DeathQuaker

#5 was the best issue yet, I think. A lot happened but didn't feel rushed. Pizzazz rage-sulking in her PJs was adorable, and the "fight" at the end was awesome. Pretty sure the dude who bumped in Aja is

Season 6 had a lot of rough spots. I am enjoying the Angel and Faith comic a lot. It feels truer to form.

That is a 1970s werewolf.

That would be a cute twist! Something totally non crisis.

For those of us who actually have souls and hearts and and rightly* think it is the most important part of the whole episode (random Rick Springfield aside), here is Diana singing in "Amazon Hot Wax": The songs are from Lynda Carter's album "Portrait" which came out around the same time--nice of the show to plug her album, I guess. SURE, I guess if what you want from an ACTION SHOW is stuff like superheroes beating stuff up instead of women standing around singing, it might not be your thing, but nice nonetheless. ;p She is still an active professional singer and finished a tour in April. It would be unfeminist if Diana Prince were a nebbish. ;) (Also, her "secret" identity calls back to Mod Wonder Woman in the early 70s comics. :) ) Sadly, I think this series ends on a whimper rather than a bang... both looking forward to and dreading the final set, but this Diary has been a fun read so far! * Your mileage may considerably vary

I agree with kismet, I wish QL got more screentime on that too, especially as it kind of showed up and then disappeared really quickly at the end of S3. Congrats to KC on her award. I think there were some issues with the storyline, but I enjoyed her performance. Based on folks I've known with substance abuse issues, it felt real to me.

Yes, it's being published by IDW. The Stingers have not yet been introduced as characters, but Stingers posters show up in the background, which is likely foreshadowing their eventual arrival. It's only 4 or so issues in so far so they're too busy still setting up the rivalry between JATH and the Misfits. From further upthread--love the art on this. The old cartoons were doll commercials, so everyone were exactly the same size and shape with different heads--just like the dolls themselves. The comic is obligated to neither sell nor represent toys, so the characters look more like real (drawn) people. I think the character designs largely suit the characters very well. The only design I have some issue with is Stormer; the original Stormer design concept had her look very oldskool Hollywood glammy, with the beauty mark and big red lips, etc. and lots of smooth lines and fringe in her fashion. I wish they had kept more of the spirit of that in mind for her redesign. They did keep the beauty mark at least, but I feel like Sophie Campbell makes her look a little too rough and punky in her styling with lots of torn stuff and unplucked eyebrows (not right for the particular look I think that should be right for her; I don't pluck but I'm not going for a glammy look either), and the shaved zigzag...thing going on with her hair in the last issue (I personally find that a rather hideous look for her). I also don't like her weak chin. But I do LOVE her curves. Hoping maybe her look will evolve a little more as the story progresses.

I wonder if Quentin will become a private detective. IIRC in the comics, Larry Lance was a P.I. who was former police. I'm cool with the magic if only because I'm super stoked about Vixen being written into the Flarrowverse. I do hope they keep the presence of magic to a minimal if only to keep them from avoiding using magic as a crutch to instantly solve problem. Oh wait, except Arrow was already doing that as far back as season 1 with magic herbs that instantly cure curare poisoning, etc. .... ;) I really hope after the webseries, Vixen will show up in live action from as a guest in an episode. Not just because she is a female POC--we need more of those in the superhero universes--but moreover just she is an amazing character. I am much too lazy to look up old interviews, but I have a vague recollection of the producers not saying they were going to keep the entire series "grounded in the real world" but rather they were going to START OFF being grounded in the real world in Season 1 and then build up from there, with more comic booky elements being slowly introduced. And then the problem is that got quoted out of context and some folks' expectations were not adjusted accordingly. I could very well be misremembering, but OTOH I've never felt surprised by any of fantasy elements being worked into the show.

In "Formicida," I'm fascinated that "the Ant Queen's" magic ant formula induces a transformation from meek scientist to, um, ant-hormone-lady that turns out to to consist of her very suddenly appearing in bronzer, a curly wig, and a leotard while the lights flashed a lot. (And I have absolutely no idea what bronzer, curly wigs, and leotards have to do with controlling ants.) Honestly, it would have made more sense to use something like Ant-Man's helmet--they probably could have drummed up a motorcycle helmet with some blinky lights successfully. They get points for attempting an actual comic booky like villain (even with a redemption arc at the end) but sadly the episode was largely proof as to why they had not the budget, FX, nor creative designers to do more such stories. "Evil real estate developer" they at least didn't have to worry about special effects for. I recall when I was three years old, the "Gault's Brain" episode absolutely FREAKING TERRIFIED me. To a toddler watching on a fuzzy TV, the evil brain seemed SO REAL. Which makes the episode all the more hilarious to me now, given how ridiculous the brain in a jar looks. Gault gets credit though, for prototyping the Kindle.

That was it! Bruce Lansbury. Although we are yet to see Wonder Woman singing pop and skateboarding and fighting with a brain in a jar, so there are bright spots to come.

Every vaguely science fiction television show in 1978 had cute robots because of Star Wars, which came out in 1977. Why it was often in the form of a robot dog, I don't know, but I think it was combining with an older trope of dogs appealing to kids. Talking of crossovers... the thief-turned-secretary in "Death in Disguise" is played by Jennifer Darling, who also played actual secretary (who sometimes ended up posing as a secret agent) Peggy Callahan in "The Bionic Woman." Which, incidentally, is also totally needing PTV recaps. Come on guys, it has an episode called "Fembots in Las Vegas." The hacker episode is kind of mind blowing in one respect--the writers realize in 1978, when computer systems were JUST starting to get networked together, that if a hacker could successfully access one computer by hacking one networked to it, they could potentially eventually do things like steal government secrets and shut down the power grid, etc. The mind blowing part is that we're still basically under threat of this all the time--there are most definitely defenses, but the potential scariness of cyberterrorism is a biggie. So in a way, it's surprisingly forward thinking. All of this in the episode is counterbalanced of course by how impressed the characters are by blinking lights and punch cards. (And since I brought up the Bionic Woman, they also do a hacker episode, but it involves someone stealing money from the government, and then hiding the cash in hamburger buns. I love 70s action TV.) BTW, I didn't get a chance to post on the prior recap set, but the shift in tone (or further ambiguity in tone) is because back when they changed the opening credit sequence, is when they changed producers. I'm too lazy to look up his name, but blame him for the inferior opening and the thematic shifts.

Fair enough! It's hard to include everything when you have Disco Martin Mull terrorizing Jan Brady.

So if I'm reading this right, the tweet is summarizing what he said at the panel. Any recording of that panel? Might be useful to hear the exact quote before presuming what is a lie or not. Giving any sort of the benefit of the doubt, I'd believe that the producers HOPED to spin Caity off into another show, but said nothing to her because at the time they weren't sure what they could or could not get greenlit. This show seems weird in what the showrunners do or do not communicate to actors, and vice versa. We lost the Ted Grant character because he got hired for another project, right? I remember reading something that said he was originally planned to have a reappearing role through the season but had to be written out when the actor moved on. Wouldn't they have told him they had wanted him for the season so he wouldn't do that or at least give them better notice?* What's the nature of their work agreements? Or as long as they don't have an actor in a season-long contract, they can't hold onto the actors at all? Not sure about how that aspect of show biz works but I seem to hear it happening in Arrow more often than I do other shows. Could well be a faulty perception of mine. (*Please note I am not debating if Ted Grant should or should not have stayed on the show, or that his relative bit part is truly comparable to Sara's role; just using that as one example of weird lack of communication between studio and actor.) As for fan influence, my general experience is fans often think they have more influence than they do. Were I Kreisberg, I might laugh too... but that doesn't make doing so a good idea, as it potentially alienates your audience. It's important to assert the line between "we pay attention to feedback" and "we let the fans write the show" and I don't know if they do a good job of that.

Indeed, yes that is what I am trying to say. And yes, I think nearly anything can become a compulsion... the point is when it starts to overrule your life is when it becomes a problem. I.e., coffee a day is fine; beating someone up to get the last cup, perhaps not. :) Her issue is that what may have started as a "habit" became something she relied upon regularly and extensively as a coping mechanism. That's where things can get dangerous.

This really summarizes the entirety of Steve Trevor, in any universe. One of my favorite parts of this era of Wonder Woman is how he very slowly gets written out as the showrunners realize how pointless he is. The "Return of Wonder Woman" story is a weird one in that it starts off somewhat well grounded. There's some requisite magic plastic surgery that makes someone look AND SOUND exactly like another person (see also several episodes of the "Bionic Woman") but the root of the plot--U.S. wants to help build a nuclear plant in GenericLatinAmericanNation and terrorists want to hijack it to take and use the nuclear bits for nefarious purposes--is actually surprisingly down to earth and almost sensible for a 70s action show. I think that's why they threw in the nuclear robot at the end, to reassure people not too much had changed. ;) "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis" frustrates me because it sets up this huge dilemma for Diana -- if she helps her allies, her allies are going to start testing nukes unwittingly right next to Paradise Island. If she doesn't, terrorists are building an army unwittingly right next to Paradise Island. And she asks Mom for advice and her mom is just like "Whatevs, it will work itself out." Which turns out to be true. But after setting up the dilemma, and ALMOST needing to have some character development happen, she kind of forgets about it and it does indeed work itself out. I'm not sure why they set up that whole angle if it was going to end up having no impact on the plot whatsoever. The Pied Piper episode creeps me out because I can't help but wonder what else he forced all those bikini clad chicks to do with his *cough* magic flute. Although as far as how feminist the episode being, Wonder Woman manages to beat a guy who uses his *cough* magic flute to subjugate women and even talks him into being remorseful, so I think that counts. They are way too forgiving of him at the end though (much as I like the fact that Wondy is generally a forgiving person)--I guess because he DIDN'T use his mind control ray and matter disintegration device to, say, break into Fort Knox or something, which Diana points out. Also, the Wonder-transformation-by-spinning-chair deserves a shoutout.

Yes, perhaps I needed to be clearer: if there is an uncontrollable compulsion to drink, it's addiction. There is a difference between a casual, "Gee, I guess I'll have my traditional nightcap" (but the person doesn't miss it if they don't have it) and an unshakeable belief of "If I don't have a drink, I can't sleep." There is a difference between, "Well, I'll have a little punch at the Christmas party because that's the thing to do," and "I can't cope with the stress of the holidays without a drink, so I MUST HAVE IT." Or yes, a difference between "I'll have a drink with my friends," and "I'll have a drink with my friends even though it means I'll drive home drunk because I really WANT that drink and surely nothing will go wrong this time..." But to be clear, I am not saying any one who ever has a drink ever might suffer from substance abuse problems. What I am saying is it's not about quantity, it's about control/lack thereof and quality of life. In the show, Trixie's quality of life was suffering and she felt she couldn't stop even though she wanted to. That's indicative of the problem, not how much she was drinking or when or how "traditional" it might have seemed, or even that one of her friends could share a drink with her nearly every not and not have the same issue. Based on personal observation of folks close to me with substance abuse issues, I know it is damaging and hurtful to think that alcoholism must be some grandiose binging--although someone who has an addiction will certainly be prone to binging under certain circumstances even if it's not typical. It tends to get worse and worse over time, but it can start with something that very much looks like "normal" behavior that may appear "under control," and failing to recognize that may result in enabling someone with a damaging disease to continue suffering from the symptoms. Is there going to be more Call the Midwife? It will be interesting to see how they carry this plot forward.

A common narrative in vigilante or superhero stories is when the person is in the "mask" they are being their true self, doing what it is they believe in. The secret identity is the real "mask" carried on only for the crimefighter's protection and for the protection of his/her family friends. For example, it's often commonly portrayed that Bruce Wayne is the mask and Batman is the real man (because Bruce is largely a construction of a billionaire playboy whereas Batman acts out of his true motivations), likewise Clark Kent is just a disguise for the "real" Superman/Kal-El (I realize Superman doesn't wear a mask but the idea is supposed to be similar). So not surprising perhaps that such a picture was chosen for a show about vigilantes. Also it's worth noting it looks like they are in the process of "de masking" (Colton's taken the mask off but still has the eyeshadow on), and pausing to goof off, so it illustrates the idea of revealing oneself to a friend nicely. Of course they've been exploring both sides of that in Arrow, with the whole identity theme this year. Both pictures are beautiful. Thank you very much for sharing them.

I'm absolutely certain Dinah Drake never dated Oliver Queen in any continuity. She was always with Larry Lance, going back to the 40s. (In the New 52, it's "Kurt Lance.") But we are going off topic. But Dinah Laurel Lance did date Oliver pre- and post-Crisis. I suggest consulting with various Wikis to confirm. But we are going off topic. How about that lady in the star-spangled-panties? Just how useless IS Steve anyway?

I totally agree millennium, at least as far as not making comic books feel like work. I do think some of the changes were good--I will always prefer Helena Bertinelli to Wayne, even though the latter was my "first" Huntress, for example--but they could never do it cleanly. OT: (But BTW, Dinah Drake Lance never dated Oliver Queen; her guy was Larry Lance and her daughter, Dinah Laurel, dated and even--just before the New 52--was married to Oliver for awhile. Maybe I'm misremembering, but pre-Crisis Dinah Laurel was some sort of weird clone of Dinah Drake Lance whereas afterward she was just plain her daughter.) But again, that's why the relative simplicity of Wonder Woman TV is refreshing. :) There's things to be learned from this show, as goofy as it is.

One thing the writers need to do is stop talking to the audience through the characters. They do this especially with Laurel and things people say about her, but they also do this with most of the other characters as well. The "Canaries" fight I liked the idea of, but the dialogue indeed felt very stilted, like a message board post rather than a conversation (not even a hallucinated conversation). I think they indeed made a huge mistake moving Laurel from CNRI to the DA's office---I really liked it in season 1 when she got so passionate about her cases (Adam Hunt, protecting the little boy) and I don't think that's really ever been the same in subsequent seasons. They've forgotten about that protective instinct and emphasizing that would really help the character. I feel like the writers think, though, that since they established that in S1 they don't have to repeat it. They've likewise done the same with other characters (Felicity I think suffered from that lack of consistency this season--we didn't see her expressing her concern for others as much this season either), and that's really problematic. Slight tangent: I'm a big comic book fan, and have nearly every issue of pre-New52 Birds of Prey and the whole run of Green Arrow/Black Canary. Comics' Dinah Laurel Lance and Arrow's Laurel have a lot more in common than I think some realize because they don't get past the differences in martial arts skill, but of course a character is much more than martial arts skill. She originally became Black Canary in secret behind her parents' backs because they didn't want her taking up her mother's mantle and lied about what she was often up to, and insisted on becoming a vigilante even though many feared for her safety (even if circumstances were slightly different, sound familiar?). There was a period of time where after getting kidnapped and tortured, because the bad guy wanted to get to Oliver Queen (in the Longbow Hunters), she pretty much gave up on everything and went through a very self-centered, self-pitying phase (sound familiar?). (Oracle in this case was the one who talked her out of it and convinced her to work for her, and Dinah eventually got over it.) As written in Birds of Prey particularly (by Chuck Dixon and later by Gail Simone, amongst a few others' more brief runs), Dinah could be crazy hyperfocused on wanting to do things her way even if it wasn't always for the best (sound familiar?). Especially early on when their partnership was more professional, she would frequently defy Oracle's orders even though she was agreeing to work for Oracle and Oracle usually was issuing a certain order for good reason, and I remember one early story in particular where Dinah specifically defied Oracle's orders AND lied to Oracle about it because she felt what Oracle wanted to do was wrong (it was an issue of both having good intentions, but Oracle wanting to do something more pragmatic and slightly unethical--BUT would also have probably nipped a bigger problem in the bud more effectively). She very frequently got herself in circumstances by herself that she couldn't handle because she was stubbornly insisting on taking something on she shouldn't have (sound familiar?)--the original series writer Chuck Dixon said the series was about the heroines in fact constantly being in over their heads. Someone could certainly look at many old Black Canary centered stories and see her as selfish, as a liar, as defiant of her family, as someone who was too stubborn for her own good and never knew her own limitations. So what makes her popular and likeable? The fact that she was always driven to help, that she had this insanely strong protective streak, that even when she was doing something infuriating, she was motivated by something good (like, hypothetically, say, lying to a family member about a crucial thing because she was worried for that family member's health). That she had a strong sense of loyalty. That while she would sometimes go through a self-pitying phase, she would pick herself up and work and train to make herself stronger (one thing I liked about Black Canary was she seldom rested on her *cough* laurels and was often training to improve her skills--she didn't start her career as the 3rd best martial artist in the DCU, it was a long time till she got there in fact). I think they have AT TIMES shown Laurel to also have these positive traits as well, but they are nowhere near consistent in showing them, and I think they presume the audience remembers that she's got this loyalty and compassion because of past events without reminding them through little dialogue mentions etc. And I do think the problem is in the writing and editing, not the acting or innate character--I think the writers presume too much and don't show enough. It's sad because I like this show and a lot of their characterization has potential but they often fail to drive it home for these reasons. (And again, they do this to other characters too, like Oliver, in fact, but this is the Laurel thread so I won't digress).

Sincere apologies, millennium! Major brain fart on my part. You are right, Cathy Lee Crosby. Obviously I tried to drive out most of the details of that tv movie from my mind as much as possible. Well, they should perhaps have done the "total reboot" concept in '86--I agree that probably would have eliminated a lot of the continuity confusion that COIE brought and Zero Hour and Infinite Crisis etc. failed to fix-- but I hope it wouldn't have looked anything like what the New 52 looked like. One thing to remember that there's always some more technical reasons hiding behind these "reboots" -- "Crisis on Infinite Earths" was to clear up a lot of continuity confusion and strained writing (like the Black Canary thing you mentioned--that was a character well-served by Crisis), certainly, but there was also an underlying need to tie old, separate *properties* into one universe. E.g., the Shazam family was from Fawcett Publications, which DC bought out, and was kept in a separate universe, but they wanted to cross those characters over into the main DCU, so part of the purpose of Crisis was also to fold Fawcett and other properties into the main universe. Likewise, the New 52 allowed them to fold Wildstorm characters into the main DCU. It still is to "combine continuities" but it's to help them manage their characters and trademarks, not just make things easier for readers. And so as long as DC buys out other properties and needs to restructure things, these "crises" might continue to happen. Going back to topic... as corny as it can be, one of the things that Wonder Woman TV gets right is they don't get too complicated with Wonder Woman's background. She's an Amazon, she wears an American flag bathing suit, she's a nice person and she kicks butt when she has to. No over-influence of the gods (the mythology is there but stays in the background), no weird made-of-clay stuff (been a WW fan my whole life but never a fan of the "Amazon Galatea" concept), no daughter of any god. Just she's the best of the Amazons, let's move on with the story now. DC could learn from this simplicity.

Latverian Diplomat, I have a vague memory that not only did the TV series result in a resurgence of "Earth 2 Wonder Woman" but also helped bring back standard classic Wonder Woman (although there were also other influences on that like Ms. Magazine. The early 70s she was the "mod" Emma Peel rip-off with no superpowers, and was loosely the inspiration for the much maligned Cathy Rigby Wonder Woman TV movie that pre-dated this series (that "Wonder Woman" also had no powers). I might have the details wrong but IIRC that was the general gist of it. The Roy Rogers episode is entertaining in an utter goofball way and yes, I recall how utterly incongruous it felt. I like the trousers though. :) (Though perhaps they should have been blue and star-spangled).

Honestly, I think KC has a case of resting bitch face (says a fellow sufferer :) ). She's got a strong brow line that creates a natural "furrowed" expression, and if she's not actively smiling it can look like she's frowning or bored at a glance or if you don't notice other things. I feel like I can read her okay but then people can't read my expression half the time so maybe it's like recognizing like. ;) (Not that I look anything like her. Far from it!). I like her in the role regardless. Oliver probably thinks of his friends/associates/family as "heroes" for just trying, even if we viewers may have more exacting standards. :) I just hope we see more of Laurel's journey organically in S4. Likely half of it will end up on the cutting room floor though. (I swear half this show's problem is editing.)

In the video clip--she looks relaxed to me, and she is crossing her arms low and loose across her body (instead of up high and tight, which one would do if closed off and angry) just looks like a pose of either confidence... or just needing a place to put her hands (I tend to cross my arms like that when I don't have pockets, and it doesn't mean I'm ticked off at anyone). When I see her, it looks to me like she has a slight smile on her face throughout. Angry people commonly purse their lips (and KC's "angry acting" usually involves that), which she was not doing. The general reading I got from her was "mission accomplished." Not disinterest or anger. (As an aside, I'm a trained mediator and have had to learn to read subtleties in body language (but of course I don't always get it right!). FWIW. ) Obviously, YMMV.

I agree, she was the BabyMama and I believe played by the same actress. They made a point of her calling her child on her phone after she finished talking to Oliver to drive it home. If she is not Sandra Hawke, but IS a character with a comics background, she could be In the comics Shado While it's possible they may decide to make Mei into Robert Jr's mother it would be under very different circumstances than in the comics if it happens as you describe. Although I don't think we've seen the last of Mei--I don't think she would have been introduced as a one-shot for no reason--so something like that could also happen down the line.