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THE HOLLYWOOD MACHINE |
The primary change that stood out was the character's origin story. Rather than merely being born with hyper-sensitive hearing, in this version She-Bat is instead "transformed by a dark force". Two other very serious changes made are the fact she has a daughter in this version, and her name was changed to Ericka. Oddly enough, of all the proposed changes made that we at Studio G were presented with, it was the name change that we contested the most.
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Though used very briefly, they did keep the striking red inner lining to her cape/cloak (the only element of her costume that survived the revision process). We also liked the hidden weapons she was given, such as the dagger and sonic grenade. While She-Bat has to date never appeared in print with either of these weapons, both are the kind of item she might carry in her pouches or hidden in boot flaps (Ok, maybe not the sonic grenade... not the smartest weapon for a person with hyper-hearing to use). One addition she was given for the video that was actually adopted to some extent in print afterwards is the bat tattoo on her back. In the full length fifteen-minute video this tattoo is seen to glow with the "dark force" power she was given, this aspect did not make the shift back to her comic incarnation. Sharp-eyed fans caught the use of this tattoo in one of the three so-called 'flip book' stories printed in the early 2000s. In the off-canon alternate stories being produced for MythComics.com She-Bat does not have the tattoo but instead the image appears as a patch on the back of her costume hidden beneath her cape.
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The process of moving a property like Murciélaga from one medium to another through an intermediate production agency often results in changes to the basic premise of the original concept. In some cases, serious changes occur. There are a lot of factors involved, but the end result is as often as not completely different from the original source material. Such is the case with She-Bat and the video that ended up being made. In an effort to be as sellable as possible to TV and movie execs representing both English and Spanish speaking media, the production agency took creative liberties with the character and her story.
Let's be honest: We here at Studio G and many of Murciélaga's longtime comic fans were a little less than happy with the nature and severity of the changes made for this video. Understanding that changes are inevitable when making a pitch to Hollywood, there were a few that really stood out as extreme. In the end, a really cool video was made which bore little resemblance to the original character.
That said, there was a lot we at Studio G actually did like about this take on her and the overall video. Despite the issues mentioned above the production quality was very good, the casting was good, and the overall finished product was very slick and professional. The fight scenes were fun, and Murciélaga was presented as a capable and strong heroine, which is paramount to us in any incarnation.