Well, I just watched "The Return of Wonder Woman" on DVD, and as with the pilot, I'll offer my thoughts to fill in the gap in the viewing schedule.
"Return" is written by Stephen Kandel, who did the "Judgment from Outer Space" 2-parter in the first season (as well as writing all of Harry Mudd's adventures for Star Trek TOS & TAS), but this isn't as good as that one. It's rather lackadaisically directed by Alan Crosland and is pretty boring for the first half. We open with Steve Trevor Jr., a US security agent who's a dead ringer for his father but with '70s hair, on a jet briefing a bunch of nuclear scientists about some nebulously defined terrorist threat. Turns out they're being watched remotely by Fritz Weaver as the villain Doctor Sivana -- err, sorry, Doctor Solano, who alerts his agent on the plane to gas the occupants. But they run afoul of some bit of Bermuda Triangle weirdness (they have a conversation about the disappearances in the Triangle as if they were a real phenomenon, without addressing why they're traveling through it in that case), and they're captured and brought to a safe landing on Paradise Island by the Amazons' magnetic field. They're kept sedated/hypnotized while the Amazons tend to them and rifle through their stuff to learn about their identities and the situation, and Diana is struck by Steve Jr.'s resemblance to his father.
Diana's reason for becoming Wonder Woman again is rather inadequate; even though she's just read some files rather than talking to Steve, she's convinced that this vaguely defined terror threat is "even worse" than the Nazis, which... really, come on. And even though the Amazons unanimously outvote the Queen (played by a third actress, Beatrice Straight, who's less interesting than either Cloris Leachman or Carolyn Jones) and approve Diana's return to the outside world, there's still a gratuitous rehash of the Bullets and Bracelets challenge, I suppose as exposition for new viewers on the new network. It does make a bit more sense this time, though, since the Amazons are aiming at targets which their opponents defend, rather than aiming at each other.
So the Amazons hypnotize Steve into believing that Diana is his new assistant Diana Prince, then send the plane back to its appointment in Samarra. Which is the name of the imaginary South American country where they're planning to build a nuclear reactor, which Doctor Sivana, err, Solano intends to steal for generally evil and world-conquering purposes, with help from Gloria (Jessica Walter), a South American government representative who flirts with Steve and gets catty-jealous with Diana. (There's lip service paid to the fact that Steve's plane was missing for two days, but then it's forgotten.)
A ski-masked Gloria bugs Diana's phone and is then discovered by Diana; a catfight with clothes-ripping ensues, and Gloria tosses a poison-gas compact and flees. Diana changes to Wonder Woman merely in order to pick up the compact and turn it off, something she could've easily done without changing. Later, the bad guys attack Steve and try to plant a bug on him, though WW fights them off. The scene where WW introduces herself to Steve and they talk about his father (who raised him on stories of WW) is the first really effective scene in the episode. (Although the fact that she's a namesake and lookalike for Steve Sr.'s yeoman never comes up.)
Doctor Siv -- Solano and Gloria have somehow never heard of the war heroine Wonder Woman, though Gloria tracks down old clippings and Nazi reports. Dr. S. thinks she may be a robot, and reveals out of the blue that he has his own fencing robot that he intends to pit against WW to capture her, or failing that, to blow her up with its nuclear power source. Next, also out of nowhere, he produces a plastic-surgery lookalike for Steve. This guy is just pulling plays out of the supervillain grab bag at random. Fake Steve briefs the pilots who are airlifting the reactor parts and tells them to go to Dr. S's country instead. He then tries to date-rape Diana at her apartment, which tells her that he isn't Steve. By virtue of locking herself in the bedroom and coming in through the balcony as Wonder Woman, she manages to save "herself" and get the magic lasso on the guy, discovering the plan and the real Steve's location.
She flies Steve in the invisible jet -- a faster, sleeker update to her invisible plane -- to the airstrip where Dr. S has diverted the reactor parts, and they confront the bad guys, ending up in a standoff. Solano challenges WW to a fencing duel, but swaps himself out for his robot disguised as him, and when it loses, he triggers the reactor and retreats with Gloria into a mine -- and WW throws the robot into the mine, where it explodes with far less force than Solano had promised, leaving the bad guys apparently but ambiguously dead.
Oh, and at the agency where Steve and Diana works, there's a talking computer named IRAC that has just an array of blinky lights where its CRT should be, and that Diana forces to accept her fake credentials. There's more attention given here to how she establishes herself in our world, including selling some rare Greek coins to get cash. I guess the Amazons learned from her first time, when she didn't even know what money was.
So far, this is a pretty mediocre revamp. It feels like it's aimed more at children, with simpler and more fanciful plots. The stakes don't seem nearly as high as they did in the WWII episodes, making it hard to justify why Diana returned to being Wonder Woman -- although I suppose she probably did it because she wanted to protect Steve Jr., and indeed she essentially says as much. Which is sweet and all, but it's a weaker setup than "This fight against the Nazis is so important that I'm willing to defy my mother and my society's cherished customs in order to stand up for what I believe in."
Also, the new theme lyrics are pretty bad compared to the original. I love the first-season lyrics -- they're at once hilariously corny and charmingly earnest. There are some great bits there, like "Make a hawk a dove / Stop a war with love / Make a liar tell it true" and "Stop a bullet cold / Make the Axis fold / Change their minds and change the world." It's a strongly idealistic, activist, and feminist statement. The second-season lyrics are more generic and vague, and less potent. For one thing, "In your satin tights / Fighting for your rights" has become "Fighting for our rights," which takes the implied feminism out of it. Then you have really lame things like "Putting all your might / On the side of right / And our courage to the test" (how is she putting our courage to the test?) and the inexplicable "Here to fight the force of e-vil / And your chance won't be denied (???) / Woman of the hour / With your super power / We're so glad you're on our side." Eeeyyyuckk! Some of these lines don't even fit the meter. The original lyrics had a hokey sort of poetry to them, but this is saccharine and just plain bad.
I will say, though, the wardrobe is quite an improvement. WW's updated costume replaces the original eagle breastplate with a more abstract pattern, but it also replaces the period "torpedo"-style bustier with one that flatters Lynda Carter's figure more (but definitely does not flatten it). Also, the civilian clothes she wears as Diana show off her shape more than her yeoman's uniform did, although her new glasses are kind of hideous (though maybe they're supposed to be). Her costume has a few modifications. Wisely, the "belt of strength" is now incorporated into the suit so it can't be pulled off by random bad guys. The tiara can morph into a boomerang, and it has a magic ruby for contacting Paradise Island (though she doesn't use it here). And the lasso of truth now has the added feature of inducing forgetfulness (though she doesn't use that either, at least not on camera).
"Return" is written by Stephen Kandel, who did the "Judgment from Outer Space" 2-parter in the first season (as well as writing all of Harry Mudd's adventures for Star Trek TOS & TAS), but this isn't as good as that one. It's rather lackadaisically directed by Alan Crosland and is pretty boring for the first half. We open with Steve Trevor Jr., a US security agent who's a dead ringer for his father but with '70s hair, on a jet briefing a bunch of nuclear scientists about some nebulously defined terrorist threat. Turns out they're being watched remotely by Fritz Weaver as the villain Doctor Sivana -- err, sorry, Doctor Solano, who alerts his agent on the plane to gas the occupants. But they run afoul of some bit of Bermuda Triangle weirdness (they have a conversation about the disappearances in the Triangle as if they were a real phenomenon, without addressing why they're traveling through it in that case), and they're captured and brought to a safe landing on Paradise Island by the Amazons' magnetic field. They're kept sedated/hypnotized while the Amazons tend to them and rifle through their stuff to learn about their identities and the situation, and Diana is struck by Steve Jr.'s resemblance to his father.
Diana's reason for becoming Wonder Woman again is rather inadequate; even though she's just read some files rather than talking to Steve, she's convinced that this vaguely defined terror threat is "even worse" than the Nazis, which... really, come on. And even though the Amazons unanimously outvote the Queen (played by a third actress, Beatrice Straight, who's less interesting than either Cloris Leachman or Carolyn Jones) and approve Diana's return to the outside world, there's still a gratuitous rehash of the Bullets and Bracelets challenge, I suppose as exposition for new viewers on the new network. It does make a bit more sense this time, though, since the Amazons are aiming at targets which their opponents defend, rather than aiming at each other.
So the Amazons hypnotize Steve into believing that Diana is his new assistant Diana Prince, then send the plane back to its appointment in Samarra. Which is the name of the imaginary South American country where they're planning to build a nuclear reactor, which Doctor Sivana, err, Solano intends to steal for generally evil and world-conquering purposes, with help from Gloria (Jessica Walter), a South American government representative who flirts with Steve and gets catty-jealous with Diana. (There's lip service paid to the fact that Steve's plane was missing for two days, but then it's forgotten.)
A ski-masked Gloria bugs Diana's phone and is then discovered by Diana; a catfight with clothes-ripping ensues, and Gloria tosses a poison-gas compact and flees. Diana changes to Wonder Woman merely in order to pick up the compact and turn it off, something she could've easily done without changing. Later, the bad guys attack Steve and try to plant a bug on him, though WW fights them off. The scene where WW introduces herself to Steve and they talk about his father (who raised him on stories of WW) is the first really effective scene in the episode. (Although the fact that she's a namesake and lookalike for Steve Sr.'s yeoman never comes up.)
Doctor Siv -- Solano and Gloria have somehow never heard of the war heroine Wonder Woman, though Gloria tracks down old clippings and Nazi reports. Dr. S. thinks she may be a robot, and reveals out of the blue that he has his own fencing robot that he intends to pit against WW to capture her, or failing that, to blow her up with its nuclear power source. Next, also out of nowhere, he produces a plastic-surgery lookalike for Steve. This guy is just pulling plays out of the supervillain grab bag at random. Fake Steve briefs the pilots who are airlifting the reactor parts and tells them to go to Dr. S's country instead. He then tries to date-rape Diana at her apartment, which tells her that he isn't Steve. By virtue of locking herself in the bedroom and coming in through the balcony as Wonder Woman, she manages to save "herself" and get the magic lasso on the guy, discovering the plan and the real Steve's location.
She flies Steve in the invisible jet -- a faster, sleeker update to her invisible plane -- to the airstrip where Dr. S has diverted the reactor parts, and they confront the bad guys, ending up in a standoff. Solano challenges WW to a fencing duel, but swaps himself out for his robot disguised as him, and when it loses, he triggers the reactor and retreats with Gloria into a mine -- and WW throws the robot into the mine, where it explodes with far less force than Solano had promised, leaving the bad guys apparently but ambiguously dead.
Oh, and at the agency where Steve and Diana works, there's a talking computer named IRAC that has just an array of blinky lights where its CRT should be, and that Diana forces to accept her fake credentials. There's more attention given here to how she establishes herself in our world, including selling some rare Greek coins to get cash. I guess the Amazons learned from her first time, when she didn't even know what money was.
So far, this is a pretty mediocre revamp. It feels like it's aimed more at children, with simpler and more fanciful plots. The stakes don't seem nearly as high as they did in the WWII episodes, making it hard to justify why Diana returned to being Wonder Woman -- although I suppose she probably did it because she wanted to protect Steve Jr., and indeed she essentially says as much. Which is sweet and all, but it's a weaker setup than "This fight against the Nazis is so important that I'm willing to defy my mother and my society's cherished customs in order to stand up for what I believe in."
Also, the new theme lyrics are pretty bad compared to the original. I love the first-season lyrics -- they're at once hilariously corny and charmingly earnest. There are some great bits there, like "Make a hawk a dove / Stop a war with love / Make a liar tell it true" and "Stop a bullet cold / Make the Axis fold / Change their minds and change the world." It's a strongly idealistic, activist, and feminist statement. The second-season lyrics are more generic and vague, and less potent. For one thing, "In your satin tights / Fighting for your rights" has become "Fighting for our rights," which takes the implied feminism out of it. Then you have really lame things like "Putting all your might / On the side of right / And our courage to the test" (how is she putting our courage to the test?) and the inexplicable "Here to fight the force of e-vil / And your chance won't be denied (???) / Woman of the hour / With your super power / We're so glad you're on our side." Eeeyyyuckk! Some of these lines don't even fit the meter. The original lyrics had a hokey sort of poetry to them, but this is saccharine and just plain bad.
I will say, though, the wardrobe is quite an improvement. WW's updated costume replaces the original eagle breastplate with a more abstract pattern, but it also replaces the period "torpedo"-style bustier with one that flatters Lynda Carter's figure more (but definitely does not flatten it). Also, the civilian clothes she wears as Diana show off her shape more than her yeoman's uniform did, although her new glasses are kind of hideous (though maybe they're supposed to be). Her costume has a few modifications. Wisely, the "belt of strength" is now incorporated into the suit so it can't be pulled off by random bad guys. The tiara can morph into a boomerang, and it has a magic ruby for contacting Paradise Island (though she doesn't use it here). And the lasso of truth now has the added feature of inducing forgetfulness (though she doesn't use that either, at least not on camera).
