Wonder Woman (2011 TV Movie) User Reviews

Wonder Woman: Yep, I see why it never happened

[Platypuschow · 3/10 · 23 January 2018]

It's hard to believe we were close to having a Wonder Woman television series but it got struck down at the first hurdle.

With just a pilot made and the show not picked up by any network we'll never know if it would have lasted.

At a guess I'd say no, in fact I'd say hell no.

Adrianne Palicki does her best and is a decent enough actress but what she's working with it would have taken a miracle to be considered decent entertainment.

Shoddily written, highly paint by numbers and just all round bad. What makes it worse is it's a prime example of why Hollywood has updated characters costumes to make them more realistic. Here Wonder Woman looks ridiculous and I failed to take her seriously at all! Can you imagine if for example Jeremy Renner played Hawkeye in his original comic book attire? Exactly.

What makes it worse is that this doesn't feel like the pilot, this isn't an origin story and just drops you straight into the world of Diana Prince and what a crappy world it is.

I'm glad this failed as I could imagine it damaging the careers of everyone involved.

The Good:

Adrianne Palicki

The Bad:

The suit really is terrible in live action

Show logo is tacky

Poorly made

Things I Learnt From This Pilot:

Wonderwoman never said to merchandise her tits

Wonder Woman has no issue killing

Would be Great - if it weren't Called "Wonder Woman"

[looniper · 3/10 · 24 April 2013]

I have read many reviews citing poor acting, poor writing, shoddy camera work... As a made-for-television pilot, I found all of these to be acceptable. It isn't a feature film after all.

I also had no trouble seeing Adrianne Palicki in the role. She has the right proportions, figure, and face to closely match the classic DC comic heroine.

But where it all falls short - profanely so - is in the complete abandonment of her Story. They seem to have ditched her Greek Mythology origin and made into some kind of female version of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Even her bracers (forged by the god Haephestus for her mother, Hipolita) and lasso aren't divine artifacts, but technological gadgets paid for by marketing clothing lines and action figures.

The show would probably have been picked up if they had used a different outfit and name, but the outcry from the comics community was loud and clear - Don't break the story!

Not as good one might think

[julekmeister · 4/10 · 21 June 2012]

I thought a while, how to grade this pilot. I went for 4 out of 10 with 5 as a production that is neither bad nor good - watchable. Here's why I gave it this grade: There is a lot of things people, especially male viewers, would like. There are some decent fight scenes, there is some decent acting and there are beautiful women. That's pretty much it. Elisabeth Hurley and Adrienne Palicki are stunning and they do know what acting is.

Unfortunately these are the only qualities I could find in this production that would make the time spent watching this not entirely wasted. The character of Wonder Woman is significantly different from her portrayal in comic books and other TV series. While it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad this Diana just doesn't make much sense. On one hand we have a successful business woman, on the other lonely, delicate girl living alone and in the middle of this almost a psychopath killer. It's just like the main character has a split personality disorder. One might argue that the whole idea of having and alter ego is that those two personae have to be completely different, so that no one would uncover the secret identity of the hero. But that's not the case here. Wonder Woman in this show is publicly known so there is no need for hiding who she really is. And yet, while being Diana Prince she is lonely, heartbroken and gloomy watching TV with her cat - I think that is the true self of the main character since she doesn't have to hide anything from her pet. And in the same time in her Wonder Woman form she is ruthless, with no regard for law or human life. The most shocking scene for me in the pilot was when she pinned a man to a door with a pipe killing him and she didn't even blink. She even said to her cat, that it was a good day, because she got to beat up some bad guys as if not realizing she's just murdered someone. I'm not opposed to a new, darker, more morally gray hero, but the lack of consequence. It's almost as if different writers wrote different aspects of Wonder Woman's character and private life without reading what the other guys wrote. It just doesn't make any sense.

Further more, what's the case with the lasso? A TV reporter stated, that Wonder Woman used her lasso of TRUTH to capture a villain. That means, her rope has the same properties as in the comic books - it can make every man tell the truth. Yet she still has to torture a guy she's just put in a hospital (!) to tell her anything? Why the h she did that when she just could wrap her golden string around him and ask politely? Maybe for her own pleasure - hence she really IS a psychopath.

So, in my opinion, writing on this show sucks. It is poor and inconsequential. The CG is also not so good. The scenes where Diana flies her "invisible" jet are so static it just hurt my eyes to watch. But I guess that's the least important thing, although in a superhero show you wanna see some good SFX and cool stunts.

So, the acting, cast, gorgeous women (Hurley and Palicky are just stunning as I stated before :)) and the action scenes are a big plus to the show.

The writing, plot holes, character creation, special effects and essentially every thing except the few things mentioned above make a giant minus. Hence the grade 4/10. It's watchable but bad.

PS. Is Wonder Woman even a superhero in this show? She can't fly by her own, she is strong but doesn't seam as strong as in the comic books (she has almost Superman level of strength in the source material) and her jest isn't invisible.

Murder, Torture, Denial of Rights = Wonder Woman pilot

[whirlgigs · 2/10 · 31 January 2012]

This pilot was hyped to be the quintessential Wonder Woman for the 21st Century. It was supposed to bring her into a new generation of fans and expose her to a wider audience.

*snort* Good luck with this pilot. I can sum it up with one line that occurs about ten minutes in, in which Diana proclaims "I know you want vengeance, but lets leave that up to me. I'm kind of good at it." This loses out on the entire heart of Wonder Woman. If they were trying to shill it to non-fans, those people can get far better 'corporate drama' from any of the Law & Order or legal shows and better action from things like CSI and The Shield.

Fans are equally likely to tune-out.

Gone is Diana eloquence and grace when speaking. Here the largest word she uses is probably 'supplements' and instead of a graceful discussion of her dislike for one of the action figures that financially supports her company, she waves the doll around, talks over people and snarls about 'perfect tits' like a diva having a temper tantrum.

Gone is her respect for cultures. Only seconds in and she nearly refuses to allow police to take the suspect she's apprehended. She shows blatant disrespect for the laws of the country she now lives in by being fine with denying said suspect his right to a fair trial or legal counsel.

Also absent is her calm heart that often provided rational feedback to Superman's mercy and Batman's obsessiveness in comics. Here she tries desperately to pull of the Angelina Jolie sultry/angry pout during every battle that looks more like it should be in a D-movie about vampires than on the Worlds Greatest superheroine. She uses brutal violence as a first resort and murders a guard by throwing a pipe through him because he fired at her instead of using her gauntlets to simply block the shots like she's done in every single other incarnation in comics, cartoons and other live-actions. It's not only wrong, but incredibly hypocritical as she goes on to lecture a grieving mother and Veronica Cale about the wrongness of killing. I guess it's only wrong when people other than Wonder Woman do it? She ends up feeling like a bad rip on other superheroes, unable to stand on her own talent..which the REAL Wonder Woman has in spades. There are things that are unique to her that no other hero has. It's been enough to see her as one of comics leading ladies for over 70 years, but apparently not good enough for a moment of this pilot's time.

But hey, she and her almost entirely-white billion dollar company with billion-dollar interiors are out to save inner-city black boys who want to go to college from an evil white pharma CEO!

It's not perfect. But it aims high and it's not bad. Worse pilots have made it to TV and spawned series that ran for years!

[RikerDonegal · 23 July 2011]

Okay, here's everything I have to say/write about the 2011 Wonder Woman pilot.

1. Adrianne Palicki is superb! I'm a fan. I've been a fan since I first saw her in Supernatural and South Beach. I liked her because she is uncommonly sexy and very beautiful. But when I saw her in Friday Night Lights, I quickly realised that she is a supremely talented actress. She brings something to the table that is rare: she makes you believe that there is a lot going on behind her eyes. The most obvious example of this quality is the late Peter Falk. You watch him as Columbo and you believe that he is thinking about... something/everything. Palicki does this in Friday Night Lights and she does it here. So... she's beautiful and sexy and she has - I suppose - gravitas. Or whatever. Here, in the WW pilot she totally nails it.

2. The writer (David E. Kelley) has a specific take on Wonder Woman and runs with it. His shows tend to be shows about the law, his shows tend to be about lawyers. So... he drops WW into a world of laws, corporations, big bucks, legalities/illegalities and - in this one hour of TV - explains why she exists in this world. And, to be honest, it works. It's not MY take on Wonder Woman, but - after seeing this - I would be willing to take a leap and watch HIS take on the character.

3. The action scenes are good.

4. This is not an origin story. This is a case-of-the-week story. This is exactly how I would start a WW series (should anyone care).

5. Some things DON'T work. Sometimes the dialogue makes you cringe. There are a couple of bad scenes, in my humble opinion. The hospital scene, the two scenes with Steve Trevor, the applause scene, etc. Scenes where you roll your eyes. But, because I liked lots of other things, I'm willing to let the bad stuff slide. And, to be honest, even when I was cringing at something, I could appreciate what David E. Kelley was trying to do. It's not perfect, but it has a clarity of vision sadly lacking in the Bionic Woman or Knight Rider reboots. I HATED those. They had no redeeming qualities. This, I didn't hate. It had redeeming qualities. I could see what it was trying to be. And, because it succeeded on a few points (especially the fantastic lead casting), I was willing to go the extra mile and accept the other (weaker) stuff.

6. I liked the main character, and wanted to root for her. The most obvious comparison here is Bionic Woman from 2007. That show was dark and edgy and stuff. And... I never found a reason to like the main character. In one episode she set fire to her kitchen. That baffled me. What was I supposed to do? Laugh at her? Pity her? What? Diana Prince, as written by David E. Kelley, is interesting and likable. She's dark and edgy, I suppose, but she's more than that. She's arrived in our world and established herself an interesting set-up. And she's decided to 'go it alone' for reasons that make sense to her. And kinda to the audience as well. She's self-sacrificing and brave and annoyed by injustice and other stuff that would make me root for her on a weekly basis. Kelley's script has scenes that could, in the hands of a lesser actress, come off as self-pitying and unattractive. Palicki rises above that. Rises about the (sometimes flawed) material and makes us care, even when the on-screen image is something as uninspired as Diana at home alone, with her cat (!!), watching Ryan Gosling's weep-fest The Notebook.

It's not perfect. But it aims high and it's not bad. Worse pilots have made it to TV and spawned series that ran for years! 8/10

Best Pretend It Didn't Happen

[mmaxi73 · 1/10 · 13 May 2012]

Fair enough, as a bloke in his late thirties I admit it's probably impossible anyone would be able to totally fill Lynda Carter's red boots as Wonder Woman for me. However when I saw the pictures of Adrianne Palicki in the outfit I laughed.And several months later when I had finished laughing I decided to check out the pilot.

Turns out I had been a bit unfair on Ms. Palicki for, although no Lynda,for me she is the best thing about this pilot.Let me rephrase that - for me she is the only good thing about this pilot. Oh, O.K. the action isn't bad.

But the rest is just really really depressing. The dialogue is truly awful,the plot terrible, the supporting cast stinks. I'm not a major fan of David E Kelley so I expected to have to put up with people banging on about the law a lot (they do). What I wasn't prepared for was Wonder Woman's total disregard for the law. But the thing is this isn't the character of Wonder Woman that anyone - anyone - would recognise.

I had never seen Adrianne Palicki before but thought she had both presence and charisma.I suspect I shall see her again in the future. And with the success of the Avengers re-igniting talk of Wonder Woman on the Big Screen, maybe best for all concerned we just pretend this didn't happen...

What garbage

[AlericTX · 1/10 · 22 January 2012]

This version of WW has turned her from fighting Nazis to being a Nazi. Call that hyperbole if you like but the fact remains that they have cast aside every shred of honor that DC heroes have with this drivel.

In the movie Hancock, Nancy Grace chastises Hancock by saying "Nobody is above the law". In this series they have her praising WW for her illegal and unconstitutional actions. When the police ask her to give over the suspect the first line we ever hear her say is "If I give him to you he will 'lawyer up'".

DC heroes never interfered with the criminal justice system. They groused about it but they realized that couldn't replace it. This version shows us a Wonder Woman who will happily adopt the Guilty-until-proved innocent, no due process approach of the Nazis she used to fight.

It sickened me to watch this garbage.

Utter crap

[yosh2005 · 1/10 · 24 July 2011]

Wonder Woman is seen chasing a drug dealer, who turns out to deliver untested steroids to future athletes, just after we have seen one of those collapse (he later dies). The pharmaceutical company is testing on humans (illegals, slaves traded from abroad, and future athletes from poor ghettos; they didn't skip even one cliché), represented by the scrupulous CEO Veronica Cale. She is played by Hurley, who is best remembered for being the former girlfriend of Hugh Grant. She is more of a fashion model and definitely gorgeous, but she should stay out of acting.

The story is meager; so meager that this critique has more lines that the complete plot of the film.

This TV Movie is such utter crap, the acting so deep below par that you have actually to dig a hole. That's the same hole that the director, the producers, the writers and actors should hide.

Unprofessional, technically miserable (in the main fighting scene the ropes could be seen), and boring. It's not even comically bad, it's just bad. Perhaps seeing it on "fast forward" with Mickey Mouse voices could improve it.

This film gets easily to the IMDb Bottom 100 list, deep down. If there was a negative vote here; this film would have earned it. I sincerely hope that they never make it a series, just to spare the actors the embarrassment.

A comment on Riker: "The action scenes are good"??? You see her ropes when she flying through the air 4 times in 1 scene. Amateurish! This is no pilot from the 70's, this is computer editing era. Every beginner could have corrected that. They are lazy or stupid; make your choice.

This is awful!

[CountVladDracula · 1/10 · 12 September 2012]

Where do I begin? This version of Wonder Woman goes too far in trying to make her dark and edgy. It's worse than the 2004 Daredevil that taunted and tortured men just for winning against him in a court of law.

This Wonder Woman lacks compassion or mercy. She tortures men who are already helpless and in hospital beds for information. She is sadistic and cruel. Not only that but she has a confusing three alter egos. And the "Casual" one just sits at home, petting a cat, watching chick flicks and pining for her ex. I wanted to smack this obnoxious stereotype on what it means to be female.

It is my belief that the only real difference between men and women, psychologically, are the constraints that society imposes on us. In example: A little girl might be raised to like pink because it's a "girl" color and a little boy is taught the same about "blue" but these are not basic biological patterns of reason but rather an odd cultural impression that many conform to without realizing it. There is a reason human psychology is just that, human psychology, not male psychology or female psychology, just psychology. This felt like it was written by someone who can't quite grasp that despite the reproductive organs or what gender you might be attracted to, we are all people with the same basic wants and needs. Women are not some strange alien lifeform.

I kept wanting Bo from Lost Girl or Buffy to come along and smack her as they are actually well portrayed female heroes. This was insulting. It made me feel dirty and ashamed to be female. The character was so dark and repulsive (when she wasn't being a bad stereotype) that I found it hard to believe she was the hero. This was disgusting.

Not a bad pilot, should have got picked up

[A_Real_Hip_Dude · 6/10 · 19 September 2011]

The Wonder Woman pilot that is floating around on the internet is an unfinished work designed to function as a display for potential companies to sign it and assign to their network. Some of the digital effects are not finished and this apparently makes some people say that the show is low quality. Therefore if you are going to watch this you should be aware that it is in an UNfinished form and will likely not be finished anytime soon. Expect to see ropes occasionally, the jet is not always properly layered against the sky, and occasionally colors are not digitally balanced accurately.

I really enjoyed this pilot. From what I had been hearing I was expecting dreadful, but by comparison to what is on TV today on most channels I'm really disappointed that it won't be on in the fall.

The dialogue runs dry in a couple moments, and some of WW's facial expressions seem to be a bit forced, but these are common in pilots. It's almost like a dress rehearsal where you put it all together and attempt to get comfortable with it as you figure out what needs to be improved.

I think the main fault found in this show was that WW's "story" had been changed a bit from the comics. Who she is and how she lives her public life and private life are altered, but not out of character for who Wonder Woman is. She is still an active and aware female doing good in a mans world. She is fierce and well natured all in one. Granted, the actress needed time to grow in to the role, but I felt that she was a good choice and could have smoothed out her portrayal had they been given a season to air.

The main problem that any comic-based superhero TV show or movie faces is that the comic readers develop a sense of ownership over the characters that they feel they deserve due to years of faithfully throwing away money on their books, so when a show or movie is made they view it through a lens of religious zealotry and assemble in screaming protest at any slight variation from their favorite stories.

Thus was the case with Wonder Woman. It was not a bad pilot, but of course had it's rough spots and could use some tuning. The cries of die-hard comic nerds, ranting in unison on the internet and scaring producers is getting to be something like squatters-rights on creativity. With Wonder Woman, and others, it would be nice if we could say "Oh, this studio is going to do something based on this comic-book, lets see how it goes". Had Wonder Woman been given a full season I think we could have had something fun.

Keep in mind that pilots are usually a lot rougher. Seinfeld was almost painfully dry. The Dukes of Hazzard was an almost completely different show (A couple of my favorites) and by comparison I think that Wonder Woman should have gotten a shot.

Christian Bale called. He says you've got Batman all wrong.

[ikrani · 1/10 · 12 July 2014]

I speak as an American who believes in civil rights, an amateur film critic, and a modest fan of comic book adaptations, particularly animated ones. And, in all three areas, this pilot FAILS.

As a fan of Wonder Woman, watching this was gut-wrenching. Wonder Woman is an Amazon warrior princess from the mythical island of Themiscyra known for her compassion, trust, and honor. I'm open to differing origin stories and interpretations of a character as long as said character maintains their core essentials. For Batman, this is his conviction to justice and doing everything he can to stop the tragedy of his childhood from happening to someone else. For Superman, this is being a role model of how superheroes should act and the responsibility those with power should take. For Wonder Woman, it is her effort to temper what she perceives to be the vicious nature of mankind (and, let's face it, we don't have a great track record when it comes to peace and harmony). She is a warrior, yes, but only fights when provoked and rarely responds with deadly force.

THIS Wonder Woman, however, is more or less Frank Miller's modern interpretation of Batman: a ruthless, murderous vigilante with no regard for the law or criminal rights. She tortures victims for information on the very hospital bed she put them in, dismisses due process as unnecessary, and makes the bad guys look far more justified in their response to her than they should be.

The pilot often suffers from bad dialog that feels like its being delivered as part of Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First" routine. The plot, again, makes the supposed antagonists to be more in the right than our heroine, and the supporting characters are interchangeable and forgettable. The visuals add their share of nightmare fuel as well, with people crying blood and steel pipes going through throats as casually as one could make the act seem. And when Wonder Woman's not being a psychopath, she is at home stroking her cat and acting like every poorly-written female character that you've seen before, minus the sexualization. She saves THAT for her work hours.

And, finally, this pilot seems to make a case for torture and vigilantism as being okay if you're the good guy without giving us any reason to believe our so-called heroine is anything of the sort. It makes out criminal rights to be counterproductive in the grand scheme of law enforcement, having Wonder Woman hesitate giving up a captured adversary (who she choked with her lasso and then stuck with a needle to take an nonconsensual blood sample) because he'll "lawyer-up" and finding ways to make her rampages legal by technicality. After all, if we gave rights to criminals, only criminals would have rights, RIGHT?!

After reading David E. Kelley's resume, I'm not surprised his pilot turned out like this. He just couldn't unchain himself from his usual crime drama/comedy and let his imagination run with the Greek Mythology that comes with the Wonder Woman package, and so decided to meet the two halfway, resulting in what can at best be described as an aborted attempt at a Dark Knight knock-off, at worst a horrible, HORRIBLE crime against the titular character. Hopefully the next attempt at Wondy will be from someone more suited to the task.

And, seriously, who says, "Lawyer-up?"

A little off, but otherwise okay.

[Blueghost · 8/10 · 6 August 2016]

I think bought maybe all of three Wonder Woman comics as a pre-teen boy. The character had always been around, but seemed kind of hokey wearing a circus bustier and flying an "invisible jet" (reminiscent of a Lear jet configuration). Her stories were kind of plain, and so sort of gave up on them and moved on in life ... or as much as a pre-teen youth could.

I am told that Wonder Woman, as originally conceived, was a subversive attempt to satiate sexual bondage fantasies from the 1930s and 1940s. Eh, if so then I'm out of touch, but WW does tend to use a rope to get the truth out of men. And given her costume and liberal use of a rope, one is left to wonder if the social scientists writing about this comic book character don't have something there.

Which leads one to ... "wonder", what it is about Wonder Woman that keeps people coming back for more, and for the owners of the current property to keep trying to reinvent her. I mean are there really that many men out there with fantasies regarding this kind of heroine? I'm not so sure.

David Kelley writes about a woman who presents comic book superhero behavior in a real world for what it is; unlawful. But we often give a pass to vigilantes in costume because they have abilities us mere mortals do not, and gallivant in colorful circus performer costumes.

I'm not really sure what the twist on this new Wonder Woman was supposed to do, but the directorial style and overall presentation, as professional as it is, did strike me as a touch predictable. That is as a male who read comic books like a lot of other boys when he was younger, and knowing female oriented TV programming, this presentation seemed to try to break the traditional mold by breaking what otherwise might have been the suspected expectations of the audience, but in doing so, winds up being almost a kind of cliché' unto itself.

That is to say Wonder Woman is the everyday independent woman who not only trounces over-muscled male foes, but snuggles with her cat at the end of the day with a bowl of ice cream--no doubt some popular contemporary brand too. Not a bad angle to take for this attempted re-imagining of her, but I think the problem here isn't that Wonder Woman takes a lot of liberties with the law in her attempt to enforce the law, it's with the character's genesis itself. And by that I mean she was always a kind of sexual invention from the 1940s.

I mean, what do you do with that? The best you can, I suppose. I think the tone set by this production teams is okay. WW is a bit over the top in terms of how she gets people to talk (I think Linda Carter's version is a bit more true to form of the G-rated WW a lot of people expect), but is otherwise palatable.

Me, I think the series in the 70s with Linda Carter was campy, but inventive, and because it tried to stick with the character's roots, was fun in its own special way, if predictable as well. This series attempts to resuscitate a very 1940's character for a 2016 audience, and I think giving WW's character a kind of violent streak countered by her ordinary single white female private life, is perhaps the dual edged sword that was needed, but may have been over the top with two scenes. In short, I think mister Kelley misread the scale of violence WW fans were willing to accept from their favorite bondage character. It's one thing to challenge another male in personal combat, and defeat them. Every male knows this. But it's another to press your advantage against those less capable. And I think that's the only fault this show made.

Otherwise I thought it was okay and in fact entertaining. I'm not sure it's something I would watch regularly, but I think a certain male and female audience could really go for this type of show. I'm sorry it wasn't picked up and finished, and I'm sorry it didn't lead to a TV series because I think it would have been successful.

If you see a copy, give it a shot, but remember, it's not for kids.

Would've Loved To Have Seen The Full Series

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 6/10 · 19 July 2017]

It's good to be surprised, which is exactly what I was after viewing the leaked pilot episode of the axed-before-release series of Wonder Woman.

It would appear that the writer, David E Kelley, had quite a different take on the Wonder Woman mythos by bringing her into the present day and giving her all the troubles that go along with it. This is a much darker character than seen before. Let me state that I don't usually like this kind of thing because writers can easily get carried away and kill off the characters main and basic characterisations, which is what happened in Batman Vs Superman - An old Batman was not very clever and easily lead, while Superman had no problem killing anyone, However, Kelley actually manages to keep the essence of Wonder Woman. I even think if this had become a series it may have strengthened the character for an older audience.

In this present day, Diana Prince runs a company that, not only, helps her to fight crime but helps everyday people. This in itself is a nice take on the Amazonian ethic. In this story, she's up against Veronica Cale, who is brilliantly portrayed by Elizabeth Hurley (not an actress that I would usually rate - talk about surprise - she's one of the strongest characters in the show). Cale runs a cosmetic and pharmacy business and one of her products to enhance the human physique may be killing people. Can Wonder Woman stop her before it kills more people?

Though this sounds like it could be a story out of the '70's series it does lend itself to the present day especially with a number of supplements out there that we can take to increase body mass. Kelley does an admirable job of making this relevant as well as adding a twist or two, which you, unfortunately, can see coming.

It's the direction which hurts this show though as the story and its execution on screen are very jagged and harsh. Though I cannot be too harsh as this is not a finished item, there would have been plenty of trimming and cleaning to be done before airing (so a pinch of salt there) What the director does show in this "Dirty" episode is how good at action he is. The opening sequence where Wonder Woman is in pursuit of a criminal through the busy streets is fantastic. Not only do we have running on cars (I always wanted to do that - even now I can't walk down a street of parked cars with out thinking... what if?) but jumping over vehicles and from one car to another. This also has one of the most believable faster-than-humanly-possible running sequences I've seen. Then there's the main fight scene towards the end of the show when Wonder Woman takes on a group of enhanced humans. This is also one of the best-choreographed TV fight scenes. At the end she actually kills a guard, I loved this as it adds to her true character, she is an Amazonian Warrior and warriors kill.

However, there are some drawbacks, the main being the characters. Though Elwes is good as Henry Johns, the character isn't actually needed and feels like a third thumb as all his jobs are also carried out by Etta Candy, played well by Traci Thoms. Candy also has a stronger and more filled out character. Then there's Steve Trevor, who Diana left to find herself, when he appears he's married - he didn't wait a year before getting hitched (not such a great bloke then). These issues would have been addressed and built upon in the series but here they don't work. What would have been better would be if Wonder Woman had brought Steve Trevor back to Washington in the second World War, as was the case with the '70's series, and he's now on his death bed - because there are a couple of scenes where it's been hinted she's been around for a long while. This would open up issues of love and her feeling of being alone on a planet of billions.

This wasn't as bad as I'd read it had been. If you're a DC or Wonder Woman fan then it is definitely worth one watch. I would have loved to have seen the complete series on this version of the Amazonian Warrior as Adrianne Palicki was perfect for this role.

so far from canon it's something else altogether. PLEASE LET JOSS WHEDON do this right next time?

[spasticfreakshow · 3/10 · 16 June 2012]

If I was not a major WW fan, I'd still have been bored to tears with this mealy-mouthed whiny production, but as a Wonder Woman fan, I'm OUTRAGED!!! Wonder Woman is NOT Superman, nor Batman - she is not simply out for the pursuit of justice, as portrayed here. WW left her home (Paradise Island/Themyscira) to come to man's world to teach us to live in peace and harmony - thus she is always written as an uplifting and inspiring character. As David E. Kelley dresses her down, she is more depressing and disappointing than Rachel Mcadams in the Notebook, which we find her watching.

Many writers have portrayed Wonder Woman over the last 70 years in the DC Universe - and all agree that Wonder Woman avoids needless killing at all costs, yet David E. Kelley paints her as a heartless killer. In FACT, Diana is so amazing partly because she never needs to kill, nor torture people for information, as David E. Kelley also has her doing. THAT IS WHAT THE LASSO OF TRUTH IS FOR. Kelley's ignorant writers have her using it as a sort of high-tech cowgirl lasso, for reining loose criminals in, when in FACT, the LASSO IS HER BIGGEST POWER - when inside the lasso, one is COMPELLED to tell the truth, and even to SEE THE TRUTH whereas before their own perspective was clouded. What if they invented a new Superman who couldn't fly? a Green Lantern with no ring? THAT IS WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO WW by making her lasso a flaccid toy. The magic of the lass of truth is part of WW's on-screen magic - but making magic is apparently something Kelley and his team oppose on principle.

WW fans the world over have blasted her awful pants suit, and while it's hard to imagine an intelligent person approving that outfit, I wouldn't disqualify the show based on her poor pants and plastic bracelets/headgear alone. I've been looking forward to the new incarnation of Wonder Woman WAY too long for that. No, sadly the problem is the writing, the direction, and the casting of Wonder Woman herself. Palicki is pretty enough that i can see why they AUDITIONED her, but to cast her? She is a good enough actress for a sitcom, but not for an iconic role like WW. She played her very mainstream mundane with zero charisma...her under-acting in the hospital scene with Willis and her response to hearing about his passing were so off-putting that it's clearly director-error to not at least try to get some emotion into this brunette barbie-girl. Clearly Palicki does not have the BASE HUMILITY to watch a few Lynda Carter episodes, to understand the type of magic she should be bringing to the production. Palicki belongs on Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill...not in the league of superheroes! If fans get our due and Whedon redoes this, he should bring back the original WW theme song, but rebooted, and play it for dramatic effect during a press conference that builds energy - this whole thing was so lacking in energy it almost put me to sleep. NOT the way you want to feel after watching A PILOT episode.

Good News It's Over

[zoe9 · 11 August 2011]

I know it's basically a cartoon for men who will die virgins. But even still, in the first FIVE minutes the writers QUOTE a shrink who doesn't know the difference between DPD and Schizophrenia, WonderBroad holds a press conference wherein she PUBLICLY THREATENS the CEO of a company who gives our government it's marching orders and no one calls a lawyer? Her lawyer doesn't rush to 'clarify' her statement? She's not arrested, no one gets a restraining order? And she also admits during this PC that she has illegal taken a blood sample from the "criminal" who she has basically assaulted and kidnapped on spec and then fights with the police about keeping him instead of fighting to not go to jail for taking blood against his will and kidnap and assault.

The capper to all this stupidity is that HER company has been flesh pedaling her image in a bodice buster for YEARS and suddenly it occurs to her (after it was explained to her by the villain on TV) that men aren't taking her seriously because of the way she dresses while fighting crime. This would explain why her marketing director--in front of a roomful of men, has no problem scolding her--his boss, employer and sole owner of a MULTI-MILLION Dollar company like she is his bimbo secretary in the middle of a meeting which, she, his boss arranged for HER subordinates. I've been in meetings with bosses who have talked through entire meetings ordering lunch and making arrangements for the weekend and NO ONE at any of those meetings ever got it into their ball-z little ego to call the boss on his girlie chit-chat. Hello1920!

The writers should be castrated and forced to eat their newly removed brains for even thinking that young women and little girls should be forced to have yet another generation men encouraged to think this way.

Hahaa. I know you people playing with me!!

[jadagirl · 3/10 · 23 February 2013]

Hahhahahaaa. Aii sah. I'm here watching this "unaired pilot" and alternately laughing and shaking my head in despair. Seriously though. They just made this episode in jest right? Kind of like an almost spoof? No? Really? Hmm...

OK, so as i'm watching i'm thinking "ok, the beginning isn't so bad. What's with all the negative comments??" Then Wonder Woman whips out her lasso and nooses the guy. Yep, laughing off my head here. Then, about halfway you get struck by the not too great dialogue. (Yea I know, but it only got worse around here) But I can deal with that. I've watched worse.

Now we come to the 3/4 mark of this 41 min pilot. Cool, fight scene!! Wait a sec!! Are all those WIRES on the actors to make them fly and leap high?? Really?? And here comes more lasso action. And i'm serious, the phrase that keeps coming into my mind is Mortal Kombat's Scorpion saying "Get Over Here!!" When it finally ends i'm left thinking how sad and lonely Wonder Woman's life is. Very sad.

The problem is that this show had some good actors and could have gone so much further if not for the poor script and the horrific display of the wires. However, I will concede that the show wasn't all that bad and this was largely due to our evil villianess, Ms Elizabeth Hurley who, in my opinion was the actual star of the show. She delivered the dialogue, the looks, and the evil empire leader very well. You almost wanted her to win.

Ultimately, if you were a fan of the original series (Yes, Lynda Carter), this ep will disappoint you. If you had no clue of the original, it will erk you a bit. If you want to watch it and form your own opinion I say go for it, that's what I did....

Cheers all!

Blunder Woman

[richardhiskens · 1/10 · 14 January 2013]

Do not watch this if you have fond memories of the 70's series, it will negatively impact good memories. Quite frankly Lynda Carter gave such an elegant and poised performance this modern version lacks femininity when you naturally in your own head compare them. The language is also rather crude at times, which I found pointless as I felt they were trying to be risqué for the sake of it whilst aiming towards a family audience. The actress in my view lacks the kind of Amazonian presence that Lynda Carter gave us despite clearly being a good actress she also lumbers around the screen.

The supporting cast is not that exciting either, sadly You can see why this never made it beyond a pilot. The plot is very flimsy, for obvious reasons I do not want to spoil the "plot" for anyone, luckily that wont happen as no plot seems to exist.

I am now going to buy the 70's series to remind me of what was so special about wonder woman, in a male superhero dominated world, if a WW film is to be made please pick very carefully. Possibly Emma Stone, she has a presence which could match Lynda Carter.

Could be improved...

[hepnershadow · 4/10 · 8 January 2012]

I just watched the pilot. There are some strong points, but there should be some reference to her origin than just some ancient Greek artifacts in her office. I like the name of the company, Themyscira, but not the fact that the public knows who she is. I felt her costume had too much cleavage, I mean, Etta said it herself, "Wonder Woman is not vulgar." And if WW is suppose to be ageless, she would be a little more mature about things.

It was okay, but could've been better. David E. Kelly is mostly known for Boston Public and the dramedy Ally McBeal. This show needed someone who is familiar with the genre and WW. I didn't care for the visible jet, nor the lasso that really doesn't do much, I mean, why did she have to torture the guy for the info, couldn't the lasso make him tell the truth??? So yeah, there's problems and I can see why it didn't make it to the fall schedule. Maybe SyFy could pick it up and retool it.

I felt Elizabeth Hurley made a very hot villain! And the bullets/bracelets scene was pretty good. But I understand there may be a film in the works. Hopefully, they get it right. For now, just watch the full length animated movie. That one is pretty good!

half and half

[curtis-8 · 5/10 · 10 August 2015]

They got the look right. They got the action right. I like the actress. I like the costumes. The rest? Dang, how weird! Plot and dialog no better than the 1970s show--really, really bad. And a real fascist slant to the whom thing. And wonder woman seems to change size pretty drastically throughout. Sometime she looks very amazon tall and imposing, other times not. And her voice sometimes drifts into SoCal valley-speak tones. Anyway...the look of the actress and costume and how she looked kicking add worked. But that's about it. The whole thing seemed kind of ill thought out and a bit rushed. This was from a major producer known mainly for his writing?

WW pulled in disparate directions

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 14 December 2014]

It's the modern world. Diana/Wonder Woman (Adrianne Palicki) fights crime in costume out in the open as the head of a large corporation with Henry Johns (Cary Elwes) and Etta Candy (Tracie Thoms) working for her. She discovers that Veronica Cale (Elizabeth Hurley) is experimenting her new drug which is killing people and causing horrible mutations. She tries to bring Cale to justice while skirting the law herself. She has also carved out a 'normal' secret life for herself with her cat while pining for Steve Trevor (Justin Bruening). At the end of the pilot, Diana finds that he's married.

I like Adrianne Palicki as an actress and she's a good possibility for Wonder Woman. She's definitely better as an actress than Gal Gadot. The problem is that the show is pulling in wildly disparate directions. In her secret life, she's a single gal alone with her cat. I'm not sure that's a good idea. The worst idea is to make her the head of her own corporation. I just don't get it. There's a scene where she berates her people for making a doll with big boobs. I actually don't know if I like it but it was weirdly compelling. The most interesting aspect of Wonder Woman is that they made her a violent vigilante sorta like Batman. The fight at the end is deadly fun. I find that part filled with possibilities. The other interesting aspect is the lack of an origins story. Other than Steve Trevor and the Greek decor, there is very little about her earlier life. I think that's a mistake. It needs the origin story even if it's only flashbacks. Lots of people talk about the costume. I don't particularly like it but it's not a deal breaker. They also changed it for the ending giving her the stars bikini bottom. The costume needs a little work but it's not ridiculously bad.

Very Good Pilot!

[veer2808 · 7/10 · 25 November 2011]

I must admit that having been a fan of the DC comic books and the original Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, I fully expected (and secretly hoped)that the new Wonder Woman pilot would be pathetic! Not so - I was pleasantly surprised. Apart from changing the basic WW myths with regard to her secret identity and her day-time work, which comic book purists will find fault with, I found the episode to be fun, lively and well-executed. I was not familiar with Adrianne Palicki's works but I think she was an excellent choice and Amazonian enough for the role. Obviously, the special effects haven't been cleaned up and the initial script does leave a lot to be desired. But, let's face it, this is definitely a change of pace for David E. Kelley and, having said that, he does deliver quirky yet fun HIT shows. I feel this series does have potential, it would be a shame if a major network doesn't pick it up.

JUMP CUT Gang-Bang

[matrix29 · 2/10 · 6 December 2015]

Wonder Woman starts out with her chasing a shaved guy (shaved head, shaved eyebrows) down a street. In order to "make this chase exciting" they use a horizontal line effect which makes the video look amazingly worse than most effects used in 1970's TV.

We get introduced to Diana Themyscira (Die Anna The Mascara). She is the CEO of Themyscira Industries which survives on the sale of a plastic action figure doll. And that's the high point of this series. There is a subplot about some black guy getting a college scholarship and then dying from the anthrax spores they included for free in the envelope and something plotwise about "steroid-growth hormone" drugs killing six boring people. Which is an excuse to do even more jump cuts on the irritating TV Pilot. Every time Wonder Woman commits a crime (Slander, Physical Assault, Violations of Airspace without Flight Plans, Breaking & Entering, etc) she smirks... slowly... and then we get more jump cuts.

What do you get for tolerating watching this series. JUMP CUTS. ENDLESS JUMP CUTS. If you watch this, you will be unlikely to be able to find a whole 20 seconds of filming without a jump cut. It is frankly nauseatingly repulsive. The series gave me a throbbing headache from 10 minutes in.

Like all lousy CW NETWORK Superhero DC Comics series, the dialog is snippy, dull, like a lousy soap opera, boring as the wretchedly stupid CSI series (every scene ends with an accusation or DUHN noise tone). In terms of production values this series pilot is more confusing than inviting. The set decoration is not horrible, but it is confused. The flying scenes are, for lack of a better word, inane rather than interesting. The female hair is good. The special effects for the warehouse fight is so desperate to match the fighting style of "The 300" movies it is embarrassing. There's a scene where she argues with one of her employees over the size of the tits of her action figure and that is just so amazingly stupid on so many levels if I were watching this on TV, I would have switched to anything else, even an infomercial to purge this lousy experience from my brain.

The costume isn't the worst Wonder Woman outfit (the Batman & Superman movie is going to get that dishonor with her leather sack). She is probably the worst Wonder Woman actress so far in terms of lack of charm, lack of making the audience feel invited in, lack of being anything but irritating (the obsessive frantic jump cuts are mostly the guilty party though). Gal Gadot is probably going to steal "Worst Wonder Woman" title pretty easily though (scrawny stick-girl with boobs and no personality). So there's that level of forgiveness for Adrianne Palicki who probably did the best she could with the crappy TV Pilot with the CW Channel style of spastic jump-cut-every-10-seconds that was handed her. And this TV Pilot at least wasn't as horrible as ego-mooch Halle Berry's 2-hour enema of a "CATWOMAN" insult movie.

Absolutely Fantastic! I will be boycotting NBC for not coming out with this.

[chadhsnow · 10/10 · 6 April 2013]

I did watch the 70's Wonder woman several times and was a huge fan. This by all accounts blows 70's WW away. By today's standards WW of the 70's was very silly. Spinning into uniforms (motorcycle, swimming, etc...) silly sound effects when jumping, Iraq computer with dog that gets pulled around by fish wire. I always thought Linda Carter was a little soft to be WW (you could tell she did not workout) although she had a pretty smile. The Adrianne Palicki was a great choice, the was bad-A fighter and beautiful. They took out all the stuff that made WW 70's silly, like the spinning into uniform and expanded on other things like use of the lasso (not a cheesy truth machine, but as great fighting tool.)

I just saw the latest GIJoe movie and "unimpressed and boring movie" but Adrianne Palicki was the best part about the whole thing and the only decent scenes were with her.

Another great think I loved out the pilot is she practiced street justice. If someone was guilty using the law protect them, she would not care, she would still go after them.

I thought it was good

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 31 July 2015]

Now I cannot say definitely if I had watched a series that could have followed this pilot episode, but I think all in all they did a fine job here. Adrianne Palicki was smoking hot in this one and she looked really fit too and ready for the part. And there are so many male-centered superhero television series now that I really would have liked a female-centered one. Maybe in future episodes they could have included enemies that would have been more of a match for Palicki's character, in terms of physical strength and combat abilities I mean. David E. Kelley came up with "Boston Legal", a show that I really love and I am sure he could have made this a decent show as well, even if it may only have been two or three seasons. Jeffrey Reiner has proved on "Friday Night Lights" and "The Affair" that he has decent talent. They got a pretty big name for the villain here in Liz Hurley and she was fine all in all, but they also could have cast lesser known actors. Really a pity that this project was not continued. I recommend this 42-minute short film.

Not bad, but story stinks!

[ingra88 · 4/10 · 3 January 2016]

Please people who read this get one thing straight, you should not base the looks and design of the TV wonder woman on Lynda Carter! She played wonder Woman doesn't mean every one has to be like her!

Adrianne Palicki is perfect for the roll, why not? She has the height and build of a amazon! she's tough and thats what counts, the 1970's version was too politically correct to meet TV censorship of that time! Were in the 21 century now get over it!

Her acting was OK, its the overall story line that holds everything and everyone back preventing them showing their true potential!

Funnily enough, the action is very good, I enjoyed it very much, but the story line is crap and makes no sense what so ever, not the plot but the characterisation that the premise works around! A total rewrite of the story is needed with Adrianne she is suited to the part, Lynda Carter even endorsed her for the role!