I was five when I first saw it. I have to say, it inspired my love of comic books that continues to this day. I even wrote a poem once about comics and growing up that remembers it.
I have not seen the show in a long time. Sadly, unlike many movies that surprise you at how well they hold up, this does not. It just is not very good. Jackson Bostwick cannot project to save his life. His voice sometimes is barely above a whisper.
I did get a kick out of the Elders. Apparently, when one is part of a group of immortal gods and heroes, what preoccupies you more than anything is whether some kid finishes high school. Using Captain Marvel for this is like using a cannon to kill flies.
I have always loved the character. I do hope someone sees the potential in him some day, and does a film, or animated feature, or new television show that treats him in the fashion he deserves. The best comic material featuring him was in the early Eighties, in World's Finest, drawn by the late great Don Newton, who did a modern interpretation of the character that was really striking. Back in the day (the 1940's), Marvel outsold Superman, and was the first superhero to get a Republic Serial, The Adventures of Captain Marvel, in 1941. At his best, he is a great character. As he is usually portrayed, Marvel is a poor man's Superman.
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blocherd
21 years ago
I agree with the two upper paragraphs! Seeing that the Elders are not just Gods of a single Mythology (Solomon-Bibical, Hercules-Greek, Atlas-Greek, Zeus-Greek, Acheilis [spelling]-Greek, Mercury-Roman); two of them were not Greek Gods but Titans. Solomon was from our continuity. If the elders were strickly consisted with Greek God, then who would replace Solomon, Atlas, Acheilies, and Mercury but still spell Shazam! I seriously don't think Ares would be appropriate to replace Atlas.
However, I don't know about Republic, but there were other Super-Heroes that had serials prior to "The Adventures of Captain Marvel"; The Spider (1938), Green Hornet (1939), Mandrake The Magician (1940).
Are you aware that "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" was originally going to be "The Adventures of Superman" and the producers decided to use the character of Captain Marvel instead because he was outselling Superman and figured that The Big Red Cheese was going to be the big thing of the future and The Man of Steel was going to be taking a back seat to Fawcett Comic's big hero. The scripted was slightly alter to fit Captain Marvel's characteristics.
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