Add Some Sumptuous Silence to Your Halloween Watchlists with Lon Chaney’s ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ September 20, 2021
Witness the Birth and Evolution of a Genius: Three Early Makoto Shinkai Films Land on Blu-ray June 16, 2022
Listen, I’m not even going to try to “review” the classic Wonder Woman show starring Lynda Carter. You either know it and love it… or you don’t. If you’re in the latter group, you’re probably not reading this anyway. Like the 60s Batman that preceded it, Wonder Woman (1977-1979, though the pilot movie premiered in 1975) was a show with tongue firmly planted in cheek. OK, maybe not to the extent of Adam West’s Batman, which was often intentionally over the top, but Wonder Woman was meant to be… gasp… fun! And Suffering Sappho, is it ever fun! The pilot movie, which shares much of its DNA with Patty Jenkins’s 2017 film, introduces us to Paradise Island, Major Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman, Diana Prince, and some goofily incompetent Nazis. The first season follows Diana/WW during World War II, and then the second and third seasons jump forward to the 1970s for some good old-fashioned disco-evil-smashing fun. (This time skip also helps explain Jenkins’s decision to set her Wonder Woman sequel in 1984.) But like I said, I’m not here to review the show or its enduring message of equality and women’s rights. So much has been said about both that I could never hope to add to that discussion. So let’s take a look at the new Complete Collection Blu-ray box set, shall we? Is it worth picking up? Does Wonder Woman wear a tiara? Interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be a digital option here. Warner Brothers has decided to release the show on physical media only, which is just fine for those of us who still buy such things and like to actually OWN the media we buy. But if you’re a die-hard streamer or digital collector, you might be out of luck. But trust me, these episodes have NEVER looked better than they do in this set. All 59 episodes (plus the pilot movie) have been remastered in HD, and the video quality is truly astonishing. It looks like these were made just last year, rather than almost 45 years ago. Previous releases on DVD have been plagued with problems (poor video quality, poorly synced audio, crappy packaging, etc.), and fans have been clamoring for years for a proper release where the show finally gets its due. I’m happy to say this has finally happened. Like the previous DVD release, this Blu-ray box set includes all 59 episodes and the pilot movie. However, whereas the DVD set compressed everything onto 11 discs – creating nearly unwatchable (i.e., VHS quality) video in some cases – the episodes are here spread across 10 Blu-ray discs. The bonus features are unfortunately a bit light, and they all appeared on previous releases. Included are the following: Audio commentary of the pilot movie by Lynda Carter & executive producer Douglas S. Cramer Audio commentary by Lynda Carter on the Season 3 episode “My Teenage Idol is Missing” Beauty, Brawn and Bulletproof Bracelets: A Wonder Woman Retrospective Revolutionizing a Classic: From Comic Book to Television Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Feminist Icon Those last three documentary featurettes are from 2004 and 2005, and Lynda Carter mentions in the audio commentaries that the show is celebrating its 25th anniversary, so none of these bonus features is exactly timely. It would’ve been nice to see some new special features with this set to make it more definitive. Maybe some new audio commentaries or featurettes looking at the character’s continuing legacy and influence on both the DC universe and pop culture in general. Still, even if you own the show on DVD, this new release is absolutely worth picking up for the video quality alone. Even if you’ve seen the episodes dozens of times, I promise you it’ll be like watching them all again for the first time. Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection is available on Blu-ray now from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. You Might Also Like...
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