Revisiting Princess Diana of Themyscira
So, here's what happened:
For some reason or another, on a particularly boring weekend home alone, I decided to watch Wonder Woman Season 1 on DVD. I’ve had this for awhile and, being the geek that I am, I like to return to the old standards I grew up watching as a child. I guess hearing that the new series had been accepted by one of the networks may have prompted my interest. I’m a fan of the character of Wonder Woman and I did love the series in the 1970s. It was a staple, along with the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. My childhood heroes before my attentions were drawn to a galaxy far, far away.
Now, given the stream of consciousness method of my brain, this marathon prompted a reviewing of the outstanding animated series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and the truly exceptional Wonder Woman animated film but I found myself wanting more live action fare. And since I had so much enjoyed watching the first season of The Bionic Woman (finally released on DVD), I decided to throw caution to the wind and buy the second and third season of Wonder Woman.
I experienced what I can only call a total geek-gasm watching these two seasons. It amazed me how much I remembered and how much I forgot. I found it compelling to see the transition between the first season, which was set during World War 2, and the second season, which had a contemporary setting (1976-1977). The transition was explained rather well, too: after the end of the war, Diana decided to simply return home to Paradise Island but when a plane was about to crash near the island, Queen Hippolyta allowed it to land so her people could gather information about the changing world. Diana goes on board and sees Steve Trevor, well, the son of Steve Trevor, also named Steve (both played by Lyle Waggoner). Diana decides she wants to return to the modern world and she manages to get herself an assignment with the IADC (Inter-Agency Defense Command) so she could work closely with Trevor.
What is great about the update is the change of Diana’s character. This Wonder Woman has a little more of a bite; there’s an edge to her that is delightfully missing from WW2 era Wonder Woman. I think the transition was also easier on Lynda Carter, but it could also be because she had twenty-two episodes of playing the “perfect woman” under her belt. There are episodes where she does not hide her growing impatience with the world around her. There’s even a great line in one episode where she warns the villain that he is about to make her lose her temper, something she hasn’t done in 500 years or so.
What I also love about the contemporary side of the series is it’s more action based, meaning we get to not only see more of Wonder Woman, we also get to see Diana Prince taking more of a lead role. Yes, I have heard rumors that there was tension on the set between Carter and Waggoner but frankly, the show was not called “The New Adventures of Steve Trevor.” Another aspect of this action is that we get to see Wonder Woman in motion and I’m not talking about the spin (to this day, I still cannot decide if I like the slow spin of Diana’s transformation as featured in the pilot episode—and first couple of episodes of Season 1—over the spin and “explosion” of later episodes). Diana runs, jumps, fights hand to hand, and climbs frequently in the contemporary episodes. Now, I am a pop culture geek so I have to admit that I love, love, love the few shots of Wonder Woman running in slow motion.
This has nothing to do with what my sibling affectionately calls “wonder boobies.” Believe me, when I watch these slow motion runs, her breasts are not on my mind and I really don’t even notice them. Don’t get me wrong; Lynda Carter was beautiful in the role and she’s beautiful now. No, what’s on my mind is the form and the iconic image of Wonder Woman in motion. Wonder Woman has existed on the pages of comic books for so long and with all the fancy brush strokes and ink, it is still a static image. (I mean no disrespect to the artists of these works. These artists have created iconic images of many superheroes; our ideals of these superheroes are from the pages of these books.) I think seeing Wonder Woman running, either in slow-motion or at speed, is seeing the image on the page come to life. I think that is what thrills me so much. She bends bars. She jumps buildings. She runs! And it is beautiful to watch.
I get the same thrill whenever I see a drawing, amateur or professional, of Princess Leia Organa holding a lightsaber.
We shall see how this upcoming series fares. An image of the actress taking over the role of Diana was released last week wearing the new costume. I like it but I still have a preference for the red boots over the blue featured in this update. Otherwise, as I stated in a Facebook status, I will wait until the series actually premieres before pronouncing final judgment.
For some reason or another, on a particularly boring weekend home alone, I decided to watch Wonder Woman Season 1 on DVD. I’ve had this for awhile and, being the geek that I am, I like to return to the old standards I grew up watching as a child. I guess hearing that the new series had been accepted by one of the networks may have prompted my interest. I’m a fan of the character of Wonder Woman and I did love the series in the 1970s. It was a staple, along with the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. My childhood heroes before my attentions were drawn to a galaxy far, far away.
Now, given the stream of consciousness method of my brain, this marathon prompted a reviewing of the outstanding animated series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and the truly exceptional Wonder Woman animated film but I found myself wanting more live action fare. And since I had so much enjoyed watching the first season of The Bionic Woman (finally released on DVD), I decided to throw caution to the wind and buy the second and third season of Wonder Woman.
I experienced what I can only call a total geek-gasm watching these two seasons. It amazed me how much I remembered and how much I forgot. I found it compelling to see the transition between the first season, which was set during World War 2, and the second season, which had a contemporary setting (1976-1977). The transition was explained rather well, too: after the end of the war, Diana decided to simply return home to Paradise Island but when a plane was about to crash near the island, Queen Hippolyta allowed it to land so her people could gather information about the changing world. Diana goes on board and sees Steve Trevor, well, the son of Steve Trevor, also named Steve (both played by Lyle Waggoner). Diana decides she wants to return to the modern world and she manages to get herself an assignment with the IADC (Inter-Agency Defense Command) so she could work closely with Trevor.
What is great about the update is the change of Diana’s character. This Wonder Woman has a little more of a bite; there’s an edge to her that is delightfully missing from WW2 era Wonder Woman. I think the transition was also easier on Lynda Carter, but it could also be because she had twenty-two episodes of playing the “perfect woman” under her belt. There are episodes where she does not hide her growing impatience with the world around her. There’s even a great line in one episode where she warns the villain that he is about to make her lose her temper, something she hasn’t done in 500 years or so.
What I also love about the contemporary side of the series is it’s more action based, meaning we get to not only see more of Wonder Woman, we also get to see Diana Prince taking more of a lead role. Yes, I have heard rumors that there was tension on the set between Carter and Waggoner but frankly, the show was not called “The New Adventures of Steve Trevor.” Another aspect of this action is that we get to see Wonder Woman in motion and I’m not talking about the spin (to this day, I still cannot decide if I like the slow spin of Diana’s transformation as featured in the pilot episode—and first couple of episodes of Season 1—over the spin and “explosion” of later episodes). Diana runs, jumps, fights hand to hand, and climbs frequently in the contemporary episodes. Now, I am a pop culture geek so I have to admit that I love, love, love the few shots of Wonder Woman running in slow motion.
This has nothing to do with what my sibling affectionately calls “wonder boobies.” Believe me, when I watch these slow motion runs, her breasts are not on my mind and I really don’t even notice them. Don’t get me wrong; Lynda Carter was beautiful in the role and she’s beautiful now. No, what’s on my mind is the form and the iconic image of Wonder Woman in motion. Wonder Woman has existed on the pages of comic books for so long and with all the fancy brush strokes and ink, it is still a static image. (I mean no disrespect to the artists of these works. These artists have created iconic images of many superheroes; our ideals of these superheroes are from the pages of these books.) I think seeing Wonder Woman running, either in slow-motion or at speed, is seeing the image on the page come to life. I think that is what thrills me so much. She bends bars. She jumps buildings. She runs! And it is beautiful to watch.
I get the same thrill whenever I see a drawing, amateur or professional, of Princess Leia Organa holding a lightsaber.
We shall see how this upcoming series fares. An image of the actress taking over the role of Diana was released last week wearing the new costume. I like it but I still have a preference for the red boots over the blue featured in this update. Otherwise, as I stated in a Facebook status, I will wait until the series actually premieres before pronouncing final judgment.
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