Series Pilot - Wonder Woman (2011)

Wonder Woman [PILOT]

2011

Production Companies:  DC Entertainment & Warner Bros. Television

It's good to be surprised, which is exactly what I was after viewing the leaked pilot episode of the axed-before-release series of Wonder Woman.

It would appear that the writer, David E Kelley, had quite a different take on the Wonder Woman mythos by bringing her into the present day and giving her all the troubles that go along with it.  This is a much darker character than seen before.  Let me state that I don't usually like this kind of thing because writers can easily get carried away and kill off the characters main and basic characterisations, which is what happened in Batman Vs Superman - An old Batman was not very clever and easily lead, while Superman had no problem killing anyone,  However, Kelley actually manages to keep the essence of Wonder Woman.  I even think if this had become a series it may have strengthened the character for an older audience.

In this present day, Diana Prince runs a company that, not only, helps her to fight crime but helps everyday people.  This in itself is a nice take on the Amazonian ethic.  In this story, she's up against Veronica Cale, who is brilliantly portrayed by Elizabeth Hurley (not an actress that I would usually rate - talk about surprise - she's one of the strongest characters in the show).  Cale runs a cosmetic and pharmacy business and one of her products to enhance the human physique may be killing people.  Can Wonder Woman stop her before it kills more people?

Though this sounds like it could be a story out of the '70's series it does lend itself to the present day especially with a number of supplements out there that we can take to increase body mass.  Kelley does an admirable job of making this relevant as well as adding a twist or two, which you, unfortunately, can see coming.

It's the direction which hurts this show though as the story and its execution on screen are very jagged and harsh.  Though I cannot be too harsh as this is not a finished item, there would have been plenty of trimming and cleaning to be done before airing (so a pinch of salt there)  What the director does show in this "Dirty" episode is how good at action he is.  The opening sequence where Wonder Woman is in pursuit of a criminal through the busy streets is fantastic.  Not only do we have running on cars (I always wanted to do that - even now I can't walk down a street of parked cars with out thinking... what if?) but jumping over vehicles and from one car to another.  This also has one of the most believable faster-than-humanly-possible running sequences I've seen.  Then there's the main fight scene towards the end of the show when Wonder Woman takes on a group of enhanced humans.  This is also one of the best-choreographed TV fight scenes.  At the end she actually kills a guard,  I loved this as it adds to her true character, she is an Amazonian Warrior and warriors kill.

However, there are some drawbacks, the main being the characters.  Though Elwes is good as Henry Johns, the character isn't actually needed and feels like a third thumb as all his jobs are also carried out by Etta Candy, played well by Traci Thoms.  Candy also has a stronger and more filled out character.  Then there's Steve Trevor, who Diana left to find herself, when he appears he's married - he didn't wait a year before getting hitched (not such a great bloke then).  These issues would have been addressed and built upon in the series but here they don't work.  What would have been better would be if Wonder Woman had brought Steve Trevor back to Washington in the second World War, as was the case with the '70's series, and he's now on his death bed - because there are a couple of scenes where it's been hinted she's been around for a long while.  This would open up issues of love and her feeling of being alone on a planet of billions.

This wasn't as bad as I'd read it had been.  If you're a DC or Wonder Woman fan then it is definitely worth one watch.  I would have loved to have seen the complete series on this version of the Amazonian Warrior as Adrianne Palicki was perfect for this role.

Fan Created Trailer

Movie Review - Wonder Woman (1974)

Wonder Woman

1974

Production Companies:  Warner Bros. Television

So this was a different take on the Wonder Woman mythos, opting to go with a blonde version of the Amazonian Goddess.  This may have been because Cathy Lee Cosby might not have wanted to die her hair for the part or don a wig.  Whatever the case may be she does an amiable job as Diana Prince and I would've watched a series with her as Wonder Woman, it's a shame the script wasn't too brilliant, it was your average fair for '74.  Also, gone is the iconic and eye-popping costume to be replaced with a modified track suit. 

I like Warner's and McEveety's decision to use Crosby since she was a major athlete at the time she could easily cope with the action scenes... which reduced the need to bring in a stuntman in a wig.  She's also a pretty decent actor and fit this version of the character well.  It would have been nice to have the fight scenes choreographed a little better and speeded up a tad, a few special effects wouldn't have gone amiss to show her strength, as was the case with the later series.

As for the other actors, there wasn't anything too spectacular about them.  Even though I do like Montalban a lot, he is very underused here.  In fact, I think that can be said of most, though, Andrew Prime does have a bit more power behind his performance.  This could all be down to McEveety's direction, who doesn't give us anything particularly new here,

Though Black sticks to the origin pretty well, things start to get messy once we're off Paradise Island.  We see Diana Prince working as a Secretary for Steve Trevor, though secretly she's the one they send in to get the job done.  So she's undercover in her own business.  What I found really great and funny was the fact that EVERBODY else appeared to know Diana Prince was Wonder Woman; this says a lot for her company - the only spies who didn't know her secret.  Even with this unintentional humour, Black does add some intentional humour to the story by incorporating a burro to bring the top secret plans to Abner Smith.  This is one well-trained Ass...  The other thing wrong with the script is the villains' names.  I, for one, do not find either Abner Smith or George Calvin particularly frightening or awe inspiring.  Calvin is a psychotic and cold blooded killer so it would have been nice for him to be given a more fearsome name or nick-name.  This is based on a comic after all and in the 70's they were filled with evil doers with weird pseudonyms.  The Joker wouldn't have been the same if he was called Melvin Phillips...

I think that if this had a better writer and director then the end product could have been so much better than this.  It might even have made a decent television series; though I'm glad it didn't as it probably would have meant we would have missed Lynda Carter in the role that is so iconic to her.  Though, as it stands it's not too bad and is okay for kids though with what's available today it looks and feels really dated, so they might baulk at watching it.  This is worth a watch if you're looking at Wonder Woman throughout the ages, which I'm doing.  Or, if you were a kid in the 70's and you want a little nostalgia.  Apart from that, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.