Wonder Woman 3.13: Going, Going, Gone

Airdate: 1/12/79

A Soviet pilot, nervous that he’s about to crash into a UFO, ejects himself and his cargo, a nuclear-tipped missile, into the Pacific Ocean. The missile is retrieved by a couple of three-piece-suit-wearing international criminals, who plan to sell their black market booty to foreign interests in a high-stakes bidding war, all covertly hosted inside a submarine ff the coast of Long Branch, California. Diana goes undercover as one such interest, but her cover is blown and only WW, and the outside help of Steve, can help her escape the clutches of her nefarious captors.

"Very exciting!"

Oh boy, the writers are really getting a bit big for their britches. This teleplay feels like it was written by Tom Clancy – all the dialogue is secret agent doublespeak, and the plot is so dry and prosaic I can’t imagine, again, how fans of the original action-packed WW would’ve reacted to this cold war tedium. At this point, Diana is really the hero, with WW showing up whenever she gets in a scrape. Attention, WW scribes: step away from the spy novels.

Lots of recycling of stock and previous WW footage, like the WW as gymnast inside the warehouse shot and the underwater scenes of “Aqua-Woman.”