Wonder Woman 3.7: Time Bomb

Airdate: 11/10/78

Cassandra, a beautiful woman from the year 2150, arrives at 1978, and plans to use her historical knowledge of the yet-unmined radioactive ore Cadmium 235 in order to make billions of dollars in energy profits. Another time-traveler, Adam, goes after he and enlists the IADC’s help to try and stop her. He and Diana grow fond of each other (as does Cassandra and her male accomplice), and the two realize Cassandra’s nefarious plans when he discovers he needs Cadmium to transport himself back from whence he came. It takes WW to halt the evil schemes and stop the resulting toxic cloud from exploding over Phoenix, potentially killing thousands.

WW’s first foray into time-travel is an intriguing concept, tautly executed, andwith the added bonus of seeing actors Ted Shackleford and Joan Van Arc together a full year before they would star together in the long running Knots Landing (perhaps this was their “screen test”). Shakleford (returning for his second WW episode, after “Knockout”) is as plausibly heroic as Van Arc is a dastardly b***ch, but one can also certainly see the two as a married couple on TV’s most famous cull de sac. Stock footage at the beginning is from Space 1999.

Also some allegorical touches here, as Cadmium is clearly meant to represent uranium, and the “toxic cloud” a fallout cloud. A hot topic for the “No Nukes” decade,  which would become even hotter the following March in a little place called Three Mile Island.