Shazam!

Back in the mid-70's, Captain Marvel became the sensation of superheroes on TV. It had mysticism, morale and emotion; even though, Captain Marvel never fought against a foe that could match his abilities. And the special effects were cheap, considering the time it was made.

The storyline was much more interesting. Billy Batson was privileged by receiving the combined powers of the Six Wise Immortals: Solomon, Hercules, Agamenon, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. Each one gave him respectively: wisdom, strength, courage, stamina, invulnerability, and speed. He only had to invoke the acrostic of their names: SHAZAM!, and he transformed himself into the Mightiest Mortal of Earth (with Superman-like powers, without the inconvenience of kryptonite).

Alongside him, was Mentor (who probably was a former receiver of the powers). Both of them traveled through the country, helping the ones in need.

The most interesting part came when Captain Marvel and Isis (a "sister" TV show) made cameos in their respective TV shows. It was nice to see both characters working together, and helping each other when the situation was getting out of hand.

"SHAZAM!!" With this desperately bleated out word, young Billy Batson (Gray) turns from a 25 year-old teenager to a bland, 30-something guy in a red body suit who saves horses lives and puts out school fires. (...a far cry from the loftier efforts of the comic book superhero who inspired this Saturday morning kid's show!) Pretty, youngish Gray (who owns one shirt) travels the globe (actually the same neighborhood over and over) in a Winnebago with his 'Mentor' (chickenhawk Tremayne sporting the worst comb-over in the history of TV.) While Tremayne dispenses sage advice with his formerly-velvet announcer voice, Gray learns lessons each week from an animated (actually one picture in which only the lips move!) array of 'elders'. These elders spout platitudes on how things should be and then, miraculously, Gray and Tremayne stumble across an example in which they can put their newfound knowledge to work. On cue, a danger comes about which is beyond Gray's ability to solve. This invariably means that Gray will have to call out "Shazam!" (an acronym of the elders' names) and Captain Marvel will appear in his place. Marvel was played by two men, neither of whom were able to get anywhere after this show, though the second one did do a large amount of TV guest roles. While they are handsome, they are hopelessly average in build and strength. The costume just sort of clings here and there, rather than being stretched across rippled muscles. The producers may as well have gotten the guy who played "Dennis the Menace's" dad to do the part. The poor guys are further humiliated by eternally cruddy flying effects in which the men lie on a board while a fan blows on them and stock footage of sky is projected behind them. More hilarious is watching Tremayne ALMOST keep his hands off Gray. He paws on the kid at every opportunity, telling him what to do, and his "this just in" vocal style adds a campy, homoerotic flavor to their scenes. Still, the show is irresistible and watching it brings back a lot of memories. The overbearing music is like a brainwashing device. Once one hears it again, it sticks in the mind and can't be excised. A flood of childhood memories involving jumping off a rock and landing face down in the dirt reappears. A delightful companion piece is it's spin-off "Isis".

What can I say. In South America the spanish version for this TV show was on the air till 1977 and it was great for me. I'll never forget the ending morals what show me about the good and bad things of life. I am not a fan of Captain Marvel but I think that Billy Batson and Mentor show me little pieces of the person that I am today. I must thank for that. Of course if I could see it again I'd be laughing about how Captain Marvel use to fly... but I couldn't ask for more on that time.

This show was good for what it was. Too bad Filmation couldn't afford to get the rights to Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. Instead, they created the Isis series. That would've been cool to see Billy & Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman, and Mentor and/or Uncle Dudley. Imagine seeing one or all of the Marvels transforming and on occasion working with Isis. Interesting points: John Davey (Captain Marvel #2) left show business in the early 1990's and is currently in the real estate field in northern California; Les Tremayne (Mentor) passed away in late December of 2003, Michael Gray (Billy Batson) is the owner, along with his wife, of a floral shop in L.A., Jackson Bostwick (Captain Marvel #1) is basically the only one still in the business. Joanna Cameron (Isis) left the business in the 1980's , was in the medical profession (a registered nurse) for awhile, and as of recently, is a hotel marketing manager in Hawaii. The show's budget per episode was $70,000 with a crew of about 80 people.

When I was a Kid I loved this show... I never missed an episode. Now I re-see it on Nick at night and realize I have been desensitised. After the show I used to run outside and over to my friends house and we would play super heros the rest of the day... Superman could still kick Shazams butt... However Billy Batson turning into Shazam was way cooler then clark kent running into a phone booth....