Considering that superheroes equal big money in the box office with some being made now by Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the rest being made by Marvel and their various ventures, it was only a matter of time before other superheroes got their chance. Enter Electro Woman and Dyna Girl, a superhero series from the late 70s from Sid and Marty Kroft, and these pair of dynamic damsels are about to get a reboot for this era.
If you haven't heard of Sid and Marty Kroft, they were two brothers who designed the characters and sets for Hanna-Barbara's Banana Splits before doing other television series such as H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and Land of the Lost. In 1976, the production company attempted something new with two female super-heroines with Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl followed the 1960's Batman formula if not copying it directly. Electra Woman (Deidre Hall) and Dyna Girl (Judy Strangis) were reporters for a magazine, but they would fight crime in their spare time. When it was time for them to suit up, they would go in an elevator and their spandex costumes would appear on them, a lot like when Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson would slide down their Bat-poles.
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl would then use their gadgets (which included theme of the Electra-Beam, Electra-Degravitate, and Electra-Force Field) to take on enemies like The Sorcerer, Empress of Evil, Ali Baba, Glitter Rock, the Spider-Lady, and the Pharaoh. It even followed the formula of the 1960s Batman show by ending the episode on a "cliffhanger", but only during the first commercial break at the fifteen-minute mark. The stories were pretty self-contained in one half-hour.
Of course, the Electra Woman and Dyna Girl reboot is going to go in a completely non-campy direction, and yet maintain some sense of humor. It stars YouTube sensations of Grace Helbig (of The Grace Helbig Show) and Hannah Hart (of My Drunk Kitchen) as the two show's respective leads. The film shows how these two get together and fight crime, presumably as fan-girls of the original show. It starts with them in the classic seventies outfits, then switching to a more modern version. Then the two leave Ohio for Los Angeles and meet up with other heroes and a super-villain.
Unlike the original show, the film shows Dyna Girl wanting to go independent, not content to be a sidekick. This is probably a more modern commentary to Batman in the comics, who has had Robin spin-off several times.
The interesting thing about this Electra Woman and Dyna Girl series is that it isn't the first time that the show has attempted a reboot. In 2001, the WB Television network attempted a pilot that took place 25 years after the events of the original show had taken place. Markie Post played an older Electra Woman and Anne Stedman was an in-universe new Dyna Girl, but the show was not picked up, but can be found on YouTube.
Perhaps this iteration of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl will succeed, and it will be released digitally on June 7 and DVD on July 5.
