User reviews

It's hard to believe we were close to having a Wonder Woman television series but it got struck down at the first hurdle.

With just a pilot made and the show not picked up by any network we'll never know if it would have lasted.

At a guess I'd say no, in fact I'd say hell no.

Adrianne Palicki does her best and is a decent enough actress but what she's working with it would have taken a miracle to be considered decent entertainment.

Shoddily written, highly paint by numbers and just all round bad. What makes it worse is it's a prime example of why Hollywood has updated characters costumes to make them more realistic. Here Wonder Woman looks ridiculous and I failed to take her seriously at all! Can you imagine if for example Jeremy Renner played Hawkeye in his original comic book attire? Exactly.

What makes it worse is that this doesn't feel like the pilot, this isn't an origin story and just drops you straight into the world of Diana Prince and what a crappy world it is.

I'm glad this failed as I could imagine it damaging the careers of everyone involved.

The Good:

Adrianne Palicki

The Bad:

The suit really is terrible in live action

Show logo is tacky

Poorly made

Things I Learnt From This Pilot:

Wonderwoman never said to merchandise her tits

Wonder Woman has no issue killing

I have read many reviews citing poor acting, poor writing, shoddy camera work... As a made-for-television pilot, I found all of these to be acceptable. It isn't a feature film after all.

I also had no trouble seeing Adrianne Palicki in the role. She has the right proportions, figure, and face to closely match the classic DC comic heroine.

But where it all falls short - profanely so - is in the complete abandonment of her Story. They seem to have ditched her Greek Mythology origin and made into some kind of female version of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Even her bracers (forged by the god Haephestus for her mother, Hipolita) and lasso aren't divine artifacts, but technological gadgets paid for by marketing clothing lines and action figures.

The show would probably have been picked up if they had used a different outfit and name, but the outcry from the comics community was loud and clear - Don't break the story!

Okay, here's everything I have to say/write about the 2011 Wonder Woman pilot.

1. Adrianne Palicki is superb! I'm a fan. I've been a fan since I first saw her in Supernatural and South Beach. I liked her because she is uncommonly sexy and very beautiful. But when I saw her in Friday Night Lights, I quickly realised that she is a supremely talented actress. She brings something to the table that is rare: she makes you believe that there is a lot going on behind her eyes. The most obvious example of this quality is the late Peter Falk. You watch him as Columbo and you believe that he is thinking about... something/everything. Palicki does this in Friday Night Lights and she does it here. So... she's beautiful and sexy and she has - I suppose - gravitas. Or whatever. Here, in the WW pilot she totally nails it.

2. The writer (David E. Kelley) has a specific take on Wonder Woman and runs with it. His shows tend to be shows about the law, his shows tend to be about lawyers. So... he drops WW into a world of laws, corporations, big bucks, legalities/illegalities and - in this one hour of TV - explains why she exists in this world. And, to be honest, it works. It's not MY take on Wonder Woman, but - after seeing this - I would be willing to take a leap and watch HIS take on the character.

3. The action scenes are good.

4. This is not an origin story. This is a case-of-the-week story. This is exactly how I would start a WW series (should anyone care).

5. Some things DON'T work. Sometimes the dialogue makes you cringe. There are a couple of bad scenes, in my humble opinion. The hospital scene, the two scenes with Steve Trevor, the applause scene, etc. Scenes where you roll your eyes. But, because I liked lots of other things, I'm willing to let the bad stuff slide. And, to be honest, even when I was cringing at something, I could appreciate what David E. Kelley was trying to do. It's not perfect, but it has a clarity of vision sadly lacking in the Bionic Woman or Knight Rider reboots. I HATED those. They had no redeeming qualities. This, I didn't hate. It had redeeming qualities. I could see what it was trying to be. And, because it succeeded on a few points (especially the fantastic lead casting), I was willing to go the extra mile and accept the other (weaker) stuff.

6. I liked the main character, and wanted to root for her. The most obvious comparison here is Bionic Woman from 2007. That show was dark and edgy and stuff. And... I never found a reason to like the main character. In one episode she set fire to her kitchen. That baffled me. What was I supposed to do? Laugh at her? Pity her? What? Diana Prince, as written by David E. Kelley, is interesting and likable. She's dark and edgy, I suppose, but she's more than that. She's arrived in our world and established herself an interesting set-up. And she's decided to 'go it alone' for reasons that make sense to her. And kinda to the audience as well. She's self-sacrificing and brave and annoyed by injustice and other stuff that would make me root for her on a weekly basis. Kelley's script has scenes that could, in the hands of a lesser actress, come off as self-pitying and unattractive. Palicki rises above that. Rises about the (sometimes flawed) material and makes us care, even when the on-screen image is something as uninspired as Diana at home alone, with her cat (!!), watching Ryan Gosling's weep-fest The Notebook.

It's not perfect. But it aims high and it's not bad. Worse pilots have made it to TV and spawned series that ran for years! 8/10

Fair enough, as a bloke in his late thirties I admit it's probably impossible anyone would be able to totally fill Lynda Carter's red boots as Wonder Woman for me. However when I saw the pictures of Adrianne Palicki in the outfit I laughed.And several months later when I had finished laughing I decided to check out the pilot.

Turns out I had been a bit unfair on Ms. Palicki for, although no Lynda,for me she is the best thing about this pilot.Let me rephrase that - for me she is the only good thing about this pilot. Oh, O.K. the action isn't bad.

But the rest is just really really depressing. The dialogue is truly awful,the plot terrible, the supporting cast stinks. I'm not a major fan of David E Kelley so I expected to have to put up with people banging on about the law a lot (they do). What I wasn't prepared for was Wonder Woman's total disregard for the law. But the thing is this isn't the character of Wonder Woman that anyone - anyone - would recognise.

I had never seen Adrianne Palicki before but thought she had both presence and charisma.I suspect I shall see her again in the future. And with the success of the Avengers re-igniting talk of Wonder Woman on the Big Screen, maybe best for all concerned we just pretend this didn't happen...

This version of WW has turned her from fighting Nazis to being a Nazi. Call that hyperbole if you like but the fact remains that they have cast aside every shred of honor that DC heroes have with this drivel.

In the movie Hancock, Nancy Grace chastises Hancock by saying "Nobody is above the law". In this series they have her praising WW for her illegal and unconstitutional actions. When the police ask her to give over the suspect the first line we ever hear her say is "If I give him to you he will 'lawyer up'".

DC heroes never interfered with the criminal justice system. They groused about it but they realized that couldn't replace it. This version shows us a Wonder Woman who will happily adopt the Guilty-until-proved innocent, no due process approach of the Nazis she used to fight.

It sickened me to watch this garbage.

The Wonder Woman pilot that is floating around on the internet is an unfinished work designed to function as a display for potential companies to sign it and assign to their network. Some of the digital effects are not finished and this apparently makes some people say that the show is low quality. Therefore if you are going to watch this you should be aware that it is in an UNfinished form and will likely not be finished anytime soon. Expect to see ropes occasionally, the jet is not always properly layered against the sky, and occasionally colors are not digitally balanced accurately.

I really enjoyed this pilot. From what I had been hearing I was expecting dreadful, but by comparison to what is on TV today on most channels I'm really disappointed that it won't be on in the fall.

The dialogue runs dry in a couple moments, and some of WW's facial expressions seem to be a bit forced, but these are common in pilots. It's almost like a dress rehearsal where you put it all together and attempt to get comfortable with it as you figure out what needs to be improved.

I think the main fault found in this show was that WW's "story" had been changed a bit from the comics. Who she is and how she lives her public life and private life are altered, but not out of character for who Wonder Woman is. She is still an active and aware female doing good in a mans world. She is fierce and well natured all in one. Granted, the actress needed time to grow in to the role, but I felt that she was a good choice and could have smoothed out her portrayal had they been given a season to air.

The main problem that any comic-based superhero TV show or movie faces is that the comic readers develop a sense of ownership over the characters that they feel they deserve due to years of faithfully throwing away money on their books, so when a show or movie is made they view it through a lens of religious zealotry and assemble in screaming protest at any slight variation from their favorite stories.

Thus was the case with Wonder Woman. It was not a bad pilot, but of course had it's rough spots and could use some tuning. The cries of die-hard comic nerds, ranting in unison on the internet and scaring producers is getting to be something like squatters-rights on creativity. With Wonder Woman, and others, it would be nice if we could say "Oh, this studio is going to do something based on this comic-book, lets see how it goes". Had Wonder Woman been given a full season I think we could have had something fun.

Keep in mind that pilots are usually a lot rougher. Seinfeld was almost painfully dry. The Dukes of Hazzard was an almost completely different show (A couple of my favorites) and by comparison I think that Wonder Woman should have gotten a shot.

I think bought maybe all of three Wonder Woman comics as a pre-teen boy. The character had always been around, but seemed kind of hokey wearing a circus bustier and flying an "invisible jet" (reminiscent of a Lear jet configuration). Her stories were kind of plain, and so sort of gave up on them and moved on in life ... or as much as a pre-teen youth could.

I am told that Wonder Woman, as originally conceived, was a subversive attempt to satiate sexual bondage fantasies from the 1930s and 1940s. Eh, if so then I'm out of touch, but WW does tend to use a rope to get the truth out of men. And given her costume and liberal use of a rope, one is left to wonder if the social scientists writing about this comic book character don't have something there.

Which leads one to ... "wonder", what it is about Wonder Woman that keeps people coming back for more, and for the owners of the current property to keep trying to reinvent her. I mean are there really that many men out there with fantasies regarding this kind of heroine? I'm not so sure.

David Kelley writes about a woman who presents comic book superhero behavior in a real world for what it is; unlawful. But we often give a pass to vigilantes in costume because they have abilities us mere mortals do not, and gallivant in colorful circus performer costumes.

I'm not really sure what the twist on this new Wonder Woman was supposed to do, but the directorial style and overall presentation, as professional as it is, did strike me as a touch predictable. That is as a male who read comic books like a lot of other boys when he was younger, and knowing female oriented TV programming, this presentation seemed to try to break the traditional mold by breaking what otherwise might have been the suspected expectations of the audience, but in doing so, winds up being almost a kind of cliché' unto itself.

That is to say Wonder Woman is the everyday independent woman who not only trounces over-muscled male foes, but snuggles with her cat at the end of the day with a bowl of ice cream--no doubt some popular contemporary brand too. Not a bad angle to take for this attempted re-imagining of her, but I think the problem here isn't that Wonder Woman takes a lot of liberties with the law in her attempt to enforce the law, it's with the character's genesis itself. And by that I mean she was always a kind of sexual invention from the 1940s.

I mean, what do you do with that? The best you can, I suppose. I think the tone set by this production teams is okay. WW is a bit over the top in terms of how she gets people to talk (I think Linda Carter's version is a bit more true to form of the G-rated WW a lot of people expect), but is otherwise palatable.

Me, I think the series in the 70s with Linda Carter was campy, but inventive, and because it tried to stick with the character's roots, was fun in its own special way, if predictable as well. This series attempts to resuscitate a very 1940's character for a 2016 audience, and I think giving WW's character a kind of violent streak countered by her ordinary single white female private life, is perhaps the dual edged sword that was needed, but may have been over the top with two scenes. In short, I think mister Kelley misread the scale of violence WW fans were willing to accept from their favorite bondage character. It's one thing to challenge another male in personal combat, and defeat them. Every male knows this. But it's another to press your advantage against those less capable. And I think that's the only fault this show made.

Otherwise I thought it was okay and in fact entertaining. I'm not sure it's something I would watch regularly, but I think a certain male and female audience could really go for this type of show. I'm sorry it wasn't picked up and finished, and I'm sorry it didn't lead to a TV series because I think it would have been successful.

If you see a copy, give it a shot, but remember, it's not for kids.

It's good to be surprised, which is exactly what I was after viewing the leaked pilot episode of the axed-before-release series of Wonder Woman.

It would appear that the writer, David E Kelley, had quite a different take on the Wonder Woman mythos by bringing her into the present day and giving her all the troubles that go along with it. This is a much darker character than seen before. Let me state that I don't usually like this kind of thing because writers can easily get carried away and kill off the characters main and basic characterisations, which is what happened in Batman Vs Superman - An old Batman was not very clever and easily lead, while Superman had no problem killing anyone, However, Kelley actually manages to keep the essence of Wonder Woman. I even think if this had become a series it may have strengthened the character for an older audience.

In this present day, Diana Prince runs a company that, not only, helps her to fight crime but helps everyday people. This in itself is a nice take on the Amazonian ethic. In this story, she's up against Veronica Cale, who is brilliantly portrayed by Elizabeth Hurley (not an actress that I would usually rate - talk about surprise - she's one of the strongest characters in the show). Cale runs a cosmetic and pharmacy business and one of her products to enhance the human physique may be killing people. Can Wonder Woman stop her before it kills more people?

Though this sounds like it could be a story out of the '70's series it does lend itself to the present day especially with a number of supplements out there that we can take to increase body mass. Kelley does an admirable job of making this relevant as well as adding a twist or two, which you, unfortunately, can see coming.

It's the direction which hurts this show though as the story and its execution on screen are very jagged and harsh. Though I cannot be too harsh as this is not a finished item, there would have been plenty of trimming and cleaning to be done before airing (so a pinch of salt there) What the director does show in this "Dirty" episode is how good at action he is. The opening sequence where Wonder Woman is in pursuit of a criminal through the busy streets is fantastic. Not only do we have running on cars (I always wanted to do that - even now I can't walk down a street of parked cars with out thinking... what if?) but jumping over vehicles and from one car to another. This also has one of the most believable faster-than-humanly-possible running sequences I've seen. Then there's the main fight scene towards the end of the show when Wonder Woman takes on a group of enhanced humans. This is also one of the best-choreographed TV fight scenes. At the end she actually kills a guard, I loved this as it adds to her true character, she is an Amazonian Warrior and warriors kill.

However, there are some drawbacks, the main being the characters. Though Elwes is good as Henry Johns, the character isn't actually needed and feels like a third thumb as all his jobs are also carried out by Etta Candy, played well by Traci Thoms. Candy also has a stronger and more filled out character. Then there's Steve Trevor, who Diana left to find herself, when he appears he's married - he didn't wait a year before getting hitched (not such a great bloke then). These issues would have been addressed and built upon in the series but here they don't work. What would have been better would be if Wonder Woman had brought Steve Trevor back to Washington in the second World War, as was the case with the '70's series, and he's now on his death bed - because there are a couple of scenes where it's been hinted she's been around for a long while. This would open up issues of love and her feeling of being alone on a planet of billions.

This wasn't as bad as I'd read it had been. If you're a DC or Wonder Woman fan then it is definitely worth one watch. I would have loved to have seen the complete series on this version of the Amazonian Warrior as Adrianne Palicki was perfect for this role.

It's the modern world. Diana/Wonder Woman (Adrianne Palicki) fights crime in costume out in the open as the head of a large corporation with Henry Johns (Cary Elwes) and Etta Candy (Tracie Thoms) working for her. She discovers that Veronica Cale (Elizabeth Hurley) is experimenting her new drug which is killing people and causing horrible mutations. She tries to bring Cale to justice while skirting the law herself. She has also carved out a 'normal' secret life for herself with her cat while pining for Steve Trevor (Justin Bruening). At the end of the pilot, Diana finds that he's married.

I like Adrianne Palicki as an actress and she's a good possibility for Wonder Woman. She's definitely better as an actress than Gal Gadot. The problem is that the show is pulling in wildly disparate directions. In her secret life, she's a single gal alone with her cat. I'm not sure that's a good idea. The worst idea is to make her the head of her own corporation. I just don't get it. There's a scene where she berates her people for making a doll with big boobs. I actually don't know if I like it but it was weirdly compelling. The most interesting aspect of Wonder Woman is that they made her a violent vigilante sorta like Batman. The fight at the end is deadly fun. I find that part filled with possibilities. The other interesting aspect is the lack of an origins story. Other than Steve Trevor and the Greek decor, there is very little about her earlier life. I think that's a mistake. It needs the origin story even if it's only flashbacks. Lots of people talk about the costume. I don't particularly like it but it's not a deal breaker. They also changed it for the ending giving her the stars bikini bottom. The costume needs a little work but it's not ridiculously bad.

They got the look right. They got the action right. I like the actress. I like the costumes. The rest? Dang, how weird! Plot and dialog no better than the 1970s show--really, really bad. And a real fascist slant to the whom thing. And wonder woman seems to change size pretty drastically throughout. Sometime she looks very amazon tall and imposing, other times not. And her voice sometimes drifts into SoCal valley-speak tones. Anyway...the look of the actress and costume and how she looked kicking add worked. But that's about it. The whole thing seemed kind of ill thought out and a bit rushed. This was from a major producer known mainly for his writing?

Wonder Woman starts out with her chasing a shaved guy (shaved head, shaved eyebrows) down a street. In order to "make this chase exciting" they use a horizontal line effect which makes the video look amazingly worse than most effects used in 1970's TV.

We get introduced to Diana Themyscira (Die Anna The Mascara). She is the CEO of Themyscira Industries which survives on the sale of a plastic action figure doll. And that's the high point of this series. There is a subplot about some black guy getting a college scholarship and then dying from the anthrax spores they included for free in the envelope and something plotwise about "steroid-growth hormone" drugs killing six boring people. Which is an excuse to do even more jump cuts on the irritating TV Pilot. Every time Wonder Woman commits a crime (Slander, Physical Assault, Violations of Airspace without Flight Plans, Breaking & Entering, etc) she smirks... slowly... and then we get more jump cuts.

What do you get for tolerating watching this series. JUMP CUTS. ENDLESS JUMP CUTS. If you watch this, you will be unlikely to be able to find a whole 20 seconds of filming without a jump cut. It is frankly nauseatingly repulsive. The series gave me a throbbing headache from 10 minutes in.

Like all lousy CW NETWORK Superhero DC Comics series, the dialog is snippy, dull, like a lousy soap opera, boring as the wretchedly stupid CSI series (every scene ends with an accusation or DUHN noise tone). In terms of production values this series pilot is more confusing than inviting. The set decoration is not horrible, but it is confused. The flying scenes are, for lack of a better word, inane rather than interesting. The female hair is good. The special effects for the warehouse fight is so desperate to match the fighting style of "The 300" movies it is embarrassing. There's a scene where she argues with one of her employees over the size of the tits of her action figure and that is just so amazingly stupid on so many levels if I were watching this on TV, I would have switched to anything else, even an infomercial to purge this lousy experience from my brain.

The costume isn't the worst Wonder Woman outfit (the Batman & Superman movie is going to get that dishonor with her leather sack). She is probably the worst Wonder Woman actress so far in terms of lack of charm, lack of making the audience feel invited in, lack of being anything but irritating (the obsessive frantic jump cuts are mostly the guilty party though). Gal Gadot is probably going to steal "Worst Wonder Woman" title pretty easily though (scrawny stick-girl with boobs and no personality). So there's that level of forgiveness for Adrianne Palicki who probably did the best she could with the crappy TV Pilot with the CW Channel style of spastic jump-cut-every-10-seconds that was handed her. And this TV Pilot at least wasn't as horrible as ego-mooch Halle Berry's 2-hour enema of a "CATWOMAN" insult movie.

Please people who read this get one thing straight, you should not base the looks and design of the TV wonder woman on Lynda Carter! She played wonder Woman doesn't mean every one has to be like her!

Adrianne Palicki is perfect for the roll, why not? She has the height and build of a amazon! she's tough and thats what counts, the 1970's version was too politically correct to meet TV censorship of that time! Were in the 21 century now get over it!

Her acting was OK, its the overall story line that holds everything and everyone back preventing them showing their true potential!

Funnily enough, the action is very good, I enjoyed it very much, but the story line is crap and makes no sense what so ever, not the plot but the characterisation that the premise works around! A total rewrite of the story is needed with Adrianne she is suited to the part, Lynda Carter even endorsed her for the role!