The New Original Wonder Woman
Though not successful at the first attempt, ABC still felt a Wonder Woman series had potential, and within a year another pilot was in production. Keen to make a distinction from the last pilot, the pilot was given the rather paradoxical title The New Original Wonder Woman.
Scripting duties were given to Stanley Ralph Ross, who was instructed to be more faithful to the comic book and to create a subtle "high comedy." Ross set the pilot in World War II, the era in which the original comic book began.
After an intensive talent search, a former beauty pageant winner and Bob Hope USO cast member from Arizona named Lynda Carter was chosen to play the lead role. For the role of Steve Trevor, the producers chose Lyle Waggoner, who at the time was better known as a comedic actor after several years co-starring in The Carol Burnett Show. He was also known to Ross as having been one of the leading candidates to play Batman a decade earlier. Waggoner was also considered a pin-up hunk, having done a semi-nude pictorial in the first issue of Playgirl.
Although the pilot followed the original comic book closely, in particular the aspect of Wonder Woman joining the military under the assumed name of Diana Prince, a number of elements were dropped. While the comic Diana obtains the credentials of a look-alike nurse, in the pilot Diana Prince appears as a Navy enlisted woman (First Class Petty Officer Yeoman) without explanation. The ancient myths and legends which formed many of the early Wonder Woman comic book stories were lost too, in favour of more conventional stories involving Nazis. And, on a minor note, Steve Trevor was no longer blonde, but dark haired.
One change which was later to become synonymous with the show was the twirling transformation which dissolved Diana Prince into Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter claims to have suggested the move herself.
For television, Wonder Woman also had the ability to impersonate anyone's voice, which sometimes came in handy over the phone. This ability vanishes after the first few episodes.
Unlike the earlier pilot, the comic book origins of the character were emphasized not only by the retention of the character's traditional costume and original setting but through the use of comic book elements. The series' title sequence was animated in the form of a series of comic book panels featuring Wonder Woman performing a variety of heroic feats. Within the show, location and exposition were handled through comic book-style text panels. Transitions between scenes and commercial breaks were marked by animated starburst sequences.
