Differences From Source Material
The television version of Shazam! departs notably from the comic book and radio versions of the character. The eponymous wizard Shazam does not appear in the series; teenage Billy instead speaks directly to the elders that empowered him via a communication device (who appear as animated characters: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.) Instead of being based in any one particular city, Billy (Michael Gray) and his traveling companion Mentor (Les Tremayne) traveled through 1970s California in an RV interacting with people in various towns they stop in each week. Whenever a potentially dangerous situation arose, Billy would become Captain Marvel and save the day. In an era before cell phones, Mentor would make phone calls from the RV on a type of mobile phone, asking a "mobile operator" to dial the number.
There were no supervillains and violence was downplayed. Billy, as both himself and as Captain Marvel, would help people out of difficult situations of their own making. As in many Filmation shows and cartoons, moral messages were contained within each episode, crystallized at the end of each episode by Billy learning a new moral lesson from either Mentor or his empowering elders.
As in other media, when he spoke the magic word "Shazam!", Billy is struck by a magic lightning bolt and is transformed via animation and special effects into the World's Mightiest Mortal, Captain Marvel.
Read more about this topic: Shazam! (TV Series)
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