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The original character of Wonder Woman was created by William
Moulton Marston and first appeared in 1941 in issue eight
of All Star Comics. As a character Wonder woman is
different to the other female super heroes, most of which,
by just the fact of their name, were never allowed to grow
up. It may be that the comic book writers found it easier
to suggest and write for a Super Girl or Bat Girl than they
did for a fully grown woman. Though Marston has said that
he intended her to be a feminist character and for the most
part subsequent incarnations have always portrayed her as
a strong independent woman...
Lynda
Carter, who played Diane Prince/Wonder Woman, was a virtual
unknown prior to staring in the show. An ex beauty queen who
had done guest appearances in Starsky and Hutch, this
was her moment of fame, after this it was back to the occasional
guest appearance. Her most recent work saw her playing Pauline
in The Dukes of Hazzard film (2005). Lyle Waggoner,
who plays Steve Trevor, had been working successfully for
the best part of 13 years before landing the part in Wonder
Woman. Arguably his most successful, internationally recognised,
part. Like Carter he was to follow this performance with appearances
in shows that not many would have seen or heard of; Return
to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt
anyone?
The
television series ran from 1975 to 1979. This wasn't the fist
attempt at a television series, in 1967, following on from
the success of the campy Batman series the same company
produced a short test film which was never picked up or aired.
This
was the third and last season of Wonder Woman and contains
all 24 episodes, spread over four discs. Set in contemporary
1970s, the action had been moved away from the World War II
premise of the first season, with Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
now working for the IADC. This meant that the level of sleuthing
went up and the use of the super hero element retreated. Wonder
Woman must contend with everything from aliens to made art
thieves.
The
show was a lot less campy than Batman, but still seems
to have lacked the conviction to take itself seriously. However,
in truth, the idea of a woman running round in a stars and
stripes bodice and pants is a bit of a hard sell as serious
drama. Like most long running series some of the stories are
interesting whilst others are pure filler. This appears to
be in line with most shows of the time. With the success of
Batman, there seems to have been a move away from the
more serious fare of The Outer Limits and The Twilight
Zone, into more relaxed, family orientated shows. Times
were turbulent in the USA and so happy shows were produced
with the tide of shiny happy people only changing with the
introduction of Dallas in 1978. This may go some way
in explaining why this was the last season, with the public
wanting more reality and especially miserable rich people.
The
third season set comes with hard plastic mount. I have to
say I'm not a great fan of this kind of packaging - it tends
to hold onto the discs a little too well. So much so that
in the past I have snapped a Doctor Who DVD in half
trying to get it out.
A
nice extra that comes with the third season is the pilot of
Shazam, a show which ran for 28 episodes from 1974
to 1976 - a real piece of twaddle which I'm surprised made
it passed its first episode. It's both badly acted and scripted
and I can only presume was included to make Wonder Woman
look better in comparison.
So
should you buy it? For fans and those wishing to complete
their collection, sure why not? For the casual buyer, it must
be remembered that this was a show of its time, what Batman
was to the drugged fuelled psychedelic culture of the '60s,
Wonder Woman was distinctly all disco.
Charles
Packer
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$27.99
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£17.88
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