I'm a huge comic geek from back in the day. A fact that I'm not ashamed to divulge, especially in this day of comics being cool...something that they most definitely weren't when I was growing up.
With the success of Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-Men (I'll be reviewing the new movie on my other blog this weekend), and high hopes for Green Lantern, one has to wonder where the Amazon princess is amongst all this. Where is Wonder Woman? Why haven't we seen her on anything but direct to DVD feature films and cartoons such as
Justice League and
Justice League: Unlimited?
In the 70s, she had her own show, starring Lynda Carter, but afterwards, she seemed to have been forgotten and seems to have become almost as big a joke as Aquaman.
Once the comic book "renaissance" started (and also around the time
Xena: Warrior Princess...who was the living embodiment of Wonder Woman, if you ask me), rumblings of bringing her to the big screen began, and up until about last summer, I believe, it looked like it was going to happen. Then, there were some creative differences and she was sent back to development hell or indefinitely shelved.
During this time, in the comics, she's undergone some weird transformation, that didn't sit well with the fans.I'll get to that in second.
Earlier this year, it was announced that NBC was going to bring her to the small screen. The problem with this was that NBC doesn't exactly have the best track record for new shows. The statistics don't lie. In the past 5 yrs, of all their new shows, maybe 2 have survived, and they cancel stuff before it can develop a fanbase, not to mention don't advertise anything that isn't
Law & Order, but that's a topic for another post.
Fans of Wonder Woman were happy, though, that she was actually going to be in something other than the pages of the comics. Then, it was shows what the costume would look like...some kind of weird pantsuit that she was wearing when they decided to change it in the comics. Even worse, it was revealed that the plot of the show would have her with 3 different personalities. Strangely enough, she was to be played by Ali Larter, who's character on
Heroes suffered from the same affliction/blessing.
Needless to say, I don't think this would have made it very far, even if NBC did pick it up.
It does bring to mind the question, though...why is it that every Wonder Woman project, with the exception of the animated DVD movie, seems to fail? Super man and Batman have no problem getting projects. Green Lantern is finally getting his due. Heck, The Flash even had a show in the early 90s!
As a fan of Wonder Woman, I do hope that one day, someone can come up with the right live-action project, but I fear that this failed pilot is going to further deter people from her.
So, what do you think is wrong with her? Is it because she's female? Have Batman and Superman dominated so long, that any other character just can't seem to compete (for comic geeks...we're keeping this in the DC Universe)? I wonder what it is that seems to be jinxing her.
