Cathy Lee Crosby starred in WONDER WOMAN, a telefilm supposedly based on the popular DC Comics character. Since this abomination Wonder Woman bore no resemblance at all to the established and well-known character, the film went down as a legendary flop. It’s remained a very obscure item. Even I haven’t seen it!
Not long after, another station tried their hand at a much more traditional pilot film starring Lynda Carter in THE NEW, ORIGINAL WONDER WOMAN followed in the camp footsteps of Batman. It was the note-perfect casting of Lynda Carter that made the film a hit.
The pilot film follows the traditional Wonder Woman origin. The world is at war and pilot Steve Trevor is shot down over Paradise Island. There, amazon Diana Prince finds him and nurses him back to health. In the process, she falls in love with him and follows him back to the States when he recovers. Disguising herself as a Wave, she becomes Trevor’s personal assistant, always ready to don her star-spangled bathing suit to aid the Allies! Here, she breaks a spy ring headed up by Red Buttons and Stella Stevens.
THE NEW, ORIGINAL WONDER WOMAN was a massive success, and a series followed. The first season retained the World War II setting. It started out as campy as the movie, but eventually fell into a more straight-forward stride which made it one of the coolest shows on television! Particularly interesting was a two-parter in which Wonder Woman must convince a Martian that the Allies are just and the Nazis evil. Another neato-boss episode guest-starred Roy Rogers!
It was a wonderful time for pulchritudinous sci-fi super-types. Batgirl, The Avengers, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., and Honey West kinda kicked it off in the 60’s, and the 70’s continued with Wonder Woman, The Secrets of Isis, and Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl -to say nothing of the assorted Policewomans and Charlie’s Angelses.
Later, the series moved Wonder Woman into more cost-effective contemporary times. It was around this point that superheroes on the small screen became big business. Numerous characters were given TV movies and/or series in hopes of creating another successful franchise.
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About the author
Rock is a pencil jockey by trade. He's done work for AC Comics, Main Enterprises, and Moonstone, among others. Some of the strips he's created include Dinosaur Girl (AC Comics, creator, writer, pencils), Crissy Carrots (Main, creator, writer, pencils), and Betsy the Bookwriter (Main, co-creator, writer, pencils). His specialty is cheesecake cartooning (what they call "good girl art" these days).
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