Wonder Woman: Princess of The Amazons
Diana, Princess of Themyscira comes to man's world on a mission of mercy to find out Ares and his minions in an effort to stop total war from consuming Earth and everything in it. Together with her hodgepodge of new friends, she fights against the tide of war and the resurgence of the old gods. She settles in Gateway City, as it functions as a supernatural crossroads of gateways, and it positions her to visit home, as well as head of Ares' advances into man's world. She meets several friends through the local college, and cooperates with Air Force Intelligence at times as well.
Main Cast:
Diana "Prince" - Early 20s, Caucasian, Emotion Driven Exiled Princess hungry to change the world, lives hard and fast and never gives up. Learns the hard way, lives life to the fullest, someone you want to be but lack the courage to. Always vulnerable, always pushes forward. Loves everyone, but just as often tough as gentle. She, when clothed in her native battle outfit is viewed as Wonder Woman, an incredible supernatural superheroine, and the rest of the day her friends try to hide her from the world so she can have a normal life.
Colonel Steven Rockwell Trevor - Early 30s, Caucasian, By the book military intelligence man, assigned to liase with suspected superhuman Diana. Develops a complicated relationship with her in their adventures. Highly trained, well respected, very proud and a bit too serious at times, often conflicts with Diana's more impetuous nature.
Etta Candy - Early 20s, Any Race, Thick/Heavy set, acerbic and witty, quick to speak her mind, defend her friends and bit off more than she can chew. Has a lot of internet stuff in her head and speech due to her computer skills and affinity. While strong, unlike Diana, she has many insecurities that cripple her. Is a reliable friend, though she can be a bit catty at times.
Tre Barnes - Early 20s, African American, A nice guy. Too nice, often gets taken advantage of, but sticks by his friends. Takes classes with Etta Candy, and knows a lot of people in and around town. Father works on base with Gen. Darnell and Steve Trevor for instance. His connections sometimes backfire on him, but all in all, he's about helping people, to a fault.
Julia Kapetalis - 50s, Caucasian, History Professor at Holliday College, finds a great love for Diana as she discovers her origin, and acts as an advisor to her and the others when it comes to all things mystical and ancient. Becomes a bit of a mother figure to Diana.
General Phil Darnell - 50s, Any Race, a lauded military mind from several recent conflicts, happens to be working for Ares. Is Colonel Steve Trevor's direct superior, and head of Air Force Intelligence and the lead investigator into the Wonder Woman issue.
Recurring Cast:
Hippolyta - Early 40s, Caucasian, Loves Diana in her own way, her crown is very heavy and she has failed to balance between man's world and the old ways, making all of Diana's actions a threat to the peace on Themyscira
Aphrodite, Goddess of Love - Early 30s, Caucasian, the last of the Goddesses, and Ares only true rival, and ex-lover. Her spirit of unconditional love is what drives Diana, she appears briefly, in many guises, at just the right time with an encouragement.
Ares, God of War - 40s, Caucasian, the last of the Gods after slaying Zeus, just as Zeus slew his father, and him his father and so on. Won out against the other gods due to the might of war in the modern day. With them finally out of the way, hopes to take the world by force in a grand World War III to end all wars. Manifests eventually as arms dealer Aristotle "Ares" Buchanon.
Phillipus - Early 30s, African American, Amazon, very organized, wise beyond her years, grandmotherly in a way, teases, jokes, but has Mr. Miyagi-like relevance that appears later in the story. Hippolyta's closest friend
Artemis - Late 20s, Any Race, Fierce, classic Amazon warrior woman, master with swords and bows, always tests Diana, is actually Artemis reincarnated
Vanessa Kapetalis - Teenager, Caucasian, spirited, innocent, naive, looks up to Diana
Hercules - 50s, Caucasian, old wisened and bitter former hero, going through a mid-life crisis at 1800 years old
Ed Indelicato - 50s, Caucasian, old school police detective, lots of pull on the force, imagine James Gordon if he had lost all hope, that's this guy, roots for Diana
Micah Rains - Early 30s, Any Race, local private eye, flirtatious, rogueish, brave and impetuous, secretly Zeus reincarnated
Hermes - Late 20s, Any Race, childhood sweetheart of Diana's, still looks out for her. Somehow survived Ares final onslaught, great messenger, of course, helps find the other reincarnated gods.
Tom Tresser/Dr. Psycho - Late 30s, Caucasian, mysoginistic dwarf and closet fan of Wonder Woman, whom he hates. Tom Tresser, played by a different actor, is a projection of himself in the image of Steve Trevor, whom he, on some level, wants to be.
Barbara Minerva - Late 30s, Any Race, Museum Curator acts as a resource for Diana sometimes. Is very astute and a bit catty, but very good at her job. Used to be mentored by Julia.
Helena Sandsmark - Late 20s, Caucasian, Assitant Museum Worker, aspiring archaeologist, tries to do the right thing, but usually doubts herself and messes things up. Has a small child named Cassandra, used to date Micah Rains.
Donna Troy - Teenager, Caucasian, a clone of Diana created to be used against her, shows up in Season 2.
Dana Milton/Circe - Early 30s, Caucasian, Season 2's big bad, introduced briefly in Season 1, sometimes works with Ares, whom she loves as a concept, but despises as a person.
Polly Milton - Child, Caucasian, Demigoddess child of Circe and Ares. A good kid often swayed to do bad, bad things by her parents.
Episode Breakdown:
At the beginning of the episode, some mystical macguffin or person is let loose into Man's World, where they cause problems, usually on purpose, but sometimes inadvertently. This comes to Diana's attention via the military (Steve) or casual contact with some local (Tre), or Etta's computer network (Etta). They then face off with this menace to see it's power, and are often rebuffed in some way. Things then get worse, while Diana deals with whatever personal growth or relationship arc is taken care of this season. Eventually, through a surprising means each time, a solution is found and applied, it doesn't work, but it gives Diana the internal strength she needs to face the challenge, whether it is physical, social, intellectual or spiritual. Then she wins, though sometimes, she doesn't, setting up for a two parter or story arc. The focus stays on Diana, though usually some other character gets to 'co star' for a bit.
Season 1 Macguffins include: Ares' Kid Deimos, End of Hades' Pitchfork (Angle Man's Angler), The Golden Fleece (makes a wannabe superhero), the Minotaur (soon becomes friend and chef, Ferdinand), Hermes' Sandals, the Gauntlet of Strength, Gaia's Golden Girdle (unraveled to the Lasso of Truth), Ambrosia of Healing/Immortality, Faust's Staff, Invisible Metal from Hades' Helmet ( for Air Force Intelligence's Invisible Jets!), undead Spartan soldiers, many others, including, eventually Ares himself in the episodes leading to the Season Finale.
Season Break Down:
Each season will contain 3-5 arcs that spread across a total of 16-20 episodes. Each will have it's own Big Bad, which will determine the types of cases they face. For instance, Season 1 will be about Ares, and she'll face those guys and all the Greek Myth shenanigans you can stand. Season 2, on the other hand might be about Circe, and so the mythology will stretch wider and deal with War of the Gods and the like. By the time Season 3 comes around, it might be Max Lord (here his powers, and those of others, are products of the gods' meddling with humanity) and deal with the JLI corrupted or something like that. Season 4 might take us back in time to deal with Baronness Von Gunther in WWII. Season 5 might put us against Cheetah and/or Veronica Cale and a more nefarious chemical/biological plot. Season 6 could create a new villain, Season 7 could feature a team up of villains for the ages. Seasons 8 and on could bring in a different Leaguer and team up with them to fight their villains.
It will also set the tone for the Season's mystery, some combination of WTFs that lead to answers attached to other WTFs that lead to the season's twist, or, in one case, non-twist. Regardless, each season would have character arcs that played out in bits over episodes that culminated at the end of the season. A lot of it would revolve around Diana's romantic life, her growing something with Steve, that falling apart, dating Trevor "Tre" Barnes the Third, dating Micah Rains, being pursued by Tom Tresser, dealing with jealousy from Artemis, but Steve remains 'the guy' even when he's not the guy and they're 'irrevocably apart.'
All the comics storylines would be adapted in some form, and made cool, including the dreaded I-Ching powerless era. It'd be a lot like all the other powerless storylines from Superman/Spider-Man media though. Most of the storylines will be changed up to make them more modern, more consistent, more awesome and more surprising.
Behind the Scenes:
The key is to make this 'that' TV show, in terms of being epic and beloved and fun to watch. The next LOST, the next Heroes, the next game of thrones. And as you know, this means a lot of very interesting character interaction, all sorts of relationships, all sorts of manipulations and betrayals. This also means not only does the emotion have to fire on four cylinders, where you get the military-political thriller intrigue, as well as the heart wrenching emotional relationship moments, but you also have to have a lot of fun while doing so, both with the imagery and verbally, and then on top of that you add some really great action. At least once an episode, Diana pretty much has to have a chase or fight scene, and on a good day, she'll have one of each. This means a top rate fight and stunt team, with an actress who is pretty much awesome when it comes to putting the work in. Sure there'll be stunt women, but the main actress has got to be ready for some Ju Jitsu, some Wu Shu and Kickboxing. And a lot of running, which also has to inform the practicality of the costume design. Speaking of which, it also means sizeable budget so you can do a big setpiece each episode, which means the show has to be #1 rated or else it'll pretty much fail.
Speaking of budget, a lot of people think of Wonder Woman as fighting giant Greek monsters. Don't know why, that's not really her M.O., certainly not her rogues gallery, but for Season 1, that's pretty accurate. Now, these monsters would be *mostly* practical, relying on a house like whatever's left of Hensons to create some freaky stuff that you can still physically interact with and film. This makes post-production a breeze, much needed for the weekly schedule. That way, the SFX can focus on things like flying, or really big set pieces, buildings crumbling and things like that.
Connectivity:
The goal would be to make a TV show that attracts as much attention and following as a film, with the note that you have 1-5 years to get to that point. A strong eye towards quality in writing and everything, and building a very strong mythos, in the TV world, where female heroes are allowed to thrive, unlike in film. It would be her 'movie' per se, where she gets the full treatment, a high power level, and in depth exploration in her little corner of a universe that might get very, very full. The focus would be on her here, and over time, she would prove that she's every bit as deep and powerful and awesome and loveable as Batman and Superman, and without having to convince any movie execs, that would become the real life public opinion of her, that she stands amongst them comfortably, because she's that awesome. That means this actress would be in any JLA movie. The show would basically establish her, long story short.
Final Notes:
Probably could use some tweaking, but this has been in my head for a while, off and on.
