Wonder Woman (1974)

As I recall it, when Wonder Woman made its UK TV debut on the BBC on early Saturday evenings in the late seventies, it was with the first episode of its second season, which marked the point, in the US, where it had changed network from ABC to CBS and era, from WWII to the then present day.  The first season of WWII set adventures was never (as far as  I am aware) shown by the BBC, so we in the UK remained blissfully unaware of its existence, (there were pre-internet days, remember).  To confuse us viewers even more, the BBC, at some point during its showing of season two, screened a TV movie entitled The Return of Wonder Woman, the events of which clearly preceded the episodes we'd already seen.  This, of course, was the pilot for the rebooted CBS version of Wonder Woman (correctly titled The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, but always billed in TV listings under the shorter title), although the title remained a mystery - how could Wonder Woman be returning if this was the first episode?  The BBC continued to screen series 2, then the third series, but at some point during their run of the show, a TV movie entitled The New Original Wonder Woman turned up on ITV.  When I caught it, I was surprised to find that while, like the BBC episodes, it featured Lynda Carter as the title character, perplexingly it had a WWII setting.  At the time, I just assumed that this was an earlier pilot for the series which had been reformatted to a contemporary setting in order to reduce costs.  Which would also explain the title of the Return of Wonder Woman TV movie, which I assumed was a second pilot to establish the new format.  (I only became aware of the fact that the WWII set pilot wasn't an isolated episode, that there was whole series with this setting, when, decades later, they turned up on, I think, ITV).

But just when I thought that I'd figured out the chronology of all of the Wonder Woman TV movies and series, a spanner was thrown into the works when another TV movie, entitled simply Wonder Woman, turned up on ITV.  While this had a contemporary setting, it was quite different form any of the other episodes I'd seen - most notably, it had a different Wonder Woman -Cathy Lee Crosby - and a different Steve Trevor.  I eventually worked out that this was the original pilot for the series, which had obviously been rejected and the whole thing recast and retooled as, first The New Original Wonder Woman, then The New Adventures of Wonder Woman.  I'd forgotten just how different it was until I watched it again recently.  While, as in the CBS version, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman is an Amazon from Paradise Island who is working undercover for a US government intelligence agency, her Amazon heritage seems to play only a minimal role in her work and just about everyone, (except her colleagues) seems to know that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman are one and the same person.  She employs none of the super powers that the Lynda Carter version would subsequently demonstrate, seemingly only having faster than normal reflexes and accuracy when it comes to throwing javelins and the like - basically, she's simply very athletic, rather than being an actual superhero.  Absent also is the distinctive outfit traditionally sported by the character and any transformation scenes where she changes from Diana Prince to Wonder Woman.  The costume she sports as Wonder Woman is somewhat more modest, looking more like a tracksuit, although it is red, white and blue.  This version of the character is presented more as some kind of James Bond-style super spy, armed with all manner of gadgets to get her out of tricky situations.  (The invisible plane is mentioned, but, as with many things in the film never seen, so to speak).

Even the plot is a sub-Bondian tale of stolen code books being used to blackmail the US government, with a not so super villain with a secret hideout carved into the walls of the Grand Canyon.  Wonder Woman is a curious creation, particularly in view of the fact that it was intended to sell a potential TV series - the whole thing is so muted, lacking much in the way of action set pieces, suspense or atmosphere.  It moves at a leisurely place, with its heroine never feeling imperiled and getting out of not so tight jams far too easily.  The plot itself isn't terribly interesting, the stakes too low and, as played by Ricardo Montalban, the main villain not at all menacing.  Montalban goes for charm and, to be fair, makes his character very personable and likeable - but just not threatening.  The main menace is provided by his henchman, played sneeringly by Andrew Prine who, despite all of his posturing and murderous activities toward minor characters, never feels as if he is any kind of threat to the heroine.  The whole adventure feels perfunctory and anti-climactic, making it no surprise that it wasn't picked up for a series. Worst of all, it simply doesn't seem to know who its target audience might be - it really isn't sophisticated enough for an adult audience, is unlikely to appeal to fans of the comic book and is just too slow and uneventful to interest kids.  Interestingly, like the subsequent WWII set series, this version of Wonder Woman was also produced for ABC, but by a completely different production team.  As an updating of the character it is far less successful than the subsequent New Adventures of Wonder Woman on CBS, making the mistake of changing the character so much that she is barely recognisable as Wonder Woman, removing most of what makes her unique and interesting.