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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spells &amp; Karma" data-source="post: 60700" data-attributes="member: 23">KNOCKOUTSome years ago I read a Ted Shackelford interview where, regarding to his casting on Knots Landing, he told of being a young, confident man living in Los Angeles and pestering the people at Warner on a daily basis so they knew he was alive and looking for work. That story and this episode are intrinsically linked in my head.Indeed, Knockout marks one of Ted's earliest acting jobs: his first, I believe, apart from his stint on Another World. The confidence oozes from him here. He looks like someone having a ball enjoying what he's doing. He has good screen presence too. It's easy to see why he was someone with a future.As Pete the Driver, Ted plays a Steve Trevor role in this episode: an ally for Diana; someone who marvels at Wonder Woman; the guy she rescues and the man who will have a go in a fight. Ted would actually make a great Steve Trevor. As it is, Pete is shown to be a PG version of rough round the edges: throwing punches freely; revelling in the reputation he had as a racing driver; talking about having fathered a child at a young age with a dancer and then realising she was the wrong woman. This minor character comes in with a fairly solid backstory that foreshadows his Knots Landing role in many ways. Everyone remembers his Season Three WW episode with Joan Van Ark, of course, but this is the one that I suspect really put him on the radar.There's a reprise of a Season One story arc: Like one of the young characters in The Bushwackers, Pete's son doesn't speak due to trauma but by episode's end has had that moment of saying those first words.At this point in the show, there's a feeling that the show is still evolving and experimenting to find out what works. Another couple of precedents are set in this episode. Firstly, Steve barely features at all. It makes sense here, since the plot centres around his kidnap and Diana's search to find him. As a one off it makes a refreshing change. Unfortunately he is kidnapped by the most boring terrorists in the world and wisely chooses to spend all of his scenes sleeping. The "main" kidnapper is a woman who the writing suggests is formidable and a match for Wonder Woman herself. Played by another former beauty pageant winner and softly spoken, she doesn't feel that way at all. I can barely remember any of their scenes. She has a backstory too, but I forget what it is.It's also a very Diana Prince heavy episode. There are a few WW scenes, but they tend to be short and punchy. In between them there are lengthy scenes of Diana walking round in a series of fetching ensembles (including swimwear) investigating. I recall this became de rigueur in the show. Here, it works well. It captures the tone of the era well and I have to say Diana gets a much funkier soundtrack than Wonder Woman (great as the WW theme is, you can have too much of a good thing). Artie Kane does some great work here with a particularly evocative score that supports the more ominous or suspenseful moments and makes the less interesting stuff appear more watchable than it is. His work is well showcased here since there are minutes at a time of Diana walking round looking at things.[MEDIA=youtube]8pxcL22a48k[/MEDIA]The scene in the lift at the beginning of the video, by the way, was a great moment. Unfortunately the YouTuber has edited most of it out, but it played in real time with Diana's would-be attacker taking her measure while she looks increasingly uncomfortable. It builds for a while until they are disturbed by the two older people entering the lift and Diana seizes the opportunity to leave with them. It's certainly very different to anything we would have seen in Season One, but none the worse for it.Wonder Woman uses her tiara as a boomerang once again here (the third time, I believe). In The Return Of Wonder Woman, the camera cut away as she took her tiara off, when the camera returned, it appeared that she had "folded" her tiara into an actual boomerang shape. On catching the boomerang she held it to her head and the camera cut away. When it cut back, it had magically returned to its tiara form. It was quite a fun way of doing it. In this episode we're back to the first season version of her tiara retaining its shape while it's thrown. Just thought I'd mention for anyone keeping tabs on Diana's accessories.</blockquote>

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