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 IN
YOUR satin tights, fighting for you rights...' The words to the series'
memorable theme say it all. Welcome to the world of Wonder Woman, a
classic of its time, and a series well worth another look for fans of
all things camp and sparkly |
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A
brief history: after an abortive and ven dry attempt to bring Wonder
Woman to the small screen - 1974's TV movie starring Cathy Lee Crosby as
a 1970s high-kicking version of the Amazon - ABC television in America
tried again a year later with The New Original Wonder Woman. casting
former Miss USA Lynda Carter as Dian( Prince/Wonder Woman. One series
with tongue-in-cheek World War Two setting was produced before ABC
relinquished the rights to CBS, who updated the shoe to the Seventies
for a further two years under the title The New Adventures o' Wonder
Woman. |
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The original series was completely engaging right from the start, with
severa elements guaranteed to have an impression able youth returning
for more. The title se quence keen to exploit the character'scomic strip
origins. had an animated Won-der Woman breaking free from binding ropes
and running towards the camera, gradually becoming live action as she
approaches - literally the comic strip made flesh. The comic strip motif
was extended to the episodes themselves, with little 'Meanwhile, back at
the secret Nazi headquarters'-type captions announcing a change of
location or scene. The theme music was toe-tappingly catchy. Then there
were the fabulous gimmicks - Won-der Woman's truth lasso, her
bullet-deflecting bracelets, her invisible plane, not to mention the
hugely memorable image of her spinning around to the background of a
huge explosion to transform from Diana Prince into Wonder Woman. With
the updating of the show to the 1970s a lot of the naive innocence was
lost, but further engaging gimmicks were added - the obligatory
know-it-all super computer IRAC (Information Retrieval Associative
Computer) and its little offspring Rover, a mobile chicken-like machine
which apparently doubled as a letter rack. |
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Effects, eedless to say, were a little on the basic side. But this was
the late Seven-ties and. ås long as you can watch the show in context,
you'll probably be able to forgive the small Wonder Woman doll in her
see-through plane, the fantastic life-size dum-mies that our heroine
carries around when required to lift a large bad guy. and the occasional
plastic rifle that she bends. |
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Central to the whole show was, of course, Lynda Carter. Her lack of
acting experience was of benefit to the show. allowing the naive and
instinctive nature of Princess Diana to shine through. Her partnership
with Lyle Waggoner - ironically second choice to Adam West for Batman -
as Steve Trevor cemented the success of the series, with both stars
pitching their performances exactly right. The series was put on
'temporary hold' in 1979. It remains, however, entertaining and
memorable: very much of its time but extremely watchable today. |
Date and Issue: Special #17 / March 2001.
