SERIES WONDER WOMAN

Stanley Ralph Ross, responsible for the TV adaptation of the comic, and for the story of the Lynda Carter pilot, was formerly convoked during the 60s by executive producer William Dozier to re-write a script that was penned by Stan Hart and Larry Siegel for a pilot that never materialized except for a four-minute screen-test. 

Alan Crosland was the director with more episodes under his command totalizing 16 episodes; he was followed up by Richard Moder and Leslie H. Martinson with six and five episodes each respectively.

Anne Collins was the one who penned more episodes in the series with a total of 14, some of which were written by herself and some other co-written. She is followed by Stephen Kandel with 5 episodes and Brian McKay and Bruce Shelby with 4 episodes each. 

Kaz Garaz who played Steve Trevor in the Cathy Lee Crosby pilot, guest-starred in an episode of “The New Adventures of Wonder Woman”. It was “Going, Going, Gone” during the third season of the series, orthe second CBS season.

Lynda Carter was chosen out of a casting of 2,000 aspirants for the series’ leading role. 

During the first series Lynda Carter herself used to make her own stunts. After the series moved to CBS, her stunts were oftenly made by sisters Jeannie and Stephanie Epper, Kiffy O’Neal and Debbie Evans.

During the series first season and when the action was set in the forties, Wonder Woman had the ability to impost her voice and imitate someone else’s voice no matter if male or female, but it seems she lost that ability when she moved to CBS.

After the series moved to CBS, Wonder Woman’s invisible plane was no further seen, nor she traveled back to Paradise Island. Instead it seems she had the ability to communicate with her mother rubbing the ruby star in her tiara and using an ancient Greek mirror. But this was only seen in one episode and there was no further mention to it.

There was no flash of light in the original pilot nor in the following two specials when Diana whirled into Wonder Woman. Instead images of Diana and Wonder Woman where superposed and Wonder Woman appeared with her Diana Prince suit in her hands.

During season one, Wonder Woman had an alternate “De-Luxe” costume which consisted of a mini skirt and a cape; the skirt was no longer seen during her CBS years. The other costume’s change during the first season was that one she wore in the “The Bushwackers” episode which was some kind of horse-riding pants and a red blouse. The truth was that Roy Rogers put as a condition to appear as a guest star on that episode that Lynda Carter should use some more clothes on.

During her CBS years Wonder Woman had the ability to whirl into different costumes according to her needs. So we found her with an diving costume, and a motor-rider costume or a skate-board rider costume, which where the same diving costume adding a helmet according to the circumstances.

During the first season, to submit Wonder Woman it was necessary to take off her golden belt leaving her powerless. This was obviated during the CBS years, or at least no one took off her golden belt.

During the “Mind Stealers From Outer Space” episodes we learnt that Wonder Woman could travel through space transporting herself mentally and leaving her physical body.

According to the “Anschluss ‘77” episode Wonder Woman was 2227 years old.

Though everybody knows that Hyppolite is the name of the Amazon’s Queen Mother, it was never mentioned in the series, and everybody refers to her as "Queen" or simply "Mother" in case of Diana.

In the “Amazon Hot Wax” episodes Lynda appears posing like a singer. The two songs she performs during the episode are “Want To Get Beside You” and “Toto (Don’t It Feel Like Paradise)”, both released on her 1978 Epic album “Portrait”. 

Debra Winger who made an impressive career in Holywood, made her debut in the series, but she never mentions it in her resumé.

Three different actresses incarnated the Queen Mother of the Amazons. The first one was Cloris Leachman who only appeared in the pilot movie, then she was replaced by lovely Carolyn Jones (ex-Morticia Addams from “The Addams Family”) and then later by Beatrice Straight during “The New Adventures of Wonder Woman”.

During the "The New Adventures Of Wonder Woman" stock footage of several movies was used to "enhance" the series. In the beginning of "Mindstealers from Outer Space", the footage is from "This Island Earth." The footage of the submarine used in "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis", as well, as on "Going, Going, Gone" and "The Girl From Islandia" is in fact from the Seaview of "Voyage From The Bottom Of The Sea." Footage of Moonbase Alpha from "Space:1999" was used in the beginning of "Time Bomb." The film footage of the US Navy destroyer escort and it's deck scenes, (and the German U-boat,) which was often used in the WWII episodes of WW, as well as on "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis," is from the film "The Enemy Below." The U-boat was only used in the first season of WW.

Christa Helm, the actress who played Rita in the "Beauty On Parade" episode, was found murdered in a party in July 1977.

The "Wonder Woman" series is referenced in several movies and TV shows: "Three on a Date" (1978); "George and Mildred" (1980); "Purojukut A-ko" (1986); "Tales of the City" (1993); "To Wong Foo, Thanks For everything, Julie Newmar" (1995); "Desperately Seeking Helen" (1999) and in "The Story of Us," in one of the scenes, it can clearly be seen a huge Wonder Woman poster as portrayed by Lynda Carter.

The "Wonder Woman" series is spoofed in a couple of movies: "They Call Me Bruce?" (1982); "Spice World" (1997).

In Argentina: It was premiered by Buenos Aires’ local Channel 13 on Wednesday, August 31, 1977 at 9:00 P.M. in a special segment known as “La Noche Del Trece”, and under the Spanish title of “La Mujer Maravilla” which is a literal translation of “Wonder Woman”. The following week the series started its run on Thursdays at the same time. It was screened three times in different years on TV, of which the last one was from December 1987 through September 1988 in Buenos Aires’ local Channel 11. During 1977, it was the year’s top ranked series with an average rating rate of 31.9 points defeating “The Bionic Woman” whose average was 21.7 pts. and “Charlie’s Angels” which had an average of 22 pts. It was shown from the beginning of 1995 until mid-1996 through cable channel “Uniseries” which also covers most of South America.

In England: Only “The New Adventures of Wonder Woman” was shown through BCC1 from July 1 through August 26 1978, then later from December 23, 1978 to May 4, 1979, and finally from January 12 through June 17, 1980. The broadcast order was different to that of the original American one. “The Return of Wonder Woman” was shown last on January 1, 1981. It is currently seen through satellite network “Sky One” on Saturdays at 2:00 P.M.

In France: It was broadcast by network “Antenne 2” under the same title during 1978 with a re-run in 1982.

In Germany: It was last seen in 1993 beginning its run on February through RTL channel on Mondays at 10:00 P.M.

In Latin America: It was widely seen all over Latin America including Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. It is currently seen (since September 1995) through cable channel “The Warner Channel” which covers from Mexico to Argentina. It is part of a segment called “Super-Hero Saturday” or “Sábados de Super-Héroes” for which the original time slot was on Saturdays from 9:00 to 10.00 P.M. Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro time. On the second run the "Wonder Woman" time slot covered Sundays from 01:00 A.M. thru 02:00 A.M., and the current and third run it's Mondays thru Fridays at 10:00 A.M., and Mondays at 01:00 A.M. Lately it has been shown since September 2004 in the Argentinean-based retro channel for all of Latin America Mondays thru Fridays at 8:00 P.M. Buenos Aires time, or 9.00 Mexico City time.

In the United States: After its original run, it was seldom seen in re-runs on local channels. It was then widely shown by the FX network since June 1994 with an unprecedented success. The last time it's been shown it was on the Sci-Fi Network, and later in the TV Land network.

In Europe: It was seen a few years ago through satellite network “Sky One” on Saturdays at 2.00 P.M. Since March 2001 it's shown again on the European "Sci-Fi Channel".

In Spain it was shown thru the channel Tele 5 during 1997 and 1998.

In Australia: It's been seen through the TV1 cable network since May 1998. Since March 2000, it has been shown on commercial TV station NINE, every Sunday from 1:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M.

In Japan: The ABC season was called "Soratobu tetuwan bijo Wonder Woman" ("Flying Iron-Armed Beauty Wonder Woman") and the CBS season was known as "Akai senpuu Wonder Woman" ("Red Whirlwind Wonder Woman"). It was premiered on national television in the "Saturday Movie Theater" on June 28, 1977 on Asahi TV. The series was broadcasted by Fuji TV every day during the new year at 11:55 PM. Airdates and series run order in Japan for the ABC season: "Beauty On Parade" (12/26/77) / "Wonder Woman vs. Gargantua" (12/28/77) / "The Feminum Mystique Part I" (12/28/77) / "The Feminum Mystique Part II" (12/29/77) / "The Last Of The Two Dollar Bill" (12/30/77) / "Judgement From Outer Space Part I" (1/2/78) / "Judgement From Outer Space Part II" (1/3/78) / "The Pluto File" (1/4/78) / "Formula 407" (1/5/78) / "The Bushwackers" (1/6/78) / "Wonder Woman In Hollywood" (1/9/78) / "Fausta, The Nazi Wonder Woman" (1/10/78) / "Wonder Woman Meets Baroness Von Gunther" (1/11/78). Broadcast dates for the first CBS season were as follows: "The Return of Wonder Woman" (10/12/80) / "Anschluss '77" (10/12/80) / "Knockout" (10/19/80) / "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis" (10/26/80) / "I Do, I Do" (11/02/80) / "The Queen and The Thief" (11/9/80) / "The Man Who Made Volcanoes" (11/16/80) / "Mind Stealers From Outer Space, Part I" (11/23/80) / "Mind Stealers From Outer Space, Part I" (11/30/80) / "The Deadly Toys" (12/7/80) / "Light-Fingered Lady" (12/14/80) / "Screaming Javelins" (12/21/80) / "Diana's Disappearing Act" (12/28/80) / "IRAC Is Missing" (1/4/81) / "Flight To Oblivion" (1/11/81) / "Seance of Terror" (1/18/81) / "The Man Who owuldn't Tell" (1/25/81) / "The Girl From Ilandia" (2/1/81) / "The Murderous Missile" (2/8/81) / "Death In Disguise" (2/15/81). Episodes "The Man Who Could Move The World" and "The Pied Piper" were not broadcasted. In Autumn of 1982 it was shown as a rerun on the Kyoto Braodcasting Station.

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