An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.
The original 1967 pilot for Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is one of those comic book characters that everyone’s heard of, but not too many people know much about or especially like.
No?
Quick quiz: can you explain Batman’s origins? Superman’s? Spiderman’s?
How about Wonder Woman’s?
Probably not. You have to be a special kind of geek to know it (a princess from a hidden island of Amazons, imbued with the powers of the Greek gods).
Okay, there’s many a boy (and girl) who rather enjoyed Lynda Carter’s interpretation of the role in the 70s Wonder Woman TV series. But a previous attempt in 1974 with Cathy Lee Crosby in the role didn’t do especially well, recent attempts to get a film version up and running have fallen flat, despite Joss Buffy Whedon’s best efforts, and sales of the comic haven’t exactly been stellar.
What you may not know is that way back in the 60s, just as Adam West’s Batman had become popular, the powers that be tried to create another Wonder Woman TV series. Unfortunately, they tried to use Batman as a template, and turned it into a comedy.
Here, for your delectation, is the pilot episode in glorious YouTube vision. See if you can work out for yourself while it flopped – it’s only five minutes long. Enjoy!
PS If you ever want to be fascinated, read up about the original intent behind the character of Wonder Woman. William Moulton Marston – the guy who invented the lie detector and a Harvard-educated psychologist – created Wonder Woman to indoctrinate girls and boys, ready for the day he believed was coming in which women would rule the world. It’s true:
“Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world… Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don’t want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women’s strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.
