Wonder Womanisnow in theatersand her new theme is great and all, but where’s the original television theme from the 1970s? Jenkins is a huge fan ofWonder Womanand in particular, Lynda Carter’s portrayal ofWonder Womanfrom the television series that aired from 1975 to 1979. Carter was a role model for young women everywhere during that time and even into today, Carter is still widely known. The show was a little goofy, much like the original Batman TV series, but Wonder Woman brought astrong, smart, female superheroto television screens all over the world and it even had a catchy 70s theme song to hum along to before the show started.
Yahoo Moviesreports that Jenkins was not able to use the original theme song. Thedirector of Wonder Womansays that “It would be impossible to use the theme song. I don’t know how I would pull that off, even legally.” Now that statement can be taken a number of ways, but the most obvious is that Gal Gadot’s portrayal ofWonder Womancouldn’t be further from Carter’s campy Wonder Woman vibe. Jenkins has brought a new kind of Wonder Woman into thepublic consciousness, ready to build off of what Carter and the comics have laid down, and blaze new trails.
Now, about that legal aspect… Legally it would have been fairly easy to track down the original writers or their publishing company to get the rights to the original theme song. Charles Fox who composed the music and Norman Gimbel who wrote the lyrics are both still alive and working in the business. It would have been a cool tip of the hat to include a little piece of the TV theme or some kind of remix to add in as flare. While composing the score forRogue OneMichael Giacchino used bits of John Williams' original score to add familiarity and continuity, while making it his own score.
That’s not to say that the new score is bad. The Hans Zimmer composed piece was first heard inBatman V Superman, which is called “Is She With You?” It shows up as Wonder Woman’s theme for the new movie, but this time there’s a bit of a remix. Tina Guo is a classically trained electric cellist and she and Zimmer sat down to rework the theme to give it a bit more of an edge. The new theme is a powerful, intense theme that stands up with the best of them and has more than a passing resemblance to Led Zeppelin’s iconic “Immigrant Song,” which is used in the new trailer for Marvel’sThor: Ragnarok.
In all actuality, Jenkins couldn’t reuse the campy TV theme in a new blockbuster movie in 2017. It would have made the movie look more than a little silly, but at the same time, it would have been a neat addition to pop up in the original score somewhere. Just a hint of the original melody thrown in a light scene in the new movie. Jenkin’sWonder Woman is in theaters now. you may hear the original theme and the new theme below and decide which you like better.
