A few weeks ago I received an invitation to participate in a blogathon, launched by The Classic Film and TV Café, on the topic of classic TV sidekicks. The first character that came to my mind was Dyna Girl, played by Judy Strangis.
What does that say about me? Maybe we shouldn’t go there.
I could frame this piece within some high-falutin’ analysis of the impact of Saturday morning children’s television on the youth of the 1970s. Or discuss the evolution of live-action programming in timeslots traditionally associated with animation. Or examine Electra Woman and Dyna Girl as a pioneering effort in the superhero genre decades before its current mainstream acceptance.
All of these would be acceptable justifications for writing about Dyna Girl. But she was probably my first choice because she was just so incredibly hot.
Is that crude? Is that sexist? Does it matter that I’m actually expressing the thoughts of my 12 year-old self? Or should that evidence be thrown out because I still think like my 12 year-old self most of the time?
I make no apologies. Women over 50 still go to Donny Osmond concerts because they remember the first time they heard “Puppy Love.” Their musical tastes have matured since then, but we never fully outgrow our early celebrity crushes. I am 51 years old and I still want to take Judy Strangis out for an ice cream soda.
One also has to admire the pop culture prominence of a Saturday morning series that consists of just eight half-hour episodes, that is still so fondly recalled 40 years later.
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl was Sid & Marty Krofft’s spin on the 1960s Batman series. You had a hero and a sidekick with dual identities. ElectraBase was their Batcave. Frank Heflin (wonderfully played by gruff but lovable Norman Alden) was a more technologically adept Alfred. They had a cool car and they fought colorful, outrageous villains with names like the Empress of Evil and The Pharaoh. Dyna Girl’s exclamations of “Electra Wow!” among others were a variation on Robin’s “Holy” this and “Holy” that.
Dyna Girl was my favorite part of the series. While Deidre Hall as Electra Woman was also beautiful, and wore spandex in a way that could jump-start a young man’s puberty, there was a hesitation around the edges of her performance. Every so often you could tell she really didn’t want to be on such a goofy show.
Not so with Judy Strangis, who embraced the crazy with the full-throttle fervor of someone having the time of her life. To see that commitment at its apex, check out “Ali Baba,” the episode in which Dyna Girl is drugged and turns evil, which in this case manifested itself visually through a change in lipstick shade. As she explores the dark side of the peppy crimefighter, Strangis takes “over the top” to levels that even Krofft shows rarely achieve.
Which is not to say she wasn’t a good actress. Prior to her superhero days Strangis was memorable and if possible even more beautiful as earnest high school student Helen Loomis on Room 222. Michael Constantine played the principal on that series, and then popped up in two episodes of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl as a villain called The Sorcerer. I often wondered what the discussions were like between the reunited castmates. They must have taken one look at each other in their respective costumes and thought, “Can you believe this?”
Even if they could, I wonder if either of them thought anyone would still be celebrating that silly little show in 2016.
In 1995, when Nick at Nite launched a Krofft marathon under the title “Pufapalooza,” two episodes of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl were featured, elevating the short-lived series to the first echelon of Krofft properties alongside HR Pufnstuf and Land of the Lost.
The concept was revived in a more adult-oriented 2001 pilot starring Markie Post and Anne Stedman. It never went anywhere, but it’s pretty funny and available on YouTube. Another reboot will be out later this year.
I wish them well but I doubt this is the kind of lightning that is easily bottled a second time. There is only one Dyna Girl for me.
The TV Sidekick Blogathon is hosted by the Classic Film & TV Cafe. Please check out the rest of the wonderful entries by clicking here.