When TVland began running the 1970s Saturday morning Shazam a year or so ago, I learned of this old serial.
I decided to compare the two and had not an ever-lovin' clue what to expect.
There are the usual cliffhanger bits, I thought.
Then the tied up Billy and Betty are in the shed about to be bombed.
"I'll call Captain Marvel on the radio," Betty says. "Captain Marvel! Captain Marvel!" We hear the planes overhead.
Bill struggles with the ropes. Unlike Betty, his mouth is gagged.
"Captain Marvel! Captain Marvel!" The planes fly nearer. Billy struggles more.
"CAPTAIN MARVEL! CAPTAIN MARVEL! CAPTAIN MARVEL!" Then it went to the cliffhanger. I had already stopped doing what I was doing on the computer and just stared.
It had to be murder for kids to watch these things, I concluded.
We are given a masked villain, and five likely suspects.
In truth, which one of them was the villain was irrelevant.
There was just so much more fascinating stuff to this series.
Betty is unconscious on a boat. Billy must save her. He stands holding her as the ship sinks. Cliffhanger.
Don't expect the obvious. Nothing worked out or played out anywhere near the way we might think it did.
The only thing that disappointed me after all this brilliance was the cheap folding down film bit when Shazam was changed back to Billy at the end.
But this must stand as one of the all-time top five most underrated programs ever.
Fascinating note.
Frank Coglan Jr, who played Billy Batson, would be working at a zoo in the seventies, and when it was learned Coglan was nearby, he got a cameo in an episode of the seventies series.
Too much fun.
I decided to compare the two and had not an ever-lovin' clue what to expect.
There are the usual cliffhanger bits, I thought.
Then the tied up Billy and Betty are in the shed about to be bombed.
"I'll call Captain Marvel on the radio," Betty says. "Captain Marvel! Captain Marvel!" We hear the planes overhead.
Bill struggles with the ropes. Unlike Betty, his mouth is gagged.
"Captain Marvel! Captain Marvel!" The planes fly nearer. Billy struggles more.
"CAPTAIN MARVEL! CAPTAIN MARVEL! CAPTAIN MARVEL!" Then it went to the cliffhanger. I had already stopped doing what I was doing on the computer and just stared.
It had to be murder for kids to watch these things, I concluded.
We are given a masked villain, and five likely suspects.
In truth, which one of them was the villain was irrelevant.
There was just so much more fascinating stuff to this series.
Betty is unconscious on a boat. Billy must save her. He stands holding her as the ship sinks. Cliffhanger.
Don't expect the obvious. Nothing worked out or played out anywhere near the way we might think it did.
The only thing that disappointed me after all this brilliance was the cheap folding down film bit when Shazam was changed back to Billy at the end.
But this must stand as one of the all-time top five most underrated programs ever.
Fascinating note.
Frank Coglan Jr, who played Billy Batson, would be working at a zoo in the seventies, and when it was learned Coglan was nearby, he got a cameo in an episode of the seventies series.
Too much fun.