Taken from a long-running DC Comics strip, Wonder Woman was made into a popular television series between 1978 and 1981, starring former Miss America Lynda Carter. Capturing the hearts of TV audiences with her sexy outfit as much as her superheroine abilities, Wonder Woman quickly became a kitsch icon, battling the forces of evil with the unforgettably camp "garb of justice", including bullet-proof bangles, a golden lasso and the belt of strength built into her corset. She had an invisible plane, too. Originally Princess Diana of Paradise Island (an uncharted land of Amazon women in the Bermuda Triangle), Wonder Woman is sent as an emissary to the outside world to protect the human race from the forces of evil. And so she becomes Diana Prince, the geeky, bespectacled assistant to Steve Trevor of the Inter Agency Defense Command in Washington, whose father she assisted against the Nazis in the 1940s. In the 70-minute pilot, "The Return of Wonder Woman", our gal is sent in to prevent the nefarious Dr Solano from capturing a nuclear generating plant the Americans are flying into Latin America as a new source of energy. In "Anschluss 77", Steve and Diana are sent to investigate a former Gestapo agent now living in Latin America and have to battle a Nazi force that includes a cloned Adolf Hitler. Finally, in "The Man Who Could Move the World", Wonder Woman's adversary is a Japanese ex-intern from World War II who has developed telekinetic powers. Carter plays the role commendably straight, but just one listen to the theme tune ("in your satin tights, fighting for our rights") makes it clear this isn't meant to be taken seriously. Who else could save us from evil so stylishly?
On the DVD: Wonder Woman, Volume 1 includes a gallery of memorabilia, a pretty extensive biography of Lynda Carter and the rest of the cast, and finally a short photo gallery for all you die-hard Wonder Woman fetishists. --Laura Bushell
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