear the telephone ring, and an interview for a second pilot was scheduled.

"I walked in," she recalls of the session, "expecting, of course, that anyone who was anyone in television would be there. And they were, the whole gang: Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, Suzanne Sommers, Kate Jackson, Lindsay Wagner, Cheryl Ladd. We all went to the same auditions, at the time. None of us had done that much, just a, couple of commercials and small parts on various shows. Kate was really the only one with any extensive experience [i.e. Dark Shadows, The Rookies]. The interesting thing is that we didn't have to do a cold reading, which I've never been too fond of, anyway. I never won a role from doing one. I'm terrible at them. I just freeze up."

No matter. Cramer had warmed up to an early screen test of Carter's, and told her it was unnecessary to audition on the spot. "So, I just went home," the actress remembers, "real up and excited. Here I was, this brand new actor, just starting out and studying, without anything but a couple of bit roles to my name, and Doug was ready to cast me in the lead for a series. He really went to bat for me, and I was thrilled."

As eventually was ABC, when the second Wonder Woman pilot became a hit. Periodic one-hour specials were spawned, and broadcast by the network who employed them as filler material for its other fantasy-female-adventure outing, The Bionic Woman (which was temporarily off the air while star Lindsay Wagner was recuperating from injuries received in an automobile accident).

Today, with many television shows becoming popular feature films (Mission: Impossible, The Brady Bunch), juxtaposed with the increasing economic stature and consumer recognition of women in every area of American society (read: lots of female moviegoers), and the growing visibility of motion picture lady-leads, a theatrical version of Wonder Woman can't be far away. "It's been in development at Warner Brothers for four or five years," says Cramer. "I tried to sell it myself on a number of occasions, but I kept on getting turneddown, because I haven't been known in the feature film world If Wonder Woman did return, who would Cramer cast in the lead?

"I would definitely go with an unknown," he replies. "I think it would be a huge mistake to go with someone like a Jennifer Aniston, God help us, or a Cameron Diaz, and put some well-known actress in that costume. The strategy must be as it was when we did the series with Lynda, who was unknown, or as when they remade Superman."

Cramer references both the film series beginning in 1978 with Christopher Reeve, and TV's Lois and Clark, which debuted in 1993 with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher, the latter of whom Cramer had known from her days as a dancing mermaid on The Love Boat, and who's Superman show he labels "the most stylish," which he feels "understood what the genre is all about."

It may be important to mention here that the majority of successful small-to-bigscreen translations, with the exception of Mission: Impossible (of course, Tom Cruise could star in a live-action version of Bambi, and make it a hit), were feature films that did not ignore the original actors who introduced classic characters to the viewing psyche. The bigscreen Maverick was a hit in 1994, partly because James Garner was invited to trot along (as Mel Gibson's dad). The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) made sure to include original clan members like Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Anne B. Davis and Florence Henderson.

Unlike Superman, whose screen image was initiated in movies (as two serials in 1948 and 1950 with Kirk Alyn), continued on TV (with George Reeves, 1951 to 1957), returned to the big screen (with Christopher Reeve), came back to television as Superboy (in 1988 with John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher sharing the role) and with Lois and Clark (Cain in 1993), and now being readied again for theatrical release with Nicolas Cage in the title role, Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman was the first screen image of the classic character, and to not involve her in some capacity would be a slap in the face of fans. Moreover, she's alive, healthy and seemingly as ageless as Diana Prince.

So what about it? Would Lynda slip back into the Wonder Woman outfit for a feature film version? "You never know how things will turn or what's around the comer," she says with an air of mystery.

In either a feature film or new TV-reunion rendition of Wonder Woman, what new fold would Carter introduce? Would she play it super-hip, like Lois and Clark? "I love what they did with that show," she's says of its self-effacing content and the Hatcher/Cain chemistry. "It's was so fresh, the way they explored the characters' development. That's what I wanted to do with Wonder Woman. When we first did the series, I always wanted to do more episodes concentrating on her other sides. I mean, she never really got lonely. I really wanted to show more of how she missed her family. So if I would ever do it again, I would have her establish some real friendships, outside of those she worked with."

Though in a two-part segment called "The Boy Who Knew Her Secrets", Wonder Woman bonded with an alien who saw past her Diana-guise. "Yeah," Carter says, "that was always one of my favorite episodes. I always asked if we could do more like that one, which wasn't so predictable."

Still, Lynda made her mark as Wonder Woman, good humor and all. "Sometimes," she says, "people come up to me and ask me to do the 'twirl' [the magic twist Prince-iple that allowed for the transformation into Wonder Woman]. And I still get mail, fairly consistently, about the show."

As when, recently, she received "a wonderful letter" from a woman who, as part of a college thesis, named Lynda's show as the inspiration for her career. "She came from an underprivileged background," Carter explains of the co-ed, "and she went out and attained what she wanted in life, she said, because of Wonder Woman. And it all stemmed back from when she first watched the show as a little girl, when the ideas of who she wanted to be, coupled with her determination to be that person as an adult, were just forming. I was overwhelmed."

With such happenstances, the actress views her experience of Wonder Woman, and all that it entails, as a phenomenon unto itself, one in which she feels privileged to have been involved. She enjoyed doing the series, she says, especially the stunts, which demanded a physical regimen with daily work-outs on a trampoline. She notes that she loved "that twinkle- in-your-eye kind-of-humor," referring to the show's laugh with the audience musing, signified by its animated opening-credit sequence. "We never made fun of anything," she adds, "but we just rather had fun with the material."

Carter also says she's grateful for everything that the show has allowed her to do as a performer. "Wonder Woman gave me my start," she freely admits. "She was the big hand up that helped me to realize all of my dreams, and all of the things that have happened, subsequently, with my career [singing, TV-movies, videos, an exclusive contract with cosmetics giant Maybelline). I feel extremely lucky to have had the kind of healthy career that I have, especially because of the stereotyping that some actors go through once they are first known as a particular character. Some times they are not allowed to grow and be known for other roles. Fortunately, I was allowed to branch out."

"I give her a lot of credit," Doug Cramer asserts. "She did break the stereotypical mold of being known just as one character. She now has established herself as an actress, beyond the show."

Carter is, in fact, so at peace with Wonder Woman, that it makes you wonder about her secret for happiness. "It's all about love," she says. "I know that may sound clichéd, but what it all comes down to is being there for people during the hard times, when you think you're about to die, or if your spirit is about: to break from grief or from some horrible thing that has happened to you in your life.

"When I did Wonder Woman, there was a lot going on in my personal life. I was distracted, at times, from enjoying the show as much as I should have. I was in a very unhappy marriage [to manager Ron Samuels, who also guided the career of Lindsay Wagner]. I was in quite a controlling situation. That's not to say anything against him, because they were my choices, too. I was young and somewhat naive. Yet what I learned was substantial, and it was all because of Wonder Woman."



ERA DIANA-NAMICS

A premise run-down on the various versions of TV's Wonder Woman.

In March of 1974, ABC screened an initial pilot film, simply entitled, Wonder Woman, written by John D.F. Black and directed by Vincent McEveety. An updated reworking of Charles Moulton's 1940s comic, this film featured Cathy Lee Crosby and failed with critics and viewers. Diana Prince lived in contemporary times, had blonde hair, and appeared without her sanctioned wardrobe. She was athletic, but sans superpowers, or any clear definition of her double life as Wonder Woman and Diana Prince. She left Paradise Island to combat villains with Steve Trevor (played by Kaz Garaz) and the US government. She busted an international spy-ring headed by Abner Smith (Ricardo Montalban, of Fantasy Island and Star Trek fame), the least-distinguished-named villain of all time.

By November 1975, Lynda Carter became The New Original Wonder Woman, alongside Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, with the concept returning to Moulton's World War 11 era. Written by Stanley Ralph Ross and directed by Leonard Horn, this version had US Army pilot Trevor shot down by Germans in the Atlantic. He crash-lands on the uncharted Paradise Island, inhabited by eternally beautiful and amazingly agile Amazon women (who fled ancient Greece and Rome around 2000 BC to escape male domination). Princess Diana nurses Steve back to health, falls in love, gives him a drug to remove his memory of Paradise, and journeys to the States as Wonder Woman and her secret identity as Steve's yeoman. Before long, she's pitted against a Nazi spy ring out to steal a highly advanced bomb prototype.

By the fall of 1977, The New Original Wonder Woman left ABC (and periodic airings) for CBS, and became The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, where it became a regular weekly format reset in the 1970s, thirty-two years after the second World War. This third pilot, written by Stephan Kandel and directed by Alan Crossland, returned the immortal Diana Prince to Paradise Island, where a US aircraft carrying government agents crash-lands. Diana is startled as one of the passengers may be an ageless Steve Trevor. The agent is not Trevor, but his deadringer-of-a-son (also played by Lyle Waggoner), who works for the Inter-Agency Defense Command (IADC). Diana resurrects her duty as Wonder Woman, and teams up with Steve, Jr., assisted by talking computer IRA (a.k.a Internal Retrieval Associative), who knows her true identity.

-HJP



SPIN PRETTY TRIVIAL

THE THEME

You know a TV theme song is popular when it shows up as a parody in a major feature film parody (in this case, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, 1995). Composed by music maven Charles Fox (Love, American Style, Happy Days), Artie Kane and Norman Gimble, Diana's theme addicted viewers from the get go, with its pulsating beat, and Supremes-like vocalists, belting out action-moving lyrics. As Wonder Woman producer Doug Cramer sees it, "They don't make 'em like that anymore. The networks don't take the time When we did Wonder Woman, we had extraordinary people like Charlie [Fox]. Today, the networks are afraid to invest in a theme song, which helps to establish what a series is all about. And that's a shame, because I believe theme music is an important part of a show's success."

THE TWIRL

Upon viewing Steve Trevor in dire straits or some other evil undoing, Diana Prince would vanish to concealment, whirl into Wonder Woman, and reemerge, clad in a revealing costume and a cape designed with emblems of the American flag. The famous pirouette was Lynda Carter's idea. "I invented it. I was a dancer, and I said, 'Well, why don't I just spin aroundT And then they fiddled with the special effects. Early on [in the 1940s segments], you would see the clothes fly off, piece by piece. And then later, they added like a lightning bolt visual which would help Diana make the transition to Wonder Woman."

THE GET-UP

Before leaving Paradise Island (in mostly any era), Diana Prince takes along a golden sash to preserve her strength away from home, a golden lariat that will obey her every command, bullet-deflecting bracelets, and a boomerang tiara (which she would periodically wing in defense, when needed). In the Cathy Lee Crosby pilot, the lasso was some kind of pulley that wrapped around the inside of Wonder Woman's belt, as part of a brand, new costume design. Also in this version, the invisible plane was only mentioned and never seen. In the Lynda Carter versions, the bracelets and the belt were prominently identified as results of a Paradise Island-based, magic substance called femilium, which when molded into the golden waist-band, gifted the Amazonian with super-human strength and the wrist ornaments were instilled with the shell-averting ability.

THE PLANE, THE PLANE

As to Wonder Woman's invisible aircraft, with the Carter editions, respective models were styled to denote both the 1940s and 1970s periods. Yet after awhile, she says "we just lost the plane. It was too much trouble to film, and too expensive to keep on working with the blue screen" (the chroma-key special effect that allows backgrounds, set and prop pieces to appear or vanish).

-HJP



GUEST WINGER AND OTHER VISITORS

Many well-known and would-be stars appeared on Wonder Woman - Roddy McDowalll (Planet of the Apes), Eve Plumb and Robert Reed (The Brady Bunch, the latter with whom Lynda Carter would work again on her 1984 NBC series, Partners in Crime, which co-starred Loni Anderson), Tim O'Connor (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, NBC, 1979 to 1981), Robert Hays (of the 1980s Airplane films and ABC's 1986-1987's Starman series, spun-off from Jeff Bridges 1984 film), rock-throb Rick Springfield, Red Buttons, Fannie Flagg (former stand-up comedian and actress who penned the 1993 feature, Fried Green Tomatoes), and Henry Gibson (Laugh-In), the latter three of whom had previously worked with and befriended Wonder Woman producer Doug Cramer.

OTHER NOTABLE GUEST STARS

Debra Winger: Best known for her Oscar-nominated role in 1983's Terms of Endearment, Winger made a brief appearance in the 1940s Wonder Woman, playing Drusilla, younger super-sister to Diana Prince. Two guest shots inspired thousands of fan letters, sparking interest in a spin-off in which Doug Cramer thought "she would be fabulous. ABC wasn't that enthusiastic, and after people had seen Debra on film, they told her that she was going to be a big star. The last thing that she wanted to do was be stuck in a series." The idea of Wonder Girl as a solo series was then, as Cramer puts it, "allowed to die graciously.” “That's unfortunate," says Lyle Waggoner. "Debra was loads of fun, and played the part well. She was this tiny fifteen-year old, whose eyes were a little too close together, with a look of wonderment [no pun intended]. She came on the set, and was adorable. She was the kind of person where you would go up to her, tweak her nose, and say, 'Hey'a kid How ya'doing?"'

Cloris Leachman: Carolyn Jones, Morticia on TV's The Addams Family played her in subsequent 1940s episodes. Beatrice Straight (Network, 1977), played her in Carter's 1970s edition. Beverly Gill was the super mom in Cathy Lee Crosby's 1974 film. Cloris -Leachman, however, played the role in the first Carter pilot. She originally found fame as Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in a Phyllis spin-off of her own, and later as Granny in the 1990s theatrical version of The Beverly Hillbillies. On Wonder Woman, Lyle Waggoner says she "cracked me up. I always enjoyed watching her work. In one scene, she was all dressed in that crazy queen gown, burning incense and coughing. And that's exactly how she planned it. Here she was, doing this very serious scene, making sure the incense would get into her face at just he right time, and then coughing. She was so clever the way she would put herself on like that."

Roy Rogers: Rogers and real-life wife Dale Evans played onscreen marrieds in a 1940s episode of Wonder Woman, called "The Bushwackers," which centered around adoption - an issue close to the western icon's heart. As Lynda Carter explains, Rogers "wasn't really doing any acting at the time, but he decided to do Wonder Woman because of that story. He was such a kind man to work with. The whole crew just adored him. He would sing songs during breaks on the set, and we just had a great ol' time."

Lorene Yarnell: Yarnell starred with husband and performingpartner Robert Shields (a. k. a., the mime-duo Shields and Yarnell) in a 1970s Carter caper. Here, Yarnell played Dr. Irene Janus who, imbued with an astounding ability to manipulate thousands of insects, sets out to stop the manufacturer of a virulent pesticide. This segment, entitled "Formicida," and another 1970s episode, called "Knockout" (with Jayne Kennedy as a black Wonder Woman), were produced as series pilots but, according to Lyle Waggoner, "things didn't work out."

Ron Ely: Television's only successful Tarzan (1966 to 1969, NBC, then CBS), guested in a CBS Wonder Woman segment, labeled "The Deadly Sting." The two would appear together again in a 1995 episode of Carter's syndicated TV western, Hawkeye. "He was great to work with, both times," Carter professes of Ely (who, today, is also a successful novelist). "And he's such a big guy. In Hawkeye, he played this evil character who had to pick me up over this wagon. He lifted me up like I was a feather. I felt like I was just a piece of balsa wood."

Bubba Smith: He appeared in a CBS episode from 1978, called "Light-Fingered Lady," in which Carter's super girl was to fling him aside. At first, the ex-football star refused to play. "'No woman to toss me around,"' Lynda recalls Smith saying. "Aw, come on," she told him. "I'll show you what I'm going to do. it's kind of like a dip-under-your-shoulder-type-of-thing. You can just lift yourself up, sort of sideways."

"Well, when we did the scene," Carter laughs, "I flipped him over on his back, and everyone on the set was in shock."

Christopher George: Appeared with his wife Lynda Day George in the ABC 1940s segment, "Fausta, the Nazi Wonder Woman," in which Day was the lead. Doug Cramer had known her from his Paramount association with Mission: Impossible, in which she appeared from 1971 to 1973. Cramer first met Christopher when he oversaw production of the actor's 1970-71 ABC series, The Immortal, a show of which Cramer remains "particularly proud, one which was never really accepted, nor given a chance.

"Along with The Invaders [ABC, 1967 to 19681, the producer concludes, "The Immortal, more than anyone will ever realize, helped to lay the groundwork for much of what you see as science fiction on television today, including The X-Files."



THE RETURN OF WONDER WOMAN by Edward Gross

It seems pretty safe to assume that an entire generation of males spent a fair amount of their spare time in the 1970s "contemplating" Lynda Carter in her Wonder Woman outfit. Frankly, for many of those thoughtful fellows there probably isn't much they remember about the series beyond that and, perhaps, the show's rockin'' theme song. Nonetheless, there's something pleasantly exciting about the news that Wonder Woman will be returning to television in a brand new TV movie and potential series with a new actress in the lead role.

Particularly encouraging about this news is the fact that the new Wonder Woman has been developed by Deborah Joy Levine, the creative voice behind the most recent live-action updating of the Man of Steel, Lois & Clark: The New Adventure of Superman. As she proved with L&C, Levine most definitely has a knack for updating classic heroes for modern times. What follows is a brief interview that was conducted between casting calls for the new lady in red, white and blue.

Q: So, what is it with you and super heroes?

A: I guess I'm back. I didn't mean to come back, but I came back to Warner Bros. after working for some time at Columbia Sony Tri-Star. And, just as I arrived at Warner Bros., they purchased the rights to do Wonder Woman from D.C. Comics. I was here, they looked at me and they looked at DC Comics, and the rest is history. It was the same kind of deal: "come up with a new take on Wonder Woman." I think I've managed to do that. At least I hope it's a new take, because I never saw the old series and I decided I didn't want to watch it for the same reason I didn't want to read a lot of comic books: so I wouldn't be influenced. I guess my new take on Wonder Woman is that she is a Greek history professor, a young and very bright woman having a hard time juggling her personal life with her work. In this case, of course, her real work is being an Amazon warrior. It's like, "I'll save the world, come home, pop a Lean Cuisine in the oven and watch the soaps I taped this afternoon." In many ways, she's like a real woman, a real person. There's a lot less holier than thou, out to fight for truth and justice and more or less the fact that she's here, she did come from Paradise Island, she was sent by her mother who the gods spoke to and said you have to send an emissary. So she came here and that's sort of what she's supposed to do as Wonder Woman, but she's trying to live a normal life as Diana Prince, Greek history professor, as well.

Q: In Lois & Clark the super heroics were very much a backseat to the relationship. Where does that stand in Wonder Woman?

A: I think about the same. There's more concentration on her personal life, her love life. I think that she tries to live a normal life but she will kick ass when she has to. That will probably happen in episodes a couple of times because she does, of course, get herself into situations that she shouldn't. I think this is not a show that's totally about her fighting bad guys, and certainly not as it was in the comic books where she has to fight monsters. No monsters here.

Q: Was there any lesson from Lois & Clark that you think you're bringing to this show?

A: I think what worked on Lois & Clark is that it was really 50/50 or 60/40 relationship and stuff going on between them versus the bad guys they had to deal with. The problem with Lois & Clark in the later years is that there was less emphasis, when I left the show, on relationship, or very sort of hurried relationship to try and serve the plotline of the bad guys. I sort of think people want both. I guess if you were to compare this to something it would have to be Ally McBeal meets Xena. She can be like Xena and beat a group of people if she has to, but the traumas of her life as a single woman living in Los Angeles is probably the priority here.