Because the Siren never appeared in a Batman comic book, she was considered an "original" villain when she appeared on the show. The concept, however, that led to her creation was hardly brand-new. When writer Stanley Ralph Ross was asked to come up with a character to be portrayed by English actress Joan Collins, he turned to one of the classics of antiquity for inspiration.
The story was The Odyssey by Homer, which told of the journeys of Ulysses (a.k.a. Odysseus), as he tried to return from the Trojan War to his wife in Ithaca. Along the way, he encountered all sorts of obstacles, from the one-eyed giant Cyclops to Scylla, a six-headed monster and Charybdis, a devastating whirlpool.
Most importantly, though – at least for Ross and the show – Ulysses encountered a sorceress named Circe and a group of half-woman, half-bird creatures called sirens. Many of you probably are familiar with the legends. Circe was a sorceress who transformed men into pigs, as well as other animals, by her use of magic. The sirens used their seductive singing to lure sailors to their deaths on the rocky shores of the sirens' island (usually called Anthemoessa.)
Obviously, these mythological figures were the inspiration for the villainess Siren, a.k.a. Lorelei Circe. The name Lorelei was taken from a German legend, of a siren named Lorelei who lived on the banks of the Rhine River.
These myths are enduring ones, and the word “siren,” in particular, also has come to denote a beautiful, but dangerous, woman, besides its usual meaning as a device producing a shrill sound as a warning.
Ross, however, isn't the only writer who has been inspired by these myths.
Here's a look at some other "sirenic" characters in TV, movies and comics.
Mermaids sometimes are given the seductive vocal characteristics of sirens, but if we discussed them at length, this feature would be a lot longer. At least three of them, though, deserve mention here.
Two British movies – Miranda (1948) and Mad About Men (1954)---featured a seductive mermaid played by Glynis Johns, who went on to play Lady Penelope Peasoup on Batman. (Just imagine her running, errr, swimming around Londinium!)
On January 29, 1967, a little less than eight months before Lorelei Circe made her debut on Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea featured a mermaid that had sirenic qualities in the episode, “The Mermaid.” Just watching her appears to be enough for Captain Crane (David Hedison) to fall under her spell, and he smuggles her on board the submarine. Unfortunately, an interesting setup is squandered as the mermaid pretty much becomes an afterthought once one of the show’s typically ridiculous undersea monsters, apparently also enamored with her, also gets on board the sub and begins wreaking havoc. Too bad.
The mermaid was played by Diane Webber (an appropriate last name for a mermaid, wouldn't you say?) whose birth name was Diane Marguerite Empey. She was a model in the 1950s and 1960s and also appeared in a 1962 movie called Mermaids of Tiburon. Supposedly, she was cast specifically so that stock footage from the movie could be reused. Since producer Irwin Allen’s penchant for saving money was legendary, this probably is true.
Much more recently, the "supernatural soap opera," Passions, featured a mermaid named Siren from April through September 2006. Played by Brandi Burkhardt, she could put men under a love spell with a lilting siren song (actually voiced by Burkhardt, also a singer). This being a soap opera, however, this unambitious Siren seemed more interested in seducing men for the purposes of sex, as opposed to world domination.
There have been many sirenic characters in the comics, but there are three that stand out the most for the purposes of this essay.
In 1978, in Justice League of America #157, a strawberry-blonde beauty who calls herself The Siren hypnotizes all of the male members of the JLA, including Batman! Unlike my favorite Siren, she used a hypnotic gaze and/or kiss, rather than a note, to put men under her spell. In the story, she then orders them to destroy the female members of the JLA — Black Canary, Supergirl and Wonder Woman.
This Siren's control over the male JLAers is, however, not complete. During the fight, they subconsciously take it easy on their female counterparts, not going all out to hurt them. Eventually, Supergirl is able to break the Siren's mind control of Superman, and she and Supes soon are able to release all the other male JLAers from Siren's control.
Also from the DC universe, a green mermaid named Siren first appeared in 1999 in the Teen Titans series. As befits her name, she has the ability to hypnotize with her singing.
Marvel once introduced a villainess called Lullaby. Although she was not referred to as a siren, she did have a hypnotic voice. The character's real name was Felicity Hopkins Cross, and she was a suburban New Jersey babysitter who discovered that she literally could sing children to sleep, and also get them to obey her commands. Her evil plans are stopped by the brooding hero known as Sleepwalker.
The next character didn't sing and wasn't a mermaid, but she fits most of the other criteria, as a glance at the TV Guide episode description will demonstrate:
If that doesn't convince you, then just consider the character's name: Losira.
“An Enterprise landing party is stranded on a planet replete with inexplicable phenomena, and a lethal siren (Lee Meriwether) whose touch means instant death.”
LOrelei SIRen, A
Obviously, the writer and producers intended this to be a sirenic character.
The problem, unfortunately, was in the casting. Ms. Meriwether was/is a beautiful woman (she was Miss America in 1955, after all) and, by all accounts, a wonderful person. She had numerous roles in the science fiction/fantasy genre in the 1960s. She displayed poised intelligence as a lab-coated scientist in Time Tunnel, did a nice job as Catwoman's undercover alter-ego, Russian journalist Miss Kitka, in the 1966 Batman movie, and invited Bruce Wayne in for milk and cookies after a date as heiress Lisa Carson in a Batman episode.
Alluring, hypnotic sensuality is not this clean-cut beauty's forte, however, and that showed in this episode. Her seduction of the men is mechanical, almost robotic. While that might be considered fitting for a character who is a holographic android as was this one, it doesn't make for a satisfying episode or character, nor a believable threat. A true siren is supposed to be able to draw you toward the danger, as opposed to making you want to run away, as Losira does.
It takes more than great physical beauty to make an effective sirenic character. The actress must possess the attitude, as well.
As tremendous as Joan Collins' portrayal of humanitarian Edith Keeler on Star Trek was, I can't help but think of how amazing she could have been in this role. A missed opportunity, for sure.
Another missed opportunity occurred in 2002, although on this occasion, the script was more to blame. The talented Melinda Clarke, who certainly can project evil beauty (as she has demonstrated in The O.C. and in a recurring guest role as a dominatrix on CSI), was cast as a woman called The Siren on the show Charmed.
This siren was a demon, and as befit the formulaic nature of the show, it was up to the three witch sisters to vanquish her, which they eventually did. While Clarke gave a very good performance, the script's blatant botching of the sirenic myths made it unsatisfying, at least to me.
Writer Krista Vernoff came up with a siren who didn't sing to put men under her spell, but rather hummed. OK, I could live with that. After all, my favorite siren has a note that sounds like the Emergency Broadcast System. That, however, wasn't as bad as her overall goal, which was to go after only married men (sorry, sirens don't discriminate among men) and kiss them so that they would immolate from the inside. Huh?
She also then sets the house or apartment on fire so that the wife, also in a trance, will burn to death as well.
Again, huh? None of this is even close to any of the standard sirenic myths. The character's motivation apparently is that when she was human, she was burned to death for having an affair with a married man. Again, the only word I can think of is, “Huh?”
All of this complicated and unnecessary absurdity is unfortunate, because it marred an excellent performance by Ms. Clarke, who certainly has the beauty, commanding presence and the acting chops to pull off such a role. What a shame. Coincidentally, or perhaps not (!), Ms. Collins and Ms. Clarke co-hosted an E! special in 2004 called The 50 Most Wicked Women of Primetime, so viewers were treated to two sirens for the price of one.
A different slant on the myth occurred in 1999 on the Disney Channel show So Weird, which often was referred to as The X-Files for kids. In the episode, titled simply “Siren," a young singer named Callie Snow plays to packed houses in a small club every night. What nobody knows, other than the club's owner, is that she is a siren, and thus the men have no choice but to be enchanted by her singing.
The club’s owner is blackmailing the siren, forcing her to perform at her club nightly, and thus bringing in plenty of paying customers. If she refuses, the owner will reveal her secret. (Of course, Lorelei Circe could have told them there are quicker and easier ways for a siren to obtain money!)
This siren is a reluctant one, however, and laments how men, “love my song, not me. They don’t even know me.” It’s a very interesting characterization with a nice performance by actress Jewel Staite, perhaps best known for her role as Kaylee in the TV series Firefly and the movie Serenity. It’s also interesting to note that in one scene of “Siren,” she is wearing a shiny bracelet above her left elbow. A nod to Lorelei Circe, perhaps?
You can see a picture of Ms. Staite as the sirenic "Callie" by following this link: Jewel Staite.net.
A somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at sirens took place in 1997 on the show Xena, in which the title heroine and her sidekick Gabrielle somehow met up with Ulysses. They did not face all of the roadblocks he did, but they did have to avoid the sirens. They were portrayed as three beautiful women with long dark hair.
Their song had Ulysses on the bow of the ship, ready to jump into the water, but he was stopped when Xena began to sing (Lawless also is a singer). This was a variation on the myth in which Jason and the Argonauts were able to pass by the sirens safely because they were listening to the song of Orpheus, which was better than the sirens’ singing.
Twof insisted I at least mention two other sirens. First, Carol Miyaoka
played a siren in the May 2, 1978, episode of Patrick Duffy’s pre-Bobby Ewing TV series, The Man from Atlantis. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), this was Ms. Miyaoka's only role in front of the cameras. The series was notable for Victor (King Tut) Buono’s portrayal of the recurring villain Mr. Schubert, although this was one of the few stories in which he did not appear.
I recently had a chance to watch this episode. It was somewhat bizarre. Not only did this siren have a hypnotic note, she also had a destructive note that could cause severe headaches and a potentially fatal illness. Unfortunately, the producers didn't tell the makeup department sirens are supposed to be attractive, because young Ms. Miyaoka was saddled with a huge U-shaped unibrow that made her look more like a Klingon from Star Trek: The Next Generation than a seductive mermaid.
Finally, Sailor Aluminum Siren appeared in the final season of the Sailor Moon TV series, which has not been shown in the United States. She also appeared in the manga (Japanese comic books.)
Part of her name in Japanese means, “mermaid,” and like the sirens of Greek myth, her goal was to kill "sailors," Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts. Sailor Aluminum Siren played the Scarecrow’s henchwoman Deimos in the episode More Fearsome than You Know on this site.
Here's a link to a page on a British site about the Siren - Joan Collins As Siren AKA Lorelei Circe
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