I would love to own all of the episodes of Shazam! on DVD. I never saw this show until I saw 2 episodes of this show last month on TV Land & now I like this show.
i found some contact info for the new rights holders of The Secrets Of Isis, in case anyone, besides me, is interested in requesting that (or anything else from the filmation library)
Well probably not but it's definately a series I'd pass on. I have fond memories from my childhood and I want to keep them thee. After viewing the series on TV Land it does not hold up
Ooooooooh another classic I'd pick up in a heartbeat! As much as I want Shazam! and Isis, I'd love to have Electra Woman and Dyna Girl on DVD! That show was like a female version of the 1966 version of Batman (which I'd also love to have)!
It was a Filmation production ... what were you expecting?
Seriously, tho ... they did that with "He-Man" as well (There was a little values lesson tacked onto the end of every episode -- a little bone for the Legion Of Decency, perhaps? )
I once read an interview with Lawrence DiTillio, one of the writers of "He-Man". He said that he always found it somewhat awkward to include that moral lesson in every episode (A lot of episodes weren't intended to be anything more than pure entertainment -- but he somehow had to tie in moral lessons about drugs, cheating, the importance of family, what-have-you.)
OT: "He-Man" had some sci-fi heavy hitters and legends-to-be on the writing staff: D.C. Fontana (wrote for Star Trek), J. Michael Straczynski (went on to create Babylon 5), and Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series) in addition to DiTillio (who later wrote for Babylon 5 along with JMS.)
There's so much more to the Filmation library but none have gotten released. Shows like Batman, Superman, Aquaman, The Archies, The Groovie Ghoolies, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, etc. I wish someone would get on the ball and release these. They're classics from the 70s!
Patience. Many of these will happen; it's just a matter of time!
The ones I would be most concerned about art the ones from DC Comics characters, because Warner would probably have to approve of those releases, since they own the characters. That includes the Batman/Superman/Aquaman cartoons as well as the Shazam! live-action. We'll just have to wait and see on those.
Similarly The Archies, Sabrina, and any others that are from the Harvey Comics library might also need additional licensing.
From what I can see, though, shows like Jason of Star Command, Space Academy, Ark II, and even Isis could be released through any company that was willing to strike the right deal with Entertainment Rights U.K.
Personally, I want 'em all (especially Shazam/Isis/Space Acedemy/JasonOSC)!
I believe in many cases the copyright holders own the shows outright, Filmation merely having worked for-hire in their production. We know Paramount owns star trek...
Whether these owners actually have posession of the assets is another matter.
Yes, the DC Comics material (at least) was all "licenced" product, which is the reason Filmation decided to create "Isis" instead of licencing the Mary Marvel character (they wanted to have a female counterpart to Captain Marvel, but desired to have a property that they "owned" 100%.
Warner Bros. has the DC material, as evidenced by the TV Land showings of "Shazam" and those "Super Power Collection" videotapes of the old '60s animated Batman/Superman/Aquaman/Superboy cartoons.
Well, The Archies & Sabrina, The Teenage Witch do have a DVD release but unfortuntely, they are a compilation disc which contains only a few episodes. Archies has one DVD & Sabrina has one DVD.
tvshowsondvd.com reported that Warner's "WONDER WOMAN": SEASON 3 will include the premiere episode of "SHAZAM!" as a bonus. Maybe there is hope for the series on DVD. There were only 28 half-hour episodes, so the whole series could be a single release.
Since "SHAZAM" had a few cross-over episodes with "ISIS", it would be nice to see it combined with the complete "ISIS" series as a "double-feature" release. "ISIS" had only 22 half-hour episodes, so the two could be released as a single set.
maybe Entertainment Rights, whom i am assuming hold the rights to Isis would be willing to licence the show to WB...if so, i would love to see WB release Isis (as well as Shazam).
conversly, i hope that the presence of Isis in those episodes wouldn't pose any rights problems in having them included with the rest of the Shaz eps.
i would buy Shazam. but i would really LOVE to be able to buy Isis.
What surprised me when I caught an episode of Shazam! on TV Land was how cheap it looked, as if it had been shot on 16mm film. I always remembered it as being much more slick, but then, everything from childhood seems that way.
I wonder if the original negatives exist, and if the show would be remastered for DVD.
I would guess that of all of the Filmation live-action shows, Shazam! probably exists in the best condition, because I have a feeling that WB probably took better care of the materials than all of the succeeding owners of the rest of the live-action stuff.
Remastered? I would doubt it, but if the quality would be at least as good as what was shown on TV Land, I'd be happy. I don't think they'd throw a whole lot of money at this show which has, shall we say, limited appeal.
To my knowledge, until the TV Land airings, the show hadn't been broadcast since they were last on CBS around 1980, so perhaps they've already been remastered. They almost certainly would've had to, at least, been transferred to a modern video broadcasting format, as I think CBS always ran them from film prints rather than tape and TV Land would certainly have had to broadcast from tape rather than a film print.
P.S. for all you Shazam! fans out there, click on my "home" link above and check out my Shazam! fan site, which includes an interview with Captain Marvel himself: Jackson Bostwick!
me too! i'm finally really disappointed i will be missing the upcoming chat. most of the Warner stuff i'm eager to have, i am content to wait for, because i know they have been pushing stuff out at a pretty good clip the last couple years. however i never even considered the possibility that Shazam was anywhere close to their consciousness. this is something i would defintiely like to know more about-