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.

One of three segments presented on the 70's Saturday morning kidvid THE KROFT SUPERSHOW; The others were 'Wonderbug,' a Herbie The Love Bug knockoff, and 'Doctor Shrinker,' about a mad scientist who shrinks three teens. All three, if I remember right, were dumped in favor of new short features when the SUPERSHOW came back for a second season, though 'Wonderbug' might have stayed around. Only eight episodes of 'Electra-Woman And Dyna-Girl' were produced, but they're vividly, and sometimes even fondly, remembered by Generation Xers. A weird, low-budget pastiche of the campy 1960's BATMAN with a bit of Lynda Carter WONDER WOMAN thrown in, the show starred Deidre Hall and Judy Strangis as 'Lori' and 'Judy,' two magazine writers who, when trouble strikes, usually in the form of a flamboyantly costumed, wildly overplayed super-villain, become super-heroines Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl. They battled evil using their 'Electra-comps,' clunky-looking devices worn on their wrists that allowed them to fire various types of low-budget rays and kept them in communication with Frank, the crusty scientific genius who invented the Comps and manned the 'Electra-base' in Lori and Judy's basement.

What makes the show interesting and fun, if not exactly good, is the bizarre sense of conviction most of the actors bring to their roles. They all overact wildly, especially Judy Strangis, but seem perfectly attuned to the claustrophobic confines of the bizarre little world they inhabit. Despite looking like it was made in someone's basement, the show did its best to ape the fantastic comic books it copied, sending its heroines through time, into alternate dimensions, etc. Admittedly, it did it all with apparently two sets, a maximum of six actors, and a budget of twenty dollars, but it could be seen as trying to bring back the spirit of the old CAPTAIN VIDEO-type shows. Or not.

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.

Sid and Marty Krofft have been really criticized and even ridiculed in some circles for the shows that they created during the 1970s. However, I have many fond childhood memories of the happiness they gave me with shows like Lidsville and H. R. Puff and Stuff (I don't think I spelled that correctly). They even had a special on the E channel a couple years ago about Puff and Stuff and tried to say that there was a hidden message about marijuana use in it. In fact with their colorful use of puppets, wild colors and psychodelic ambiance, you could say the Krofft brothers were like Mister Rogers on Captain Kangaroo on LSD. People have said that the Krofft's were like Ed Wood. Their projects were so campy and bad that they were almost good in a sort of way. Let me come to their defense and say that even though their shows might be laughable by today's standards, what kind of standards do we really have today I ask? Especially when it comes to entertainment for our kids. Maybe when you watched Land Of The Lost and other shows you laughed at the crude special effects, cheesy costumes and sets and dialogue, but you could at least let your kids watch it. It brought them joy what is wrong with that. I was so happy when the wonderfully nostaglic TV land channel had a Sid and Marty Marathon recently. I loved watching Lidsville, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and Land Of The Lost Again (boy the special effects were just like Jurassic Park ha ha). However, finding Electra Woman and Dyna Girl was to me like Howard Carter finding King Tut's tomb. It was a lost treasure. I have always loved Diedre Hall, my favorite show with her was Our House, I had no idea she had starred in this one as well. EWADG has a tremendous cult following, its amazing because only eight episodes of this show were ever filmed. Its worth it because it reminds me so much of the Batman show I loved as a kid. Right down to the colorful villians like the Sorcerer (a wonderfully hammy Michael Constantine) to Professor Frank who was really like Alfred the Butler. Yes folks just but your brain on hold and open the heart to the inner child. Sid and Marty did a really fine thing and have nothing to be ashamed of. I cannot think of her name but the young actress who played Dyna Girl did an amazing job. She reminded me so much of Robin especially with her "Electra" phrases, the way Robin used "Holy" phrases on Batman.

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!