{"id":22525,"date":"2019-12-17T16:27:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T00:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=22525"},"modified":"2021-02-24T14:53:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T22:53:01","slug":"review-shazam-series-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2019\/12\/review-shazam-series-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Shazam!: The Complete Live Action Series Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Shazam: The Complete Live Action Series<\/em><\/strong> is everything that is so wrong and yet so right about the 1970s and the state of the superhero genre which at that juncture consisted of cheap production and campy humor; still, this was a fun show to watch all things considered.<\/p>\n

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Shazam!: The Complete Live Action Series
\n<\/span>\u2014 Warner Archive Collection \u2014<\/span>
\n(1974-76)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Family, Adventure, Fantasy<\/span>
\nWarner Bros. | NR \u2013 635 min. \u2013 $34.99 | October 8, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 12\/17\/2019 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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SERIES INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Writer(s): <\/strong>C.C. Beck, Bill Parker (created by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Michael Gray, Les Tremayne, Jackson Bostwick, John Davey<\/span><\/p>\n
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DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>None
\nSlip Cover: <\/strong>No
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>No
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>4<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Full Frame 1.33
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH
\nCodecs: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/span><\/p>\n
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THE SERIES \u2014 3.0\/5<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Series Synopsis: <\/strong>By uttering a single magic word, young Billy Batson (MICHAEL GRAY) transforms himself into the world\u2019s mightiest mortal: Captain Marvel (JACKSON BOSTWICK \u2013 Season 1; JOHN DAVEY \u2013 Season 2 and 3). That word is created from the first letters of the names of the six elders who train Billy with their special gifts \u2013 Solomon, wisdom; Hercules, strength; Atlas, stamina; Zeus, power; Achilles, courage; and Mercury, speed: SHAZAM!<\/p>\n

Quick Hit Review: <\/strong>With the release and modest theatrical success of the Shazam<\/em> feature film, it was nice to see Warner Brothers, via their MOD Archive Collection, put out this cheesy series that ran for three seasons, from 1974 through 1976. Having never seen this before, though I have heard of it, I went in expecting something along the lines of the 1960s Batman<\/em> series and what I got instead was, well, honestly pretty bad.<\/p>\n

However, I would be lying if I didn\u2019t say it was also quite hilarious and certainly in that so good it\u2019s bad category, mostly because of how earnest especially when it came to the cast. I can only imagine how today\u2019s audiences used to quality superhero movies would react, but if you can appreciate its 1970s goofiness, to go along with its hilariously cheap production values (even 1960s Batman<\/em> looked better, and that is saying something).<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This four-disc release comes housed in an HD keep case. No features were included.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 4.0\/5, AUDIO \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Warner Bros., through the Archive Collection, releases Shazam<\/em><\/strong> onto Blu-ray where it\u2019s presented in its originally televised full frame 1.33 aspect ratio and although yes it certainly looks like a show straight out of the 1970s, the picture itself still looks quite good. Detail is relatively sharp and colors generally appear to be in keeping with the era. There is some minor flaws with some specs but otherwise this is an impressive looking picture from the Warner Archive Collection.<\/p>\n

Each episode comes accompanied with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track which does sound perfectly fine, especially when you consider this aired in the 70s when television audio wasn\u2019t exactly top-of-the-line. Dialogue does come through with good clarity as does the cheap score and sound effects.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Shazam: The Complete Live Action Series<\/em><\/strong> is everything that is so wrong and yet so right about 1970s television and the state of the superhero genre which at that juncture consisted of cheap production and campy humor before going bigger budget with 1978\u2019s Superman: The Movie<\/em> and a decade later with Batman<\/em> in 1989. Still, this was a fun show to watch all things considered and nice to see it get the high-def treatment through the Warner Archive Collection.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Shazam: The Complete Live Action Series is everything that is so wrong and yet so right about the 1970s and the state of the superhero genre which at that juncture consisted of cheap production and campy humor; still, this was a fun show to watch all things considered.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[347,492,2887],"class_list":["post-22525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-dc-comics","tag-shazam","tag-warner-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22525"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25559,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22525\/revisions\/25559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}