What would the lost, unfinished series bible for a new Wonder Woman show look like?
TITLE: IMMORTAL WONDER WOMAN (SERIES BIBLE) [COMPLETE]
By Edgar Miraculous Dyer
Introduction:
This series, using some characters inspired by 'Wonder Woman' comics in 2020-2022 and the award-winning New 52, returns the Immortal Amazon to her original genre roots, as fantasy/paranormal adventurer, ..like TV's Higlander or Lara Croft (Tomb Raider). Think Xena: Warrior Princess and Highlander: The Series had a superhero baby, ..with the friendship between Xena and farmgirl, Gabrielle, at the center of the story - except Gabrielle is fat and black, and there's budding romance, with Col. Steve, ..on the side.
Structure and Tone:
Episodes will run, as three-act teleplays, introducing an existential threat to the human world ..AND a comedic or dramatic situation, between Diana, Etta and supporting characters (Steve, Mala, Siggy, etc). Most episodes are linear, but, stories can also use POV, mockudrama, flashbacks, flash-forwards and other plot devices to work.
The general tone is suspenseful and playfully intense, ..sometimes turning action into fully, Ghostbusters-styled action comedy, black comedy or family drama, depending on the featured subject of individual episode - a frequent, refreshing curveball to viewers.
The shadows of supernatural danger from mythical, supernatural world AND dark-government intrigue from ARGUS ..balances the drama and circumstances?
What’s the Theme?
'Immortal Wonder Woman' is a sci-fi/fantasy adventure, with comedic elements and travel to exotic locales. Title heroine, Wonder Woman, is a female Highlander/Tomb Raider mix, backed by small cast of regulars.
WHAT'S IWW ABOUT? PREMISE:
Wonder Woman is a female Highlander/Tomb Raider combo, living in the grand, boundless freedom and ancient magic of the dangerous, beautiful American Southwest! With her friends, teen rancher tough-girl Etta, ..disciplined, optimistic Amazon aide Mala, ..tough expeditions chief Col. Steve Trevor, ..Dr. Ching, master of occult and martial arts - sometimes, joined by the swashbuckling Siegfried the Dragon-slayer - DIANA explores the mountains and deserts of the Great American West and faraway, protecting Rockwell City and the world, from mystical powers and otherworldly threats, ..as Wonder Woman!
Her primary antagonists are the bloodthirsty, immortal, Kurgan-like ruler of a barbarian island, Clea the First, and the White Magician, sinister director of U.S. military super-agency, ARGUS - a powerful sorcerer, who is also secretly Steve Trevor's grandfather. Diana's battles with them keep the show immersed in the worlds of sci-fi, fantasy adventure, horror and government intrigue.
CHARACTERS (REGULAR CAST):
Wonder Woman/Diana
Amazon adventurer and Chief Executive of Prince Antiquities, based at her old mansion and arsenal, in Rockwell City. Commander of circle of loyalist adventurers, she calls 'the Army of the Golden Lasso. Her personality is warm, knowing, coolly threatening to her enemies, playfully provocative, while reassuring to her closest friends - never, ever world-weary, but, believably ancient.
Diana is the daughter of a society of feminist freedom-fighters, for whom the fight against tyranny and injustice, anywhere and everywhere, ..is like a religion. She has determined to carry on their fight, beyond the shores of their island and wherever it takes her, ..no matter how perilous or strange! That is her life's mission, and the powers of love and truth - the compassion in her heart and her Golden Lasso - are her greatest weapons! That is her motivation and what she understands to be her purpose, without which running around in a magic bathing suit and jumping into volcanoes makes little sense, ..and that is what her friends will follow her into Hell for - nothing more or less, than that.
For writers, using her mission/motivation, as a touchstone, should be enough to keep the show - stories, the characters, etc - on the right track.
Etta Candy
Loud, scrappy cowgirl from neighboring ranch and student at Holliday College, who is Diana's best mortal friend - sharp-shooter in Diana's circle of adventurers. Proudly out lesbian, Etta's a wise-cracking, bitingly funny, wacky and gung-ho in a fight - cross between comedienne Monique's and Rebel Wilson's characters.
Diana's belief in Etta - her strength, courage and compassion - inspires her to push herself, beyond her limits, and to share Diana's crusade, ..even when it all seems, a little crazy, even to her. This is the bedrock foundation of their sisterhood.
Col. Steve Trevor
Pilot and expeditions chief for Prince Antiquities, ex-Army Air Corps colonel, ex-ARGUS agent and the most skilled of Diana's circle of adventurers. He and Diana are friends, with growing, crackling, uncertain romantic attraction, ..but, he is not her man, and she is not his or anyone's woman.
Mala
Diana's executive assistant ("quartermaster"), sparring partner and best friend, from Paradise Island, who knows all of her secrets and understands her best. Mala was runner-up, in Amazons' contest to pick a Wonder Woman.
Dr. Ching
Diana's old friend, most trusted mysticism expert and spiritual counselor, Ai Ching is one of her circle of adventurers and the proprietor of "I Ching Books & Cafe", in Downtown Rockwell.
(MAJOR SEMI-REGULAR)
Siegfried the Dragon-slayer
Quirky, devilish swordsman and carefree, metrosexual Asgardian, like Marvel's Thor! Diana's childhood friend (through time-travel), Siggy is a trusted, ancient warrior in her circle of adventurers ..and falling in love with her Amazon aide, Mala.
Clea the First
Striking at mankind, from her island of weird creatures [think 'Island of Doctor Moreau'], Clea is the immortal, indefatigable Kurgan to Wonder Woman's Highlander. Having survived Zeus destroying her father's kingdom to rule numerous empires, across the ancient world, under many names, Clea plots to conquer Earth and beyond, ..by destroying Wonder Woman. Early episodes reveal Clea having a shocking secret, being more powerful, than she is letting on and using her alliance, with Mars, ..to forward her own master plan.
Mars
(Wonder Woman's Darkseid), Mars is Roman god of war, manifests, as a smoldering apparition of a dark bronze mask ..or the same mask with a large suit of smoldering bronze armor. His superhuman strength and speed, equal or superior to Wonder Woman's, his telekinesis and other powers seem limitless! From his steam-punky industrial fortress and base camp, Areopagus, on the planet Mars, his quirky, Dune-ish COURT OF MARS attacks mankind, ..through dreams, ectoplasmic creatures/monsters, demonic possession of human beings and futuristic machines.
The Court of Mars includes: Mars's herald, the Silver Swan of Destruction, ..Minister Strife, ..the Duke of Deception, ..the Earl of Greed ..and the naked Lord of Conquest, Deception's rival. Among Mars's weapons are his futuristic flying machines, his cyborg army, the new Crimson Centipede! Each tasked with tormenting Diana and manipulating her enemies, they attack humanity, in symbolically bizarre, quirky ways, that create conflict on Earth!
Among his most dreaded powers are his SONS! Deimos is the living energy SNAKES he projects from his chest - his Deimos Strike - disintegrating beams which cannot be escaped and also teleport targets through space-time. Phobos is his living shadow - the Shadow of War - he unleashes him in the form of a giant, destructive, black energy monster, capable of capturing and returning any energy he's assaulted with, back at his opponents!
Clea the First and the White Magician are the super-villains, whom Mars is most interested in. Early episodes reveal Clea is only using her alliance, with Mars, ..to forward her own master plan, ..but, of course, the war god has an apocalyptic plan of his own, manipulating the White Magician's obsession, with Steve Trevor's demonic destiny.
General Darnell and ARGUS
The United States Advanced Research Group and United Support or 'ARGUS' is the big, hi-tech military agency of the Wonderverse and DC Comics. It is a standard joint (armed forces working together) command, headquartered at the center of Rockwell City, ..in a domed, red sandstone citadel, resembling the U.S. Capitol.
The "ARGUS Defense Dome" has five, giant laser-eyes mounted on the dome.
General Phillip Darnell is second-in-command at ARGUS, and he doesn't like answering to his superior, Director Randolph, ..a wealthy civilian, whom he doesn't trust. He is Diana's friend and Steve's beloved mentor. He is also adoptive "Dad" to Diana's younger Amazon sister, Donna Troy.
ARGUS Director Asquith Randolph (White Magician)
Controls ARGUS and heads the sinister Randolph family of Rockwell City. When Congress appointed him head of ARGUS, Steve resigned. He is convinced that Steve’s returning to Rockwell fulfills a prophecy – that he will be reborn, the Dark Commander, and forge a demonic Randolph reign to last tens of thousands of years, ..with him at Steve's side! The sinister Randolph family, determined to control Steve and eliminate Wonder Woman, press on with secretly manipulating world events, from the shadows.
Queen Hippolyta and the Amazons
Wonder Woman's mother and Queen of the Amazons lives on Paradise Island, hidden by Greek gods' magic, from the world of men. The Island's magic, Athena’s protection, dooms all males (even Superman, Batman and Darkseid) to horrible fates, by merely touching its soil or air, ..while granting Hippolyta and her Amazons eternal youth, power and immortality, for as long, as they live on the island. While playfully regal, the Queen is a laughing, happy warrior, who mocks Diana, men, humans, the Greek gods, her Amazon sisters - EVERYTHING! She's a nasty, fanatically relentless enemy and a selflessly loving mother and friend! She's FUN, and Diana communicates with her, through a mystical, Amazon thing, called the Magic Sphere.
Wonder Girl (Yara Flor)
Yara's the new 'Wonder Girl'. She's passionate, loves fighting and testing her limits, while having FUN - think Yvonne Craig's Batgirl. To viewers, her appearances will always be a surprise and seeming out of nowhere, with no routine.
Veronica Cale
Sinister billionaire industrialist ally of Diana AND Col. Trevor's ex-girlfriend, whom he still fools around with. Her interactions, with Diana are raw - they hate each other, but, through Steve, occasionally join forces to fight a greater good.
The Cheetah
Obsessed with reclaiming her family’s outlawed nobility in a pacifist, Amazon-ruled future, aristocrat Quillana Minerva left the future, to conquer worlds in the Space-time Stream! Using ancient magic to transform herself into a cheetah-like werebeast, to better survive the pressures and dangers of time-travel, Minerva pursues random chains of events, leading to the day, she will mount Diana's head on a wall, in her time-ship - a wall, decorated, with the severed heads of every Wonder Woman, who has ever lived! Her ultimate goal: to destroy her Amazon-ruled civilization in the present, by killing Wonder Woman, so that she can conquer the future!
(MINOR RECURRING)
Queen Desira - Venusian queen/playfully imperious pal of Diana's
Artemis (Amazon) - rival and Amazon sister of Diana's, she is the champion of the Arabian Amazons, who parted ways, with Queen Hippolyta, to found another society, in the North African deserts. She typically joins Diana, on special adventures to exotic places.
Troy (Donna Darnell) - now a grown woman, first of the 'Wonder Girls' and possessed of similar powers to Diana's (but less), she is Darnell's adoptive daughter and has grown into Diana's wise/cool, younger Amazon sister and frequent trusted ally - maybe in Season Two.
Silver Swan - when the war god Mars gave to Cassandra of Czar, enslaved dancer on a Martian moon, the choice, to spare her world annihilation or share his awesome power, she chose to become Mars's herald, the Silver Swan of Destruction, ..destroying her civilization, with her first Swan-scream! She has powers, similar to Wonder Woman's, nearly indestructible wings and armor, and the power to change her appearance, at will. From her giant, hi-tech hovercraft, she uses mind-control to manipulate humans or transform them into monster-men, enslaved to Mars's Crimson Centipede army!
The Baroness - when Wonder Woman used the Amazons' Purple Ray to free Siegfried the Dragon-slayer's spirit from enslavement to the Baroness, she made an enduring enemy. Resulting amnesia from their first battle briefly left her in an abusive marriage to Doctor Psycho - medium for his mind-controlling abilities - but unleashed her own latent supernatural powers! Descended from the Valkyrie (goddesses, who gathered souls of dead warriors, for the Norse gods), the Baroness manipulates ectoplasm - indestructible sludge from the spirit world - to subjugate mankind, with giant ecto-monsters, ecto-weapons and deadly illusions!
Circe - twelve million years old, before becoming the sorceress of the Greek myths, she was "banished to a black hole, by Athena", for her crimes against humanity. Now, she travels the Multiverse (mirror universes), feeding on psychic chaos of humans, by manipulating humans into attacking each other, until Wonder Woman stops her.
Villainy, Inc. - Clea the First leads Doctor Cyber, the Cheetah, the Silver Swan, the Baroness and new recruit, GIGANTA, ..all working together to destroy Wonder Woman.
Sargon the Sorcerer - playfully cranky and urbane sorcerer friend, from Gateway City
Candy Family at Bar-L Ranch - Ma Sugar, Papa Hardin', Mint (Etta's brother) and their magic super-buffalos, the Cotton Candys, gifts from the Kachinam Warriors, are so much FUN! When needed, Steve and Etta ride Lawd and Lady Cotton into battle, beside Wonder Woman!
The Kachinam Warriors of Kanigher's - Native American changeling warrior-spirits, invisible to mortals, who dwell in the hills around Rockwell City AND Kanigher's Department Store, "where their hearty legions keep an armory". They occasionally join Wonder Woman's battles against evil, and the facade of Kanigher's becomes a pueblo, when she consults them, on mystical and cosmic matters.
The Kachinam Warriors have a secret, prophetic destiny - to protect the world from a demon-king they call the "Dark Commander", who will attack mankind in the near future. They only reveal the prophecy to Diana, after an attack on Rockwell City, by Clea the First and renegade Valkyries, forces them to prepare for the worst, ..possibly the end of the WORLD!
Nubia - renegade Amazon ally and former 'Wonder Woman', who is mysterious Racer X to Diana's Speed Racer. Nubia was 'Wonder Woman' of Artemis's Arabian Amazons, in the age of King Arthur's Camelot, ..but left to battle evil in the Near East. There, she fell in love, with Knight of the Round Table, Sir Aglovale, with whom she bore a son, Sir Morien, ..but, honoring her Amazon code, refused to marry him. Until recently, kept ageless and asleep, under enchantment in Aglovale's castle, infallible, elusive Nubia occasionally joins Wonder Woman's adventures, from her new home, in Great Britain.
Gods (Athena, Artemis, Zeus, Hera, Titans, etc) - weird, quirky and horrific versions of the Greek gods, seen in award-winning New 52 comics
Season One:
Episode 1, "Origin"
It begins in the BERMUDA TRIANGLE! Steve Trevor, Expeditions Chief for the Prince Antiquities firm, is searching for the wreckage of his boss’s, Theno Prince’s, boat in the Bermuda Triangle, when his plane crashes near the island homeland of the mythical Amazons!
There, slipping away from celebrations of being crowned 'Champion of the Amazons', ..Princess Diana rescues Steve from drowning and takes him to see her mother, the Queen Hippolyta. Diana is shocked to find Steve has aged into a much older man, when they reach the Queen’s palace. They are shocked to find a stone statue of a frightened man, holding a gun, that Steve recognizes, as Theno!
The Queen explains the magic afflicting Steve - that, while Athena’s magic grants Amazons eternal youth and immortality on the island, ..Steve, as with all males, is doomed by merely touching the soil or air of the island, ..and that there is nothing anyone can do to save him.
Against her mother's protests, Diana, outraged that her saving Steve has doomed him, chooses to return Steve Trevor to Man’s World, before he dies, and the Amazons bid them, farewell. The Queen tells her she cannot return to Paradise and will forfeit her own immortality, if she returns to Man’s World, but Diana insists.
With Steve, Diana settles in Rockwell City, in the mountainous Southwestern United States.
In gratitude for saving his life, Steve helps her craft the identity of Diana Prince, Greek archaeologist daughter of treasure-hunter Theno Prince ..and inheritor of his antiquities expeditions firm, based in an old mansion, in Rockwell. Joined by scrappy rancher and teenaged markswoman, Etta Candy, ..and Mala, Diana’s optimistic, disciplined best friend from the Amazon island - a bickering pair of opposites - Diana has wild adventures, in lost lands and bizarre worlds, beyond Rockwell, ..where she comes to be called 'Wonder Woman'.
Summary of What's Ahead:
For a time, Diana, Etta and Steve travel the world together - Mala, Diana's quartermaster, managing her personal affairs in Rockwell, guarding her home and arsenal from supernatural threats and from ARGUS. They are sometimes joined by Siggy, Ai Ching, Troy, Artemis, Queen Desira, Wonder Girl (Yara), Nubia, Sargon the Sorcerer, the Candys and Hercules.
In Steve's struggle to be free of the control of his sinister, wealthy family, the Randolphs, and of ARGUS - both headed, by Asquith the White Magician - Diana admires Steve's strength and resolve, and becomes his fiercest protector - all of this, AFTER leaving her island. When Wonder Woman threatens Asquith's plans, he attacks her and her friends, with supernatural and military powers, always in covert ways, that can't be traced to him. Love and attraction happen, gradually, in Diana and Steve's shared adventures...
[All characters and related images are trademarks of DC Comics.]
Coming Soon: Immortal Wonder Woman...the lost, unfinished EPISODES!
Want to KNOW WONDER WOMAN, the way I know Wonder Woman? You've got to get ALL THE WAY down to the... STAR-SPANGLED PANTIES!
Edgar Miraculous (Mel) Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.
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