Hall of Fame: John Saxon

Today marks the 79th birthday of actor John Saxon, who has had a long association with science fiction roles, both on television and in feature films, dating back to, at least, 1965's Blood Beast From Outer Space! In that decade, he also appeared in the creepy space horror flick Queen of Blood and an episode of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel, but it's his forays into Seventies sci-fi that we celebrate here.

In 1974, Saxon portrayed a very Jim Kirk-ish, heroic Dylan Hunt in Gene Roddenberry's unsuccessful television pilot, Planet Earth. A year later, he played a similar role, Captain Anthony Vico, in Warner Brothers' equally-unsuccessful follow-up, Strange New World. In both films, he was a very Roddenberry sci-fi hero, tough but brainy, quick with his fists and his wits.

He appeared a couple of times on Universal's The Six Million Dollar Man (and Bionic Woman); first, as a lethal android that gave Steve Austin a helluva fight (and inspired Mattel's "Maskatron" action figure), and then a season or two later as an evil alien using the legendary Bionic Bigfoot in his malevolent schemes!  On Wonder Woman, he played a Nazi, and also showed up as an extradimensional tyrant on The Fantastic Journey in '77!

In 1981, he starred as the tyrannical Sador, the smoothly sinister galactic baddie of Roger Corman's space opera epic, Battle Beyond The Stars. He rounded out the Space: 1970-era with another villainous role in the 1983 Richard Hatch vehicle, Prisoners Of The Lost Universe.

Of course, while we focus here on his science fiction accomplishments, in his sixty-year career, the actor has played a couple hundred roles in every genre imaginable. Equally adept at playing tough guy heroes and despicable villains, Saxon has had - and continues to have - a career to be admired (and no doubt, envied, by other actors).

Happy birthday, sir!

A Birthday Wonder!

On behalf of starstruck Star Kids everywhere, Space: 1970 offers many very happy birthday wishes to the era's most amazing Amazon - the ever-youthful Lynda Jean Carter (born July 24, 1951) of The New Adventures Of Wonder Woman!

WONDER WOMAN (1974) DVD Review

For fans of comic book superheroine Wonder Woman, there's pretty much only one live-action Amazon Princess, and that's the statuesque, raven-tressed Lynda Carter, who played the role on television between 1975 and 1979.

But before Carter inherited the golden tiara and star-spangled swimsuit, blonde ex-tennis star Cathy Lee Crosby portrayed a very different incarnation of the character in a failed 1974 TV pilot film. That unsuccessful attempt, simply called Wonder Woman, aired as a TV movie and showed up occasionally in syndication during the 70s and 80s, but never garnered a home video release until just recently, as a Warner Archive manufactured-on-demand DVD.

Diana Prince (Crosby) is secretary to U.S. government spymaster Steve Trevor (Kaz Garas). But she is also - secretly - super agent Wonder Woman, an Amazon princess from the mysterious, females only, Paradise Island. When top secret books containing lists of American undercover agents are stolen from several U.S. embassies, Wonder Woman goes into action, tracking the mastermind responsible, a suave International criminal named Abner Smith (Ricardo Montalban, Khan of Star Trek II).

In the course of her mission, she comes into conflict with Smith's skeevy henchman Calvin (Andrew Prine) and a renegade Amazon named Ahnjayla (sexy brunette Anitra Ford). Can WW, in her star-spangled track suit, retrieve the secrets before they can be auctioned off to America's enemies?

Written and developed by John D.F. Black (Star Trek - TOS, Shaft) and directed by TV veteran Vincent McEveety, this Wonder Woman appears to be inspired by a then-recent run in the comics where the heroine had lost her powers and costume, and was portrayed as a Diana Rigg-inspired adventurer. The familiar, red, white & blue cleavage-baring costume, magic lasso and tiara are nowhere to be seen, although the famous bullet-deflecting bracelets do appear, tricked out with a variety of superspy gadgets.

The pace of the film is relatively brisk, but the script is far too talky and coincidence-riddled, and the resolution of the case is an anticlimactic fizzle. The action - what little there is - is underwhelming as well, with the anticipated battle between WW and her Amazon "sister" ultimately consisting of a lethargic, poorly-choreographed stick fight between obvious stunt doubles.

Despite its commercial & creative failure, the movie has long been desired by comic book buffs and superhero movie completists (and I count myself as both). The burned-to-order DVD from Warner Archive features a very bright and colorful transfer from a reasonably clean print, presented in its original 4x3 television aspect ratio. Audio is a clear Dolby Digital Mono. There are no extras or bonus features provided.

The Cathy Lee Crosby Wonder Woman is an amusing 70s genre curio, of interest really only to diehard fans of the character and the genre. That said, those fans should be quite satisfied with Warner Archive's disc.

BUY:  Wonder Woman TV Movie Pilot (1974)

Captain's bLog: What I'm Watching

Thanks to a couple of recent - and generous - reader donations and a well-timed tax refund, I've been able to pick up a few more additions to my Space: 1970 DVD library this month. (I also - as I mentioned here previously - ordered and received a VHS copy of the 1980 telefilm, The Aliens Are Coming, which I transferred to DVD-R. Overall, I rather enjoyed it and think it would have made an okay series, but I really disliked the lead character, played by Tom Mason. Or maybe it was the actor I didn't like. The miniature spaceship effects were pretty cool, though.)

At the beginning of the month, I finally acquired the Universal Vault Series edition of Gene Roddenberry's 1974 pilot film, The Questor Tapes, which I had never seen all the way through before. I enjoyed it a lot - it may be my favorite of Roddenberry's non-Trek genre efforts - and will be writing up a full review here on the site in the coming weeks.

(Now if someone would release Roddenberry's occult pilot, Spectre, on disc, I'd be quite content.)

Then, I traded in my Buck Rogers In The 25th Century - The Complete Epic Series set for the re-issued Season 1 and Season 2 volumes. I was hesitant to do so, since they cost more combined than the original package, but what finally convinced me to double-dip - aside from the fact that the re-issues were on single-sided discs instead of the trouble-prone flippers in the Epic Series set - was Universal's late inclusion of the TV version (as opposed to Theatrical Cut) of the first episode, "Awakening," as an extra feature on the Season 2 discs. It clearly was a last-minute decision, too: its presence is not mentioned on the packaging (I think there may have been a sticker), and the episode itself is presented without chapter breaks or subtitles.

Last night I picked up Universal's The Six Million Dollar Man - The Complete Third Season. This is probably my favorite season of the show, as it brought back (and spun off) Lyndsay Wagner's Bionic Woman, and featured the first of Steve's encounters with the "bionic" Bigfoot (in the very impressive shape of hulking Andre The Giant).

The season also features the return of several other popular guest characters from previous years, including Monte Markham's "Seven Million Dollar Man," John Fujioka's "Last Kamikaze," Oscar Goldman's favorite secretary Jennifer Darling, and adorable ESPer Robbie Lee.

Finally, I've ordered the 1974 Wonder Woman pilot movie from Warner Archive. I haven't seen this one in years - decades, probably - and I'm looking forward to giving it a spin. This is the one with blonde Cathy Lee Crosby as the Amazon princess, battling the evil machinations of Ricardo Montalban while wearing a star-spangled track suit. Whatever else it may be, this incarnation of WW is definitely a product of the Seventies! Obviously, I'll be reviewing this one here at the site sometime soon, as well.

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF WONDER WOMAN (1977) TV Spot

Here's a 1977 CBS television preview for the revamped, "updated" version of the Lynda Carter superheroine series, The New Adventures Of Wonder Woman. Unless I'm very much mistaken, though (and the way I'm feeling today, it's possible I am), most - or at least many - of those clips are from the previous, World War II-set, ABC incarnation of the show!

Friday Night is Super Hero Night on CBS!

Ah, Friday nights on CBS in 1978 were fantastic fun for Star Kids, with back-to-back episodes of The New Adventures Of Wonder Woman, starring the stunning Lynda Carter, and The Incredible Hulk, with Bill Bixby and the titanic Lou Ferrigno! Two hours of prime time, live action comic book hero adventure.... and, apparently, lots of "evil scientists!" Those were the days, indeed!

News: Cathy Lee Crosby WONDER WOMAN (1974) Coming To DVD... Next Week

Not too long ago, I wrote about the 1974 Wonder Woman television movie/pilot that starred Cathy Lee Crosby as DC Comics' star-spangled Amazon princess from Paradise Island. At the time I actually mentioned that I thought it would make a good candidate for DVD release by Warner Brothers' manufacture-on-demand Warner Archive Collection.

Well, apparently, someone was listening.

On December 11th, Warner Archive will be releasing Wonder Woman on burned-to-order disc:

Before Lynda Carter took the heroine back to World War 2 for her “New, Original” incarnation in 1975, statuesque tennis pro-turned-performer Cathy Lee Crosby swung the magic lasso in a very different TV incarnation of Wonder Woman. As developed by scribe John D.F. Black (Star Trek), and seemingly influenced by her recent turn as a mod, cat-suited crime-fighter in the pages of her DC Comics home, this Amazon Princess was more superspy than superhero. Still, many of the expected wondrous elements from bracelets and lassos to Paradise Island and invisible jets all make an appearance, albeit with a sleek, seventies espionage super-action refit. Three years before taking up residence on Fantasy Island, Ricardo Montalban (Star Trek II: The wrath Of Khan) plays laconic lothario Abner Smith, who lurks at the top of the conspiracy to make off with ultra-secret code books – leading Agent Prince to discover an Amazon sister-in-exile (Anitra Ford).

Although not a 70s show, fans of superhero television may be interested to know that Warner Archive will be releasing the second season of the 80s syndicated Superboy series on the same day. (I happen to be a fan of that show, so I'm excited by this news, as well.)

Neither title appears to be available at the Warner Archive site as yet, but I'm sure they'll be listed shortly. Needless to say, I'll be trying to get my hands on a copy as soon as I can, and when I do, I'll post a full review here on the site.

WONDER WOMAN (1974) TV Pilot Movie

From March of 1974, here's the TV Guide advertisement for the first (underwhelming) attempt to bring DC Comics' premiere superheroine, Wonder Woman, to network TV. Basing their interpretation of the character on recent issues of the comic book where Diana Prince (portrayed by blonde tennis player Cathy Lee Crosby in the telefilm) had lost her powers and was acting more as a secret agent than a super-hero, the unsuccessful pilot pitted the less than amazing Amazon against a masterspy named "Abner Smith" (portrayed by none other than Khan himself, Ricardo Montalban), his sleazy henchman, George (Andrew Prine), and a renegade Amazon from Paradise Island, Ahnjayla (played by the sexy starlet Anitra Ford).

Diana never dons her familiar star-spangled comic book costume in the film, but does wear a uniform of sorts near the end of the film. It's far less revealing than the comic's classic togs, but at least it keeps the patriotic color scheme. Sadly, it's not just the costume that disappoints - the movie is extremely boring, and Crosby, while pretty, is fairly bland and uninteresting in the role. She was much more charsimatic a few years later as one of the hosts of the proto-reality series, That's Incredible!

As far as I can remember, nobody much liked the movie, but the ratings were pretty decent, and ABC was still interested in the property. A year or so later, Warner Brothers and ABC unveiled (The New Adventures of) Wonder Woman, starring lovely Lynda Carter in the classic comic book uniform.

Still, the 1974 telefilm showed up pretty frequently in syndication during the late Seventies and throughout the Eighties on independent channels and basic cable "superstations" like USA Network, TNT and TBS. I also know that the Sci-Fi Channel showed it at least once in the mid-90s.

Being the 70s genre TV fanatic I am, and even though I remember this version of Wonder Woman being deadly dull, I would still like to see Warner Archive put it out on DVD, if only for the sake of completeness. It'd be cool to have it on my DVD shelf next to the Lynda Carter series.

She's A Wonder....

On behalf of Star Kids everywhere, Space: 1970 wishes a very happy birthday to the amazing Amazon - the eternal Lynda Jean Carter (born July 24, 1951) of The New Adventures Of Wonder Woman!

The Envelope, Please....

And... the results of our most recent Space: 1970 Reader's Poll are in!

A week or so ago, I posed the musical question: "Which 70's LIVE ACTION Super-hero Show Or TV Movie Was YOUR Favorite?" For the purposes of this poll, I excluded "on the cusp" characters like bionic Steve Austin & Jaime Sommers and Atlantean Mark Harris, and chose to limit the choices to a.) characters directly derived from super-hero comic books (including the non-costumed Hulk), and b.) characters that had distinct super-hero identities/costumes (i.e. Isis, Electra Woman).

With an astounding 291 votes cast, the winner is: The Incredible Hulk, with an even One Hundred votes! I voted for The Hulk, myself; not only was it a terrifically fun show, the Bill Bixby-Lou Ferrigno series was one of the most successful genre shows of the decade.

In the early days of balloting, the Green Goliath was running neck-and-neck with second-place winner, The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, starring the eternally-beautiful Lynda Carter. WW ultimately ended up with a very respectable 74 votes. In fact, for the first half of the week, the two CBS shows were never separated by more than a single vote. But sometime around last Thursday, the Hulk received a boost of Gamma radiation, I guess, and surged ahead to victory.

Tying for third place were the Saturday morning classic, Shazam! and prime-time's The Amazing Spider-Man, with 23 votes apiece. To my delight, every nominated show garnered at least a couple of votes, even that goofy Hanna-Barbara Legend Of The Super-Heroes! I was genuinely surprised to find Isis so low in the tabulations - even Electra Woman & Dyna Girl beat the Egyptian goddess by a single vote!

Thanks to everyone who participated! Keep visiting the site - you never know when I might post another Space: 1970 Poll!