Electra Woman and Dyna Girl

The only episode of this show I remember involved a female bad..uh...woman who had lots of spiders at her command. I know she was referred to as "queen of the spiders" and I think her name was Cleopatra, or some other historical name that really doesn't go very well with the title of arachnid all-mother.

That episode became the basis of many a Saturday afternoon. My sister and I would pretend we were trapped like Electra Woman and Dyna Girl were in this huge web with tarantulas everywhere (we were actually in a walk in closet with a tangle of old jump ropes and a smattering of plastic spiders from the dollar store).

Bout the only other things I remember about Sid and Marty Krofft is Dr. Shrinker and of course Land of the Lost. Really horribly cheesy stuff, and really strange...which probably explains why I can't remember very much of it.

I have almost no recollection of any episodes of this show. Having said that I do remember that stirring feeling that my seven year old body underwent on those 8 odd Saturday mornings when Croft Supershow wasn't running Wonderbug. I didn't understand at the time why I was transfixed to the TV when it usually just provided background noise while I played with Legos. Those skin tight costumes even today shape my ideal of the female form. Well that and Linda Carters Wonderwoman. I don't know how I'd react to seeing repeats today. Perhaps I'd see them as Gatsby saw Daisy. The pale light of memory shadows all flaws. I'd probably think of them as cheesy. But damn those girls were hot!

This show will always be to me a female version of "Batman". The only difference was that the two leads were not a rich millionaire and his teenage ward, they were a pair of reporters and their version of Alfred was the scientist who invented the special bracelets they wore. I'm just surprised that Howie Horwitz, the producer of "Batman" didn't sue over this show because of its similarities to it, especially Dyna Girl's use of phrases like "ELECTRA WOW" which could have easily been a version of Robin's "HOLY'S". Also, it is very ironic that Judy Strangis was cast in this show. Her father, Sam Strangis, was one of several directors used for the Batman series. In fact, Judy once had a cameo appearance in one episode. This was definitely one of the Krofft brothers wildest creations.

Of all the various Sid & Marty Krofft endeavors, "Electra-Woman and Dyna Girl" is the one that sticks out in my mind as the grooviest. By total coincidence, it's also the only one to feature foxy babes in tight costumes, unless you count that one Bugaloo. The titular heroes are two gals who fight all evil deeds. They work for a magazine, hiding the life they lead. They don't have any super powers, save for the various Electra-gadgets designed by their lumpy live-in scientist Frank. Electra-Woman and Dyna Girl live together with Frank, who never leaves their basement. Their adventures don't make any sense. They're like fever dreams, with no logic to guide them. Each episode will have Frank introducing some new invention, and then a silly-beyond-words villain (like Glitter Rock, an incredibly annoying wannabe rock-star with a green afro and hypnotic music) shows up and the only thing that can stop them is? Frank's new invention. The bad guys always hide in abandoned theaters. Dyna Girl constantly uses "Electra" as a prefix, like "Electra-wow!" or "Electra-sneaky!", which makes me wonder why she isn't called Electragirl, or at least say "Dyna-wow!" Everybody acts like they're on drugs.

But for all it's pitfalls, it's great TV. I figured out why Sid & Marty Krofft are far superior to other live-action kids programming giants like Saban: They loved what they were doing, they weren't in if for the money. They might have had crappy effects, but they loved their crappy effects! They were proud of those shots of the Electra-Car taking off- so proud that they used it in every episode! They probably thought that optic flash when the gals changed into their costumes was the coolest effect ever. It didn't matter that their stories made no sense and they used the same sets over and over. They loved this sub-Batman camp. They loved Electra-Woman, Dyna Girl, and Frank. They even loved Glitter Rock.

In fact, now that I think about it, my respect for the Krofft Empire spans their whole body of work, except for maybe "Pryor's Place". I love the nutty drug-filled antics of H.R. Puffnstuff. I love Hoo-Doo, and Sigmund, and Dr. Shrinker, and I like Magic Mongo and the Far Out Space Nuts as friends. So the next time one of your high-minded contemporaries scoffs at the oeuvre of S&MK, you can tell them that they're scoffing at love, baby, and they can scoff all they want but they'll scoff alone! Those philistines! They'll never know the touch of a felt hand puppet, the passion of an over-the-hill child star, or the fragrant odor of sweaty, under-paid dwarf in a dumb looking sea monster costume. They'll never know about back when TV was good and every show summed up it's premise in the theme song lyrics. I weep for them.

Or not. Whatever. Never mind.

I am a fan of this series, mainly because I am a sucker for superhero shows. Electra Woman and Dyna Girl is one of the many shows made by Sid and Marty Krofft, created for the Krofft Supershow. Only eight episodes were made, which were split into 16 for the Supershow, where each episode had two parts.

In this show, Lori and Judy are two reporters for Newsmaker Magazine, but when crime strikes, and they get a call from Frank, a scientist who serves as inventor and the Alfred of the series, Lori and Judy use their ElectraComs to Electra-Change into Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, spandex-clad heroines, who then use their ElectraComms and smarts to thwart the villain of the day.

So, basically, this is what we call a late attempt at making money off the success of the Batman show from the 1960's. Due to it being made for Saturday Morning (instead of primetime like the Batman), there are no fisticuffs to be seen or more serious plots. Like the other works of Sid and Marty, this is a cartoony take on the superhero genre, and that is where it can be bad to some, as it sometimes makes the show even more campier than Batman. The first episode does not show the origin story of the two heroines, which is also a downside, as we do not know how Lori and Judy got to become Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and what The Sorcerer. The first episode's villain, did to cross paths with them to want revenge. Other than that, it is a good show. Not perfect, but good.