Sid & Marty Krofft’s Electra Woman & Dyna Girl was a blatant knock-off of Batman – but with two cute girls in spandex rather than a pot-bellied guy and a twenty-one year old high school student. Trust me. I noticed.
So I was more than a little surprised to see an Electra Woman & Dyna Girl web series starring online darlings Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart. I was even more surprised to find that it took almost all of the original show’s ideas (the wrist weapons, the Electra Car, Frank and the Crimescope) and updated them into a remarkably clever new take.
Now the web series is available on DVD as an 81-minute movie – and it’s a charming thing, indeed.
Lori/Electra Woman (Grace Helbig, Smosh: The Movie) and Judy/Dyna Girl (16-Bit High School) are non-powered superheroes in Ohio, where they share a tiny apartment and put up with obnoxious teen neighbor, Bernice (Matreya Fedor, Slither, Cedar cove).
When they stop a pair of convenience store thieves and post the video, it racks up views and they find themselves in Hollywood signing with super-agent Dan Dixon (Andy Buckley, Scorpion, Odd Mom Out) at Creative Masked Management.
Before you know it, they’re in cool new costumes and wearing high-tech crime-busting wristbands courtesy of Frank Heflin (Christopher Coutts) – and doing the most popular talk shows.
While Lori is caught up in all the glamor, Judy is left being hit on by sidekicks.
When the first new supervillain since The Shadow War, Empress of Evil, appears, Lori is too caught up in shooting an advertisement for an energy drink so Judy confronts her solo – with the expected negative results.
While there are heroics – super and otherwise – Electra Woman & Dyna Girl is all about changing and growing: growing up, growing apart, growing a sense of responsibility.
Even before their new costumes and gizmos, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl were good at what they did – occasional dismemberments notwithstanding. They were good because they worked well together and were smart.
So, along with heroics – and there are a couple of really good action set pieces and one or two terrific effects put together on the show’s insignificant budget – Electra Woman & Dyna Girl is about a couple of friends who have to weather the storm of unexpected success.
Beyond the basic plot and the wonderful performances by Helbig and Hart & Co., there’s also a lot of world building here.
When there are no supervillains, how do superheroes keep busy? Fighting non-super crime is usually handled by the police, so superheroes are little more than super celebrities – competing for ad placement, guesting at fan-based conventions like SuperFest, and yes, occasionally fighting crime (good for marketing, eh?).
The thought that went into planning Electra Woman & Dyna Girl has ensured that there’s a feeling of depth to the world in which it takes place.
Though Electra Woman & Dyna Girl doesn’t have an actual writing credit, it’s credited as being developed by Hannibal Deiz and was directed by Chris Mars Piliero – and it wouldn’t surprise if Hart and Helbig contributed more than a little.
No matter how you slice it, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl is a dandy little wed series that has been edited into a spiffy little B-movie that does something that neither Marvel nor DC have accomplished yet – casts female leads in a superhero movie (eat your heart out Princess Diana; catch you later Carol Danvers…).
Features: a fun Audio Commentary by stars Helbig and Hart; Making of Electra Woman & Dyna Girl (more like a video record of a few days on set – no actual technical stuff, really); Inside Creative Masked Management (Dick Dixon brags a bit); Electra Car For Sale (pretty much what it says on the tin); Making the Movie Poster; CMM: The Superhero Agency; Dan Dixon: CMM Super Agent; Megaline: The Source for Celebrity News; Everybody Loves Plant Man; There’s No Sidekick Here (the last five are one minute riffs by Helbig and Hart), and Grace and Hannah at San Diego Comic-Con.
Grade: Electra Woman & Dyna Girl – B+
Grade: Features – A-
Final Grade: B+