June 29, 2004
Suffering Sappho!
Posted by pete at June 29, 2004 1:32 AMWhat are you doing reading this, when you should be out purchasing/shoplifting/swapping government secrets for Season 1 of Wonder Woman on DVD today?
Wonder Woman was the whole package, from her full-body diving suit to her amazing ability to snatch bazooka shells from the air. I never paid much attention to the comic book, but the TV show was hard to overlook. As the show went on, and I neared adolescence, certain other aspects of the show became more apparent. How much she was made to run, for instance, and the number of episodes in which she ended up bound and gagged. I was intrigued.
My father, never a big TV watcher, always made it a point to sit down with me each week for Wonder Woman. At the time, I foolishly assumed he was more interested in bonding with his young son than in the...ample attractions of the show's star. Nowadays, and being close to the age my father was during the late '70s, I know better. Come to think of it, he may have been the one who started me watching it in the first place.
Thanks, Dad.
UPDATE: In the interest of equal time for other '70s superheroines responsible for spurring pre-adolescent males like myself to impure thoughts, here's JoAnna Cameron as Isis:
I considered including Deidre Hall's Electra Woman, but blondes never really did it for me.
Down, boy. No drooling in the comments. And yes, it was Paradise Island.
Which season did Debra Winger join the cast as WW's long-lost little sister, or whatver it was she was?
Drusilla first appears in November of 1976. "Initially sent to bring her sister Diana back home, the young amazon found an immediate liking to ice cream and boys."
Drusilla? Why does an Amazon Princess have a Roman name?
Right up there with Electrowoman and Dynagirl as a chief source of burgeoning adolescent woodies!
Don't forget Joanna Cameron in Isis!
Dear lord, this comments thread has degenerated into drooling fanboydom. Time for my saltpetre, mummy!
Is first season the WWII WW or the 1970s WW?
Aside: What kind of superhero has a "saltpetre mummy" as a nemesis? Captain Cialis? Levitraman? "Mild mannered corporate shill Bob Dole fights flagging um, 'enthusiasm' as The Viagra Avenger, fighting long and hard for justice!"
Sure! the forces of evil cannot stand for long against The Viagra Avenger and his two-fisted...
....uh, never mind.
[going to hell - not passing Go]
Two comments.
One, I was so disillusioned when I finally realized WHY my dad would always watch my TV show with me. And I had thought it was that I was getting more grown up in my tastes...
Two, my fiance always likes to mention the comedian who asks about that golden lasso. "What's up with that? You have to tell the truth? 'Ok, that's some REALLY impressive cleavage you have right there, woman.'"
Umm, yeah, Isis and Wonder Woman...
I remember a comment from an older friend of mine who was a lighting tech in L.A., for the studios that made it. He said it got really crowded around the sets when Wonder Woman had to do trampoline and running, since the top was held on with double-sided tape and prayer. Whose prayers was never mentioned...
Yes indeed, Wonder Woman was something special - upon further reflection I recall her home island inhabited by beautiful females of amazonian strength - was it called Paradise Island or am I just imaging that? - not to mention how sexy she was as Diana Prince, what with those little glasses and army hat cocked just so - when she whipped off the specs and jacket you knew she was getting down to business. Oh, to be bound by the magic lasso and receive the justice I deserve...