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Wonder Woman is an American live-action TV series that originally aired from 1975 to 1979, based on the comic book superhero Wonder Woman.It starred Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor.While often regarded as campy and cheesy in hindsight, it's still somewhat of a Cult Classic. The movie-length pilot episode and first season aired on ABC, and were set during World. Lynda Carter, Actress: Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter was born on July 24, 1951 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA as Linda Jean Cordova Carter. She is an actress, known for Wonder Woman (1975. Wonder Woman' Next Starring Lynda Carter (as Diana Prince, Wonder Woman), Lyle Waggoner (Major Steve Trevor) Pilot TV Movies (ABC) (1975-76) Episode Guide compiled by The Classic TV Archive with contributions by: references: TV Guide / Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov).
Wonder Woman
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Andy MangelsAndy Mangels is a best-selling author and co-author of more than a dozen books, including Star Trek and Roswell novels, and the books Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide (2003)...
Alternative Titles: Diana Prince, Princess Diana
Wonder Woman, American comic book heroine created for DC Comics by psychologist William Moulton Marston (under the pseudonym Charles Moulton) and artist Harry G. Peter. Wonder Woman first appeared in a backup story in All Star Comics no. 8 (December 1941) before receiving fuller treatment in Sensation Comics no. 1 (January 1942) and Wonder Woman no. 1 (June 1942). She perennially ranked as one of DC’s most-recognizable characters and a feminist icon.
Wonder Woman 1975 Movie
Marston was something of a maverick in the scientific community, and he is credited with inventing a precursor of the modern lie detector. He practiced polygyny, he believed that women would rise up to lead the world into a new and peaceful age, and one of Marston’s longtime partners was the niece of family-planning pioneer Margaret Sanger. These details, as well as Marston’s long affiliation with the woman suffrage movement, were obvious influences in the creation of Wonder Woman.
Origin in the Golden Age
The details of Wonder Woman’s origin have changed many times over the years, but the basic premise has remained largely the same. U.S. Air Force pilot Steve Trevor’s plane crashes on the uncharted Paradise Island, home of the legendary Amazons. The raven-haired Princess Diana finds Trevor, and the Amazons nurse him back to health. A tournament is held to determine who will take the pilot back to “Man’s World,” but Diana is forbidden to enter. Disguising herself, she engages in the games, winning them and being awarded the costume of Wonder Woman. Diana takes Trevor back to the United States in her invisible plane, and she adopts the secret identity of Diana Prince. As Prince, she soon becomes Trevor’s assistant, and Trevor—much like a gender-reversed Lois Lane—never realizes that his coworker and the superhero who consistently comes to his rescue are the same person.
In her first 40 years of adventures, Wonder Woman wore a distinctive red bodice with a gold eagle, a blue skirt with white stars (quickly replaced by blue shorts with stars), red boots with a white centre stripe and upper edge, a gold belt and tiara, and bracelets on each wrist. The bracelets could deflect bullets or other missiles, and hanging from her belt was a magic golden lasso, which compelled anyone bound by it to tell the truth or obey her commands. Among her powers were prodigious strength and speed, near invulnerability to physical harm, and formidable combat prowess. On some occasions, she also displayed the ability to converse with animals.
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Wonder Woman was popular with readers for many reasons. For a nation engulfed in World War II, her unwavering patriotism was welcome. Male readers enjoyed the adventures of a scantily clad woman who was drawn in the style of one of Esquire magazine’s Varga Girl pinups and who was often tied up by male or female villains. Critics—most notably anti-comics polemicist Frederic Wertham—would call attention to the preponderance of bondage in Wonder Woman stories, but Marston claimed such scenes to be allusions to suffragist imagery. (This defense strained credibility, however, as the concept of “loving submission” to authority was pervasive throughout both Wonder Woman comics and Marston’s personal life.) Female readers liked the series because it presented a strong and confident woman who often spoke about the power of womanhood and the need for female solidarity. In an industry where superheroines tended to be used for cheesecake titillation or as adjuncts to their more powerful and popular male counterparts, Wonder Woman stood apart.
Unlike Superman or Batman, the other members of what would come to be known as DC’s “trinity,” Wonder Woman would never develop an especially memorable gallery of villains. Among her persistent foes were the catlike Cheetah, the towering Giganta, the sorceress Circe, and the telepath Dr. Psycho, whose mental powers were a sinister inversion of Marston’s “loving submission” credo. Besides appearing in her own two titles, Wonder Woman was a featured member of the Justice Society of America in the pages of All Star Comics.
The Silver Age and television success
Marston wrote Wonder Woman until his death in May 1947, with Peter providing the art during most of that time. Robert Kanigher succeeded Marston as writer in 1948, but the popularity of superhero comics had sharply declined in the postwar years. The heroine last appeared with the Justice Society in All Star Comics no. 57 (February 1951), and she was dropped from Sensation Comics after no. 106 (December 1951). Sensation was subsequently turned into a horror anthology to capitalize on that genre’s surging popularity, leaving her bimonthly series as the sole Wonder Woman title. Peter was replaced by artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, among others.
Kanigher had a flair for the outrageous, and he introduced many elements into the Wonder Woman mythos that rattled longtime readers. These included adventures featuring a younger Wonder Woman (as Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot), romantic suitors such as Merman and Birdman (and their youthful counterparts Mer-Boy and Bird-Boy), and bizarre villains like Angle Man, Paper-Man, and a sentient egg (and obvious “yellow peril” stereotype) known as Egg Fu. Resistance from fans would lead Kanigher to take the unorthodox step of writing himself, Andru, and Esposito into Wonder Woman no. 158 (November 1965), so he could personally “fire” the supporting cast that he had introduced and restore Wonder Woman to her “Golden Age” roots.
Outside of her own title, Wonder Woman appeared as a founding member of the Justice League of America in The Brave and the Bold no. 28 (February-March 1960). In 1968 Kanigher left Wonder Woman, and creative duties were taken over by writer Denny O’Neil and artists Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano. In Wonder Woman no. 178 (October 1968), Diana Prince was stripped of her superpowers and costume, and she became an undercover adventure heroine in the model of Emma Peel from the television series The Avengers. Feminist leader Gloria Steinem featured the heroine in her classic costume on the cover of the July 1972 debut issue of Ms. magazine, and Wonder Woman’s profile grew dramatically during the 1970s. Shortly after her appearance in Ms., Wonder Woman regained her powers and costume, and the classic depiction of the hero played a prominent role in ABC’s hit animated series Super Friends (1973–86). In 1975 Lynda Carter debuted as the title character in the live action Wonder Woman. The statuesque former beauty queen so perfectly embodied the Amazon princess that, although the show ran for just three seasons, Carter would become the face of the character for a generation. Early scripts tended to be very faithful to the World War II-era comics, while later episodes, moving the time frame to the 1970s, were less faithful to their progenitors.
Wonder Woman | |
---|---|
Based on | Wonder Woman by |
Written by | John D. F. Black |
Directed by | Vincent McEveety |
Starring | |
Music by | Artie Butler |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | John D. F. Black |
Producer(s) | John G. Stephens |
Cinematography | Joseph Biroc |
Editor(s) | Gene Ruggiero |
Running time | 75 minutes |
Production company(s) | Warner Bros. Television |
Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | ABC |
Original release | ‹See TfM› |
Wonder Woman is a 1974 American made-for-televisionsuperhero film based on the DC Comicscharacter of the same name, directed by Vincent McEveety and starring Cathy Lee Crosby. The film was a pilot for an intended television series being considered by ABC. The movie presented the character as a James Bond-style superspy, and did not contain many elements from the comic book series.[1] Ratings were described as 'respectable but not exactly wondrous,' and ABC did not pick up the pilot.[2]
Instead, Warner Brothers and ABC developed a different Wonder Woman television concept that fit the more traditional presentation of the character as created by William Moulton Marston, turning away from the 1968–1972 era that had influenced the pilot. The New Original Wonder Woman, which premiered in 1975, starred Lynda Carter and eventually led to the Wonder Woman TV series. Crosby would later claim that she was offered the chance to reprise the role in that series.[3]
Wonder Woman 1975 Full Movie
Background[edit]
Cathy Lee Crosby in the first Wonder Woman film.
Wonder Woman's first broadcast appearance in live-action television was a movie made in 1974 for ABC. Written by John D. F. Black, the TV movie resembles the Wonder Woman of the 'I Ching' period. Wonder Woman (Cathy Lee Crosby) did not wear the comic-book uniform, demonstrated no apparent super-human powers, had a 'secret identity' of Diana Prince that was not all that secret, and she was also depicted as blonde (differing from the black hair established in the comic books).
This 1974 film follows Wonder Woman, assistant to government agent Steve Trevor (Kaz Garas) as she pursues a villain named Abner Smith (Ricardo Montalbán) who has stolen a set of code books containing classified information about U.S. government field agents. Along the way, she has to outwit Smith's chief assistants: the handsome yet dangerous George (Andrew Prine) and a rogue Amazon, Ahnjayla (Anitra Ford), whom Smith has taken on as a bodyguard; a brief duel between Wonder Woman and Ahnjayla is the film's only significant action sequence, which occurs during the final third of the story.[4]
The pilot aired originally on March 12, 1974[5] and was repeated on August 21 of that year.[6] Ratings were described as 'respectable but not exactly wondrous.'[2] ABC did not pick up the pilot, although Crosby would later claim she was offered the series that was eventually given to Lynda Carter.[3] An ABC spokesperson would later acknowledge that the decision to update the character was a mistake.[2]
Wonder Woman Tv Show 1975
Warner Brothers released this pilot into syndication as a stand-alone 90-minute telefilm, where it played on independent TV stations throughout the 1970s and 1980s. On December 11, 2012, Warner Brothers made the Cathy Lee Crosby pilot available as a Video On Demand purchase through their online store.
Cast[edit]
- Cathy Lee Crosby as Diana Prince (Wonder Woman)
- Kaz Garas as Steve Trevor
- Charlene Holt as Hippolyta
- Ricardo Montalbán as Abner Smith
- Richard X. Slattery as Colonel Henkins
- Andrew Prine as George Calvin
- Anitra Ford as Ahnjayla
- Beverly Gill as Dia
- Sandy Gaviola as Ting
- Robert Porter as Joe
- Jordan Rhodes as Bob
- Donna Garrett as Cass
- Roberta Brahm as Zoe
- Thom Carney as Fred
- Ed McCready as Wesley
Home media[edit]
Warner Home Video released the TV film to DVD in 2012 through Amazon.com and their Warner Archive collection.
References[edit]
- ^Sacks, Jason; Dallas, Keith (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 145. ISBN978-1605490564.
- ^ abcShales, Tom (November 7, 1975). 'Wonder Woman Tries Comeback'. The Washington Post.
- ^ abJoby, Tom (May 12, 1980). 'Cathy Crosby turns down 'Wonder Woman' offer'. Associated Press.
- ^Bergeron, Tom (2004). 'Forward'. What Were They Thinking?: The 100 Dumbest Events in Television. By Hofstede, David. Back Stage Books. pp. 31–33. ISBN978-0-8230-8441-8.
- ^'TV Staff Previews'. Uniontown (PA) Morning Herald. March 12, 1974.
- ^'TV Key Best Bets'. Wisconsin State Journal. August 21, 1974.
Watch Wonder Woman 1975 Online
External links[edit]
- Wonder Woman on IMDb
Putlocker Wonder Woman 1975
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