Wonder Woman (TV Series) Amazon Hot Wax (1979) User Reviews

Wonder Woman the musical

[Joxerlives · 7/10 · 19 February 2012]

Amazon Hot Wax Very much a case of 'Lynda Carter's got a great voice and artistic timing so let's do a musical episode '. But it's still pretty good, I really like the idea that they can find out the disappeared popstar's hideout through interpreting his album cover, more music folks should do that today (anyone else 'Quest for the golden hare?). Such a shame that this occurred in the era before mainstream TV series were obliged to do a musical episode (Xena, Buffy, Scrubs, Ally McBeal etc), some of which were pedestrian and obligatory, some of which were exemplary and superlative. Also we have 'Beverley Hills Cop' star Judge Reinhold in his first ever role as the lesser evil part of the evil duo. A hugely different image for Diana, no longer the Sarah Palin lookalike but actually someone whom you could believe was a popstar back in the 70s. Kinda weak excuse that an organisation like the IADC would be involved with something so minor as extortion in the music business, they seem to be a combination of the FBI/CIA able to operate on both US territory and foreign soil (or at least as long as the stock footage lasted). Rick Springfield once again in a very different role to what we've seen him in before. Steve relegated to the DC office, very much a bit player from now on which frankly I see as something of a shame, Wonder Woman would have been so much better if we'd have had some sort of romance in our favourite Amazon's life rather than have her as some sort of ultra-hot glacial eunic, just because she doesn't need men or women doesn't mean she shouldn't want them. On a more prosaic level Eric seems to hope to use the casting couch to begin a relationship with Diana but never even gets a look in, at least he appears to be placated by the magic of Diana's voice in the studio. A pretty good ep, Lynda Carter maintaining a career through her music specials long after Wonder Woman was cancelled. You often think that she was a musician who fell into being an actress than the other way around (the anti-Elvis?). The group Anti-Matter with all it's gimmicks kind of resemble the 70s supergroups KISS, Earth, Wind and Fire and The Bay City Rollers. 7/10

Lynda Carter Sings

[GroovyDoom · 7/10 · 17 May 2014]

Lynda Carter performs two songs from her album "Portrait" on this episode, "Want To Get Beside You" and "Toto". Diana poses as an unknown pop singer named Kathy to get the inside track on a record label extortion operation. It seems the label's number one big selling artist has died, and some bad guys who undoubtedly have phones in their cars are trying to blackmail the label by holding the master tapes of his now-final album for ransom. That crazy IADC, you'd think they wouldn't be all that interested in an extortion racket going on at a little ole record label, but....OH MY GOD, is that RICK SPRINGFIELD?? Yes. That working class dog appears in this as one member of far-out rock trio Anti-matter, who appear to have ingested nothing but cocaine for the past five days.

You know what could possibly be wrong with an episode like this? Not enough Wonder Woman. It's ages before we get a transformation in this one. At one point before a commercial break, a man sees Diana's shadow as she twirls, teasing us that her secret is about to be not so secret anymore. But alas, in the middle of what was sure to be the longest twirl in the series, she notices she's not alone and halts, leading me to wonder what the hell that sneaky spy thinks she was doing spinning around in the hall like that. These young musicians these days, with their funny white powder!

So yeah yeah, in the middle of all this Diana Prince action and Lynda Carter singing, there's some obligatory Wonder Woman action, including an amazing sequence where she puts her wonder eardrums to work to turn off a speaker with a serious case of feedback. Who knew she had THAT ability?

With a little more Wonder Woman, this could have been one of the best of the series, but it's still a pretty good ep.

Hard to tell good guys from bad guys

[hollywoodshack · 6/10 · 12 February 2024]

At the troubled recording company, a face painted group. (some mimics of KISS) is tossing smoke bombs and playing bad jokes, but no clue suggest they are a band, just a traveling mime or clown troupe, I guess, kidnap the top singer hiding out for an increase in the value of his records, even though he's bankrupting the company while absent and giving blackmailers a good target there. In this mix, Judge Reinhold and Sarah Purcell are a pair of twin dressed singers helping the blackmailers carry out their scheme. Sarah Purcell of Real People, really playing an evil character, right? They dress like Aldrich brothers and the Oswell Twins on Lawrence Welk show. I think the plot was cooked up quick just to showcase Linda Carter's singing talents. It's fun, but to see Sarah Purcell grin while she belches out some really ugly, nasty lines was an ordeal to endure. It was co-written by a writer from Batman and the cartoonish bent seems to be from that show, too.

Wonder Woman Vs The Sound of Music

[pmullan-54285 · 9/10 · 13 June 2016]

"Amazon Hot Wax"

I have no idea why the episode is called this, but boy is it a cool title. In fact, this episode seems to be a fan-favourite amongst many Wonder Woman fans, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't see how it is a classic.

I like the idea of Diana Prince letting her hair down a bit more by singing (Also physically doing so makes her look absolutely beautiful, without the tiara) and does Lynda Carter have a great singing voice? Yes, she does! She sings two songs here, but I'm glad that they're not the focus of the episode, just a helpful hint to tell the story.

The real point of this blatant product placement of two songs on Lynda's album at the time, is to show that Diana will go under cover to find out why an album seller is being extorted. That's right, the music industry is being attacked by evil doers. No plot is too ridiculous on this show.

With the aid of some old band members and her super powers, Wonder Woman is able to uncover some mysteries at work in the music industry, rescue some loons and stop some loons in the one story. It feels like a fun ride, while watching it, it really did. The music may be brilliant, but it's only a small part of the tale and Lynda is just unstoppable as a more serious Wonder Woman in one of the better episodes in this season.

I also like that the ending of the story hits a good bit of realism. Whenever Diana has to reveal that she's been under an alias the whole time and fooled someone that trusted and grew fond of her, the story hits a few heartstrings and pulls.

Speaking of Lynda's singing voice, she's still a pretty darn good singer, though, she clearly has the potential to be a great Goddess of smooth music. Steve Trevor isn't really all that prominent again, so you can see that he still has nothing to do, yet. It has just enough Wonder Woman and a fun feel to it. It's, by far, my favourite episode of Season 3.

I give the tale 9/10.