Wonder Felicity
This might be old news to most everyone, but it seems Keri Russell is in talks to land the speaking role for a new Wonder Woman Direct-to-DVD cartoon! Yay?
I have no probs with Keri Russell voicing my beloved Amazon Princess, I think she is a capable actress and her voice is, uh, nice and all, but my main concern is if this DVD project will ever actually see the light of day. DC claims that Wonder Woman is the third most important character in their line of books (next to Superman and Batman of course), but that “fact” sure isn’t represented.
As much as I would love to see a movie staring Wondie, cartoon or otherwise, I have doubts if the suits will really sink the money into making it happen. Unlike Batman and Superman, Wonder Woman just never gets the love from her corporate owners. Her live action movie - which had been in development for what seems like a millennium – has been shelved, she has never maintained her own solo cartoon series, she only has one comic book produced a month, and she hasn’t even been featured in the flesh since her short-lived 70’s TV show.
Is there no audience for Wonder Woman? Is this the reason for her absence in the mainstream entertainment medium? I refuse to believe this, you don’t maintain a 60 plus year career if you don’t have fans. Get it together DC and don’t pull the rug out from under us, we Wonder Woman lovers are many, proud and ready to devour this movie - as long as you don’t make it suck!
January 17th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
If you told me 10 years ago that we would still be having this kind of conversation regarding the prospects of a Wonder Woman movie, I would’ve either laughed or cried. There is no way I thought we’d still be at this kind of stalemate in 2008. :(
January 17th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
This is a conversation I’ve had with others before: I think that part of what sandbagged Wonder Woman in a cultural sense was, wait for it . . . Xena. Honestly, Xena appropriated many of the trappings of the Perez run and the tropes of Wonder Woman (the battles with Ares; the propensity for fighting monsters; demonstrations of great strength and agility; even down to the similar weapon role of the chakram vs. the tiara).
Given the popularity of Xena at the time, it would have been hard to push a Wonder Woman film. The most ink that the Wonder Woman comic got in the early ’90s was when she was replaced by Artemis, and that move itself was a retread of a two-issue ’70s arc.
Would I like to see a live-action Wonder Woman film work? Of course. But it would require an almost superhuman restraint to keep from winking at some of the elements of the character. When you wink, you’ve lost.