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eason two of Wonder Woman sees Diana Prince (Carter) returning to the world of men when a plane with Steve Trevor's son (Waggoner) crash-lands on Paradise Island. Updating the series from season one's World War II time period, she soon joins up with the IADC and becomes a crime-fighting accomplice, using her lasso, wrist bands and superhuman abilities to defeat adversaries.
Show producers attempted to evoke past glories by reviving the Third Reich in Episode 2, titled "Anschluss '77," then moved on to more ambitious storylines: Diana and Steve go undercover to discover the whereabouts of an intelligence plane in "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis"; Wonder Woman battles a rock musician who hypnotizes women and makes them do his bidding in "The Pied Piper"; she pretends to be married so she can find out the source of government leaks at an Arizona health spa in "I Do, I Do"; the late Frank Gorshin guest-stars in "The Deadly Toys," about a toymaker who makes evil androids; and in "The Girl From Ilandia," Diana helps a young girl who has mystical powers overcome her homesickness after being kidnapped from another dimension.
Season two also saw a migration of the show from ABC to CBS, as well as some upgrades to the special effects and costume designs, and featured a number of memorable guest stars, including Mel Ferrer, Martin Mull, Eve Plumb, Roddy McDowall, Henry Gibson, Rick Springfield and Ed Begley Jr. The four-disc collection includes all 22 episodes remastered for picture and sound quality, and the bonus documentary "Revolutionizing a Classic: From Comic Book to Television, The Evolution of Wonder Woman From Page to Screen."
Worth watching by Joss Whedon
In the pantheon of superheroes and their respective television programs, there are few in history that have since become as celebrated as that of Wonder Woman. After all, the show featured the most famous female superhero in the history of comic books, and remains one of the most faithful adaptations of any comic creation. That said, however, it suffers from many of the same shortcomings as other shows of its ilk; specifically, it hasn't aged quite as well as one might hope, and has become a delightfully cheesy serial that represents a bygone era more than a big-time heroine.
The first thing that stands out when watching the episodes, beautifully remastered though they are, is the fact that the pacing of the stories feels like it's about half of what we experience in modern SF shows. In "The Girl From Ilandia," for example, "the girl" (Julie Haddock) has time to wander down to the beach, skip stones and find a friendly dog (Tiger from The Brady Bunch, actually) before trouble ensues; in a modern show, she would be snatched up for all manner of unsavory experiments within a two-minute span of time. But that's also part of the collection's charm: There's ample opportunity to focus on the development and creation of Diana's world, which is pretty remarkable for a low-budget TV show. Though the stunt work by Jeannie Eppers hardly ever exactly matches Lynda Carter's takeoffs or landings, the sequences are cool to watch as much from a production standpoint as a narrative one.
The bonus documentary really amounts to little more than fan worship from a crew of comic artists and longtime fans, but it proves insightful nonetheless. Otherwise, the extras are a little too lean for an average collector to seek out the four-disc set; if you aren't already entrenched in Wonder Woman lore and in love with Lynda Carter, I expect you'll be passing on this purchase in favor of something a little more prescient. That said, there are worse things to spend money on than a show with this terrific a theme song.
Joss Whedon's in the process of revamping this character for the silver screen, but it behooves him to check out these volumes prior to committing his ideas to paper, because Carter did a brilliant job inhabiting the sexy intelligence of Wonder Woman. Even with that old-school costume, Carter looks fantastic, and she makes the sometimes glacial pace of the episodes fly by like a warm summer breeze. —Todd
Also in this issue: Madagascar and Quatermass DVD
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