Wonder Woman (TV Series) The Return of Wonder Woman (1977) User Reviews

Wonder Woman comes back for a Second Tour of Duty

[FlyboyLA · 7/10 · 12 August 2008]

"The Return Of Wonder Woman" was the second season premiere as well as the change of networks from ABC to CBS and updated the show from its 1940s World War II era to then present day 1970s. The movie premiere paid a small homage to the ABC version, but lost some of its charm along the way. Gone was the affection Wonder Woman had for Steve Trevor as her new sidekick would be his son, Steve Trevor, Jr. Also, the villains weren't as fun or as threatening as the Nazis were during the ABC run. Dr. Solano is the villain in this episode and is planning a terrorist plot to divert a military delivery of nuclear power to his headquarters. Gone from the ABC show are sidekicks General Blankenship and comic relief Etta Candy, only to be exchanged for stiff upper brass IADC commander Joe Atkinson and the IRAC computer. However, all is not so bleak for the show. Although the season premiere was a weak story, the special effects and Lynda Carter's acting became much better. It also gave Wonder Woman more territory to cover as she became a top-notch IADC government agent. I wish they would've continued the relationship between Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, but, I believe the show was truly meant to be part of the family hour and any romance in the show was not meant to be. All in all, I found this episode to be fun and watching Wonder Woman become stronger then before, made the action that much better. Plus, I liked the look of her new costume.

Wonder Woman - The Return of Wonder Woman

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 28 December 2015]

Kind of a reboot to the series was this second season opener, relocating the show to the 70s (where those in the production could not have to expend energy with setting their show in the 40s), having Wonder Woman on Paradise Island again. This time a plane carrying important dignitaries to a fake Latin American locale (including the 40s Steve Trevor's son (still played by Lyle Waggoner)) has a paid mercenary on board, with the duty of using a knock-out gas to put the passengers (and pilots) asleep. This plan is orchestrated by world-power hungry Dr. Solano (Fritz Weaver) and his loyalist, Gloria (Jessica Walter). A particular nuclear power is located in the fictional Latin American location and Solano wants it so he can gain supremacy. Wonder Woman and Steve will try and stop them. Steve is again kidnapped, with a replacement agent of Solano's (plastic surgery giving the agent Steve's face) ordering a payload to a specific landing strip. There is a duel between Wonder Woman and another of her kind to see who can land a bullet in a star behind them to determine if our superhero will get to leave for the outside world to help the United States (and Steve) in their fight against the terrorists and terror existing in the world. Weaver is game as the week's villain while the lovely Walters (Play Misty for Me) is pretty but deadly as his dedicated *henchwoman*. There's an amusing catfight between Walters (dressed as a burglar, tapping Diana Prince's (Wonder Woman's alter ego) phone) and Wonder Woman that trashes her newly acquired rental property. There's an introduced robot Weaver sabers against (and under Weaver's face disguise, the robot sabers against Wonder Woman), a nice round of henchmen bodies thrown sky-high by Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman stopping two vehicles from driving off, Wonder Woman using her head band as a boomer hang that knocks down a running henchman so she can use her truth lasso to learn of Solano's plans (whatever the henchman was allowed to know), and the introduction of Oscar winner Beatrice Straight (just a year removed from Network, and she would later star in Poltergeist) as Wonder Woman's Paradise Island Queen mother. Yep, the plot is active and heavy (as you might expect considering this show premiered on a different network after a successful first season on ABC) with developments. I think it gets Wonder Woman to a modern setting, establishes that the threat is totally different (not a solo Nazi threat producing adversaries but any number of possible villains to face), and updates the government entity that involves Wonder Woman and Steve. I can see why some fans might be partial to the previous season, but the difficulties of producing Nazi stories set in the 40s was quite a cross to bear…by budgetary and creative means.

Now here's the real thing!

[Joxerlives · 6/10 · 11 January 2012]

The Return of Wonder Woman So here we are in the 70s! For me this is the real WW, the one I remember watching as a little girl, I never saw the WW2 series growing up, they may not have shown it in Europe?. Personally I think it works better in modern times, it also has the added bonus of being a lot cheaper to make, you don't need to put everyone in period costume, rent classic cars etc, you can just film it on the street. Coming up to modern times means that Diana Prince can be a full agent of the IADC and not just Steve's secretary (although her bosses are still all male). Interestingly the Amazon's on Paradise Island actually overrule their Queen, perhaps WW brought the concept of democracy back with her in the 40s. Maybe they wish to once more intervene in the world of men AND women? The costume has changed and Lynda looks fabulous in it, the breastplate softened to make it look less hardened and more feminine, accentuating WW's breasts more than ever. More highly cut hot pants turning them into bikini bottoms, no more satin tights either so they had to change the theme tune but even more delectable Lynda Carter flesh on display. I always thought she looked rather cherubic in the first season (especially evident if you look at the DVD cover) but now she looks superhot, the straightened hair also an improvement. Lyle now in suits and looking like he's going to die of polyester poisoning if all the Vaseline on his teeth doesn't get him first, he really does resemble a Ken doll. He's on the screen for 5 minutes and he gets knocked out, he takes after his old man alright. The opening titles are a lot less cartoony although they do actually contain some of WW's infamous bondage theme, her freeing herself from being tied to a stake. The ep itself deals with nuclear power and insurrection in South America which were big concerns at the time. The Amazons have been keeping up with technology and WW's invisible plane is now a jet. She makes no attempt to try to make any money this time but maybe Yeoman Prince left her bank account acquiring interest for the last 30 years, Highlander style?

So, where's Drusilla? Did she marry the guy she had a crush on during Wonder Woman in Hollywood? What happened to Steve and WW at the end of WW2? Did she just decide to leave the US after the end of the war? Who did Steve marry? His son refers to him in the past tense and WW doesn't think to ask after him or visit him so are we to assume he's dead? Presumably he must be if WW is able to use the same alias as she did in the 40s otherwise he'd surely twig something was up if his son's new agent had the same name as his old secretary 6/10

It's crap, but it's got Lynda.

[BA_Harrison · 3 December 2017]

After helping America battle the Nazis during WWII in season one, this 73-minute pilot for season two of Wonder Woman sees the action taking place in the present day (1977), with the sexy star-spangled super-heroine (once again played by the lovely Lynda Carter) leaping into action to assist Steve Trevor's son (also called Steve Trevor and also played by Lyle Waggoner) in his fight against against international terrorist Dr. Solano (Fritz Weaver).

By today's standards, TV's Wonder Woman looks very cheap and tacky, with laughable special effects, wooden acting and lousy action. The show's one saving grace, however, is star Lynda Carter, whose beauty is quite breath-taking, whether it be in disguise as Inter-Agency Defense Command associate Diana Prince, or in her revealing super-hero outfit (made even sexier for season two). This episode, with its weak villain and Bacofoil robots, would be a real struggle to endure if it wasn't for the shapely star leaping, fighting and twirling her way through the nonsensical comic-book action. Gal Gadot ain't got nothing' on Lynda.

PILOT WITH CONFUSED ARGUMENT

[asalerno10 · 7/10 · 12 May 2022]

It feels like the writers wanted to make a comeback of the series with everything it takes to make an impact, but the result is a loosely connected set of elements. The beginning is like the first pilot but done in a hurry, Steve Trevor's plane falls again on Paradise Island, he is interrogated and Diana decides to return to the United States, her mother at first did not leave her but in a few seconds she changes opinion out of the blue and accepts, an unnecessary duel of bullets and bracelets devoid of all suspense and Diana returns. The villains aren't too evil, but they do some pretty crazy things. They perform a double of Steve Trevor through an operation in a single day, they remove the bandages and he is already combed, without scars and even dressed in a suit on the same stretcher, suddenly out of nowhere a robot appears that does fencing, everything is a succession of events that are happening without any logic. Still, the episode is watchable and has the appeal of seeing Wonder Woman return again, but sometimes less is more, they could have made a better episode without putting so many things together.