Retro Saturday Morning: The Secrets of Isis (1975/76)(CBS)


"The Secrets of Isis" was a live-action, CBS television series that featured the adventures of Isis. It was produced by Filmation in the 1970's originally titled Isis that appeared during the Saturday morning cartoon lineup. 

The show was later paired with the Shazam! series and it was called "The Shazam/Isis Hour." The Secrets of Isis also aired in various countries around the world.


Isis starred Joanna Cameron as Andrea Thomas, a science teacher at Larkspur High School who found an ancient mystical gold amulet, the "Tutmose amulet," on an archeological dig in Egypt. The Isiac amulet, which resembled the headdress of Hathor, had originally belonged to Queen Hatshepsut, an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh. The amulet gave the wearer (specifically, Hatshepsut and her descendants, of which Andrea was one) "the powers of the animals and the elements," which would be bestowed upon such wearer by the goddess Isis whenever it was exposed to the sun and her name invoked. Whenever Isis was needed, Andrea would reveal the Isiac amulet (which she wore as an everyday necklace) and recite an incantation—"Oh mighty Isis"—transforming her into the goddess/super-heroine.

The series co-starred Brian Cutler as fellow teacher Rick Mason who acted as Andrea's potential love interest, Joanna Pang as student Cindy Lee, and Albert Reed as Dr. Barnes, the school principal. In Season 2, Ronalda Douglas joined the cast as Rennie Carol, replacing the Cindy character. Guest stars on the show included Mike Lookinland, Debralee Scott, Leigh McCloskey, Phil Bruns, Mark Lambert, Steven Paul, Thomas Carter, Colleen Camp, Johnny Doran, William Engesser, Laurette Spang, Tommy Norden, Victor Sen Yung, Russ Marin and Christopher Norris. - Source


The series was part of Filmation's block of live-action programming in The '70s. After the show's brief run, Isis appeared as one of the main characters of "Freedom Force", a segment on Filmation's Tarzan and the Super 7, and again in a guest role in an episode of Hero High.

 Decades later, DC revived the character, in reimagined form, as part of mainstream DC continuity as part of the Shazam franchise. In 2017, another version of the character, named Zari Tomaz, joined Legends of Tomorrow. In one episode, "Phone Home", Zari briefly wears a costume based upon that worn by Joanna Cameron, and throughout the show she wears an amulet similar in appearance to the one worn by Cameron. - Source


Secrets of Isis was the first weekly American live-action television series starring a female superhero (predating the weekly debuts of both Wonder Woman (TV series) and The Bionic Woman; the character Batgirl had been a regular on the final season of the 1960's series Batman, but was not the lead character). - Source


Trivia:

According to executive producer Lou Scheimer, the series was created because Filmation wanted a female counterpart to Captain Marvel. They wanted to own the character outright, rather than paying National Periodicals to license Mary Marvel.

In interviews, JoAnna Cameron has said that she hated working with the black raven, and asked the producers several times if they could write him out of the script.

Series developer Marc Richards originally envisioned the show as mystery solving adventures, with the main characters helping to solve crimes using forensics and Isis saving the day and helping them when needed. After a meeting with Allen Ducovny of CBS it was decided to make the main setting a high school and the principal characters teachers instead. - Source

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