Filmation,a studio that was well known for its cheesy animated cartoons and live-action programming was one of the best that came out of the mid-1960's all the way toward the late 1980's. In the mid-1960's Filmation was responsible for bringing a variety of shows based on superheroes(Superman,Batman,Aquaman and The Lone Ranger);movies based on novels(Isaac Asimov's Fantastic Voyage which was also based on the Oscar winning 1966 science fiction film of the same title not to mention bringing Jules Verne's classic novel Journey To The Center Of The Earth to television as well which was also based on the 1959 film of the same title and also bring Franklin Dixon's classic Hardy Boys novels to Saturday Morning television)and not to mention one of the biggest hits ever to grace Saturday Mornings---The Archies. During the 1970's,Filmation brought us "Sabrina,The Teenage Witch", "The Groovie Ghoulies","Fat Albert","Waldo Kitty",and the musical group "The Osmonds",not to mention animated versions of TV favorites as well including "Star Trek","Lassie","My Favorite Martian","The Brady Bunch"(The Brady Kids), and"Gilligan's Island",not to mention the live-action fiasco of "Shazam!","The Secrets Of Isis","Space Academy"(which featured Lost In Space's Jonathan Harris and Star Trek's James "Scotty" Doohan),"The Young Sentinels","Ark II","The Real Ghostbusters",and "Jason of Star Command". During the late 1970's Filmation resurrected several shows based on Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon not to mention new episodes featuring "Tarzan", "The Lone Ranger",and "The Legend of Zorro." This was also the same studio that gave us also from the 80's "He-Man and the Masters Of The Universe","She-Ra:Princess of Power",and "Bravestarr". Filmation also resurrected two of the biggest stars of Terrytoons(Mighty Mouse and Heckle And Jeckle)during the early part of the 1980's after a 20-year hiatus from Saturday Morning television.
However,Filmation wanted to try something big here which basically copied Hanna-Barbera and the Kroffts with their own live-action/animated children show and when it premiered on NBC-TV on September 12,1981,"The Kid Superpower Hour" was one of the biggest colossal failures ever conceived in the history of the Peacock network. The reason? This was an odd combination of live-action sketches(done live in front of an audience)and cartoons that featured a rock and roll septet whose members(actually actors)served as hosts and performers and provided the voices for the animated segment of "Hero High," which was a cartoon segment featuring the characters in their teenage years. This was a blatant attempt by Filmation of ripping off their most successful show "The Archies",but actually it was basically a copy-cat formula with one exception...the kids in this segment had superpowers. In all perspective,"The Kid Superpower Hour" was a carbon copy format of Hanna-Barbera's classic late-1960's children show "The Banana Splits",not to mention plagiarizing Sid and Marty Krofft's "The Krofft Supershow" in the process.
While "Hero High" was not that great,the one segment from this that was a winner featured the characters of Billy Batson and Captain Marvel in the animated version of "Shazam!" which was very faithful to the comics and followed the exact comic book formula. This segment featured the familiar Saturday Morning superhero(and was also based on Filmation's live-action version of the same title). Here Captain Marvel was joined by two other members of his superhero entourage "family" (Billy's sister Mary and Marvel's "foster child" Freddy)battle wrongdoers and save the world from the forces of evil. Scam artist Uncle Dudley tried to convince others that he was just as strong as his kin,while Tawky Tawny was a tiger who assisted Captain Marvel. "Shazam!" was based on the DC Comics characters and the only thing that was great during the entire segment of the show. Most kid viewers didn't care for the live-action part of the show and that was part of the problem especially with some of the actors who portrayed them.Unfortunably,some of the viewers who tuned into this fiasco of a disaster thought the show was neither "super" nor a "power hour" with the exception of the animated version of "Shazam!" After 13 episodes,the program was cancelled on September 11,1982. After this show ended after a season of poor ratings and lack of viewership,the show that replaced it went onward to become one of the second longest-running show of the 1980's and well into the early part of the 1990's...The Smurfs.
