After the failure of the original Wonder Woman pilot starring Cathy Lee Crosby which we reviewed on this blog last week, DC went back to the drawing board and decided to reboot the proposed series from scratch, this time a lot more closely based on the comic book series. They managed to strike gold at the second attempt and this time the series was picked up as they'd hoped. Although Crosby was initially in talks to reprise her role, in the end she was replaced by Lynda Carter for the series. The pilot episode also got a limited cinematic release which makes it eligible for this 'ere blog. Let's do the time warp, shall we?...
The film is based in the Second World War and starts with two opposing fighter pilots, American Steve Trevor and some random German guy whose name we never find out, preparing for a battle in the Atlantic. The Germans, we discover, are planning on bombing a building near the naval dockyard in Manhattan where the Americans are working on new military technology which might enable them to win the war.
Trevor and his German counterpart duly cross paths and both planes end up being shot down. The pair find themselves parachuting downwards together and after a brief tussle, Steve is shot by the German who then manages to land in shark infested waters and is eaten. D'oh...
Steve lands on Paradise Island, an island inhabited by a race of Amazons. He is discovered by Diana, their princess, who takes him to the hospital there. Under orders from the Amazon queen, Trevor is blindfolded so he won't know where he is.
The queen orders that Trevor needs to be taken back to his own land and that one of the Amazons will be appointed his guard to ensure he returns safely. Diana asks to volunteer but the queen refuses as she's unwilling to let the heir to the island risk herself on a dangerous mission. Of course, this doesn't stop Diana entering the Olympics style athletics competition to get the job under a mask and she promptly wins with the queen reluctantly allowing her to leave and take on the job of Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman flies Steve back to the States in an invisible plane (!) (cue hilariously dated special effects) and leaves him at a hospital in New York where his department are delighted to find out that he's still alive. Well, apart from his secretary Marcia who's actually a Nazi double agent and calls for reinforcements to make sure that he's offed this time.
Having finished her mission, Diana sets off home but on the way she ends up foiling a bank robbery by deflecting the robbers' bullets with her bracelets and then throwing them on to a car. She's spotted by a talent agent, Ashley Norman, who offers to take her on as his protegee. Realising that she'll need money to stay and look after Steve until he's recovered, Diana agrees.
However, at the opening night of her run on Broadway, Marcia and her associate, an old lady, attempt to sabotage Diana's bullet-deflecting act by pulling a machine gun on her! Nevertheless, Diana still manages to deflect all of the bullets.
The next day, Diana takes her share of the earnings and, having now got enough to stay in New York for a month, agrees to part ways with Norman. However, he tries to stop her by pulling a gun on her which given that he's just been promoting her for her ability to deflect bullets must count as the most stupid villain move since that bloke in the '70s Captain America film who attempted to drive a neutron bomb to LA in a lorry. We find out after Diana beats Norman up and leaves that he's also a Nazi agent working in collusion with Marcia.
Diana goes undercover as a nurse at Steve's hospital but he gets word that there's been increased spy activity and that a Nazi bombing raid on the docks (by the original pilot's mate) is due. He promptly discharges himself but on the way to the airbase he's intercepted by a trio of Marcia's goons led by Norman who overpower and kidnap him. Back at Marcia's flat, they use a truth serum on him to make him divulge the code to his safe where the plans for the military planning HQ near the dockyards are kept.
Marcia goes to the building to steal the plans herself but is interrupted by Wonder Woman. The two engage in a lengthy fight (remember how cool the fight scenes in the recent WW film looked? Well this is pretty much the exact opposite of that) which ends with Wonder Woman tying Marcia to a chair with her golden lassoo of truth and forcing her to tell where Steve is being held. However, with the bombers due to carry out their raid at the same time as Marcia has instructed her goons to kill Steve, Diana needs to make a choice. Luckily for her, we find out that she also has the gift of impersonation and she calls Marcia's flat, using her voice, to tell the goons to delay shooting Steve until 2am.
This allows Diana to take off in her invisible plane again (cue more amusingly bad special FX - also, come to think of it, where has she been hiding the plane while she's been in New York? I mean, I admit I don't know the area very well but I'd imagine airfields aren't exactly plentiful around there) to intercept the Nazi pilot who ends up crashing his plane on to the submarine that was due to pick up Marcia and her minions.
Diana heads over to Marcia's flat and beats up her underlings (including Norman who must surely be getting sick of the sight of her by now!) and rescues Steve before leaving. The film finishes with Steve reporting in to work the next week to meet his new secretary, one Diana Prince. And thus the series beginneth...
Although it's still unquestionably a bit cheesy and naff, at least the second '70s Wonder Woman film is a big improvement on the first and it's easy to see why this series got picked up when the first one didn't. It feels like the writers actually stopped to think about the plot in this episode rather than just padding the thing out interminably and while the action sequences are laughably bad in places, at least unlike its predecessor it actually has action sequences. Given the time constraints, it's a decent enough slice of throwaway fun.
The Wonder Woman TV show would run until 1979, lasting three series. After series 1 saw Diana and Steve fighting the Nazis during World War 2, weirdly the second series saw the whole thing rebooted with Wonder Woman having returned to Paradise Island after the end of the conflict and subsequently coming back to the States in the '70s to team up with Steve's son as a crimefighting unit. There was a full feature length episode as part of the reboot but unlike this one it wasn't given a cinematic release. I might come back to it as a bonus some time in the future but for now, unfortunately this is the last we'll be seeing of Wonder Woman in these pages until the big budget relaunch a couple of years ago.
FINAL RATING: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (5/10)
CURRENT DC FILM TABLE
1. Batman (1966) (8/10)
2. The New Wonder Woman (1975) (5/10)
3. Superman and the Mole Men (1951) (5/10)
4. Wonder Woman (1974) (3/10)
NEXT WEEK: DC goes all big budget on us as Superman makes his return to the silver screen...
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