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Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection Blu-ray Review

“Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection” gets a snazzy new Blu-ray release.

Long before Gal Gadot took on the mantle of Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter stepped into the role in a live-action TV series that lasted 3 seasons and 59 episodes plus the pilot movie. “The New Original Wonder Woman.” In season 1, the action takes place during the WWII era with Diana Prince leaving Paradise Island and disguising herself as a Navy Yeoman working with Steve Trevor to help save the world from Nazis. There are other comic and original villains that pop up like Baroness Paula van Gunther, Fausta Grables, Gargantua the gorilla, and a terrorist named The Falcon. A few other key stories involve Diana’s sister Drusilla and an alien named Andros. Season 2 (and 3) serve as a reboot of sorts as the story jumps ahead in time to the 70s with Diana interacting with Steve’s son Steve Trevor Jr. In the final 2 seasons, viewers can expect plots about undercover operations, kidnappings, new Wonder Woman powers, deadly weapons, terrorists, more Nazis, thieves, an evil scientist, Skrills aliens, an android Wonder Woman, a missing pop star, telepathy, weapons, a dolphin, a sci-fi con setting, fake aliens, fiendish criminal plots, and spies. In typical vintage TV fashion, the series was loaded with guest stars such as Roy Rogers, Debra Winger, John Saxon, Robert Loggia, Dick Van Patten, Anne Francis, Martin Mull, Roddy McDowall, Ed Begley Jr., Rene Auberjonois, Craig T. Nelson, John Carradine, Judge Reinhold, and more

Before the superhero boom of the 2000s and 2010s and Wonder Woman’s own big screen hit, “Wonder Woman” hit TV screens in the 70s and became a sensation. The pilot episode/TV movie “The New Original Wonder Woman” certainly came out of the gate strong as it was a rather faithful adaptation of the character’s origins. It was also by far the best episode of the entire series in terms of storytelling and production values. The rest of season one turned out to be a fun ride (especially “The Feminum Mystique” with Diana’s sister) and I appreciated the fact that the writers dipped into certain elements of the comics and focused on the WWII era.

Alas, season 2 and 3 felt like a step backwards for the show as they moved forward to the 70s (AKA the present when the show was made). Now, writers were incorporating trends like disco, skateboarding, rock stars, and motocross (and Wonder Woman in a motocross outfit even). The plotting also took a turn for the worse as stories became recycled. There was a lot less attention paid to the comic book source material as well. With all of that said, the series is still important and highly influential in that it showed the possibilities of comic book adaptations while also having an empowering and inspiring female hero at the center (wonderfully played by Lynda Carter). For that alone, “Wonder Woman” deserves praise and its place in pop culture history. Plus you get that to see that cool spin transformation and some killer stunts!

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.33:1 1080p. How does it look? The new restoration is nothing short of stunning. The episodes look so crisp and new in hi-def.

Audio Track: Dolby Digital 2.0. How does it sound? The audio sounds like, well, a standard classic TV audio track. It is what it is. 

Extras:
* Commentary on the pilot by Lynda Carter and Doug Cramer and commentary on “My Teenage Idol” by Lynda Carter.
* “Beauty, Brawn, And Bulletproof Bracelets: A Wonder Woman Retrospective”- A 21 minute featurette with cast and crew interviews.
* “Revolutionizing A Classic: From Comic Book To Television”- A 11 1/2 minute featurette about bringing the comic to the small screen
* “Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Feminist Icon”- A featurette on the iconic influential superhero. 

August 2, 2020 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | DC Comics, Lynda Carter, Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman TV Series, Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection Blu-ray Review