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| "The Phantom of the Roller Coaster" | ||||
| Season 3, Episode 23 & 24 | ||||
| Air date | September 4 & 11, 1979 | |||
| Written by | Anne Collins | |||
| Director | John Newland | |||
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Searching for the leader of a foreign spy ring, Wonder Woman goes to a Washington amusement park where she encounters a disfigured veteran who lives under the roller coaster and "haunts" the park as its "phantom."
Plot[]
At the Fun Universe amusement park near Washington DC, maintenance man Kirk is working in a fenced-off area when he sees a shambling zombie-like creature lurching through the shadows. He warns the creature to leave, but it continues advancing, with heavy, menacing breath. Kirk flees.
In a remote town somewhere outside Washington, Diana, feigning car trouble, meets up with a contact. As Thorpe pretends to fix the engine, they talk. It seems she's looking to sell out, leaking confidential information for money. Thorpe offers her $100,000 for a method to unscramble White House phone calls, but won't tell her who the buyer is. Diana guesses it's Harrison Fynch. The IADC may be lacking crucial details, but they know he's operating a domestic spy ring. Thorpe leaves without comment. Diana tries to follow him as he drives off, but discovers that he cut the alternator cable in her engine so her car won't start.
Wonder Woman borrows a dirt bike. After an extended chase, she kicks his car off the road. Lassoed, he admits that Fynch is the buyer, but all he knows is that he's set to meet one of Fynch's agents. He gives her the location, description, and password.
At the amusement park, Fynch meets with park owner Leon Gurney in his office. Fynch wants to buy the park, but Leon flatly refuses. He and his brother designed and built the park. David designed the park's signature attraction, the "Superloop" roller coaster when they were in high school, but later died serving in Vietnam. Fynch hides an electronic bug and leaves.
At IADC HQ, Diana catches up with Steve and picks up an electronic bug of her own, this one disguised as an ordinary 50¢ coin.
Fynch, listening in through the bug, hears Kirk complaining to Leon about multiple sightings of a creature lurking around the Superloop. Leon insists on keeping it secret, lest it scare away the customers or draw bad publicity. He says any such rumors are lies. Kirk is angry and resentful and insists Leon will regret keeping it secret. Fynch grins, knowing he's found leverage.
Ms. Patrick runs an orphanage, the Patrick Home For Boys, and she convinced Leon to give her a few free passes to Fun Universe. She plans to take the youngest kids. One of the older kids, Randy, talks her into letting him come along to help. He's obsessed with roller coasters, but promises he'll be responsible.
Diana meets Pierce, Fynch's top henchman, at the designated cafe and gives the password. But Pierce, expecting Thorpe, refuses to talk. Diana slips the bugged coin into his change, and he pockets it.
Ms. Patrick leads the kids through the amusement park, but one of the kids lost his ticket. Ms. Patrick blames Randy for not living up to his promise to be responsible. She won't ask Leon for an extra, lest he think he's being scammed. Randy gives the kid his ticket and goes off to look for the lost one. Searching the grass underneath the roller coaster, he falls through a trap door into a maintenance tunnel underneath the park. His calls for help echo off the walls, but there's no one in sight. The only one who hears is the shambling creature. As he steps out of the shadows, we see that most of his face is heavily disfigured, but the unscarred left side makes it clear that this is Leon's brother, David.
Steve and DIana listen in as Pierce phones Fynch. Fynch orders Pierce to plant a bomb under the "Crazy Wheel" at the amusement park. Between rumors of the monster, an orphan having gone missing today, and an explosion at one of the rides tomorrow, Leon will find the park in enough trouble that he'll be forced to sell. Steve and Diana are missing some of the details, but IRA had Fun Universe on the short list of places Fynch would want to use as a cover operation. Agents could meet among the bustling crowds, and the tower would be the perfect place to set up an antenna to listen in on phone conversations.
Randy is still stuck in the tunnel, and no one can find him. Leon does not want the police involved. David leaves a tray of food for him to find, and shuffles off, unseen.
In the morning, before the park is open, Pierce goes to plant the bomb. He runs into David, drops the toolbox with the bomb inside, and runs away. David grabs the toolbox and runs into Wonder Woman, who was attempting to follow Pierce. She chases after him, but his knowledge of the park allows him to escape.
David brings the box into the tunnel, where he runs into Randy. He tells Randy not to be frightened, but says he can't let the boy leave and he's not sure what to do. He tells Randy that, as the Superloop's designer, he knows better than anyone where the ride's weak points are. So he's been keeping an eye on it and trying to quietly let the staff know where repairs are necessary. He explains that he was burned by napalm in Vietnam and presumed dead. Fearing his scarred face and injured body would be bad for business, he's kept out of sight. Besides, he adds, taking out the bomb, his brother has enough troubles.
Upstairs, Leon has his secretary hand out flyers with Randy's face to all park staff, but a police sergeant wants to talk to him again after park staff told him about the monster sightings.
Fynch orders Diana killed, no matter the cost. On the mountain road on her way back from the park, a car and truck work in tandem to box her in. A sniper shoots out her tire, and her car spins off the road into the side of a cliff, trapping her. The truck plows directly into her car.
Part 2[]
Wonder Woman catches the assassins. They don't know who hired them. She tells them to report that Diana is dead and then to turn themselves in to the police.
David tells Randy that the tunnels were originally built during the Civil War as an escape in case the rebels attacked Washington. They found the tunnels when they started construction on the park, and used them to help install the wiring. But David was drafted to Vietnam before construction was completed, so he never got to ride what he'd designed. David and Randy bond over their mutual enthusiasm for roller coasters.
Diana reports back to Steve about the attempt on her life, and says some creature ran off with the bomb. Unfortunately, Pierce left the bugged coin on his dresser at home. Steve hopes that he'll take it with him when he goes to see Fynch, after changing out of the park staff uniform he was wearing to plant the bomb.
The Sargeant presses Leon about the monster sightings and missing child. Fynch listens in, before getting the call telling him that Diana is dead. Leon whispers to himself, "Davy, I'm going to blow it." He leaves his office.
Down below, David shows Randy the computer that operates the Superloop cars, monitors the structure for faults that might need repair, and has an alarm in case of sudden catastrophe. A red light on a nearby table starts blinking, but David says it's not an alarm. He walks off, leaving Randy in charge.
Diana and Steve listen in as Pierce tells Fynch that he dropped the bomb and ran because he encountered an unimaginably hideous creature. They also hear him mention that Diana was trying to see Leon, which he could not have known without having bugged Leon's office. Room service arrives to drop off Fynch's breakfast, and Pierce tosses him a 50¢ tip. Diana has lost her bug, but she tells Steve that now they know about Fynch's bug, they can use that to manipulate him.
Leon meets up with David in the tunnels. David briefly diverts the conversation to the radio he built for their father's birthday, but Leon needs to talk about Randy, whom he realizes must be down in the tunnels. David doesn't want to let him go. He doesn't want anyone to know he's alive. But Leon is under pressure and it'll all get worse until Randy is found. If the search continues, they're bound to find the tunnels. He wants David's help up top, but David, too scared to be seen, says he can do more good down below. Leon tells him he's just being selfish, but leaves to give David time to think.
Steve goes undercover as a safety inspector. He slips Leon a script disguised as an inspection sheet, silently shows his IADC badge, and says a section of the Superloop is going to need repairs soon. Leon, seeing the note at the top of the script that his office is bugged, follows along. Fynch, listening in, falls for it and orders Pierce to go learn about the Superloop. Pierce had been told to back off because the IADC was snooping around, but the Superloop news is too good for Fynch to pass up.
Randy is thrilled to see David's designs for new rides and to learn from him how to make his own designs. He says he won't leave or tell anyone about David because there's nothing for him in the world above.
Pierce shows Fynch the device he obtained from their associate who made the bomb and various other devices over the years. This one is a small box that clamps on to a steel beam, weakens the metal with vibrations, and then self-destructs, leaving no trace. The next day, Kirk plants the device on the Superloop. Pierce pays him off and assures him that no one will be hurt. It will just force the ride to close for a couple of days.
While David focuses on dismantling the bomb, Randy sneaks out.
Diana sees Randy as he goes to buy lunch and recognizes him from the picture on the flyers posted around the park. She chases him into the tunnel. Spotting the bomb, she says they can trace the components and use it to break up the biggest spy ring in the country. David is distraught. He does not want to be found. Just then, the Superloop alarm goes off. If the ride isn't stopped, the loop will collapse and the train will derail. David rushes off with Randy to warn people of the imminent danger. Stopping the train (which he'd previously said he could do remotely with the computer in the tunnel) matters more than his secret. Diana, locked alone downstairs, transforms.
Wonder Woman leaps out of the tunnel hatch and holds the track together.
Back in the tunnel, Wonder Woman tells David that she let Diana out but promises they'll keep his secret. However, she encourages him to go back up. He insists that he's too much of a freak, it will scare everyone in the park, and make Leon's life harder. He says he belongs down in the tunnel. Wonder Woman assures him that he's being too pessimistic, but leaves the choice to him. She just wants to take the bomb. And Randy. David goes to get the bomb, but stays to listen as Randy expresses his admiration for David and Wonder Woman says there are many others who would feel the same. David goes off to think.
Up top, Pierce calls Fynch from a park phone booth to report the latest. Wonder Woman hangs up the phone, lassos Pierce, and gets Fynch's location. Wonder Woman rushes to the Watergate Hotel as Fynch frantically packs. He gets outside and calls for a cab, but Wonder Woman dives off the roof of the building across the street and nabs him. Fynch's wiretapping days are over.
The bomb maker is also caught, off screen, and is now a cooperating witness. Randy, without the memory of where he's been (thanks to Wonder Woman's lasso) is returned to the orphanage with even greater knowledge of and enthusiasm for roller coasters. Diana goes to thank Leon for his help and apologize for the trouble he's been through. David walks in, and the brothers share a touching heartfelt hug. Diana watches and smiles.
Cast[]
- Lynda Carter as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
- Lyle Waggoner as Colonel Steve Trevor, Jr.
- Jared Martin as David Gurney / Leon Gurney
- Marc Alaimo as Pierce
- Ike Eisenmann as Randy
- Fred Lerner as Kirk
- Craig Littler as Thorpe
- Joseph Sirola as Harrison Fynch
- Jocelyn Sommers as Ms. Patrick
- Jessica Rains as Secretary
- Mike Kopcha as Sergeant
- Judith Christopher as Receptionist
Notes[]
- David tells Randy that you don't need to study before designing a roller coaster. Sure it helps to have some rudimentary knowledge of math and physics, but if you love it, just do it. The first man to design a roller coaster didn't study. He just went ahead and did it. David is wrong. Early roller coasters were notoriously dangerous, unregulated, and accident-prone, They were also very simple, consisting of little more than railroad tracks built on hills made out of wooden scaffolding. Modern roller coasters with looping metal tracks require trained mechanical engineers and certified independent professional safety inspectors.
- Although this was the last episode to air, it takes place before The Boy Who Knew Her Secret, at the end of which Diana announces her permanent transfer to the LA field office.
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