Wonder Woman Meets Baroness Von Gunther

Once in the US she is working for Steve Trevor, the man she brought back to the army in the pilot. Of course she's out of her Wonder Woman clothes and guess what, Steve doesn't know that Diana Prince, his secretary is in fact Wonder Woman and is a bit in love with Wonder Woman. Steve has to go for another mission but things go wrong and is captured by the Nazis. Yes, it's Wonder Woman who has to do the job.

Just she how she changes from Diana into Wonder Woman, so campy and again this is what's it all about. The fight scene's are again ridiculous but loving the exploitation and drive-in genre this is exactly what it reminds me of.

Still here you have the feeling that the writers intended to get to know all characters throughout the series. It's still fun to see but not as good as the pilot.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Despite featuring a villain whom Wonder Woman had squared off against in the comics, "Wonder Woman Meets Baroness Von Gunther" gives Wonder Woman busywork but doesn't give Baroness Paula Von Gunther (Christine Belford) even that in a lukewarm tale that previews the limitations of the first season of "Wonder Woman": Set following America's entry into World War Two, the series had to find variations on the theme of battling Nazi Germany, with the question being just how far could that go without becoming even more restrictive and formulaic than television was in the 1970s.

Here the premise, scripted by Margaret Armen, is sabotage perpetrated by Nazi infiltrators and fifth columnists that is blamed on war hero Major Steve Trevor, working intelligence missions stateside for General Phil Blankenship while supported by Yeoman Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's alter ego introduced at the end of the pilot, "The New Original Wonder Woman."

The infiltrators are the Baroness, who in a neat misdirection is incarcerated in a women's prison near Washington, D. C., ostensibly renouncing her loyalty to the Third Reich while seemingly embracing democracy, and her henchman of sorts, prison guard Hanson (Ed Griffith). Both use a secret passage out of the prison to rendezvous with the fifth columnist, American steel magnate Arthur Deal III (Bradford Dillman), who is somehow pressuring Congress (in some indistinct plotting by Armen) to investigate Steve for treason even as Deal is fabricating evidence to prove Steve is responsible for various acts of sabotage, with Wonder Woman managing to save him from peril in the proverbial nick of time.

But watching the Baroness and Hanson's goings-on behind bars is the warden's (Edmund Gilbert) son Tommy (Christian Juttner), the proverbial Precocious Kid from Central Casting with a Sherlock Holmes fixation who also imagines himself a sleuth as he carefully documents their suspicious behavior, although he too must be rescued by Wonder Woman, which is how he gains temporary custody of her magic lasso in more hand-waving to fill time before the Grand Finale at which the Baroness and Deal expect to eliminate Steve, Wonder Woman, and even Tommy in One Swell Foop.

Lynda Carter spends much of her time in her iconic Wonder Woman costume, and perhaps not just for the T&A factor: In her first full outing as Diana, Carter is still feeling out that persona, painfully obvious in the early scenes in which her line readings are stiff and wooden, exhibiting the discomfort of an actress with minimal experience and, apparently, little guidance from director Barry Crane.

At this point, Carter clearly seems more comfortable as Wonder Woman and is more effective in that persona. One intriguing touch she attempts, when she spins into her Wonder Woman costume, is to find a place to discreetly stash her now-discarded street clothes, a gesture that was itself eventually discarded.

Top-billed guest star Belford does what she can in a boutique role while TV veteran Dillman similarly postures in a one-dimensional part and Juttner holds his own as "Wonder Woman Meets Baroness Von Gunther" delivers a disappointing, anti-climactic encounter.

Steve is set up and placed on a charge of treason, and could a reformed Nazi by the name of Baroness Von Gunther possibly be to blame? The Warden's son, young Tommy, is on hand to help Wonder Woman, and she entrusts him with her lasso for safe keeping. As you do.

Camp doesn't even begin to cover it. The pilot was already in fourth gear, but this first episode of the full series effortlessly glides into top gear, gloriously over the top and wonderfully ridiculous. Evil German countesses, long, meaningful gazes, and a very, very young future Sherlock Holmes-poetry in motion.

The stunts are hilarious; you can almost see the string. Wonder Woman shouts "Hang on, Tommy!" with all the dramatic urgency of Jessica Fletcher calling after a runaway suspect.

Christine Belford clearly had some fun as the Baroness, although for an Austrian her accent is suspiciously on holiday... somewhere in Washington DC, by the sound of it.

Don't shout at me for saying this, but Wonder Woman isn't the most gracious runner. Perhaps it's the boots, but as she races to Steve's aid she looks as though she's gently ambling to avoid being last in the queue at Starbucks.

Wonder Woman, He-Man or Superman-who was the worst offender for hiding in plain sight? Of course, Diana has the added bonus of working in Steve's office.

It oozes 1970s charm, the flashing graphics, those heart-warming and robust values, but at least the spell is broken by a female hero.

It's outrageous, but you can't help but enjoy it. I know for certain that later episodes were much better, but this one has its own special charm.

6.5/10.

"Wonder Woman Meets Baroness Von Gunther" I didn't think it was possible, but this is only the second episode to star Lynda Carter as the eponymous heroine, and she feels like an afterthought in the whole episode. This would later be corrected in later episodes of the first Season and more extensively in Seasons 2 and 3. I have no idea how WB thought that dumbing down the character would be of any use to the viewers. She is given simple dialogue and spends a good chunk of the tale tied up until the last few minutes. I don't see how the strong woman who was able to survive with no money and obvious capability, even in naivety, is side-lined in this episode. The only time I felt like she was being given something worth it was the last scene with the Baroness. That scene only lasts about a second and then it's back to bland Diana Prince who smiles and looks sexy, that's all that WB wanted out of Lynda at the time.

This, thank God, would be corrected when Lynda stood up for herself and the character when she felt that the company had no idea who the character of Wonder Woman was. I completely agree with her on this. Throughout this episode, she's just the poor man's Batman from the 1960's. No wit, no charm, just one funny line and that's it. Granted, the performance out of Lynda is still very gentle and her face at the end when she takes the Baroness away in the lasso is just hilarious. So, it did take them a while to pin her down, but luckily, Lynda was on hand to show just why we love the Amazon princess so much.

As for everyone else, ironically enough, Steve Trevor is the most stale piece of eye candy that has ever been placed on the screen alongside one of the most iconic characters. He is always captured and proves to be as useless as icing on toast. Lyle is doing the best he can with the role, but he is given nothing to work with that at some points in the show, he just becomes an annoyance to get rid of. He's okay here, but he'll leave you wondering how he was considered to be the best soldier in his rankings.

The villain is alright, the supporting cast are okay. Just an okay episode, but an insulting stab at the main lead, by not giving her any persona and just throwing her into the tale like she is just a damsel. Things can only get better from here.

7/10

How brain dead would you have to be to not realize that Arthur Diehl was a traitor? The producers could not decide whether to target adults or children, as a result they made this disaster that appeals to neither. The inclusion of the annoying and unnecessary Tommy was an attempt to cater to children which did nothing but turn off adults.

The only attraction for adults is watching Lynda Carter hanging out of the low cut top on her costume. Even that is not enough to save the show.