Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Wonder Woman- The Deadly Toys


One of my favorite episodes from the Lynda Cater Wonder Woman shows is The Deadly Toys.

Not only does it feature Frank Gorshin, the actor who played the Riddler on the Batman show (also produced by Douglas Cramer, FYI), but it is also a "peril" episode, something that became quite the rarity as the show went on.

In this episode, Wonder Woman confront a robotic version of herself. A (brief) fight ensues, the two Wonder Women tangle and at some point one loses track of who is who.

No one gains a clear advantage, and a coincidental mishap ends the tussle. Wonder Woman is tossed into a pile of boxes. Unbeknownst to her, she triggers the mechanism of a boxing glove toy. I would imagine it was some kind of "pop goes the weasel" kind of thing. In any case, Wonder Woman has her back to the box. Suddenly, a boxing glove shoots out and NAILS her on the back of the head knocking her silly. From that point, she is out of the game and is eventually defeated. But who was defeated? Was it the real Wonder Woman or the android?

The show gave us to understand that it was indeed the real Wonder Woman who was defeated, but this was really a sneaky trick. Wonder Woman eventually stops impersonating the android, yada yada yada and it was over.



So it was really nothing to write home about, but it still contained a couple of memorable scenes that did wonders to stir the imagination back in those days. Still, it really joins a medium sized list of episodes or movie where I said "Damn! If they would only let ME direct this!"


While writing this I just realized that I have yet to see a re-creation of this scene in a Wonder Woman fetish type video. I've seen some variations on Fausta, but not this.
Maybe someday soon, huh?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jon! Ive been meaning to post something here ever since you put up that wonderful UniqueLeigh collage! But, busy, busy, busy! lol! Re WW Ive just rejoined Hollys site for the first time in about 9 months and was very dissapointed to see she has taken off a lot of her early WW stuff. The robot toys episode would have a great DVD for her to do, with the toys ripping her WW outfit away as in that scene from Barbarella! Unfortunately, it now seems Holly has stopped doing WW topless! She still makes a great superheroine though!
Can I sugest a subject, or subjects, for a future discussion here? Wrestlings Dynamic Duo themselves, Raquel and Onyx!
Great blog, by the way! Redmanx

Anonymous said...

Remember it well. Clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lThFpmNyqM

The worst part, which I can recall from decades ago, was all that awful distracting toy noise. Yet I guess it speaks to the power of the fantasy that it still did the trick, albeit not as powerfully as the Formicida scene.

What really gets me is the look on the real WW’s face as she prepares to tangle with the imposter. Brave, determined but not without concern, and the opponent does score the first blow. What does WW think she’s up against at that point? Her opponent could just be a bad actress with a good costume. But then again, she could be a tough woman with martial arts or other fighting skills that could make up for WW’s strength advantage. She could also be willing to fight a lot dirtier than WW is. Even if she knows it’s an android (I can’t tell), she doesn’t know if it’s a weak one or a strong one. And WW may also not know if something was taken out of her when she was overcome in the last scene. Note that she unnecessarily destroys a door as though to prove something to herself, but the door isn’t fighting back.

Then there is the possibility that the opponent also has superpowers, which could be equal or superior to WW’s own. Once such a thing exists in the world, why suppose it’s only on one island? So she could be facing defeat and far worse. If WW loses her opponent might be content with the win, or might continue to harm her. She might also be sexually humiliated, and in any event she will have the chilling knowledge that these things could have happened. With that vulnerability, most every superheroine scene can be one of superheroine peril. That helped feed the fantasy for all those years despite continual frustration at the outcomes.

Anonymous said...

Just found this. The ending of that scene must've been an homage to another iconic heroine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K0ZFHwv5W0

Anonymous said...

My favourite line is;I guess only geniuses can play with toys when theyre over the age of fifty and get away with it. I might add that anyone over the age of fifty can play with balls and get away with it. Better known as SPORT. Note;Lynda Carter is a KNOCKOUT

Anonymous said...

If I wrote this and directed I would've made this a 2 part episode where in the first one the android actually wins, locks up the original, takes her magic belt which she takes for herself for more power, and then the second part the original breaks out gets her belt back and destroys the android once and for all. O.O