As
a character, Captain Marvel first appeared in Whiz Comics in 1940 as a kind of
competitor for D.C.’s popular Man of Steel, Superman.
However, in the mid-1970s, Filmation’ Studios’
Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott brought the superhero to life on TV for the
first time with the live-action Saturday morning series Shazam! (1974–1976).
The
title of the series -- which has caused
some confusion for a generation -- stems from an exclamation made every
week by adolescent hero Billy Batson.
When he shouts “Shazam!” aloud,
Billy is actually summoning a pantheon of Greek Gods and heroes, and calling for
their powers:
Solomon for wisdom.
Hercules for strength.
Atlas for constitution and
endurance.
Zeus for sheer power.
Achilles for bravery and skill.
and
Mercury for velocity or speed.
But
“Shazam!” as many folks mistakenly believe is not actually a character or
hero’s name or deesignation, only the utterance which transforms young Billy Batson into
the aforementioned Captain Marvel (Jackson Bostwick, John Davey).
In
the TV version of the comic book material, young Billy (Michael Gray) travels
around the United States in a Winnebago RV with an older teacher named, appropriately,
Mentor (Les Tremayne).
Batson
receives sage life advice from Mentor, but can also ask for the input of the Gods, a
Greek chorus, known as The Elders.
These
Elders are the aforementioned Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and
Mercury. In somewhat non-traditional
fashion, this Council of Elders is depicted in every episode in animated or cartoon
form. Billy (in live-action,
superimposed over the animation) stands before the assembled Elders in what
appears to be a cave of some type. This is either a revolutionary blending of
media for the time, or just a really bizarre, kooky 1970s touch.
The
stories featured on Shazam! countenance very little violence as we reckon it today,
and the villains are never the sort who poses much of a challenge to Captain Marvel,
who possesses great strength and the ability to fly. Instead, the stories focus on “kid” problems
of the day, like bullies and peer pressure. This makes it a superhero series, frankly, in a kind of minor league. Shazam! has a great deal of value as historical nostalgia, but we'll be seeing too, how the stories hold up.
Shazam ran for three seasons on CBS, and I’ll
be blogging the first season over the next several weeks. The first year consists of fourteen half-hour long episodes, and these episodes originally ran from September through December of
1974.
Next
Week: “The Joyriders.”
From your choice of photos, the show looks rather more impressive than I remembered. Shazam wasn't the first saturday morning show to mix live-action and animation together. Hanna Barbera's 1968 "The New Adventures of Huck Finn" put real actors into animated backgrounds. Many people probably remember that show because it was included in the "Banana Splits" show syndicated in the 1980's.
ReplyDeleteAs a boy in the 1970s, I watched the reruns of Hanna Barbera's 1968 "The New Adventures of Huck Finn" included in the "Banana Splits" show. The Huck Finn episodes were very entertaining because of the stories, animation and live-action combined.
ReplyDeleteSGB
I was really hooked on Captain Marvel when DC revived the character in the mid-70s. I was so psyched when the TV show was announced. Then I saw the first episode and my hopes for a great show were dashed. Where was the radio station? Where were the super villains? Instead, we get Billy Batson driving around with an old man in a Winnebago. I'm sure I was thinking the 70s equivalent of "Seriously? Seriously!" For that reason, I've blocked the show from my memory. I'll be interested to read your reviews and see what you think.
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