ELECTRA WOMAN AND DYNA GIRL (2016)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

The second comedic incarnation of the nominally serious ELECTRA WOMAN AND DYNA GIRL would be a good way for the franchise to come to an end. This ELECTRA started out as a series of web-episodes starring two Youtube celebs, a series later seamlessly edited into a feature of eighty minutes for DVD release. It's far from being either the best or worst superhero spoof, but even being in the middle puts this one ahead of the pack.

Though I've no idea if the celeb-performers (Grace Helbeg and Hannah Hart as EW and DG respectively) or their uncredited writer(s) saw the unsold 2001 pilot via bootleg, there are are some interesting parallels, apart from the basic idea of playing the two lady heroes for yucks. First, in contrast to the 1976 show, EW and DG exist in a world where other super-crusaders are more prominent (though the pilot had silly versions of famous comics-heroes, while 2016 makes up its own roster). Second, though the 1976 version places the older Electra Woman in a senior position to the younger Dyna Girl, in both 2001 and 2016 Electra Woman is something of a goof-up and Dyna Girl has to keep an eye on her.

There's still little detail on how EW and DG became superheroines in the first place, but there's some odd background to their world this time. In some vague "Shadow War," the heroes either slew or exiled all the super-villains. This leaves the surviving heroes in the position of dogs fighting over scraps, the scraps being petty crooks. EW and DG, who don't have actual powers but only a few erratically-functioning science-gimmicks, occupy the lowest level of the dogpile.

But when the girls stop a crime and get new media attention, they get invited to L.A. by a big ad agency and turned into corporate shills, like most of the other costumed cut-ups. Particularly obnoxious is the super-powered "Captain Vaunt," though a lot of the other briefly seen heroes aren't any more impressive than EW and DG. The biggest threat to their continued existence is that EW begins to flake out and let DG be treated like a kid sidekick, so that the two quarrel and endanger their partnership. (One odd thing is that the ad agency begins to have the girls dress more conservatively than they had on their own-- which may be in line with what the performers wanted, given one joke about "unforgiving spandex.")

Then a real super-menace descends to Earth, an entity called "the Empress of Evil" (named for a villain from the '76 series). No one's seen her before, so she's evidently not one of the exiled evildoers. Yet she has power enough to blow away Captain Vaunt, thus cowing most of the super-doers-- except for one courageous pair. (Guess who.)

Unlike the '76 champions, who depended on electronic gadgets, this EW and DG can actually fight hand-to-hand, whereas the funny females from the pilot could barely do so. Fight choreography, costumes and even the very minor FX are much better than I would have expected for a web-series, though the producers may've saved by avoiding the expense of SAG actors-- so, no familiar faces here. Some jokes land and some don't. But I will say that the gross manner in which the good girls destroy the bad one is one I've never seen before, and may be the most "electra-fying" part of the film.