This is the fourth and final part of a miniseries of articles that started with Filmation’s adaptation of DC Comics’ Shazam!, followed by its spinoff series Isis, then last week’s Tarzan and the Super 7, which included the segment Freedom Force, which included an animated version of Isis. Lastly, I will examine The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!
Like the other three, this was created by Filmation. While Shazam! and Isis were live-action, and most of Tarzan and the Super 7 was mostly animated, The Kid Super Power Hour mixed both. This was another anthology show, mainly comprised of two cartoons, the original Hero High and an animated version of Shazam! But the hour-long show also featured bumpers and musical numbers featuring live-action versions of the main characters from Hero High. In a lot of ways, this was a throwback to Filmation’s earlier Archie cartoons which also featured songs performed by a live-action band.
Check it out below:
Speaking of Archie, there are conflicting reports that Hero High was intended to be an updated, superpowered version of Archie and the Riverdale Gang. However, some close to the production of this series have denied that. (However, Rex Ruthless bears an uncanny resemblance to Reggie Mantle from the Archie comics.)
There were 38 total episodes produced, which aired on NBC in 1981-82. There were 12 Shazam! shorts and 26 Hero High shorts.
The Kid Super Power Hour aired as part of a block on NBC Saturday mornings with other superhero shows, Space Stars and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. (Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t covered the latter in its own column yet!)
Shazam! was not based on the former Filmation live-action show, but the comics. In this version, teenager Billy Batson and his alter ego Captain Marvel (voiced by Burr Middleton), were accompanied by his sister, Mary Batson/Mary Marvel (Dawn Jeffory) and friend Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr. (Barry Gordon), as well as non-powered Uncle Dudley, who despite not having powers, operated as Uncle Marvel, and comic book characters like Mister Tawky Tawny, a humanoid talking tiger, and Dudley’s niece, Freckles. Among their foes were talking worm, Mister Mind, mad scientist, Doctor Sivana and his children Georgia and Sivana Jr., Black Adam, Aunt Minerva, and the android Mister Atom. Alan Oppenheimer voiced Uncle Dudley, Sivana, Tawky Tawny, and the wizard, Shazam. Norm Prescott served as narrator.
The live-action Hero High cast was comprised of Christopher Hensel as Captain California, Maylo McCaslin as Dirty Trixie, Rebecca Perle as Glorious Gal, Jere Fields as Misty Magic, Johnny Venocour as Punk Rock, John Berwick as Rex Ruthless, and Jim Greenleaf as Weather Man.
In the cartoon, Captain California had super strength, a blinding smile, and flew around on a flying surfboard. In the live-live action segments, he served as the band’s lead singer. Dirty Trixie and Rex Ruthless were the “bad” kids, although not flat-out evil. Both used gadgets to play pranks on their classmates but neither had inherent powers. Rex played the drums and Trixie played bass. Glorious Gal was Captain California’s love interest and had super strength, flight, and various mental abilities. She played the keyboards.
Misty Magic had– surprise!– magical abilities. It should be noted that her uncle was the chief of police and appeared frequently on the cartoon. She played the tambourine in the band. Punk Rock played loud rock music that could create earthquakes. His instrument of choice was the guitar. Finally, Weather Man controlled the weather and played keyboards and the trumpet.
The cartoon also featured the characters A.W.O.L. (Lou Scheimer) who could turn invisible, Brat-Man (Erika Scheimer) who threw super tantrums, Giggler, the school’s hyena mascot, Peter Penguin, who resembled Harpo Marx, teacher Miss Grimm (Linda Gary), and principal Mister Samson (Oppenheimer).
Similar to the way Captain Marvel and Isis crossed over to each other live-action shows, the characters from Hero High popped up on Shazam! and vice versa. Hero High also included a guest appearance from Isis, voiced by Linda Gary.
Hero High was released on DVD in 2007, but unfortunately, it only includes a few of the live-action segments. However, it does include a lot of extras including commentary by some of the actors.
Shazam! was released on VHS but has not surfaced on DVD or BluRay at this time.
Do you remember this series? Were you a fan?
