How does the 2011 TV pilot look stack up?
Move over, Helen of Troy. The lovely and talented Adrianne Palicki’s is the face that launched a thousand comments:
Or perhaps it was her costume that did it?
The collective Internet response to the new TV Wonder Woman pilot costume looks to be spread evenly between an indifferent “meh” and outrage, with fan-made costume retouches cropping up online almost immediately – just like what happened with the Wonder Woman costume redesign that debuted in August 2010.
But how does this latest attempt at Wonder Woman’s outfit compare to previous attempts at capturing the comic amazon’s look on the small screen?
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| Cathy Lee Crosby in the 1974 made-for-TV Wonder Woman movie. |
Contender 1: Cathy Lee Crosby starred in a made-for-TV Wonder Woman movie that was the first attempt at adapting the character to TV… by changing everything about her, omitting her ability for superhuman feats, secret identity, and of course: the costume.
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| Lynda Carter in the 1976-1979 Wonder Woman TV series |
Contender 2: Lynda Carter in the well-known 1976 series that aired on ABC and CBS, which was actually a fair adaptation and compromise of the original World War II-era Wonder Woman costume and the later iconic look. It’s also an acceptable look when compared to the Christopher Reeves look in the 1978 Superman movie, though it is admittedly cheaper looking.
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| Erica Durance, Smallville‘s Lois Lane dressed up as a Wonder Woman lookalike in the episode “Warrior” |
Contender 3: Smallville’s Erica Durance, who plays Lois Lane, went for the Amazon look in the Smallville episode “Warrior,” which involves a comic book convention and Zatanna and a bunch of other things. Regardless of that show’s convolutions, this costume is a more realistic take of Wonder Woman’s look that wouldn’t look too out of place in a The Dark Knight-esque take on the character – or a crossover romp in the Xena: Warrior Princess universe. Too bad it was wasted on a “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” type scenario on Smallville.
So, does the 2011 costume really look worse than a one-episode outfit from the notoriously low-budget Smallville, or does the shiny really work you?
Rating TV’s Wonder Woman costumes
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