Shazam!

Normally I’d post on Friday, December 27, but I was in the hospital for a tongue swelling, only released the next day, the second time since summer with the same problem.  As it was the following weekend I finally finished watching the Shazam! TV series which dates from 1974-76 on Saturday morning TV.   That finishes the trio:  “Shazam!” (movie which came out), the 1940s serial, and the 70s version.

Growing up in Montgomery Village, Gaithersburg, Maryland in the mid 1970s, I’d watch these, though no specific episode strikes me specific recollection.   I also had a large compendium of the original comics.  Recently I caught the movie version.

1940s.  A true serial, back to back episodes, though the final didn’t make any sense.  Special effects about what you’d expect for that that era.  Obviously I’m too young to remember this firsthand, nor did I read any of the Whiz! Paperback comics for the source material.  Watch it once and that’s it.  

1970s.  Three discs, 1974-76.  Billy Batson (Michael Gray) and The Mentor (Les Tremayne) drive around the L.A. area in a camper lecturing local youths about how to behave.  Captain Marvel is magically summoned by Billy Batson simply saying “Shazam!”, played initially by Jackson Bostwick, then by John Davey, not exactly a twin.   It turns out Bostwick was injured while filming, his doctor advised him to take a few days off, and the producers accused him of holding out for more money, fired him, and replaced him with Davey, cynically arguing – incorrectly – that the audience wouldn’t notice.  Bostwick argued otherwise and was proven right, even won the remainder of his payroll.  So much for teaching morals and ethics.

I grew up watching these as a kid.  They were teamed up with the “ISIS” show, back when Egyptian mythology was big.  As an adult I find the dialogue extremely limited in entertainment, as with the special effects.   To the extent we all grew up watching shows filmed in L.A. in the 70s we kind of grew up there without ever actually visiting there.  And somehow we survived the insipid dialogue. 

Movie.   Put out by the DC Comics people.   Apparently someone realized that Deadpool (Marvel) was getting all the laughs and the DC crowd needed someone willing to make a joke, so they co-opted Captain Marvel and voila!   Actually they did a fairly good job of it.   Zachary Levi plays Captain Marvel himself, whereas Mark Strong plays Dr. Sivana, the traditional evil mad scientist villain nemesis for Captain Marvel.