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Anyone know who owns the rights to SHAZAM & ISIS? (1 Viewer)

Jo_C

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I believe Hallmark Entertainment would own the rights now since they acquired the Filmation library, which would mean FHE/Artisan would own the video rights.
 

David Lambert

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It is Filmation. There's a great fan site here for all kinds of details. Hallmark's been trying to sell off the entire Filmation library as a whole unit for a while. That's why nothing from Filmation on DVD: no He-Man, no She-Ra, no Star Trek Animated, no Bravestarr, no Space Academy, no Jason of Star Command, no Tarzan & the Super 7. No Shazam or Isis.
But cracks are starting to appear. Time/Life has just put out some Fat Albert DVDs, and the classic He-Man cartoons have appeared on new VHS tapes that are attached as promos to toys promoting the new MotU series for Cartoon Network. Further, word from the last San Diego Comic Con is that both new and classic He-Man cartoons are heading for DVD next year (though noone said which studio is doing it).
So there's hope for Shazam/Isis...which I would love!
 

Jeff Pryor

Supporting Actor
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Mar 5, 2002
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It has? I've got to catch it! Haven't seen that for about 25 years! What's the TVLand timeslot? BTW, anyone know if Ark II is on DVD?:emoji_thumbsup:
 

Jefferson

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I had the same reaction to the Shazam reruns that I did to seeing the Krofft shows again...
"What happened? This was a great show when i was 8".
Well, truthfully, I still love these,
and would love to have them in my collection.
 

Jeffrey Gray

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Aug 11, 2001
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Actually, the rights to Shazam are owned by Warner Bros., who owns the character of Captain Marvel through DC Comics. Dunno about Isis, though...
 

Mark Edward Heuck

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Well, DC comics do own Captain Marvel, but I suspect it would still be Filmation or their inheritors that own the classic SHAZAM episodes. After all, DC owns Batman, but both Filmation and Hanna-Barbera made their own cartoons for the character, and as such would own their respective episodes.
Meanwhile, I think the animated STAR TREK and BRADY KIDS programs, though made by Filmation, are owned fully by Paramount. They were handled on the network and in syndication by Paramount. Filmation was merely the animation studio enlisted to make the show. Filmation also made some animated films for television that were commissioned by Warner Bros., and as such WB has released them on DVD. So some distinction should be made between what Filmation made and owns versus outside projects they merely made for other studios.
 

David Lambert

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Well, DC comics do own Captain Marvel, but I suspect it would still be Filmation or their inheritors that own the classic SHAZAM episodes.
Yes. DC, and therefore Warner, owns the rights to make NEW Shazam! features, but they don't automatically own the old ones. There's nothing, however, preventing them from buying out the rights from the current owners...if they're willing to put the money into it. Who knows?
 

Jeffrey Gray

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Well, if I was wrong about Shazam, I'm sorry...I guessed that WB owned it because the TV Land airings end with a Warner Bros. logo...
 

Dave Scarpa

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Eh no... I realized recently that TV Land is running Shazam Early Weekend mornings so I set the Tivo to see what Iremembered back in my Childhood, egads this show was awful. Iforgot he used totalk to Cartoon "Gods" it's all very 70's a pretty cheesy
 

Dave Scarpa

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I Gotta Believe Paramount will get around to the Animated trek Eventually, they won't let it sit out thhe DVD Technology. It's Been on Laser and VHS and Beta
 

Mark Edward Heuck

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Ooh, I don't have cable, so I did not know about there being WB logos on the SHAZAM reruns. Maybe they did assert intellectual property rights.
Come to think of it, live-action SHAZAM episodes have never been offered on tape here in America; only the animated ones got released by Family Home Entertainment way back when.
 

Wayne Bundrick

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A WB logo at the very end of a show on TV means WB has the rights to distribute the show on TV. It doesn't have to mean WB now owns the show or has the rights to distribute it on DVD. But they might.

But, if WB does own the show outright, I'd think they'd be somewhat less willing to let it be seen on TV Land, a Viacom channel.
 

David Lambert

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Wayne, your points are well-taken. To rebut them a tiny bit, however:

1) WB never previously had the rights to broadcast them. If they paid for those rights, what are the odds that those are the only rights they paid for?

2) As for letting the show be seen on a Viacom network, I can only respond by pointing out that The WB network has no big children's block of programming, nor does AOL/Time-Warner own a cable channel - that I can think of right now, anyway (am I missing the obvious?) - that would qualify. I mean, it's not a cartoon, so Cartoon Network is out, right?
 

Jason_Els

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Well I did watch one of the Shazam! episodes on TV last week and I have to say, it was awful. Not nearly good as I remembered it as a kid and, in fact, it took an effort not to turn it off. I can still watch Elektra Woman and Dyna Girl and enjoy the campiness of the whole thing but Shazam was just dreadful sorry to say.
 

Wayne Bundrick

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There's TBS and TNT. Or Turner South if you can get it. But yeah it's not a cartoon so maybe Cartoon Network is out, although Boomerang would be more appropriate since it's an old show. But Boomerang is also cartoons only.

The trend is that the media supermegaconglomerates have been becoming more territorial and keeping their properties to themselves. Since WB distributes the show for TV it's possible they also have the DVD rights. I was just saying that it isn't a given.
 

Paul_Scott

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i finally caught up with the TV land airings of this.
its on weekends at 1:30 am est.
its at the end of a 2 hour block that has 1 hour of Batman and 1 episode of Superman.
(missed the Shazam/Isis crossover last week though, Dammit!)

i'm sure the other two series will get some kind of tie-in release whenever their new theatrical properties are ready to go, but i would still very much like to see Shazam, and especially Isis.
yes the show is cheesy, but i watch it in the same spirit as something like Davey and Goliath (which i would also love to have in a boxed set).

someone at the begining of the thread mentioned that Artisan probably owned these, and i thought i heard recently that Paramount aquirred a lot of Artisans catalog.
Paramount also has a relationship with Viacom (which owns TV Land) doesn't it.
probably a real longshot of ever seeing a release of these if thats the case.
looks like i should invest in a dvd recorder with a hard drive.
 

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