Wonder Woman, known for seasons 2 and 3 as The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, is an American superhero television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. It stars Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman / Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor Sr. and Jr., and aired for three seasons, from 1975 to 1979. The show's first season aired on ABC and is set in the 1940s, during World War II. The second and third seasons aired on CBS and are set in the then-current day late 1970s, with the title changed to The New Adventures of Wonder Woman.
Plot In 1942, during World War II, American pilot Major Steve Trevor (Waggoner) bails out during an air battle over the Bermuda Triangle, location of Paradise Island. The island is home to the Amazons: beautiful, ageless women with great strength, agility, and intelligence. Amazon princess Diana (Carter) rescues the handsome unconscious Trevor and helps nurse him back to health.
Diana's mother, the Amazon queen (Cloris Leachman; succeeded by Carolyn Jones and Beatrice Straight in later episodes), decrees that Olympic-style games shall be held to select one Amazon to return Trevor back to America. But she forbids her own daughter Diana, the princess, to participate. Diana states that since she is not allowed to participate, she does not want to be present for the games and will take a retreat to the other side of the island. The games are held with participants wearing masks and numbers, shown as Roman numerals in triangles on white sleeveless short tunic-dresses.
Among the contestants is a masked blonde Amazon. During the events, the blonde Amazon shows exceptional skills and she ties for first with another Amazon. To break the deadlock, the "bullets and bracelets" event is decided as the tiebreaker, wherein each of the women takes turns shooting at the other; the one being shot at must deflect the bullets with her bulletproof bracelets. The blonde woman wins the event, superficially injuring her opponent's arm. When she is pronounced the winner, she removes her mask and wig and reveals that she is Diana. Her mother, though initially shocked, relents and allows her to go to America.
Diana's uniform as Wonder Woman, designed by Queen Hippolyta, features emblems of America, the land to which she will be returning Steve Trevor. A golden belt will be the source of her strength and power while away from Paradise Island. She has her bullet-deflecting bracelets and also receives a golden lasso which is unbreakable and forces people to obey and tell the truth when bound with it. As shown later in flashback, Hippolyta also teaches Diana how to magically transform her clothes into the uniform.
Diana, as Wonder Woman, flies to Washington, D.C. in an invisible plane. After dropping Trevor off at a hospital, the heroine stumbles upon a bank robbery, which she stops. A theatrical agent who sees her in action offers to help make her bullets and bracelets act a stage attraction. Diana is hesitant, but needing money in this new society, she agrees.
Meanwhile, Trevor's civilian secretary Marcia (Stella Stevens) is a double agent for the Nazi Fifth Columnists. She seeks to aid top spies in killing Trevor and opposing this new threat, Wonder Woman. Her first attempt is arranging for an accomplice to fire a machine gun at Wonder Woman during her stage act. Later, as spy activities increase, Trevor leaves the hospital but gets in a fight and is captured, prompting his "nurse" Diana to come to his rescue. Wonder Woman defeats Marcia in an extended fight sequence in the War Department. Having defeated Marcia, Wonder Woman thwarts a Nazi pilot who had plans to bomb the Brooklyn Navy Yard by using her invisible plane, and she rescues Trevor. With Marcia and the spy ring defeated, the film closes as Trevor and Brigadier General Blankenship talk about Trevor's new secretary whom Blankenship selected not only for her outstanding clerical test scores, but her decidedly plain appearance in contrast to Marcia: the bespectacled Yeoman First Class Diana Prince USNR(WR), Wonder Woman in disguise.
Cast and characters Main Lynda Carter as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman: This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the TV series Wonder Woman and is an adaptation of Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. The original character was created by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter and first appeared in All-Star Comics #8. Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor and Steve Trevor Jr.: The original character was created by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter and first appeared in All-Star Comics #8. The details surrounding the death of Steve Trevor Sr. remain largely unknown, but is known that Steve died some time prior to 1977. His son Steve Trevor Jr. would also work with Diana at the Inter-Agency Defense Command (IADC) center. Beatrice Colen as Etta Candy (season 1): General Phil Blankenship's secretary. She is there to provide comic relief. The original character was created by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter and first appeared in Sensation Comics #2. Richard Eastham as General Philip Blankenship (season 1): He works for the War Department during the early years of World War II. In 1942, he worked with his subordinate Colonel Steve Trevor in an ongoing effort to prevent Nazi cells from infiltrating the United States and threatening the nation's security. Blankenship also kept in close contact with Steve's colleagues Diana Prince and Etta Candy. Blankenship never knew that Yeoman Prince was also Wonder Woman. John Randolph portrayed General Phil Blankenship in "The New Original Wonder Woman". Norman Burton as Joe Atkinson (season 2): Inter-Agency Defense Command's supervisor. Saundra Sharp as Eve Welch (season 2): An agent for the Inter-Agency Defense Command.
Recurring characters Debra Winger as Drusilla / Wonder Girl: Born as the second daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, Drusilla grew up on Paradise Island along with her older sister, Princess Diana. After her sister left the island, she quickly became the finest archer and rider of the Amazons. When Hippolyta felt it was time for her elder daughter to return to the island, Drusilla was sent to America to urge her return. Reluctant to leave, Diana decided to show her younger sister of the need for Wonder Woman in the outside world. As part of this she convinced Drusilla to pose as Diana Prince's teenage sister for a few days. During this time she accompanied General Blankenship on a car trip. They were attacked by Nazi spies who abducted the general and left her behind. Unable to contact her sister, she decided to go after the spies herself and transformed into Wonder Girl. Drusilla was actually based on a one-time character from the comics of the same name back in 1969. Cloris Leachman, Carolyn Jones and Beatrice Straight as Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons and Diana and Drusilla's mother.
Production In March 1974, ABC aired the TV film Wonder Woman, produced by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent McEveety and starred Cathy Lee Crosby and was intended as a pilot for a potential series. The Wonder Woman of the film had little resemblance to the traditional character in either costume or abilities, although she did resemble the comic book character's 1968–73 "I Ching" period. The film's ratings were described as "respectable but not exactly wondrous" and ABC did not pick up the pilot.
Warner Bros. and ABC did not give up on the idea, and instead developed another TV pilot, The New Original Wonder Woman, which aired in November 1975. This film was directed by Leonard Horn and starred Lynda Carter, and its Wonder Woman more closely matched the original character created by William Moulton Marston, down to the World War II setting (Crosby would later claim that she was offered the chance to reprise the role in that film). This second film was more successful and immediately led to production of the series Wonder Woman.
The first two regular episodes of the new series aired in April 1976; both were directed by Barry Crane. After that, the series took a hiatus, and returned in October, with another 11 episodes that were aired on a more-or-less weekly basis.
Theme song The theme song, written by composer Charles Fox and lyricist Norman Gimbel, was performed by John Bahler of The Ron Hicklin Singers. Marti McCall, Carolyn Willis of the R&B group Honey Cone, and Julia Waters of the R&B group The Waters, recorded background vocals.
Pilot
Despite the muted ratings of the earlier Cathy Lee Crosby television pilot, 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, producers gave the pilot the rather paradoxical title The New Original Wonder Woman. Scripting duties were given to Stanley Ralph Ross, who 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.
After an intense talent search that included Joanna Cassidy and future Charlie's Angels star Jaclyn Smith, twenty-three-year-old Lynda Carter was chosen for the lead role. She had had a handful of minor acting roles and had been the 1972 Miss World USA and a Bob Hope USO cast member. For the role of Steve Trevor, the producers chose Lyle Waggoner, despite his dark brown, almost-black, hair not matching the comic's blond Trevor. Waggoner 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, eventually losing to Adam West. Waggoner was also considered a sex symbol, having done a semi-nude pictorial in the first issue of Playgirl.
Although the pilot followed the original comic book closely, in particular the aspect of Wonder Woman joining the military under the name Diana Prince, a number of elements were dropped. The comic book Diana obtains the credentials of a look-alike nurse. Although the pilot shows Diana briefly as a nurse at one point, Diana instead takes on the identity of a Navy Yeoman Petty Officer First Class (abbreviated YN1 in this article).
One change, which was later to become synonymous with the show, was the transformation of Diana Prince into Wonder Woman by spinning. During the filming of the pilot, producers were trying to figure out a way to show how Diana Prince became Wonder Woman, when Carter suggested that she do a spin.
Unlike the earlier pilot, the comic-book origins of the character were emphasized by the retention of the character's traditional uniform (the design of which was interpreted and executed by Donald Lee Feld, credited as "Donfeld") with the original setting and through the use of comic book elements. The series' title sequence was animated in the form of a series of comic book panels featuring Wonder Woman performing a variety of heroic feats. Within the show, location and exposition were handled through comic book-style text panels. Transitions between scenes and commercial breaks were marked by animated starburst sequences.
Season 1 The pilot film aired on November 7, 1975, was a ratings success, and ABC quickly authorized the production of two one-hour specials which aired in April 1976. These three productions would later be considered part of the show's first season. The episodes scored strong ratings, and ABC ordered an additional 11 episodes for the new 1976–77 TV season. The network began airing the episodes every few weeks apart at the beginning of the TV season in September. After mid-December, episodes aired on a weekly basis until mid-February 1977. This season was a ratings success it ranked at number 45 in the ratings and received positive reviews.