Why Lynda Carter Got In Trouble For Her Wonder Woman Helicopter Stunt
Vintage hour-long shows from the pre-peak television era get an bad rap for being rigorously formulaic and self-contained borefests, primarily because they tended to run 20+ episodes a season and thus aren't terribly bingeable in an era when too many people believe bingeability is a vital virtue. For example, "The A-Team" lasted five seasons, but each individual season lacked an arc that progressed from episode to episode. It was just five fugitive Vietnam vets evading law enforcement and, once a week, helping poor, victimized people fight back against gangsters, corrupt local government, and other small-time forces of evil.
On one hand, I agree that shows like "The A-Team," "Riptide," and "Hunter" are nowadays nostalgia pieces that don't have a lot to offer narratively or thematically. They were designed to be easily digestible for hard working folks craving an escape from their nine-to-five drudgery. They did the trick, and, outside of reboots or film adaptations, aren't acquiring new fans.
This is understandable, but there are still good reasons to throw on a 1950s-1980s hour-long in this age of sophisticated TV storytelling. The plots may be overly familiar and the jokes may be eye-rollingly corny, but the action-driven shows were hugely underrated showcases for top-tier stunt crews. We're talking folks who worked closely together for months on end, and knew exactly how to execute complicated set pieces involving car crashes, narrowly escaped explosions and, oh yeah, helicopters. Helicopters were a huge freaking deal in the 1970s and '80s. They were so cool, that sometimes even the stars had to get in on the hair-raising fun.
And when Lynda Carter spied the opportunity to get in on the whirlybird action, she literally grabbed onto it and didn't let go ... at least not right away!
Wonder Woman goes up, up and (not quite) away!
During a 2021 reddit AMA, Lynda Carter was asked about a helicopter sequence from her three season run on the 1970s network adaptation of "Wonder Woman." It's been almost 50 years since she shot the scene, so she spoke freely on what went down, which was ... well, let's hand it over to Ms. Carter:
"How was it doing the infamous stunt from Wonder Woman where you were hanging on from the helicopter?
It was such a spontaneous event that went by in probably 30 seconds ... I dove under the helicopter and grabbed onto it, they caught it on film, and I got into trouble because I wasn't supposed to do that! :) To answer your question, an absolute thrill."
The clip is available online, and it's shot in such a way that you could easily assume they ran a stunt double in to grab onto the helicopter. Nope! That's her calmly taking a low-altitude ride in, I'm guessing, both shots. That is insane and something that would never, ever happen today (certainly not in a post "Twilight Zone: The Movie" world), and that's a good thing. They had a great stunt crew on hand to pull that off.
That said, sometimes a little rule-breaking is necessary, so good on Carter for getting away with one.