Superhero Week: Wonder Woman

How do.  Today we reach the end of Superhero Week with a iconic character of which I feel needs no introduction but by God we are going to do that very thing regardless.  A pillar of strength and courage with her superhuman magically imbued powers she sets off into “Man’s world” to trounce bad guys and thwart evil plans.  So fasten your bracelets, strap into your invisible jet and always pack your lasso of truth.  This is Wonder Woman.

Andy Warhol's Mona Lisa?

The spoilers of a frightened evil child too terrified to trust in gentleness…

Now given the constant rewriting of the DC Comics history, the TV version also takes a few liberties with the origins in the same facet as Shazam or Spiderman.  The basis of the character however is sound.  Rather than her mother Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons engaging in World War II, it was decided for story line or possibly not a want to recast that Diana/Wonder Woman (Linda Carter of Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, The Last Song, Born to Be Sold, Hotline and Partners in Crime) would encounter Major Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner of Swamp Country, Journey to the Center of Time, Love Me Deadly, The Carol Brunette Show and Mind Trap) crashed on the island of Themyscaria, a land of seemingly immortal and youthful women.  Through Major Trevor, Diana learns of the war against the Nazi party and brings this information to her mother Hippolyta (Carolyn Jones of The Man Who Knew Too Much, How the West Was Won, The Addams Family, Fantasy Island and Capitol) that they must take action embarking on a quest to return this much needed warrior to his war.

And now the talent portion of Miss America Pageant...

 As a contest is held to see which amazon will take Trevor home, Diana secretly enters, triumphs and is reluctantly sent under the identity of Yeoman Diana Prince and Season 1 consists of Diana fighting as Wonder Woman in the war.   After WW II she returns to the island and resumes her studies and explains to her amazon sisters the terrors and wonders of Man’s World.  With Season 2 underway, from wither boredom or the need to combat the forces of evil yet again, 30 years later she returns to encounter Steve Trevor Jr. (an amazing resemblance of his father) who works for the IADC the Inter-Agency Defense Command.   With a magic belt that gives her tremendous strength, bracelets that can deflect any caliber of bullet and a lasso that forces any caught in it to tell the truth she soars into action fighting for all of humanity.  

A few points I wish to make.   This is by far one of the closest crossovers from comic book to live-action humanly possible.  The theme song is a bit insipid and yes for you men watching this you will get whip lash and there is some fairly sexist undertones.  I swear the writers were just exploiting the overuse of chloroform.  Yes a woman that could hurl a tank over 20 maybe 100 yards somehow kept getting captured.  Steve Trevor was forever the damsel in distress to the point I just wanted to put him in a gingham dress and tie him to a train track whilst twirling my mustache and engage in a lengthy monologue.   

Sieg Heil!..er..um...I mean Yes Sir!

The pilot episode was an absolute stitch as Diana parades around with an almost childlike naivety as men and women gawk at her alike.  She comes off so sweet and innocent and yet she could bench press a bulldozer.     Oh a little FYI, Drusilla (Debra Winger of Urban Cowboy, Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman, Legal Eagles and Lola Versus) has a reoccurring role as Wonder Girl.  Guess the rights to Donna Troy name were tied up with DC and Marvel comics’ writer Marv Wolfman of the Teen Titans and Blade. It was also great to go through these episodes and spot so many actors like: John Saxon, Roddie McDowell, Henry Gibson, Rick Springfield, Anne Ramsey and Pamela Susan Shoop.  So many TV and Movie actors gathered as bit parts or secondary characters.  To this day I cannot envision someone other than Lynda Carter tackling this role.

Superhero Week: The Secrets of Isis

Hiya kiddies I am back for day 3 of Superhero Week and man ‘o man this one is a bit of a doozy.  You may have thought Wonder Woman was tough but what about a woman that controls elements, the animals, superhuman strength and even the air.  All that action packed notion in an outfit reserved for cosplayers or possibly fantasy wheedling and begging for a boyfriend.  So grab your ankh, try to follow the Egyptian hieroglyphs and legends.   This is Isis.

Power divine from the Goddess or is it Maybelline?

Oh mighty spoilers come forth!!!!

Prior to the awesome might of the Amazon princess Wonder Woman as well as to the cybernetic powers of the Bionic Woman, There was Isis!   A woman imbued with awesome powers from the goddess that was the protector of the death and goddess of children.  The daughter of Geb the god of the Earth and Nut, goddess of the Sky, this protector sought an avatar of her mighty powers and an amulet was given to Hatshepsut the first female pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty in Egypt.   Centuries later on a archeological dig, school teacher Andrea Thomas (JoAnna Cameron of How to Commit Marriage, Pretty Maids All in a Row, A Time for Love, Night Games, High Risk and The Amazing Spider-Man)  digs deep of the ruins of ancient Egypt a.k.a. Chatsworth California.  Back when there were more desert and less X Games enthusiasts and pornography to uncover the very same amulet that Lady Hatshepsut had and deemed worthy by Isis, is given those same fantastic magical powers as was previously mentioned to stop evil in its tracks.  

Guess Cindy Lou was taken by the Woos.

But hold up funsters, what is a superheroine without a gaggle of zany sidekicks.  Just ask Wonder Woman and Buffy on this one.  A trio of her own students that somehow cannot recognize their hot teacher minus glasses and in a flowing one piece and mini skirt dubbed themselves the Super Sleuths.   Too much Scooby Doo, pot and mushrooms I am guessing for this teen gang and predictably they follow the Jimmy Olson School of hard knocks and they are constantly tied up, slapped around and held at gun point.  Yeah this eager beaver go getters cannot solve the mystery of why Andrea and Isis are never arriving and leaving at the same time so clearly they are my choice of Mousketeers.   Isis was constantly rescuing several of her own high school students because I think they were born with ransom notes or possibly humanoid lemmings.

Blue screened and ready for action.

Few facts of the show would help some of the readers now.  This was part of a companion show known as Shazam!  For that a few crossover episodes occurred between the two series in order to validate them both I believe given as they were not widely known comic book characters to say the likes of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.    One thing about this show which became a running gag is Andrea/Isis was constantly breaking the fourth wall to give a poignant speech to the viewers at home or to impart the lesson of the day from all this action that could have been easily avoided if they only used their heads instead of just winging it.  For you younger viewers, think of GI Joe knowing is half the battle cliché.    Mind you while this heroine is dressed a bit like the corner prostitute for cosplayers she had an almost unlimited amount of powers such as: Flight, Superhuman strength, complete control of her molecular density (She could phase through walls) gravitation field manipulation and even stop and reverse the flow of time.  Some telepathic communication with her pet bird Tut as well but hey not exactly sure that is deemed a big super power *coughs Falcon* but apparently she had that is Andrea form.  Was it really a blow for feminism?  As a whole, yeah because you have a woman with more powers than Superman slaps around baddies but the mercy to curb them getting out of hand. 

I don’t think it spoke too highly of women empowerment but I think that comes from the sexist tiny outfit they gave her so that is probably my only real hang up.  At the end of the day I still think I could sit through these episodes fairly well.