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Wonder Woman (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Wonder Woman is an American
television series based on the DC Comics
comic book superhero of the same name
. Starring Lynda Carter
as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince
and Lyle Waggoner
as Steve Trevor
, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979.
It had its origins in a November 1975 American television movie entitled The New, Original Wonder Woman starring Carter. It followed a 1974 TV movie entitled Wonder Woman starring blond actress Cathy Lee Crosby
, who neither resembled the superhero character nor exhibited any super powers. In this second movie, set during World War II
, Carter as Wonder Woman matched the original comic book character. Its success led the ABC television network
to order two more one hour episodes; both of which aired in April 1976. That success led ABC to order an additional 11 episodes which the network aired weekly (for the most part) during the first half of the 1976-1977 television season. The episodes ran on Wednesday nights between October 1976 and February 1977.
Wonder Woman had achieved solid ratings on ABC for the weeks it had aired during the 1976-1977 TV season. But the network was still reluctant to renew the series for another season. Wonder Woman was a period piece, and as such, it was more expensive to produce than a series set in the present day. Also, ABC thought that the 1940s-setting limited the possible storylines, with the major villains being Nazis. ABC did not renew the series so Jerry Lieder, then-president of Warner Bros. Television, went to CBS
with the notion of shifting the series to the present-day 1970s, which would cost less to produce and allow for more creative storylines. CBS agreed and picked up the show in 1977 and it continued its run for another two seasons.
television series led Batman producer William Dozier
to commission a pilot script by Stan Hart
and Larry Siegel
. Batman writer Stanley Ralph Ross
was then asked to perform a re-write, after Hart and Siegel's script was deemed unsuitable. A portion of the pilot, under five minutes in length, was filmed under the title Who's Afraid of Diana Prince? The piece starred Ellie Wood Walker (Robert Walker Jr.
's wife) as Diana Prince, Linda Harrison as Diana's "Wonder Woman" alter ego and Maudie Prickett
as Diana's mother.
This pilot episode was never broadcast and the project was taken no further. The pilot has been circulated on the Internet and is of interest to Planet of the Apes
fans for the early appearance of Linda Harrison, who would later go on to play Nova in the first two films of that series.
. Written by John D. F. Black
, the TV movie resembles the Wonder Woman of the "I Ching" period. Wonder Woman (Cathy Lee Crosby
) did not wear the comic book costume, demonstrated no superhuman abilities and her "secret identity" of Diana Prince was not all that secret. The film follows Wonder Woman, assistant to government agent Steve Trevor (Kaz Garas) as she pursues a villain named Abner Smith (Ricardo Montalban
) who has stolen a set of code books containing classified information about U.S. government field agents.
The pilot aired originally on March 12, 1974 and was repeated on August 21 of that year. Ratings were described as "respectable but not exactly wondrous." ABC did not pick up the pilot, although Crosby would later claim she was offered the series that was eventually given to Lynda Carter. An ABC spokesperson would later acknowledge that the decision to update the character was a mistake and the pilot itself has been labeled one of the "hundred dumbest events in television."
Scripting duties were given to Stanley Ralph Ross
, who was instructed to be more faithful to the comic book and to create a subtle "high comedy." Ross set the pilot in World War II, the era in which the original comic book began.
After an intensive talent search, Lynda Carter
, who had done a few prior acting jobs, and was a former beauty pageant winner and Bob Hope
USO cast member, was chosen to play the lead role. For the role of Steve Trevor, the producers chose Lyle Waggoner
, who at the time was better known as a comedic actor after several years co-starring in The Carol Burnett Show
. He was also known to Ross as having been one of the leading candidates to play Batman a decade earlier. Waggoner was also considered a pin-up hunk, having done a semi-nude pictorial in the first issue of Playgirl
.
Although the pilot followed the original comic book
closely, in particular the aspect of Wonder Woman joining the military under the name Diana Prince, a number of elements were dropped. The comic book Diana obtains the credentials of a look-alike nurse. Although the pilot shows Diana briefly as a nurse at one point, Diana takes on the identity of a Navy enlisted First Class Petty Officer Yeoman. As it was set during World War II, many of the episodes involved Nazis
and war events.
Steve Trevor was played by Waggoner with his natural brown hair. The character Steve Trevor was blond in the comic.
One change, which was later to become synonymous with the show, was the transformation of Diana Prince into Wonder Woman by spinning. During the filming of the pilot, producers were trying to figure out a way to show how Diana Prince became Wonder Woman, when Carter suggested that she do a spin. The spinning transformation was later incorporated into the comics and into animated appearances such as Justice League Unlimited
.
During season one, Wonder Woman has the ability to impersonate anyone's voice, which came in handy over the telephone. She does not use this ability during the second and third seasons.
Unlike the earlier pilot, the comic book origins of the character were emphasized by the retention of the character's traditional costume and original setting and through the use of comic book elements. The series' title sequence was animated in the form of a series of comic book panels featuring Wonder Woman performing a variety of heroic feats. Within the show, location and exposition were handled through comic book-style text panels. Transitions between scenes and commercial breaks were marked by animated starburst sequences.
) bails out during an air battle over the Bermuda Triangle
, location of Paradise Island
. The island is home to the Amazons: beautiful, ageless women with great strength, agility, and intelligence. Amazon princess Diana (Lynda Carter
) rescues the handsome Trevor and helps nurse him back to health. Her mother, the Amazon queen (Cloris Leachman
), decrees that Olympic-style games shall be held to select one Amazon to return Trevor back to America, but she forbids her daughter Diana, the princess, to participate. Diana states that since she is not allowed to participate, she does not want to be present for the games and will take a retreat to the other side of the island. The games are held with participants wearing numbers, and a blond amazon wearing a mask. During the events, the blond Amazon shows exceptional skills and she ties for first with another amazon. To break the deadlock, the "Bullets and Bracelets" event is decided as the tiebreaker, where each of the women take turns shooting at the other; the one being shot at must deflect the bullets with their bulletproof bracelets. The blond woman wins the event, injuring her opponent's arm. When she is pronounced the winner, she removes her mask and wig and reveals that she is Diana. Her mother relents and allows her to go to America.
Diana's costume features emblems of America, the land in which she will be returning Steve Trevor. A golden belt will be the source of her strength and power while away from Paradise Island. She has her bullet-deflecting bracelets and also receives a golden lasso
which is unbreakable and forces people to obey and tell the truth when bound with it. Diana, as Wonder Woman, flies to Washington, D.C.
in an invisible plane
. After dropping Trevor off at a hospital, the heroine stumbles upon a bank robbery, which she stops. A theatrical agent who sees her in action offers to help make her bullets and bracelets act a stage attraction. Diana is hesitant, but needing money in this new society, she agrees.
Meanwhile, Trevor's civilian secretary Marcia (Stella Stevens
) is a double agent
for the Nazis. She seeks to aid top spies in killing Trevor and opposing this new threat, Wonder Woman. Her first attempt is arranging for an accomplice to fire a machine gun
at Wonder Woman during her stage act. Later, as spy activities increase, Trevor leaves the hospital but gets in a fight and is captured, prompting his "nurse" Diana to come to his rescue. Wonder Woman defeats Marcia in an extended fight sequence in the War Department
. Having defeated Marcia, Wonder Woman thwarts a Nazi pilot who had plans to bomb the Brooklyn Navy Yard
by using her invisible plane, and she rescues Trevor. With Marcia and the spy ring defeated, the film closes as Trevor and General Blakenship talk about Trevor's new secretary: Yeoman Diana Prince, Wonder Woman in disguise.
success and ABC quickly authorized the production of two one-hour specials which aired in April 1976. These three productions would later be considered part of the show's first season.
These three special episodes scored strong ratings and ABC ordered a further 11 episodes for the new 1976-1977 TV season. The network began airing the episodes at the beginning of the TV season in October 1976 up until mid-February 1977. After mid-December 1976, they were airing on a weekly basis.
Few changes were made between the specials and the series itself. One change was the introduction of an explosion effect to the twirling transformation of Diana Prince to Wonder Woman.
The transformation in the original specials was performed by fading between two synchronized shots, both filmed with an overcranked camera to create a slow motion
effect. A twirling Diana's hair would fall loose around her shoulders and she would quickly dissolve into Wonder Woman who would then be holding the garments she just had on, mainly her full Navy uniform. She then would stow the items somewhere, usually in a closet or locker, and then exit. This sequence was too time consuming and expensive to maintain. A camera would need to be locked off (secured in place), and Carter's costume, make up and hair altered between shooting the two segments which made up the sequence. But the explosion sequence saved both time and money as it joined the two segments, allowing each segment to be shot independently without need for a locked off camera, and it could be shot at practically any point in the shooting schedule. The explosion and its adjoining "thunderclap" noise had the added benefit of making must-see moments through the episode.
Unlike the comic character, the TV transformation gave Diana the ability to change to Wonder Woman in virtually any location. At first, like in the television specials, Diana must stow her clothing and return to the site to change back; later, she simply changes quickly and her clothing is not mentioned. The television visual effect of the magic instant transformation behind the ball of light and explosion was more convenient for the television continuity. The "thunderclap" sound effect is only audible to the audience and perhaps to Diana. She used this change in front of or near a dormitory of sleeping women, in adjoining office spaces, backstage at a live show, in the woods near a crowd of soldiers, and other locations where she would have attracted attention if the "boom" were heard by them. To change back, as she showed in one episode, she merely does a slow about face spin with her arms extended and is instantly Diana, with no special effect.
Another change involved the relationship between Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman. The romantic aspect was part of the series during the original special episodes and somewhat into the weekly series, but in season two and three it was downplayed and the characters were basically good friends who cared about each other. Executive producer Douglas S. Cramer noted the difficulties in maintaining long-term romantic tension between leads, because the resolution of that romantic tension often results in the cancellation of the series.
The series began at a time when violence on television was under intense scrutiny. As a result, Wonder Woman was less frequently seen punching or kicking people the way she did in the early episodes. The character would usually be shown pushing and throwing enemies, or using creativity to get them to somehow knock themselves out (jumping high into the air causing pursuers to collide). Despite the wartime circumstances, the character never resorted to deadly force. The only exception occurs in the pilot film when she sinks a Nazi submarine with an airplane. Although the fate of the sailors aboard is never actually specified, it is assumed they were killed.
Wonder Woman herself was occasionally defeated by the Nazis, but she always came back in the second half of the show to save the day. Among the things the Nazis used on her were chloroform
and poison gas. Her enemies also occasionally stole away her belt (leaving her without her super strength), her lasso, and her bracelets (leaving her defenseless against gunfire), but Wonder Woman always recovered the stolen component by the end of the episode.
Two stories (one of them a two-parter) introduced Debra Winger
as Diana's younger sister, Druscilla, aka Wonder Girl
, in one of Winger's first on-screen roles. On these occasions, Druscilla came from Paradise Island to deliver a message to Diana and stayed for a visit. When the show switched to CBS for its second and third seasons, the Druscilla character was neither seen nor referred to again. Wonder Woman herself remained active from 1942 to 1945, and was honored by Franklin D. Roosevelt
for her work against Axis attacks.
to offer Wonder Woman to CBS
. While ABC dithered, CBS agreed to pick up the series on condition that the setting be updated to the modern day (the 1970s). Changing the title to The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, the series was nudged away from sophisticated humor towards a more conventional action/adventure take.
Princess Diana, ageless because of her Amazon nature, returns from Paradise Island after a 35-year absence to become an agent with the Inter-Agency Defense Command (IADC), a CIA
-like organization fighting criminals and the occasional alien invasion
. Infrequent references to her World War II experiences were made in early episodes.
Changes in the first CBS season included Wonder Woman's costume being redesigned. Her invisible plane became a jet aircraft, though it only appeared a couple of times. Lyle Waggoner returned playing the role of his ABC character's son, Colonel Steven Trevor, Jr.. This Trevor had as a child heard his late father's stories of adventures with Wonder Woman during World War II. The producers chose to downplay and later drop any suggestion that Steve and Wonder Woman were anything more than good friends.
The theme song was re-written to remove references to the Axis, reflecting the series' new present-day setting, and the action depicted in the opening's animated comic book panels was similarly updated. Beginning with the episode "The Man Who Made Volcanoes", the opening title sequence was changed again to an instrumental
and more traditional "action scenes" opening.
Trevor was promoted to a desk job midway through the season, leaving Diana to go out on solo missions in most episodes. By this time, Diana was no longer simply Trevor's assistant, but was now an accomplished solo agent.
Unlike the first season on ABC, Wonder Woman's sources of power (her belt, bracelets and lasso) were never stolen by villains in any of the CBS episodes. In the Season Two episode "The Man Who Could Move The World," she voluntarily removes her magical devices in order to persuade an adversary to trust her.
Several other changes occurred as the second season progressed. Joe Atkinson (Normann Burton), a weathered IADC agent, was dropped after the ninth episode, as was a regular segment showing Diana, Steve and Joe receiving orders from a "Charlie-like
" character who is heard but never seen. Midway through the season, this was replaced with regular briefings by IRAC (Information Retrieval Associative Computer) (more informally known as "Ira"), the IADC's super-intelligent computer, who deduces Diana's secret identity
. Saundra Sharp joined the cast as Eve, Steve's assistant (the job held by Diana at the start of the season). Towards the end of the season, in the episode "IRAC is Missing", a small mobile robot called Rover was added for comic relief. An offshoot of IRAC who performs duties such as delivering coffee and sorting mail, Rover speaks with a high-pitched voice, occasionally makes "Beep Beep" sounds (borrowed from the Road Runner cartoon series) and, like IRAC, is aware that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman are one and the same.
The character of Wonder Woman maintained her no-kill policy, although there were exceptions: in the episode "Anschluss '77" she destroys a clone
of Adolf Hitler
, and another episode made reference to a villain who was believed drowned following a previous unseen encounter with Diana/Wonder Woman.
Multiple new costumes were introduced. Wonder Woman still wears the red-white-and-blue cape for special events or appearances from the first season, but without the skirt. A diving costume is introduced, a navy-blue lycra body suit with matching gloves, gold bracelets, flat boots, and a flexible tiara is featured whenever aquatic activity is necessary. The same costume, with low-heeled boots and a gold helmet, is used to ride motorcycles. At first, Wonder Woman would change into these newer costumes by performing an extended spin in which she first changed from her Diana Prince clothes into the standard Wonder Woman costume, then continued to spin until a second light explosion occurred and she would appear in one of the newer outfits. However, this extended spin device was dropped for expediency and Diana was then able to change into any of the Wonder Woman costumes in a single change.
beat, the use of the robot 'Rover' was increased for comic effect, and episodes began to revolve around topical subjects like skateboard
ing, roller coaster
s and the environment. Teenagers or young adults were commonly used as main characters in the plot lines. The animated stars used before and after commercial breaks were dropped, and Eve disappeared from the cast although she is mentioned once or twice. Episodes during this season showed Diana on assignments by herself far more often (particularly outside of Washington DC), and Steve Trevor had become Diana's boss and was seen less.
Wonder Woman was also allowed to become a bit more physical in the third season and could now be seen throwing the occasional punch or kicking. The writers also came up with several unusual ways for Diana to execute her spinning transformation, the most notable instances occurring in the episode "Stolen Faces" in which Diana makes the change while falling off a tall building, and the episode "The Pied Piper" in which she changes while strapped into a spinning chair.
Diana also exhibited other powers, particularly in the episode "The Deadly Dolphin" in which she is shown communicating telepathically
with animals and generating bursts of an unknown form of energy to scare away a killer shark.
In the final episode produced, the writers attempted a "relaunch" of sorts by having Diana reassigned to the Los Angeles
bureau of IADC with a new supporting cast. Though done in anticipation of a fourth season, the revamp was seen for only a single episode ("The Man Who Could Not Die"), which set up an assortment of new supporting characters. These included Dale Hawthorn, Diana's new IADC boss, Bryce Candall, a genetically enhanced man who was indestructible (the titular character of the episode), as well as a streetwise youngster named T. Burton Phipps III who inexplicably is allowed to hang out at the IADC. Also added to the cast was a chimpanzee
who, like Bryce, is also indestructible. This episode was actually the last to be produced and should have ended the third season, but was shown out of sequence with the two-parter "The Phantom of the Roller Coaster".
CBS ultimately decided to strengthen its sitcom
offerings and no further episodes of Wonder Woman were produced.
with Warner Home Video
released the series on VHS videotapes through their Wonder Woman: The Collector's Edition series from the late 1990s-early 2000s, which was only available through mail order subscriptions. Each volume contained two episodes. The Season Two episodes "The Pied Piper" and "Flight To Oblivion," however, were not included on the VHS releases.
Warner Home Video has released all three seasons of Wonder Woman on DVD in various regions.
released a line of dolls in 1976 to correspond with the TV series. The boxes originally featured Lynda Carter
as Wonder Woman on the front flap. However, in 1977, her image on the box was dropped and the line was revamped with only the Wonder Woman doll being featured and revised. DC Direct
(which creates merchandise for DC Comics) released a Wonder Woman statue in 2007 which is based upon the image created by Lynda Carter
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television series based on the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
comic book superhero of the same name
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
. Starring Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter
Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ....
as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince
Diana Prince
Diana Prince is a fictional character created by Charles Moulton and Harry G. Peter. Appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, she debuted in Sensation Comics #1 and serves as the civilian and secret identity of the superhero Wonder Woman.-Overview:Through the popularity of her Wonder...
and Lyle Waggoner
Lyle Waggoner
Lyle Wesley Waggoner is an American actor and former model, best known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1974 and for playing the role of Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman television series from 1975 to 1979...
as Steve Trevor
Steve Trevor
Steve Trevor is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics, as the primary love interest of Wonder Woman. He first appeared in All Star Comics #8 .-Golden Age:...
, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979.
It had its origins in a November 1975 American television movie entitled The New, Original Wonder Woman starring Carter. It followed a 1974 TV movie entitled Wonder Woman starring blond actress Cathy Lee Crosby
Cathy Lee Crosby
Cathy Lee Crosby is an American actress. She achieved TV and film success in the 1980s and was a co-host of the television series That's Incredible!. -Personal life:...
, who neither resembled the superhero character nor exhibited any super powers. In this second movie, set during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Carter as Wonder Woman matched the original comic book character. Its success led the ABC television network
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
to order two more one hour episodes; both of which aired in April 1976. That success led ABC to order an additional 11 episodes which the network aired weekly (for the most part) during the first half of the 1976-1977 television season. The episodes ran on Wednesday nights between October 1976 and February 1977.
Wonder Woman had achieved solid ratings on ABC for the weeks it had aired during the 1976-1977 TV season. But the network was still reluctant to renew the series for another season. Wonder Woman was a period piece, and as such, it was more expensive to produce than a series set in the present day. Also, ABC thought that the 1940s-setting limited the possible storylines, with the major villains being Nazis. ABC did not renew the series so Jerry Lieder, then-president of Warner Bros. Television, went to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
with the notion of shifting the series to the present-day 1970s, which would cost less to produce and allow for more creative storylines. CBS agreed and picked up the show in 1977 and it continued its run for another two seasons.
Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?
The first attempt to translate Wonder Woman to the small screen occurred in 1967. The success of the BatmanBatman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
television series led Batman producer William Dozier
William Dozier
William Dozier was an American film and television producer and actor.He began in the film industry...
to commission a pilot script by Stan Hart
Stan Hart
Stan Hart is an comedy writer with many television credits. His work also appeared for decades in Mad Magazine. He was closely associated with another MAD writer, Larry Siegel; though the two wrote separately for the magazine, both contributed to the off-Broadway musical The Mad Show, and later to...
and Larry Siegel
Larry Siegel
Larry Siegel is a comedy writer who was one of the "Usual Gang of Idiots" at Mad from 1958 to 1990.At Mad, Siegel had an aggressive writing style that did not shy away from being occasionally provocative or inflammatory to make a point. He was fond of attacking purveyors of bad taste, such as...
. Batman writer Stanley Ralph Ross
Stanley Ralph Ross
Stanley Ralph Ross was raised in Brooklyn New York, starting his career in advertising, then soon going to work as a writer and actor on various television shows, most notably cult-classics such as the 1960s Batman series starring Adam West and also The Monkees...
was then asked to perform a re-write, after Hart and Siegel's script was deemed unsuitable. A portion of the pilot, under five minutes in length, was filmed under the title Who's Afraid of Diana Prince? The piece starred Ellie Wood Walker (Robert Walker Jr.
Robert Walker Jr.
Robert Hudson Walker, Jr. is an American actor.He was born in Queens, New York and is the elder son of actors Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones. A younger brother, Michael Walker, died in 2007 ....
's wife) as Diana Prince, Linda Harrison as Diana's "Wonder Woman" alter ego and Maudie Prickett
Maudie Prickett
Maudie Prickett was an American film and television character actress.Born in Portland, Oregon, Prickett often portrayed maids, busybodies, spinsters, and nosy neighbors...
as Diana's mother.
This pilot episode was never broadcast and the project was taken no further. The pilot has been circulated on the Internet and is of interest to Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (1968 film)
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
fans for the early appearance of Linda Harrison, who would later go on to play Nova in the first two films of that series.
Wonder Woman (1974)
Wonder Woman's first appearance in live-action television was a television movie made in 1974 for ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. Written by John D. F. Black
John D. F. Black
John D. F. Black is a scriptwriter, TV producer, and TV director. He has had a long and varied career in television, but he is best known for his work on the TV series Star Trek in 1966, and its sequel series, Star Trek: The Next Generation during the 1980s.Black was the associate producer for ten...
, the TV movie resembles the Wonder Woman of the "I Ching" period. Wonder Woman (Cathy Lee Crosby
Cathy Lee Crosby
Cathy Lee Crosby is an American actress. She achieved TV and film success in the 1980s and was a co-host of the television series That's Incredible!. -Personal life:...
) did not wear the comic book costume, demonstrated no superhuman abilities and her "secret identity" of Diana Prince was not all that secret. The film follows Wonder Woman, assistant to government agent Steve Trevor (Kaz Garas) as she pursues a villain named Abner Smith (Ricardo Montalban
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
) who has stolen a set of code books containing classified information about U.S. government field agents.
The pilot aired originally on March 12, 1974 and was repeated on August 21 of that year. Ratings were described as "respectable but not exactly wondrous." ABC did not pick up the pilot, although Crosby would later claim she was offered the series that was eventually given to Lynda Carter. An ABC spokesperson would later acknowledge that the decision to update the character was a mistake and the pilot itself has been labeled one of the "hundred dumbest events in television."
Pilot
Though not successful at the first attempt, ABC still felt a Wonder Woman series had potential, and within a year another pilot was in production. Keen to make a distinction from the last pilot, producers gave the pilot the rather paradoxical title The New Original Wonder Woman.Scripting duties were given to Stanley Ralph Ross
Stanley Ralph Ross
Stanley Ralph Ross was raised in Brooklyn New York, starting his career in advertising, then soon going to work as a writer and actor on various television shows, most notably cult-classics such as the 1960s Batman series starring Adam West and also The Monkees...
, who was instructed to be more faithful to the comic book and to create a subtle "high comedy." Ross set the pilot in World War II, the era in which the original comic book began.
After an intensive talent search, Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter
Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ....
, who had done a few prior acting jobs, and was a former beauty pageant winner and Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
USO cast member, was chosen to play the lead role. For the role of Steve Trevor, the producers chose Lyle Waggoner
Lyle Waggoner
Lyle Wesley Waggoner is an American actor and former model, best known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1974 and for playing the role of Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman television series from 1975 to 1979...
, who at the time was better known as a comedic actor after several years co-starring in The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
. He was also known to Ross as having been one of the leading candidates to play Batman a decade earlier. Waggoner was also considered a pin-up hunk, having done a semi-nude pictorial in the first issue of Playgirl
Playgirl
Playgirl is a print quarterly adult magazine published in the United States that is marketed mainly to heterosexual women, but has also gained a considerable gay following...
.
Although the pilot followed the original comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
closely, in particular the aspect of Wonder Woman joining the military under the name Diana Prince, a number of elements were dropped. The comic book Diana obtains the credentials of a look-alike nurse. Although the pilot shows Diana briefly as a nurse at one point, Diana takes on the identity of a Navy enlisted First Class Petty Officer Yeoman. As it was set during World War II, many of the episodes involved Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and war events.
Steve Trevor was played by Waggoner with his natural brown hair. The character Steve Trevor was blond in the comic.
One change, which was later to become synonymous with the show, was the transformation of Diana Prince into Wonder Woman by spinning. During the filming of the pilot, producers were trying to figure out a way to show how Diana Prince became Wonder Woman, when Carter suggested that she do a spin. The spinning transformation was later incorporated into the comics and into animated appearances such as Justice League Unlimited
Justice League Unlimited
Justice League Unlimited is an American animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and specifically based on the Justice League superhero team, it is a direct sequel to the...
.
During season one, Wonder Woman has the ability to impersonate anyone's voice, which came in handy over the telephone. She does not use this ability during the second and third seasons.
Unlike the earlier pilot, the comic book origins of the character were emphasized by the retention of the character's traditional costume and original setting and through the use of comic book elements. The series' title sequence was animated in the form of a series of comic book panels featuring Wonder Woman performing a variety of heroic feats. Within the show, location and exposition were handled through comic book-style text panels. Transitions between scenes and commercial breaks were marked by animated starburst sequences.
Synopsis
During World War II, American pilot Major Steve Trevor (Lyle WaggonerLyle Waggoner
Lyle Wesley Waggoner is an American actor and former model, best known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1974 and for playing the role of Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman television series from 1975 to 1979...
) bails out during an air battle over the Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....
, location of Paradise Island
Themyscira
Themyscira is a fictional island nation in the DC Comics universe that is the place of origin of Wonder Woman and her sister Amazons. Known as Paradise Island since Wonder Woman and the island's first appearance in All Star Comics #8 , it was renamed "Themyscira" with the character's February...
. The island is home to the Amazons: beautiful, ageless women with great strength, agility, and intelligence. Amazon princess Diana (Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter
Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ....
) rescues the handsome Trevor and helps nurse him back to health. Her mother, the Amazon queen (Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
), decrees that Olympic-style games shall be held to select one Amazon to return Trevor back to America, but she forbids her daughter Diana, the princess, to participate. Diana states that since she is not allowed to participate, she does not want to be present for the games and will take a retreat to the other side of the island. The games are held with participants wearing numbers, and a blond amazon wearing a mask. During the events, the blond Amazon shows exceptional skills and she ties for first with another amazon. To break the deadlock, the "Bullets and Bracelets" event is decided as the tiebreaker, where each of the women take turns shooting at the other; the one being shot at must deflect the bullets with their bulletproof bracelets. The blond woman wins the event, injuring her opponent's arm. When she is pronounced the winner, she removes her mask and wig and reveals that she is Diana. Her mother relents and allows her to go to America.
Diana's costume features emblems of America, the land in which she will be returning Steve Trevor. A golden belt will be the source of her strength and power while away from Paradise Island. She has her bullet-deflecting bracelets and also receives a golden lasso
Lasso of Truth
The Lasso of Truth is a fictional weapon wielded by DC Comics superheroine Wonder Woman, Princess Diana of Themyscira. It is usually referred to as the Magic Lasso or Golden Lasso and forces anyone it captures to obey and tell the truth....
which is unbreakable and forces people to obey and tell the truth when bound with it. Diana, as Wonder Woman, flies to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in an invisible plane
Invisible Plane
The Invisible Plane is the fictional DC Comics superheroine Wonder Woman's venerable, though now seldom-used, mode of transport. It first appeared in Sensation Comics #1 The Invisible Plane (sometimes referred to as the Invisible Jetplane, Invisible Jet, and Robot Plane) is the fictional DC Comics...
. After dropping Trevor off at a hospital, the heroine stumbles upon a bank robbery, which she stops. A theatrical agent who sees her in action offers to help make her bullets and bracelets act a stage attraction. Diana is hesitant, but needing money in this new society, she agrees.
Meanwhile, Trevor's civilian secretary Marcia (Stella Stevens
Stella Stevens
Stella Stevens Stella Stevens Stella Stevens (born October 1, 1938 is an American film, television and stage actress, who began her acting career in 1959 and starred in such popular films as The Nutty Professor, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Silencers, The Ballad of Cable Hogue and The...
) is a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
for the Nazis. She seeks to aid top spies in killing Trevor and opposing this new threat, Wonder Woman. Her first attempt is arranging for an accomplice to fire a machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
at Wonder Woman during her stage act. Later, as spy activities increase, Trevor leaves the hospital but gets in a fight and is captured, prompting his "nurse" Diana to come to his rescue. Wonder Woman defeats Marcia in an extended fight sequence in the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
. Having defeated Marcia, Wonder Woman thwarts a Nazi pilot who had plans to bomb the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...
by using her invisible plane, and she rescues Trevor. With Marcia and the spy ring defeated, the film closes as Trevor and General Blakenship talk about Trevor's new secretary: Yeoman Diana Prince, Wonder Woman in disguise.
Season 1
The pilot film, aired on November 7, 1975, was a ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
success and ABC quickly authorized the production of two one-hour specials which aired in April 1976. These three productions would later be considered part of the show's first season.
These three special episodes scored strong ratings and ABC ordered a further 11 episodes for the new 1976-1977 TV season. The network began airing the episodes at the beginning of the TV season in October 1976 up until mid-February 1977. After mid-December 1976, they were airing on a weekly basis.
Few changes were made between the specials and the series itself. One change was the introduction of an explosion effect to the twirling transformation of Diana Prince to Wonder Woman.
The transformation in the original specials was performed by fading between two synchronized shots, both filmed with an overcranked camera to create a slow motion
Slow motion
Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger....
effect. A twirling Diana's hair would fall loose around her shoulders and she would quickly dissolve into Wonder Woman who would then be holding the garments she just had on, mainly her full Navy uniform. She then would stow the items somewhere, usually in a closet or locker, and then exit. This sequence was too time consuming and expensive to maintain. A camera would need to be locked off (secured in place), and Carter's costume, make up and hair altered between shooting the two segments which made up the sequence. But the explosion sequence saved both time and money as it joined the two segments, allowing each segment to be shot independently without need for a locked off camera, and it could be shot at practically any point in the shooting schedule. The explosion and its adjoining "thunderclap" noise had the added benefit of making must-see moments through the episode.
Unlike the comic character, the TV transformation gave Diana the ability to change to Wonder Woman in virtually any location. At first, like in the television specials, Diana must stow her clothing and return to the site to change back; later, she simply changes quickly and her clothing is not mentioned. The television visual effect of the magic instant transformation behind the ball of light and explosion was more convenient for the television continuity. The "thunderclap" sound effect is only audible to the audience and perhaps to Diana. She used this change in front of or near a dormitory of sleeping women, in adjoining office spaces, backstage at a live show, in the woods near a crowd of soldiers, and other locations where she would have attracted attention if the "boom" were heard by them. To change back, as she showed in one episode, she merely does a slow about face spin with her arms extended and is instantly Diana, with no special effect.
Another change involved the relationship between Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman. The romantic aspect was part of the series during the original special episodes and somewhat into the weekly series, but in season two and three it was downplayed and the characters were basically good friends who cared about each other. Executive producer Douglas S. Cramer noted the difficulties in maintaining long-term romantic tension between leads, because the resolution of that romantic tension often results in the cancellation of the series.
The series began at a time when violence on television was under intense scrutiny. As a result, Wonder Woman was less frequently seen punching or kicking people the way she did in the early episodes. The character would usually be shown pushing and throwing enemies, or using creativity to get them to somehow knock themselves out (jumping high into the air causing pursuers to collide). Despite the wartime circumstances, the character never resorted to deadly force. The only exception occurs in the pilot film when she sinks a Nazi submarine with an airplane. Although the fate of the sailors aboard is never actually specified, it is assumed they were killed.
Wonder Woman herself was occasionally defeated by the Nazis, but she always came back in the second half of the show to save the day. Among the things the Nazis used on her were chloroform
Chloroform
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHCl3. It is one of the four chloromethanes. The colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid is a trihalomethane, and is considered somewhat hazardous...
and poison gas. Her enemies also occasionally stole away her belt (leaving her without her super strength), her lasso, and her bracelets (leaving her defenseless against gunfire), but Wonder Woman always recovered the stolen component by the end of the episode.
Two stories (one of them a two-parter) introduced Debra Winger
Debra Winger
Mary Debra Winger is an American actress. Three-times an Oscar nominee, she received awards for acting in Terms of Endearment, for which she won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in 1983, and in A Dangerous Woman, for which she won the Tokyo International Film Festival...
as Diana's younger sister, Druscilla, aka Wonder Girl
Wonder Girl
Wonder Girl is the name of three fictional characters featured as superheroes in comic books and other media produced by DC Comics. The original was a younger version of Wonder Woman...
, in one of Winger's first on-screen roles. On these occasions, Druscilla came from Paradise Island to deliver a message to Diana and stayed for a visit. When the show switched to CBS for its second and third seasons, the Druscilla character was neither seen nor referred to again. Wonder Woman herself remained active from 1942 to 1945, and was honored by Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
for her work against Axis attacks.
Season 2
Despite strong ratings, ABC stalled on commissioning a second season causing the show's frustrated production company Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
to offer Wonder Woman to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. While ABC dithered, CBS agreed to pick up the series on condition that the setting be updated to the modern day (the 1970s). Changing the title to The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, the series was nudged away from sophisticated humor towards a more conventional action/adventure take.
Princess Diana, ageless because of her Amazon nature, returns from Paradise Island after a 35-year absence to become an agent with the Inter-Agency Defense Command (IADC), a CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
-like organization fighting criminals and the occasional alien invasion
Alien invasion
The alien invasion is a common theme in science fiction stories and film, in which extraterrestrial life invades Earth either to exterminate and supplant human life, enslave it under a colonial system, harvest humans for food, steal the planet's resources, or destroy the planet altogether.The...
. Infrequent references to her World War II experiences were made in early episodes.
Changes in the first CBS season included Wonder Woman's costume being redesigned. Her invisible plane became a jet aircraft, though it only appeared a couple of times. Lyle Waggoner returned playing the role of his ABC character's son, Colonel Steven Trevor, Jr.. This Trevor had as a child heard his late father's stories of adventures with Wonder Woman during World War II. The producers chose to downplay and later drop any suggestion that Steve and Wonder Woman were anything more than good friends.
The theme song was re-written to remove references to the Axis, reflecting the series' new present-day setting, and the action depicted in the opening's animated comic book panels was similarly updated. Beginning with the episode "The Man Who Made Volcanoes", the opening title sequence was changed again to an instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
and more traditional "action scenes" opening.
Trevor was promoted to a desk job midway through the season, leaving Diana to go out on solo missions in most episodes. By this time, Diana was no longer simply Trevor's assistant, but was now an accomplished solo agent.
Unlike the first season on ABC, Wonder Woman's sources of power (her belt, bracelets and lasso) were never stolen by villains in any of the CBS episodes. In the Season Two episode "The Man Who Could Move The World," she voluntarily removes her magical devices in order to persuade an adversary to trust her.
Several other changes occurred as the second season progressed. Joe Atkinson (Normann Burton), a weathered IADC agent, was dropped after the ninth episode, as was a regular segment showing Diana, Steve and Joe receiving orders from a "Charlie-like
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
" character who is heard but never seen. Midway through the season, this was replaced with regular briefings by IRAC (Information Retrieval Associative Computer) (more informally known as "Ira"), the IADC's super-intelligent computer, who deduces Diana's secret identity
Secret identity
A secret identity is an element of fiction wherein a character develops a separate persona , while keeping their true identity hidden. The character also may wear a disguise...
. Saundra Sharp joined the cast as Eve, Steve's assistant (the job held by Diana at the start of the season). Towards the end of the season, in the episode "IRAC is Missing", a small mobile robot called Rover was added for comic relief. An offshoot of IRAC who performs duties such as delivering coffee and sorting mail, Rover speaks with a high-pitched voice, occasionally makes "Beep Beep" sounds (borrowed from the Road Runner cartoon series) and, like IRAC, is aware that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman are one and the same.
The character of Wonder Woman maintained her no-kill policy, although there were exceptions: in the episode "Anschluss '77" she destroys a clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, and another episode made reference to a villain who was believed drowned following a previous unseen encounter with Diana/Wonder Woman.
Multiple new costumes were introduced. Wonder Woman still wears the red-white-and-blue cape for special events or appearances from the first season, but without the skirt. A diving costume is introduced, a navy-blue lycra body suit with matching gloves, gold bracelets, flat boots, and a flexible tiara is featured whenever aquatic activity is necessary. The same costume, with low-heeled boots and a gold helmet, is used to ride motorcycles. At first, Wonder Woman would change into these newer costumes by performing an extended spin in which she first changed from her Diana Prince clothes into the standard Wonder Woman costume, then continued to spin until a second light explosion occurred and she would appear in one of the newer outfits. However, this extended spin device was dropped for expediency and Diana was then able to change into any of the Wonder Woman costumes in a single change.
Season 3
With the beginning of the third season, further changes were made to target the show at a teenage audience. The title theme was re-recorded again to give it a discoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
beat, the use of the robot 'Rover' was increased for comic effect, and episodes began to revolve around topical subjects like skateboard
Skateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
ing, roller coaster
Roller coaster
The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...
s and the environment. Teenagers or young adults were commonly used as main characters in the plot lines. The animated stars used before and after commercial breaks were dropped, and Eve disappeared from the cast although she is mentioned once or twice. Episodes during this season showed Diana on assignments by herself far more often (particularly outside of Washington DC), and Steve Trevor had become Diana's boss and was seen less.
Wonder Woman was also allowed to become a bit more physical in the third season and could now be seen throwing the occasional punch or kicking. The writers also came up with several unusual ways for Diana to execute her spinning transformation, the most notable instances occurring in the episode "Stolen Faces" in which Diana makes the change while falling off a tall building, and the episode "The Pied Piper" in which she changes while strapped into a spinning chair.
Diana also exhibited other powers, particularly in the episode "The Deadly Dolphin" in which she is shown communicating telepathically
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
with animals and generating bursts of an unknown form of energy to scare away a killer shark.
In the final episode produced, the writers attempted a "relaunch" of sorts by having Diana reassigned to the Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
bureau of IADC with a new supporting cast. Though done in anticipation of a fourth season, the revamp was seen for only a single episode ("The Man Who Could Not Die"), which set up an assortment of new supporting characters. These included Dale Hawthorn, Diana's new IADC boss, Bryce Candall, a genetically enhanced man who was indestructible (the titular character of the episode), as well as a streetwise youngster named T. Burton Phipps III who inexplicably is allowed to hang out at the IADC. Also added to the cast was a chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
who, like Bryce, is also indestructible. This episode was actually the last to be produced and should have ended the third season, but was shown out of sequence with the two-parter "The Phantom of the Roller Coaster".
CBS ultimately decided to strengthen its sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
offerings and no further episodes of Wonder Woman were produced.
Home video releases
Columbia HouseColumbia House
The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by the Columbia Records division of CBS, Inc. as an umbrella for its mail-order music clubs, the primary incarnation of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. It had a significant market presence in the 1980s and early...
with Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
released the series on VHS videotapes through their Wonder Woman: The Collector's Edition series from the late 1990s-early 2000s, which was only available through mail order subscriptions. Each volume contained two episodes. The Season Two episodes "The Pied Piper" and "Flight To Oblivion," however, were not included on the VHS releases.
Warner Home Video has released all three seasons of Wonder Woman on DVD in various regions.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete 1st Season | 14 | June 29, 2004 | All 14 episodes (including the pilot) with commentary by Lynda Carter Lynda Carter Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman .... and executive producer Executive producer An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production... Douglas S. Cramer Douglas S. Cramer -Career:Cramer began his career in advertising, serving as a broadcast supervisor on Lever Brothers and General Foods programs at Ogilvy & Mather in New York City. In 1962, he became Director of Program Planning at ABC Television... ; New documentary retrospective. |
| The Complete 2nd Season | 22 | March 1, 2005 | 21 episodes plus a feature-length season premiere; Bonus documentary: "Revolutionizing a Classic: From Comic Book to Television." |
| The Complete 3rd Season | 24 | June 7, 2005 | Audio commentary by Lynda Carter on "My Teenage Idol is Missing"; Featurette:"Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Feminist Icon." The initial Region 1 release included a bonus DVD containing the first episode of the Captain Marvel Captain Marvel (DC Comics) Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2... television series Shazam! Shazam! (TV series) Shazam! is a half-hour live-action television program produced by Filmation , based upon DC Comics' superhero Captain Marvel.... , "The Joy Riders". |
Merchandising
Mego CorporationMego Corporation
The Mego Corporation was a toy company that dominated the action figure toy market during most of the 1970s. The Mego Corporation was founded in the early 1950s by David Abrams and was mostly known prior to 1971 as a producer of dime store toys.-Golden age:...
released a line of dolls in 1976 to correspond with the TV series. The boxes originally featured Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter
Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ....
as Wonder Woman on the front flap. However, in 1977, her image on the box was dropped and the line was revamped with only the Wonder Woman doll being featured and revised. DC Direct
DC Direct
DC Direct is the collectibles division of DC Comics, the Time Warner subsidiary that publishes comic books and licenses characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, Batgirl and Hawkgirl. DC Direct produces statues, props, replicas and prints for the direct market, a...
(which creates merchandise for DC Comics) released a Wonder Woman statue in 2007 which is based upon the image created by Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter
Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ....
.