Last week, I discussed CBS and Filmation’s Shazam! live-action series which ran for three seasons from 1974-76. In its second season, the show was so popular that a companion program was created– Isis (later known as The Secrets of Isis). In that series, Larkspur High School science teacher Andrea Thomas obtains the amulet of the Egyptian goddess Isis which grants her the power to control the elements by reciting rhyming incantations like “Oh Zephyr Winds which blow on high, lift me now so I can fly.”
Unlike Captain Marvel on Shazam!, Andrea Thomas was an adult, and star Joanna Cameron played both Andrea and Isis. To transform, she would simply say “Oh mighty Isis.”
Isis also starred Brian Cutler as Andrea’s colleague, Rick Mason, Joanna Pang as her student Cindy Lee, and Albert Reed as the school’s principal, Dr. Barnes. In the second season, Pang was replaced by Ronalda Douglas as Rennie Carol. Isis was also accompanied by the raven Tut.
Like Shazam!, Isis revolved around the title character coming to the rescue of teens in danger, usually because they made poor choices. And there is typically a moral at the end. However, the series ended with a two-part installment “Now You See Me…” and “…Now You Don’t,” which took a more straightforward action approach and eschewed the morals.
These two episodes revealed that Rick had secretly been working for the government the whole time and introduced a trio of teen secret agents The Super-Sleuths. This was intended as a backdoor pilot for a Super-Sleuths TV series that never came to fruition.
While in a lot of ways, Shazam! and Isis were like live-action Saturday morning versions of Superman and Wonder Woman. Both shows arrived before the Superman movie or the Wonder Woman TV show which arrived in 1978. (But the Man of Steel and the Amazing Amazon were stars of the animated Super Friends, which aired during the same years as Shazam! and Isis.)
There were 15 episodes of the first season of Isis and seven of the second. Three episodes guest-starred John Davey as Captain Marvel, and Cameron appeared in three episodes of Shazam! in return. The show was rerun as The Secrets of Isis in later years.
DC Comics published a tie-in Isis comic book, but it was licensed, so DC didn’t have the rights to the character. However, in more recent years, the publisher has introduced a variation of the character with the alter ego Adrianna Tomaz.
In the ’70s, there were regulations that prevented a lot of licensing for children’s TV shows, but Isis at least got an action figure/doll courtesy of Mego.
Filmation revisited Isis in animation. She was the leader of the Freedom Force, a segment of the anthology series Tarzan and the Super Seven. There were five shorts created for that series, with Diane Pershing providing her voice. Pershing has provided the voice of Poison Ivy in various projects over the years.
The animated Isis later popped up in a segment of Hero High, part of another anthology series, The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!. Linda Gary (Teela on Masters of the Universe, and many others) provided her voice at that time. As you can tell by the title, this was another Filmation-created Shazam! series, but this time animated.
You can see the animated version of Isis from Freedom Force below:
The Secrets of Isis, Freedom Force, and Hero High were all released on DVD in the 2000s by BCI Eclipse, but that company went out of business and the DVDs are now out of print. Universal Pictures now owns the rights to the Filmation library, so there is a chance that these shows could resurface at some point in the future.
Filmation no longer exists, so there is no chance that this version of Isis will ever soar again. But like I said, DC created its own variation with Adrianna Tomaz. (And since the original Isis was an Egyptian goddess– not copyrighted by any entity– anyone can make a character with that name.)
Tala Ashe plays a version of Adrianna Tomaz on The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, but her name was changed to Zari Tomaz, and now Zari Tarazi. Sarah Shahi will play Adrianna Tomaz in the live-action Black Adam movie, opposite Dwayne Johnson in the title role. That picture is now filming and will be released on July 29, 2022.
Do you recall Isis (or her secrets)? Were you a fan?
