WONDER WOMAN: The Complete Collection - Blu-ray (Warner Bros. 1975-79) Warner Home Video

Lynda Carter, in her satin tights, fighting for our rights, and the ole red white and blue – is there anything better than this? Certainly, few TV shows can lay claim to a former beauty queen filling out the time-honored bustier and stretch-satin daisy dukes better than Carter. I was much too young to catch Wonder Woman when it originally aired in 1975 (I was only 4-yrs. old) but caught the series when it went into syndication on UHF in 1981. Even at age 10, I was old enough to appreciate a good-looking woman. And Lynda Carter was very fine indeed. Carter’s lasso-toting, invisible plane-flying glamazon, a descendant of Isis, was just the sort of early introduction to full-blooded womanhood a growing boy needed (although, Cloris Leachman as her mother was…well…a bit difficult to accept). Created for DC Comics in 1942 (the comics industry barely, 9 yrs. old, then), the identity of Wonder Woman’s creator was ‘kept secret’ until it was announced that internationally renowned psychologist, Dr. William Moulton Marston had conceived of the feminist crime-fighter.  Even then, in the male-dominated pantheon of superheroes, it did not take very long for Wonder Woman to become the most successful female role model for young girls. But the true incubation of the character remained a mystery to the general public, left to molder in literally thousands of documents, spread across libraries, archives and private collections all over the continental United States.
Grappling with censorship and feminism – the latter, not yet entirely fully-formed, Marston viewed Wonder Woman as something of an anomaly in ‘psychological propaganda’. Indeed, the reputation of comics in general was decidedly low in the 1940’s, their milieu of sex/horror, and, glorification of violence – even sexual violence – leading to moral outrage and a call to ban them as a popular form of entertainment (not surprisingly, only to make their popularity flourish among the very young). Marston took a less dim view of their impact, suggesting the public’s fascination with, say, a lovely heroine tied to a stake, sided with her imminent rescue, rather than her demise. Since the greatest indictment against comics stemmed from their ‘blood-curdling masculinity’, Marston’s counterbalance was to create the first, female superhero. And Wonder Woman, with her acute athleticism, promoted a new ideal of the strong, self-sufficient female. In private life, Marston held a less progressive view. His polygamy likely helped to ferment alternative notions about ‘a woman’s place’ in the hierarchy of the world. Olive Byrne, Marston’s mistress – niece of feminist, Margaret Sanger – had fallen for Marston while a student, even though he was already wed to lawyer, Elizabeth Holloway. Rather than create a public scandal with a divorce, Marston proposed a secret ménage-a-trois that Holloway accepted. Both women bore him children, and the lie was perpetuated Byrne was Marston’s widowed sister-in-law.
However, just because Wonder Woman was a patriotic crime-fighter, fighting fascism with feminism, did not mean she could not also be a pin-up; artist, Harry G. Peter’s design of a voluptuous brunette, sporting a gold tiara and poured into a red bustier with blue underpants and knee-high, red leather boots, very much, thematically, in keeping with artist, Alberto Vargas’ sexy celebrations of the female form divine. Alas, the character’s design also incurred the wrath of the National Organization for Decent Literature who suggested DC’s newest crusader for truth, justice and the American way was “not sufficiently dressed.” Mercifully, the future of comic superheroes in general, and Wonder Woman in particular, was not doomed. Indeed, noted professor of psychiatry, Lauretta Bender, noted children, suffering from traumatic incidents, but who also embraced comics as ‘the folklore of this age’ were liberated by such fabled heroics, providing them with confidence and courage to conquer their own fears. Bender became a huge proponent of Wonder Woman, and Marston, in his own defense noted that it was only the ‘lousy erotic fantasies’ that promoted ‘harmful, destructive, morbid…fixations’ – none of which he found plausible in the character or comic situations he had created. To further assuage criticism, Marston also hired story-idea/writer, Joye Hummel to come up with new and refreshing scenarios for the strip. As his relationship with Olive Byrne remained a secret throughout his lifetime – and beyond (Marston died in 1947) – Margaret Sanger’s legacy, used as Wonder Woman’s inspiration – was also kept hidden from the public for decades.
After the war, comics were to receive a rather devastating blow when, in 1954, psychiatrist, Fredric Wertham testified before a Senate subcommittee, claiming comics were corrupting American youth, and, that Wonder Woman in particular, was ‘repulsive’ for its suggestive equality of violence between the sexes with added lesbian overtones. The result of this testimony thoroughly emasculated the comic. No longer could it illustrate scenes of ‘horror, undue carnage, grisly crimes, depravity, lust, sadism or masochism’. In lieu of ‘illicit sex’, violent love scenes or sexual abnormalities’ the new edict enforced highly sanitized romance stories to promote ‘home’ and the ‘sanctity of marriage.’ This epitaph to Wonder Woman’s first legacy was bittersweet. Continuing to live together after Marston’s death, Byrne and Holloway died just 3-years apart from one another; Bryne in 1990, and Holloway, ailing with a broken hip, in 1993. Reportedly, when Holloway learned of her life-partner’s death, she quietly sang a passage from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, Crossing the Bar. Byrne’s passing was afforded no obituary. But Holloway’s was lent an undeserving credit as ‘the inspiration’ for Wonder Woman. Between 1960 and 1974, the profile, if not the appeal, of this beloved character lay somewhat dormant.
Then, in 1974, ABC aired a made-for-TV movie, produced by Warner Bros., now the custodians of the DC library, and thus, Wonder Woman legacy. The show, then starring Cathy Lee Crosby, bore little resemblance to the character’s origins or abilities. And although the ratings were ‘respectable’, there was nothing to suggest a franchise on the horizon. The studio pressed on, and ABC agreed to another ‘pilot’ in 1975 – recast with Miss World 1972, Lynda Carter, who also professed talents as an actress, singer, songwriter and model. Indeed, Carter bore a striking resemblance to Wonder Woman as originally conceived by Marston. As ratings peaked during this second bite at the apple, ABC green-lit Wonder Woman for three additional movies before committing to a full series to begin airing in 1976. Writer, Stanley Ralph Ross was instructed to adhere to Marston’s original concept. This included setting the series in the 1940’s during the war. For the part of Wonder Woman’s eventual love interest, Maj. Steve Trevor, producers went with the unconventional decision of Lyle Waggoner, whose raven locks were an anathema to the comic book’s blonde stud, and, whose only real acting experience was as the handsome comic foil on The Carol Burnett Show. But Waggoner was also considered a ‘sex symbol’ – having appeared ‘semi-nude’ in the first issue of Playgirl. In streamlining Wonder Woman’s ‘origin story’, Ross maintained the character’s investment in the U.S. military under the pseudonym, Diana Prince, but made her a Navy Yeoman Petty Officer First Class instead of a nurse. The creation of the now famous ‘spin’ to transform Prince into her alter ego has no counterpart in the comics (in the early comics, Diana simply exits to change her clothes, while later comics depict the wardrobe transformation taking place under Wonder Woman’s whirling lasso). The more elaborate ‘spin’ was conceived by Carter, employing a starburst effect and thunderclap, after Ross became stumped for an idea to achieve the on-camera ‘transformation’.
For the series, producers also insisted on adhering to the original comic book character’s skimpy outfit which Carter had no difficulties or qualms to amply fill out. In an attempt to maintain a flair for the original comics, within each episode, linking passages to establish location and exposition employed stylized ‘text panels’ similar to a comic book, while scene transitions and necessary commercial breaks employed an animated ‘starburst’ effect, first seen in the main titles.  Wonder Woman’s rebooted ‘pilot’ was a hit, and ABC quickly commissioned two, hour-long specials to follow it, plus an additional 11 episodes for the 1976-77 fall line-up. Alas, framing the action within its vintage period proved rather costly. And thus, an executive decision was made to revamp the series for its second season, set in ‘then’ contemporary America, rechristened ‘The New Adventures of Wonder Woman. Curiously, no explanation is given within the series’ continuity for this quantum leap into the future, with only Carter and Waggoner surviving the transition; Waggoner, reintroduced into the franchise as the son of Steve Trevor. Series One begins in 1942 after Major Steve Trevor is shot down during a dogfight with a Nazi flyer over the Bermuda Triangle. Wounded, but surviving, Trevor is discovered by the ageless Amazonian princess, Diana on Paradise Island. Naïve in the ways of the flesh – as Paradise has no men (odd, particularly, to explain away the procurement of so many lovely Amazonian females who, presumably, gave birth to themselves), Diana is immediately attracted to Trevor, much to the chagrin of her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Cloris Leachman, in a role originally conceived for Carolyn ‘Addams Family’ Jones, then - Beatrice Straight in later episodes). To hasten Trevor’s return to ‘his people’, the Queen decrees Olympic-styled games to elect the Amazon who will accompany Trevor home.
The Queen forbids Diana to partake of these rituals. So, the girl merely disguises herself and enters the contest anyway. Predictably, she wins and the Queen relents, allowing Diana to return to America with Trevor. To ensure her daughter’s safety, Hippolyta designs a special uniform that will ‘protect’ her from harm – bullet-proof bracelets, a gold belt, and, a magic lasso. As Wonder Woman, Diana pilots an invisible plane to Washington, D.C. where she deposits Trevor at hospital, foiling a bank robbery in the process. Witnessed by a theatrical agent, Diana accepts ‘employment’ as a novelty act. Meanwhile, Trevor’s civilian secretary, Marcia (Stella Stevens) is shown to be a double agent working for the Nazis. A plot is hatched to murder Trevor and destroy the new threat, Wonder Woman. Mercifully, the attempted assassination of Wonder Woman fails, as does a similar attempt on Trevor’s life. Wonder Woman confronts and defeats Marcia. She also intercepts a Nazi pilot attempting to bomb the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At story’s end, Brigadier General Blankenship (Richard Eastham) appoints a new secretary to Trevor’s employ: none other than the bespectacled Yeoman First Class, Diana Prince.
While Wonder Woman retooled as a series, ex-Happy Days co-star, Beatrice Colen signed on as Corporal Etta Candy WAAC, General Blankenship's secretary – played strictly for laughs. During Season One, soon-to-be Hollywood heavy hitter, Debra Winger briefly joined the cast as Diana's younger sister, Drusilla (a.k.a. Wonder Girl). For the series ‘transformation’ sequence, two synchronized shots of Lynda Carter, twirling in place – first, as Diana, then, as Wonder Woman – were slowly dissolved to create the illusion. After several episodes, the trademark ‘thunderclap’ was added to punctuate the effect. The ‘twirl’ proved so popular, later comic books and animated series incorporated it as their signature too. When the series discarded its vintage narrative in favor of contemporary story lines, they also jettisoned the character’s ability to convincingly impersonate anyone’s voice. As violence on television was under fire at the time of the series debuted, despite its war-themed tales of adventure and espionage, Wonder Woman herself never engaged in anything more intense than a cleverly timed shove or push to diffuse any situation; the one exception, the pilot, where she sinks a German U-boat by crashing a plane into it. And although the baddies frequently employed either chloroform or otherwise poisonous gas to subdue her, occasionally, making off with her magic belt, lasso and bracelets, in the end, Wonder Woman always emerged victorious.
Despite solid ratings in its first year, ABC balked at renewing the series due to the higher than average costs of maintaining its period look.  Undaunted, Warner Bros. entertained an offer from rival network, CBS, provided the show was revamped and set in the present day. And thus, for Seasons 2 and 3, the show was re-fashioned as The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, trading international intrigues for the conventional police/detective actioner. The ageless Amazon of Paradise Island marked her 35-yr. absence by joining the Inter-Agency Defense Command, a hybrid of the CIA/FBI, assigned to fight crime, counteract espionage, and, confront the occasional alien invasion. To accommodate for the passage of time, the series killed off Lyle Waggoner’s Maj. Steve Trevor, Waggoner re-emerging in the subsequent seasons as his own son, Steve Jr.  As Wonder Woman had fallen in love with Steve Sr., producers avoided a transference of those affections now to Steve Jr. Hence, Steve Jr. and Wonder Woman remained ‘just good friends’ for the remaining two seasons.  The only other character to carry over from Season One was Queen Hippolyta, now re-cast with Beatrice Straight after a brief interlude to feature Carolyn Jones. Curiously, the ‘new adventures’ chose to completely ignore the fates of Gen. Blankenship, Etta Candy, and Drusilla.  The new adventures were centered around Diana, Steve and a third character, Joe Atkinson (Norman Burton) who received their instructions from an autonomous authority. Initial episodes had Diana and Steve doing the ‘field work’ while Joe manned the office. But in the 9th episode of Season Two, Joe suddenly departed and Steve was given a promotion. As Director, and Diana's boss, Steve Trevor Jr. began to appear less frequently in subsequent episodes, replaced by a super computer ‘Ira’ who deduces Wonder Woman’s real identity, but keeps it hidden.
Season Two also updated, then completely jettisoned the original theme song, as its references to fighting the Axis were no longer relevant. The new, though less impressive ‘instrumental’ titles also did away with the cartoon sequences and animated stars used to book-end the commercial breaks. In Season Two, Wonder Woman also acquired a somewhat savvier outlook toward crime-fighting – occasionally using brute force to achieve her victories, and, never allowing herself to be stripped of her magic powers. Wonder Woman’s costume was also streamlined to be more flexible, dipping more dramatically in the front to emphasize Carter’s ample cleavage; her shorts, cut higher to show off Carter’s thighs. The bracelets were updated from silver to gold and became smaller and thinner. And although Wonder Woman still sported a red-white-and-blue cape for special events, the costuming for the character also included a new navy/lycra diving uniform, slightly revamped into a motorcycle riding costume, complete with gold helmet. By Season 3, the series also abandoned Wonder Woman’s invisible plane. All of these changes did little to help the show’s sagging ratings. By the end of Season Two, Wonder Woman had slipped to #71 out of 104 shows in the Nielsen Ratings. Eager to tap into the teen market, the show’s theme was altered yet again to include a disco beat. Regrettably, the plots in Season Three became more puerile as a result, incorporating the latest teen fads like skateboarding and roller coasters; Diana, now spending more time away from Washington and working alone, both as herself and alter ego as a lone crime-fighter. Season Three introduced Wonder Woman’s mental telepathy. Nothing helped; not even the writers’ desperation to reboot the series yet again, assigning Diana to the L.A. division of the IADC with an entirely new roster of cohorts, including a new boss, Bret Cassiday (Bob Seagren), a genetically enhanced man who was indestructible. In the end, despite a modest climb in the ratings to #60, CBS elected to go with Lou Ferrigno’s The Incredible Hulk over Wonder Woman, replacing its lead-in with a new series, The Dukes of Hazzard.
Viewed today, Wonder Woman is an exceptionally campy – and teetering on the verge of what was then labeled as ‘jiggle TV’ – a time capsule from television’s other time. While the franchise may not be the most engrossing hour ever put on TV, the show forever cemented Lynda Carter’s fame with this character and series – a double-edged sword in later years as the actress attempted, in vain, to diversify her portfolio. And it is for Carter’s nuanced performance, as much as her exceptionally stunning good looks, that Wonder Woman’s legacy continues to endure. Let us be fair here in suggesting that superheroes were a very rare breed in the entertainment firmament back in the mid-1970’s. While today’s pop culture has been over-saturated with their likenesses in an endless, and generally mindless cavalcade of SFX run amok on both the big and small screens, Wonder Woman’s focus on character (mainly to keep its budget in check) nevertheless created a franchise with endlessly viewable appeal. The short-sightedness of the networks, in chronically readjusting and tinkering with both the show’s timeline and basic precepts, is likely what brought about its premature retirement. Had it been allowed to naturally evolve and gradually move away from its war-themed ambiance, perhaps its staying power and longevity would have carried on for at least one or two more seasons of delicious uber-camp. Alas, as producers and the network were ever displeased with the results they had wrought, and could never quite come up with a directive or trajectory for the show’s final two seasons, the audience that had already been won during the first season, gradually became disillusioned, investing their time in a show that had somehow prematurely lost its way.
Warner Home Video’s Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection is a bit of a head scratcher for the simple fact it does not contain the original pilot starring Cathy Lee Crosby. While one can argue the point that Crosby’s debut was a misfire, corrected with Lynda Carter’s recasting, the fact remains TV audiences saw Crosby in the role first. So, her short-lived run ought to have been included herein. Apart from this oversight, all I can say is that Warner Home Video ought to be doing more vintage TV on Blu-ray, because Wonder Woman – with minor caveats – has never looked this good EVER! Interesting, Warner should have not touted this collection as ‘remastered’ because there is no doubt, they have gone back to the drawing board to ‘restore’ and clean-up the old DVD release for this new hi-def incarnation. Colors absolutely pop with a level of saturation that is impressive to say the least. There are minor fluctuations in color – which is to be expected – and opticals involving matte work can appear a tad soft. There is also some curious chroma bleeding in several brief instances scattered throughout this series, but otherwise, this is a first-class effort from WB that ought to be celebrated to the rafters. Occasionally, whites are lent a slightly bluish tint, but this is never distracting. Fine detail in close-ups is impressive, even if many of the episodes here are softer in appearance, which is – frankly – puzzling, considering the series was shot on film, but tends, almost always, to suffer from homogenized grain or a complete absence of it.  Age-related artifacts have been eradicated. We get a 2.0 Dolby Digital mono audio. Aside: it is a genuine pity no one at WB thought to remaster the iconic theme by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel in true 5.1 stereo, as original stems for this do exist and could have been utilized. Otherwise, the mono tracks sound pretty solid and are in keeping with vintage TV audio for its time. Extras are all carried over from the previous DVD release and include – on Disc One, an audio commentary on the pilot featuring Lynda Carter and producer, Douglas S. Cramer. On Disc Two, we get Beauty, Brawn and Bulletproof Bracelets: A Wonder Woman Retrospective, looking fairly rough in 480p, but otherwise, 21-minutes of archival bliss, delving into the creation of the series. On Disc Six we get Revolutionizing a Classic: From Comic Book to Television, again in 480p, and lasting only 11 minutes. Disc Seven contains another audio commentary on the episode, My Teenage Idol is Missing, featuring Lynda Carter.  Finally, Disc Ten has the 14-minute retrospective, Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Feminist Icon where Carter thanks her fans for ‘buying this DVD’ and is backed in her proto-feminist reflections on the character by a host of feminist scholars, authors and critics. Bottom line: Wonder Woman is just one of those television franchises that is bouncy (pun intended), frivolous fun, and thoroughly entertaining besides. Setting aside feminist reflections, it’s still a series about a go-getting gal fighting crime in her tri-colored skivvies. Sexy, solid entertainment and well worth your coin. Recommended!
FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
Season One – 4
Season Two – 3
Season Three – 2.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
3.5 overall
EXTRAS
3.5

Comments

Travisman said…
Carolyn’AddamsFamily’Jones.😉
Nick Zegarac said…
Whoops! Brain fart. One of many. I'll add it to my senior moment list.