Leaked Wonder Woman Pilot

WW Pilot

If you want, you can go here watch the pilot for Wonder Woman. It is very obvious why this didn't get picked up. It is a shame that someone who knew Wonder Woman didn't have more input into this.

Deadman TV Series or Where have all the good superhero TV series gone?

So they are working on a Deadman TV series to kind of replace the Smallville market on The CW. The writer and executive producer will be Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. I have never seen the show, but it lasted 7 seasons and had a large following.  At first, I am excited to see this come to television.  There are not enough good superhero TV shows around.  I watched Smallville early on, but didn't really get into it, but in the later seasons they started bringing in other heroes and now I want to see those. Especially the episodes with big name comic book writers like Geoff Johns.

Deadman first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 (October 1967), and was created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino.  His real name is Boston Brand, and when he was murdered his spirit stayed around so he could find his killer. He is basically a ghost that can jump into people's bodies and then control them.  As I joked with someone before, almost like a Quantum Leap style, except he can come and go from a body as often as he likes. 

Part of the problem is that the WB already tried to cash in on the Smallville hype back in the early season with a TV showed called Birds of Prey based on the comic of the same name. Except like most TV series, things get changed too much, and the only thing they kept was that Barbra Gordon used to be Batgirl until she was crippled and then became the tech/hacker hero known as Oracle.  On the other hand you have The Huntress as Helena Kyle, the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, but had superhuman powers which Batman and Catwoman should not have.

My concern comes with the number of bad or at least poor superhero TV shows that have been around lately.  If this continues too much more, no one will give a superhero a chance.  As I see it now, I don't know how this show will make it. The recent Wonder Woman, at first, looked like it had a chance, but
once people started seeing the pilot, those hopes and dreams went out the window.  The character was drastically changed and seemed to just have poor writing.

This past year we had two superhero shows actually make it on air.  NBC's The Cape which was cancelled within about 10 episodes airing, and ABC's No Ordinary Family which has also been cancelled, but made it a whole 20 episode season. Even Summer Glau being on The Cape couldn't save it, but of course her just being on a show doesn't seem to bode well for said show. No Ordinary Family  was OK, and definitely the better out of the two shows, but even it struggled a bit too much to tell a story.  I watched probably about 4 episodes a piece of these two series.

If we jump back a few more years, we had Heroes which had a create first season, and people were excited about watching superheroes again.  Then in the second season is when the writer's strike happened and only had 11 episodes.  Most people weren't even aware this lasted 2 more seasons.  The 4th season wasn't even fully allowed to finish and was rushed to an ending with 19 episodes.

In the beginning of the 90s, we had two big shows, The Flash and Lois and Clark. The Flash only lasted one season, and watching it again, it feels very 80s.  Lois and Clark at least lasted 4 seasons, and actually tied into the comic world when they got married both on the show and in the comics.

The 60s and 70s had a lot of bad shows, but it also brought us some of the most well known superhero shows as well.  Adam West's Batman. Linda Carter's Wonder Woman. Lou Ferrigno/Bill Bixby's Hulk/Bruce Banner. And my personal favorite, even if it only lasted one season, Green Hornet with Bruce Lee as Kato.

The good shows have been very few and far between.  A big problem, even more lately it seems, is that Hollywood has been trying to change too much from what the comis were based on.  Birds of Prey and the new Wonder Woman are prime examples of this.  Very little is recognizable between the comic and the show, and this will alienate your built in audience that will come because of the comic.

On a tangent note, I will like to mention the Locke & Key pilot.  This is another show that is based on a comic and was up this past summer to get picked up for the upcoming TV season, but like Wonder Woman was not picked up, but unlike Wonder Woman was actually good.  This is not a superhero comic, but a horror comic written by Joe Hill, who is also the son of Steven King and hence the connection to horror writing. It is a pretty good series that I recommend, but here is the trailer for the show.






Are there any other good or bad superhero TV shows anyone remembers well?

The Costumes of Wonder Woman

For the most part, Wonder Woman has had very little costume changes over the years, but sometime last year she had her first major change, and then this week was announced another look for the upcoming TV series.


This was her first look from when she first appeared in the '40s.

The next costume was pretty close to the original, and the Lynda Carter costume is just a slight meld between the two, even though they are pretty close to begin with. This is the costume that most people recognize, and the one that was used in the animated series.



Now comes the costumes from a change in the series last year.  It is vastly different, and it has been a major controversy for awhile, with what seems like the majority just flat out hating it.  I don't hate it that much, it could be a little better, but nothing anger worthy.

Finally we have the one from the new TV Series that has been announce through at "first look" at an action figure.  It again seems to be a mix of the one that last decades and the newest one.




So far the news on the TV Series has been every where.  People love it, people hate it, as with any change.  What are your feelings on it?


Since the costume change of last year, new organizations have been saying that it was only to get away from the patriotic American look to a more generic one.  Not saying they aren't wrong, they have the same issue with the upcoming Captain America movie.  The title here and most places is Captain America: The First Avenger and in other places it will just be called The First Avenger.

Wonder Woman coming to NBC....Hopefully or Unfortunately

David E. Kelly (of Doogie Howser fame and numerous courtroom dramas) wants to reboot the Wonder Woman TV Series.  He has been the writer on a lot of TV shows, more than you realize, but what seems to be a majority are courtroom dramas like The Practice, Ally McBeal, and LA Law, and a couple of movies thrown in like Lake Placid and Mystery Alaska.

At first, this show popped up and people were excited, and then a week later it was said that NBC had dropped it just that quickly, and out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, they said it was going to be given a chance.  This show hasn't even started and it already has some strange stuff going on. Unfortunately, this got worse when someone got a hold of the pilot script.

1. Some how Wonder Woman will have 3 identities (2 besides WW). Diana Themyscira who runs Themyscira Industry's and another as Diana Prince. Apparently people know that Diana Themyscira is WW.

2. There is no Invisible Jet, but that is probably for the best. That should be forgotten really.

3. Steve Trevor is a government agent who at some point (years ago it seems) crash landed on Themyscira. Fell in love with Diana and brought her back to New York, but now they are not together (but will apparently "pine after" him). 

4.  Themyscira is like the "Lost" Island in that no one can get back, and when she left she is no longer immortal.

5. The script apparently calls for her to sing along with girly pop songs on the radio.

6. She just "waves her hands and the bracelets just magically deflect the bullets", not that she deflects bullets with the bracelets.

Most of this sounds like a dumbing down of Wonder Woman, making her more of a passive character than the aggressive character she should be.  None of this is set in stone, nothing has been filmed yet. Since it is still early many things can change, but even as this was part of the script that helped get the show started doesn't sound good.  Time will tell of course. But until then, it doesn't look good.