Wonder Woman 1.12

The Bushwhackers

Texas cattleman JP Hadley, who has been selling a lot of his cattle to the US Government to support the war efforts, keeps losing cattle to rustlers. The local police aren’t much help so he calls an old friend in Washington, DC, General Blankenship. The General sends Major Steve Trevor to the Diamond H Ranch to help out JP. Wonder Woman follows Steve in her invisible airplane.

The cattle rustlers get word about Major Trevor from Jeff Hadley, JP's son. JP recently adopted five war orphans and Jeff feels as though his father doesn't have time for him anymore. The cattle rustlers trap Steve while he is driving to the Diamond H Ranch from nearby Kelly AFB. Wonder Woman, with the help of Charlie, one of the war orphans, rescues Steve from the trap. 

JP vouches for the local sheriff but he doesn't know Deputy Lampkin, the sheriff's righthand man, very well. Steve goes to Kelly AFB to run a background check on Deputy Lampkin. Wonder Woman goes out for a look around on horseback. She gets captured by Deputy Lampkin and Billy Joe who know that she loses all her strength when her magic girdle is removed.

Charlie witnesses the abduction and picks up the magic girdle, which the bad guys leave behind. He tries to rescue her from the jail cell where they lock her up but the door to the building is also locked. He returns to the ranch and finds three of the other war orphans. Together they rescue Wonder Wonder Woman and give her back her magic girdle.

Deputy Lampkin and Billy Joe capture Steve while he is driving back from Kelly AFB. They throw him in a meat locker. Jeff starts to feel guilty about giving information to Deputy Lampkin and the cattle rustlers. He confesses everything to his father and Wonder Woman. JP and Wonder Woman and the four orphans head back to the ghost town where the cattle rustlers hang out. They rescue Steve and capture the rustlers and Deputy Lampkin.

Thoughts

Etta Candy is in one scene early in this episode. 

Wonder Woman and Steve both wore western gear while they were at the Diamond H Ranch. Wonder Woman's western gear was in her traditional colors but was considerably less revealing than her usual outfit. 

One of the orphans is a girl but she is only seen at the ranch. She does not take part in the efforts to rescue Wonder Woman or Steve Trevor.

This is not a great episode but I enjoyed it. The moment where Jeff confesses to his father was surprisingly heartfelt and kind of got to me. It feels a bit like an after school special at times, mostly in the scenes that involve Charlie, Jeff, and the other kids. 

Notes

Roy Rogers played the part of JP Hadley. I believe that this is the first and only thing in which he appeared that I have seen. If I ever saw any of his movies then it was a long time ago and I have no recollection of watching them.

Henry Darrow played the part of Deputy Lampkin. This is the first of two episodes of the show in which he appeared but he played a different character in his second appearance. He appeared in a couple episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1.24 Conspiracy). He also made guest appearances in episodes of The Incredible Hulk, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Night Gallery, and The Outer Limits (1963).