Shazam is also used for the title of cartoons and comic book Captain Marvel is in because of a semi-convoluted lawsuit. Don't ask.
In addition to a live-action show in the early-70s, our favorite big red cheese also had his own cartoon, courtesy of the folks at Filmation.
Like so many Filmation cartoons, "Shazam!" takes the time to explain everything up front in the opening credits. Joining Billy in his crusade against evil is his twin sister Mary Batson and "lame newsboy Freddy Freeman."
While I wasn't impressed with Freddy, I do believe the "lame" reference was to a physical condition. Since I had never heard the word used that way before, I thought it was pretty funny when I was little.
Mary Batson uses the same magic word as Billy, but Freddy Freeman utters the name of his hero - Captain Marvel - to summon his powers.
This was a pretty decent cartoon for the Marvel Family. Even Uncle Dudley and Mr. Tawky Tawny (the talking tiger) are around for the fun.
The creators also made good use of the Marvel Family's rogues gallery. In addition to the requisite Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind, we also got to see the Alligator Men.
Mr. Tawny's voice was supplied by Alan Oppenheimer, who used a similar voice on the He-Man cartoon for Cringer and Battlecat. Of course, this show was first, but it's nice to hear some familiar Filmation voices.
Still, a couple of things strike me as goofy.
For starters, during the opening credits, Mary invokes her Shazam powers to lift a chair while she's vacuuming. I'm not a rabid feminist or anything, but come on...
And while I respect the nod to classic Captain Marvel artist C.C. Beck, it's a little jarring when Mary and Freddy are in the traditional Filmation style and Billy's not.
But really, there were some nice stories here - a little more deep than plotlines on "The Superfriends."
Some of the stories are credited to Paul Dini, who before working on "Batman: The Animated Series" also worked on "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."
In the episode "The Incredible Shrinking City," written by Dini, an early establishing shot pans past two kids in a park. The kids look an awful lot like Bobby and Cindy Brady from their incarnations on the Filmation show "The Brady Kids."
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