Part of Sid & Marty Krofft's 1976 anthology series, Krofft Supershow, the microbudgeted adventures of Electra Woman & Dyna Girl featured tiny sets, cheap video effects, ridiculously over-the-top performances, and an awesome theme song. Electra Woman was played by the lovely Deidre Hall, an iconic soap opera actress best known for her 40+ year run on Days Of Our Lives. Born in 1947, the actress worked as a model and in commercials before landing the Electra Woman role and - right around the same time - her part on Days Of Our Lives.Cute teen sidekick Dyna Girl was portrayed by the pouty Judy Strangis, who was only a couple years younger than her co-star. She had been a regular on the television series Room 222, and was a popular TV guest actress during the early 70s. But, according to the IMDb, she had an unfortunate experience with a stalker and retired from "face" acting; she has been doing almost exclusively voice-over work ever since.
There were only 16 episodes of Electra Woman & Dyna Girl produced, but I remember watching it every Saturday. Back then, I didn't notice the cheapness of the production, all I cared about was seeing the two pretty young women in their colorful costumes shooting laser beams from their clunky wrist communicator/computers.
I even have an Electra Woman action figure on a shelf in my office....
I think Judy is where my thing for pigtails started. Big time crush on her as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI was the rare kid at the time who preferred Strangis over Hall. Her ultra-cute brunette charm made my eleven-year-old brain melt.
ReplyDeleteYes, Dyna Girl was my favorite too. As a 7 year old, I always thought that Electra Woman was too "old" for me. Dyna Girl was far more approachable for a young boy's crush. :)
ReplyDeleteI had watched Batman every day growing up in Vienna Va. but then moved to San Antonio where they just stopped showing it, so I didn't see the show again till 1989. I only saw movie for the second time or saw the Batgirl equal pay PSA but no show. So I was jonesing so bad that this show was nice reminder of the Caped Crusaders. Plus they where beautiful women.
ReplyDeleteBy the way Judy Strangis is the younger sister of Sam Strangis who was a producer on Batman.
Seen awesome costume recreations at Dragon Con too.
Rory
we would debate who we would marry in year 5 - great colour pix! cindy lauper version of theme on utube
ReplyDeleteOnly 16 episodes? That's crazy; I would've sworn there was more.
ReplyDeleteFor me, life was ALL ABOUT Wonder Woman, Isis, and ElectraWoman and DynaGirl! I tried to make li'l costumes for my Barbies, but they were rubbish; now that I know there's action figures for them out there (are there really? You're not playing with an old fangirl's heart?), I MUST hit the Googles and make sure my husband knows what I want for my upcoming birthday.
Legendary comic book/cartoon/comedy writer and LONGtime blogger Mark Evanier worked for/with Krofft for many years, and is still good friends with them and Judy Strangis. He recently wrote on his blog about how he actually rescued the EW and DG costumes from the trash heap!:
"..Back then, I was dating a lovely lady named Bridget Holloman who worked as a dancer on Krofft shows and other programs, and one day I mentioned to her that the Kroffts’ wardrobe department was throwing out a lot of old outfits that seemed to be no longer needed. She asked me to see if I could snag any that she’d worn…so one day when no one was looking, I slipped over to that part of the building and rooted around in a dumpster. In it, I found a couple items with Bridget’s name on the tags but I also found one each of the old ElectraWoman and Dynagirl costumes. Deidre and Judy believed there were two Dynagirl suits made and three ElectraWoman outfits. Initially, two of each were fashioned — one to wear, one for a backup — but then there was an episode that called for an evil twin of ElectraWoman. That was an easy special effect: They just made an extra costume and had Deidre Hall’s twin sister wear it.
I took the ElectraWoman and Dynagirl suits home and for years, they were in my closet. Every so often, I’d show them to friends and complain they didn’t quite fit me. Actually, the ElectraWoman suit fit Bridget perfectly. She was quite a sensation once when she wore it to a Halloween party. Eventually, I gave the Dynagirl suit to Judy. The ElectraWoman suit is now part of a travelling museum of artifacts from children’s television..."
It delights me to no end that DynaGirl owns her old costume. :)
Your Pal,
Storm the Klingon Broad
I was too young to catch the Kroft shows in their original Saturday morning broadcasts (except Lost Saucer, which I dimly recall watching on the little b&w TV in my room), but I did watch them regularly before and after school when they were packaged together in various lineups for syndication in the late '70s. My crush was on the female Bugaloo with the alluring Brit accent.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a lot of Bugaloos but she is adorable!
Delete@Christiopher Can we PLEASE get a pic of the Electra Woman figure? Is this custom or were there actually licensed toys?
ReplyDeleteIt was a licensed figure offered a decade or so back; I bought it at a con. It was part of a "Krofft Superstars" line. Here's a link to the figure on Amazon:
DeleteKrofft Superstars Electra Woman Action Figure
Have you ever seen the "sequel" to this? There was a pilot episode (starring markie post -who is hopefully a potential future space babe from her stint as Joella in Buck Rogers) that aired around 2000. If so, what did you think of it?
ReplyDelete