Wonder Woman

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

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.

Wonder Woman must stop the head of a pharmaceutical company's illegal experiments for financial gain.

Opening with the horror-stricken images of a boy with bleeding eyes, Wonder Woman quickly moves to a foot chase though the streets. There's no origin story which some have highly criticised. Personally I'm a exasperated with origin stories, these superhero characters have become a part of pop culture and can seem some what unnecessary.

The pilot establishes Wonder Woman as a known face in the real world, a vigilant of sorts, with a reputation for knocking down doors, invading privacy, assaulting people and the videos uploaded to YouTube.

Adrianne Palicki is surprising good as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, and oddly the promotional pictures for the show didn't do her justice. She's tough, rough, sexy and sulky. The plot features a standard Cary Elwes performance as her marketing CEO and Elizabeth Hurley plays the antagonist head of a pharmaceutical company.

It's quite amusing that (in the world of the pilot) she has become marketable merchandise property and makes a remark that the comic version of her is incorrect with Diana stating that the Wonder Woman doll is insulting and she want's it redesigned. "These breast are ridiculous." "Wonder Woman isn't vulgar." "Wonder Woman is perfect, perfect t*ts, perfect ass, perfect teeth." It is apparent that Diana's/Wonder's crime fighting technology is funded by Wonder Woman's merchandising success which is an interesting titbit (no pun intended).

There's establishing flashback for Diana's love interest and some good camera work and effects from director Jeffrey Reiner, the contemporary music is dramatic and adds to the tension in the dialogue scenes. David E. Kelley's story explores briefly the problem of superheroes heavy handiness being unlawful and forever under legal scrutiny.

Wonder Woman is reminiscent of 'The New Adventures of Superman' (1993- 1997) although it does have a darker tone and sleeker look. It moves away from Superman's studio feel and while not particularly true to the comic, Wonder Woman's shot on location look and Kelley relevant poignant dialogue adds to its allure as much as Palicki's costume.

The only big action scene is at the 30 minute mark and is the highlight of the pilot with Palicki's physical prowess and wire-work being most impressive.

Overall, Adrianne Palicki equals Lynda Carter's incarnation and while not spectacular or highly engrossing it's no lesser than other mediocre TV productions that have been given a chance and a longer run. It may have evolved and brought a live action Wonder Woman to another generation but I suppose we may never know, that is until some else has a stab at bringing DC's female flag character to life.

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

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...