|
Diana convinces her mother, the Queen of the Amazons, that
she must once again venture into the outside world as Wonder
Woman...
As live-action TV versions of a popular comic books go, Lynda
Carter's Wonder Woman is fairly respectable. The character
is more faithfully adapted than The Incredible Hulk was.
Although there are elements of self-mockery, as demonstrated
by the garish title graphics, the camp theme song and comic-style
on-screen captions, the tone is not out-and-out comedy, as
was the case with Adam West's Batman. While it does
show its age a bit - well, OK, a lot - the series is nowhere
near as toe-curlingly bad as the tedious live-action Spider-Man
series.
The 70-minute pilot episode, The Return of Wonder Woman,
is a mixed bag, however. Perhaps because the story needed
to be stretched beyond the usual 46 minutes, the plot meanders
and lacks focus. Basically, the story deals with a mad-as-toast
global terrorist, Dr Solano (Fritz Weaver), who wants to hijack
planes carrying materials for a new nuclear power station,
which will aid him in his plan to take over the world... or
something like that. The narrative takes a few detours of
dubious relevance, including such unlikely ingredients as
a double of the hero Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner) and a naff-looking
robot. There's also a fight between Diana Prince (the unforgettable
Lynda Carter) and another woman that strays into sexploitation
territory when their clothes start getting torn.
Lyle Waggoner is not the world's greatest actor (but then
you try exclaiming "A robot!" without sounding silly). Still,
it's refreshing to see a male character being constantly rescued
by a woman for a change.
Diana and Steve are assigned to investigate a reunion of
Nazis in South America...
Of
course, these so-called New Adventures of Wonder Woman
are now pretty old, but back in 1977 the title was intended
to differentiate this series from the earlier The New Original
Wonder Woman, which also starred Lynda Carter and Lyle
Waggoner but was set during World War II.
Anschluss '77 is the first of two episodes on this
DVD that refer back to wartime events. The notion of cloning
Hitler is not a new one, even back in '77, but the idea remains
irresistible, and the plot progresses much more swiftly than
that of the pilot.
A Japanese man with awesome telekinetic powers seeks revenge
on Wonder Woman for her role in the Second World War...
The
opening moments of The Man Who Could Move the World
set up false expectations as our heroes view the playback
of a rocket launch. But then we are told that the subject
of their briefing is actually the one-time rocket scientist
Dr Theodore Wilson (Lew Ayres), who is now experimenting in
the field of psychokinesis.
Ultimately,
this becomes another episode that harks back to Wonder Woman's
wartime adventures, which makes you wonder why the production
team bothered relocating the character to a contemporary setting
in the first place. It's not rocket science!
The extras - a photo gallery and a few text features - don't
inspire much wonderment, but at such a low price you can't
really grumble.
Richard McGinlay
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal!
(Please note all prices exclude P&P - although
Streets Online charge a flat £1 fee regardless
of the number of items ordered). Click on the
logo of the desired store below to purchase
this item.
|
|
|
£12.99
(Amazon.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£10.99
(Blackstar.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£9.49
(Streetsonline.co.uk) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
