The New Original Wonder Woman

Considering that it's budget was miniscule compared to the Superman and Batman films, this TV movie is fun from the get-go. It is true to the spirit and tone of the 1940s comic, has a great supporting cast and, of course, Lynda Carter. Yes, it's campy at times, but it's in good fun. Cloris Leachman is not exactly Hippolyta, the warrior queen, but she has her fine moments too, especially when her masked daughter wins the tournament.

After the failure of the first pilot starring Cathy Lee Crosby, ABC makes another attempt to bring Wonder Woman to the screen, but this time with a script as faithful to the comic as possible. Lynda Carter looks great in the Wonder Woman costume. The story is extremely funny. Already from the colorful presentation of comic-style cartoons and the powerful musical theme, the production tells us that we are about to see a cartoon with real actors. It is evident that the production still did not know very well what the path to follow was and they leaned towards a product in the style of Batman 1966, presenting rather clumsy Nazis and some absurd and even ridiculous lines that luckily they corrected quickly in the subsequent development of the film. Series and was given a more serious tone. Despite that, the pilot is an excellent and fun start to the adventure.

When Wonder Woman first appeared in the comics in 1941, her adventures at times seemed to resemble more of a Three Stooges adventure than an action hero, considering all the cartoonish and stereotyped villains she battled. That's what this film is like. It's interesting to see a comedic actor like Henry Gibson (from TV's Laugh-In) playing a Nazi who attaches messages to the legs of carrier pigeons. He's got to be the shortest Nazi I've ever seen! Also watch for Red Buttons, playing an undercover Nazi spy, yell "Heil Hitler!" into the phone with absolutely no trace of a German accent. Despite her history of comedy films, Cloris Leachman does an acceptable job in the role of Queen Hippolyte. The real star, of course, is Lynda Carter wearing that tight-fitting costume. Watch her shake her booty!!! I got a videotape of the movie from a guy in New York named G. Cocchiola. You can e-mail him at basestar1@aol.com

That said, if you're looking for tongue-in-cheek comic book fun, ala the 1966 Batman film with Adam West, this one is for you.

I remember the time as a child watching Dukes Of Hazard, Space 1999 and the most closely to Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, although The Bionic Woman is closest. Were as the Six Million Dollar Man is still believable and watchable it becomes really fast clear that this was a low budget series based on old comics and even filmed in comic style but with a lot of cheesy and campy moments.

But the pilot starts rather good with some real footage of WOII and especially on the part of the Nazis. It becomes clear that the Nazis want to destroy a hangar full of new techniques. But the US army picks up what is going to happen and sends out Steve Trevor to destroy the German bomber. But things go wrong in the first campy moments (Germans speaking English and explaining let's talk English so no German can understand our secret mission). and Steve crashlands on an uncharted island in the Bermuda triangle. An island full of women. But the queen wants to send Steve back to the US asap because otherwise the females could fall in love and could have sex. Guess who has to take Steve back, Wonder Women, in her (cheesy) invisible airplane.

The score makes it all watchable but it's more a big laughter due the fight scene's and the way the story goes but cult classic, don't get me wrong. No high tec here to see or special effects. Pure old school entertainment.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Catch the full first season on DVD....A genuine TV classic! The special effects used in this series were unheard of in this era ! The filming was pretty bad but the quality was good....The term 3 gapper originated with this series and Lynda...I'd rather watch Lynda Carter than Arnold the putz any day...Bullets and bracelets, sex and chutzpah, oh my ! The plots are corny but pretty much follow the comic book routines...Good light entertainment and a healthy dose of what a really gorgeous female can do for the production ! I'll bet pantyhose sales went off the charts when this show aired...Even Stella Stevens looked fabulous in the first episode but she wasn't up to Lynda's beauty !