Headhunter's Holosuite Wiki
Advertisement
This page is similar in name or subject to other pages.

See also Wonder Woman for a complete list of references to clarify differences between these closely named or closely related articles.

Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Information
Title: Wonder Woman
Format: Live-action
Running time: 60 min.
country: USA
Network: ABC (S1)
CBS (S2-3)
Seasons: 3
Episodes: 60
Production
Production company: Warner Bros. Television
Executive producers: Douglas S. Cramer; Wilfred Lloyd Baumes
Producers: Charles B. Fitzsimons; Mark Rodgers; Bruce Lansbury; John Gaynor; Arnold Turner; Rod Holcomb
Principal cast: Lynda Carter; Lyle Waggoner
Air dates
First aired: November 7th, 1975
Last aired: September 11th, 1979

Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book character Wonder Woman by William Moulton Marston (Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston was also involved in her creation). It starred Lynda Carter as Princess Diana/Diana Prince. Wonder Woman aired on two American networks between 1975 and 1979. During its original run the series was extremely popular. It is also the title of a TV movie starring Cathy Lee Crosby, loosely based upon the character, that aired in 1974.

Production history[]

Though not successful at the first attempt, ABC still felt a Wonder Woman series had potential, and within a year another pilot was in production. Keen to make a distinction from the last pilot, the pilot was given the rather paradoxical title The New Original Wonder Woman. This pilot is available in its original length on the first season DVD, instead of the re-edited version of it which runs 60 minutes and was featured as the pilot when the series debuted a year later. This version is also the one shown on reruns. On the DVD version, however, the 1975 pilot movie title is changed to simply 'Wonder Woman', and the bullet-deflecting animated sequence is replaced by the lasso toss in the animated introduction and the rest of the television series.

Scripting duties were given to Stanley Ralph Ross, who had worked on Greenway's unbroadcast Wonder Woman pilot reel, but this time he was instructed to be more faithful to the comic book and to create a subtle "high comedy". Ross set the pilot in World War II, the era in which the original comic book began. Thanks to a generous budget and more relaxed shooting schedule, the feature length pilot was able to attain a level of polish and special effects beyond that of regular episodic television at the time.

Some of these effects, such as the expensive full sized invisible plane prop and the stunt bracelets (designed to carry small explosive charges for Wonder Woman's iconic 'bullets and bracelets' encounters) were then able to be carried forward into the series proper.

After an intensive talent search, a former beauty pageant winner from Arizona named Lynda Carter was chosen to play the lead role. For the key role of Steve Trevor, the producers chose Lyle Waggoner, who at the time was better known as a comedic actor after several years co-starring in The Carol Burnett Show. He was also known to Ross as having been one of the leading candidates to play Batman a decade earlier.

Although the pilot followed the original comic book closely, in particular the aspect of Wonder Woman joining the military under the assumed name, Diana Prince, a number of elements were dropped, presumably for practical reasons. The character of Etta Candy was no longer an obese member of Holliday College (the Holliday Girls never featured in the show), but a mature work colleague of Diana Prince. The ancient myths and legends which informed many of the early Wonder Woman comic book stories were lost too, in favour of more conventional stories involving Nazis. And, on a minor note, Steve Trevor was no longer blonde, but dark haired.

One change which was later to become synonymous with the show was the twirling transformation which dissolved Diana Prince into Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter claims to have suggested the move herself, having studied dance as a child. Coincidentally, this slow motion dissolve is similar to the illustrated "running" change sequences in the comic books of the era, in which Diana would peel off her uniform and add her tiara and boots. In both versions she is left with her outer uniform to stow somewhere.

Episodes[]

Season One[]

Episode Title Airdate
1x0 The New Original Wonder Woman November 7th, 1975
1x1 Wonder Woman Meets Baroness Von Gunther April 1st, 1976
1x2 Fausta, Nazi Wonder Woman April 28th, 1976
1x3 Beauty on Parade October 13th, 1976
1x4 The Feminum Mystique (Part 1) November 6th, 1976
1x5 The Feminum Mystique (Part 2) November 8th, 1976
1x6 Wonder Woman vs. Gargantua! December 18th, 1976
1x7 The Pluto File December 25th, 1976
1x8 Last of the Two Dollar Bills January 8th, 1976
1x9 Judgment from Outer Space (Part 1) January 15th, 1977
1x10 Judgment from Outer Space (Part 2) January 17th, 1977
1x11 Formula 407 January 22nd, 1977
1x12 The Bushwhackers January 29th, 1977
1x13 Wonder Woman in Hollywood February 16th, 1977

Season Two[]

Episode Title Airdate
2x1 The Return of Wonder Woman September 16th, 1977
2x2 Anschluss '77 September 23rd, 1977
2x3 The Man Who Could Move the World September 30th, 1977
2x4 The Bermuda Triangle Crisis October 7th, 1977
2x5 Knockout October 14th, 1977
2x6 The Pied Piper October 21st, 1977
2x7 The Queen and the Thief October 28th, 1977
2x8 I Do, I Do November 11th, 1977
2x9 The Man Who Made Volcanoes November 18th, 1977
2x10 Mind Stealers from Outer Space (Part 1) December 2nd, 1977
2x11 Mind Stealers from Outer Space (Part 2) December 9th, 1977
2x12 The Deadly Toys December 30th, 1977
2x13 Light-Fingered Lady January 6th, 1978
2x14 Screaming Javelin January 20th, 1978
2x15 Diana's Disappearing Act February 3rd, 1978
2x16 Death in Disguise February 10th, 1978
2x17 I.R.A.C. is Missing February 17th, 1978
2x18 Flight to Oblivion March 3rd, 1978
2x19 Séance of Terror March 10th, 1978
2x20 The Man Who Wouldn't Tell March 31st, 1978
2x21 The Girl from Islandia April 7th, 1978
2x22 The Murderous Missile April 21st, 1978

Season Three[]

Episode Title Airdate
3x1 My Teenage Idol is Missing September 22nd, 1978
3x2 Hot Wheels September 29th, 1978
3x3 The Deadly Sting October 6th, 1978
3x4 The Fine Art of Crime October 13th, 1978
3x5 Disco Devil October 20th, 1978
3x6 Formicida November 3rd, 1978
3x7 Time Bomb November 10th, 1978
3x8 Skateboard Wiz November 24th, 1978
3x9 The Deadly Dolphin December 1st, 1978
3x10 Stolen Faces December 15th, 1978
3x11 Pot of Gold December 22nd, 1978
3x12 Gault's Brain December 29th, 1978
3x13 Going, Going, Gone January 12th, 1979
3x14 Spaced Out January 26th, 1979
3x15 The Starships are Coming February 2nd, 1979
3x16 Amazon Hot Wax February 16th, 1979
3x17 The Richest Man in the World February 19th, 1979
3x18 A Date with Doomsday March 10th, 1979
3x19 The Girl with a Gift of Disaster March 17th, 1979
3x20 The Boy Who Knew Her Secret (Part 1) May 28th, 1979
3x21 The Boy Who Knew Her Secret (Part 2) May 29th, 1979
3x22 The Man Who Could Not Die August 28th, 1979
3x23 Phantom of the Roller Coaster (Part 1) September 4th, 1979
3x24 Phantom of the Roller Coaster (Part 2) September 11th, 1979

Notes & Trivia[]

  • Wonder Woman aired on Friday evenings at 8:00 pm EST.
  • Special effects on The New Adventures of Wonder Woman were provided by Film Effects of Hollywood and Newkirk Special Effects.
  • Shots of the IADC building from seasons two and three were filmed at Inglewood City Hall in Inglewood, California; 1 Manchester Boulevard.

Home Video[]

See also[]

Comics

TV series

External Links[]



Advertisement