Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

I'm back! And reading! And maybe even blogging! No promises!

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Watchin' the Woman Wonder

Okay, so I'm basically spending this weekend watching the first season of the Wonder Woman tv show.

And it's *darling*. Though gosh if they don't have strange casting choices for Hippolyta. Cloris Leachman and Carolyn Jones? Morticia Addams is much too delicate for Hippolyta. And...well...*Phyllis*?!

Still, it's an adorable show. Lynda Carter's lovely. And Steve Trevor is oddly charming while unconscious and being carried in Diana's arms like a child.

I've got a new appreciation for Ragnell's irritation at the post-Crisis revamp of Steve Trevor now. They're such a cute couple. It really is like taking Lois Lane, aging her, and marrying her to Jimmy Olsen. It's just *wrong*.

And how weird is it that the Amazon games consist of hammerthrow, archery, racing, and blocking bullets with their bracers.

One of these things is not like the other...

But the scene in the pilot when the nazi assassin grandma whipped out the machine gun was pretty damn awesome.

The invisible jet's still a dumb idea though.

posted by kalinara @ 4:10 AM  

15 Comments:

  • At May 27, 2006 7:54 AM, Blogger Sleestak said…

    The only ep I could stand watching was the one with the Skrill, alien invaders that possessed you. pretty scary, even though they wore sparkley disco leotards and bowler hats (old lost in space alien costume I think).

     

  • At May 27, 2006 12:31 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Heh, I haven't seen that.

    It's a lot of fun actually, but you really have to have a tolerance for cheese.

     

  • At May 27, 2006 1:24 PM, Blogger Richard said…

    I watched this show faithfully back in the day...and seeing it again now as an alleged grownup, one of the pleasant surprises is Lynda Carter's performance. She has this quality of -- I almost want to say "dignity" here, but maybe the better word is unselfconsciousness -- despite the costume and the situations, she comes across as relaxed and confident, just the way the character should. None of the thinly veiled embarassment you sometimes see in live-action superhero efforts, where the actor is clearly embarassed to be wearing the tights and compensates either by camping it up to wink at the audience or becomes overly serious and pompous to repel any audience laughter. Carter just plays Diana, no matter what's going on, and it works.

    (And after all, isn't a big part of the original WW concept the message of "I'm cool, no matter how uncool the world is around me"?)

    Also: one of my best friends loves to mock the theme song, with lines like "in your satin tights, fighting for your rights" but I really like it. Catchy tune with an awesome bass line, and not all the lyrics are that silly.

     

  • At May 27, 2006 1:34 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    *nod* I agree. Maybe it's from being a Beauty Queen. When you've had to walk around constantly in swim suits and gowns and sashes, I'd imagine you grow a thick skin for silliness.

    I also have a fondness for the guy who plays Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner?). Some men would try to overcompensate for essentially being the damsel character, but he seems to run with it. :-)

     

  • At May 27, 2006 5:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    That's Lyle Waggoner, yeah. He left the Carol Burnett Show to do WW. Some would say he mad a bad choice, but I'd disagree. I think he's terrific.

     

  • At May 27, 2006 5:56 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    I agree with you. He's the perfect Steve Trevor. :-)

     

  • At May 28, 2006 2:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    These days, Lyle Waggoner is making $20 million a year leasing jumbo-sized trailers out to movie productions. All that stuff you hear about the stars going, "I'll be in my trailer when you're ready to shoot this scene" and so on? He owns those bad boys.

     

  • At May 28, 2006 2:36 AM, Blogger Zaratustra said…

    How do you think amazons learn to block bullets with their bracers? There's not much space for trial and error there.

     

  • At May 28, 2006 2:43 AM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Ron: Really? Wow, that *must* be lucrative.

    Zaratustra: I'm still trying to figure out where the hell they got the bullets/revolver to play with in the first place.

     

  • At May 28, 2006 5:07 PM, Blogger Scipio said…

    Actually, the "Invisbile Jet" is not a dumb idea ... at least, not to the military.

    It's a metaphor for the stealth plane technology being developed in WWII to hide from anti-aircraft radar systems.

     

  • At May 28, 2006 5:24 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Hmm, I guess I can see what you mean. I wasn't thinking in terms of military usefulness.

    And I guess she *could* then carry more gear with her than she'd be able to carry in her own two arms.

    Okay, I'm convinced. :-)

     

  • At May 28, 2006 8:41 PM, Blogger Planet Heidi said…

    The theme song was *the best*. No other Super show had such an addictive song. Yerra-a-wonda Wonda-woo-man.

     

  • At May 28, 2006 9:31 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Totally! So catchy!

     

  • At June 04, 2006 10:19 AM, Blogger Bill D. said…

    Lyle Waggoner came in second to Adam West for the role of Batman. And after re-watching a few episodes of Wonder Woman recently, I was convinced that Lyle was probably the only other person on the planet besides West who could've done that particular version of Batman justice.

    And Lynda Carter... sigh. I can't remember a time when I didn't have a crush on her. I enjoy that she very clearly seems to be having fun in each of those shows. Ever see her appearance on The Muppet Show? It's one of my favorites.

     

  • At June 04, 2006 1:08 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Waggoner as Batman. Heh, I could see it. :-) Not quite as awesome as Adam West, but still cool.

    And Lynda Carter's so unself-consciously enjoying beating people up. Maybe it's a beauty queen thing...considering the kind of get ups they have to wear sometimes, a starry bathing suit's not that weird. :-)

     

Post a Comment

<< Home