October is Spookey Month: Cindy Lee's scary alien encounter!

What is Halloween without creepy aliens from space?  My close friend, the late Orson Welles, forever linked the holiday to space invasions with his infamous 1938 radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.  Orson (or Mr. Welles, as we used to call him during our monthly poker games/discussions of magic and illusion) once confided in me-- while we were in Morocco shooting some footage for his proposed film version of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days-- the panicked public reaction gave him quite a thrill and his supposedly chagrined mea culpa the next day was largely tongue-in-cheek. 

Welles was always fond of hoaxes and trickery (witness his F For Fake), so it's quite fitting to present once again a little look at the very first episode of that ever-popular Saturday morning children's show Isis, "The Lights of Mystery Mountain.  This one features spooky UFOs, or as they're popularly known, "flying saucers."  Just in time for Halloween and a million re-broadcasts of War of the Worlds!

This particularly Isis installment, which aired on the comfortably non-Halloween date of September 6, 1975, probably comes closest to eliciting anything approaching genuine fright, or at least menace, than any of the others.  While a later Isis would feature an Old West ghost town-- but nary a ghost-- this program was not given to horror or even weird themes.  Plots usually involved more down-to-earth elements such as troubled students, automobile safety, horseback riding and SCUBA safety.

Unlike the writer of this blog, the Isis folk don't waste any time getting down to business.  In the opening scene, Larkspur High School's star student Cindy Lee displays rather alarming photographic evidence of eerie lights of unknown origin.  She took them herself on a hiking trip and breathlessly relates the story to school principal Dr. Barnes and her favorite teachers Andrea Thomas and Rick Mason.  After a discussion of the UFO phenomenon during which Mason scoffs at the idea of alien visitation and both Barnes and Thomas remind him they're not necessarily talking about interstellar spacecraft but simply the more general term "unidentified flying objects."  But it's Thomas who ties the lights to the strange disappearances of two campers and a tourist.

His curiosity piqued, Dr. Barnes asks the two teachers to accompany Cindy back to the rustic mountain town of Mountain Park adjacent to the aptly named Mystery Mountain and there undertake a thorough investigation.  As scientists and educators and proponents of rationalism, Thomas and Mason demand empirical evidence before accepting the rather outrageous hypothesis suggested by the wild stories and rumors surrounding the recent incidents.  Extraordinary claims, they declare, require extraordinary proof.  Well, they don't declare this so much as they kind of hint at it.  With Cindy Lee acting as their more open-minded foil, the group journeys up the mountain, quite like the trio led by the character Professor Armitage in H.P. Lovecraft's 1929 tale "The Dunwich Horror." 

Armitage and company soon reach the inescapable conclusion there are indeed supernatural forces at work and engage them in a life-or-death struggle to prevent their entering our world or dragging it into their own dimension to serve their unspeakable ends.  The events recounted in "Lights" are their Saturday morning analogue.  For once atop Mystery Mountain, Cindy Lee experiences a moment of terror so stark I feel compelled, as if by the memory of my late friend Mr. Welles, to present here.  Witness then, the most shocking events of "Lights" as they unfold in front of Cindy Lee's very eyes!

Cindy Lee remembers her camera is still in the car...

The mysterious lights over the mountain.

Gotta snap some photos!

Oh no!  I'm out of film!

The frightening alien tones continue.

Ms. Thomas!  Mr. Mason!  Where are you?

I need you!

A few moments later and Thomas and Mason sense something amiss.  They parked the cars only a few yards away.  Cindy should have returned by now.  The teachers clamber down the mountain trail after her only to find...

No one.  No Cindy Lee.  A moment later, Thomas comes across this...

It's just like the burned spots found at sites where the campers and tourist disappeared.  Have bizarre, inhuman beings from another world spirited Cindy Lee away?  Kind of...

It looks as if this is a job for...

Isis eventually presents a prosaic explanation for all these strange happenings, but not before our favorite goddess swoops to the rescue and uses her magic to give a mean old real estate baron a fright of his own.  Of course, one might expect a universe that allows for the existence of magic and ancient Egyptian goddesses living dual lives entwined with 20th century pedagogues to also allow for the existence of life on other planets, and to posit this life as a regular, if secretive, visitor to our own humble world.  Indeed, Isis does leave open this very possibility even while suggesting what we must chiefly concern ourselves with are terrestrial threats-- corrupt old men who would employ fun-loving pranksters to help them achieve nefarious goals.  And scare nice kids like Cindy Lee.

A typical afternoon at Larkspur High...

There it is-- my old alma mater, Larkspur High!  Just as I remembered it.  And what about Ms. Thomas and Mr. Mason, the hardest working science teachers in the district, if not the entire state?  Do they still work there?

Hey, they do.  Look at them.  Busy as can be.  They're the reason Larkspur High leads the state in science scores and achievement awards.  But what about their favorite student, Cindy Lee?  What's she doing while these two teachers knock themselves out preparing lesson plans?

Cindy Lee loves bike races!

Saving Private Doberman

It's hard to imagine now, but there once was a time when I lived in ignorance of Pvt. Doberman. Those foolish days ended when Eddie Fitzgerald posted a bunch of comically ugly pics on his wonderfully fun blog, Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner.

A Pvt. Doberman comic book? Who is Pvt. Doberman, I thought, and why does he deserve a comic book (with a photo cover, no less)? Pvt. Doberman... dare I follow this thread, no matter what horrors I might uncover? No matter that it might lead to a nightmarish re-evaluation of my worldview?  According Nietsche, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.  According to Pvt. Doberman, "Aw, Sarge."


This is the image that started it all.
One of my life's goals is to own this comic.
That is one aged private. Maurice
Gosfield was 42 when he started playing
this character. He's 100 now. And dead.

Actually, it just led to my finding out DC published eleven issues of a series based on a supporting character from the old Phil Silvers sitcom, You'll Never Get Rich, also known as The Phil Silvers Show (That's Sgt. Bilko to you and me, Russ).  The program ran from 1955-59, and featured Silvers as a scheming Army sergeant, with Maurice Gosfield as Pvt. Duane Doberman, a character evidently so popular DC had to spin him off from their Sgt. Bilko tie-in book into his own four-color comic series.  To put Doberman's popularity into perspective, Bilko itself ran for eighteen issues (several of which feature either a drawing of Doberman or a photo of Gosfield in character on the cover), while a generation later, Welcome Back, Kotter would last ten issues and The Mighty Isis only managed eight.  Of course, Sgt. Bilko never had a supporting character like Cindy Lee.  Then again, Isis never had one like Pvt. Doberman.


On The Phil Silvers Show, the lovable Doberman's comic misadventures
include appearing pantsless at the annual WAC Dance.


Here's Sgt. Bilko's comic. At one point in
the 50s, he was so popular he was appearing
in not one but two comics! And so was Pvt.
Doberman! Discerning kids bypassed Sad Sack
in favor of this title.


Pretty good caricatures of Silvers and Gosfield.


This one is fraught with subtext.

In 1960, the Golden Age of Pvt. Doberman comics came to an end as DC cancelled both Sgt. Bilko and Sgt. Bilko's Pvt. Doberman. Some theorize that Stan Lee, over at Marvel, decided to take advantage of this lapse with a service humor comic of his own devising, but realized it was foolish to compete with the genius who created the Pvt. Doberman comic book. Instead, Lee went in a different direction with some some nonsense about four costumed adventurers or something. I seriously doubt that one ran even as long as Sgt. Bilko's Pvt. Doberman.  In the aftermath, Gosfield would go on to portray Benny the Ball on Hanna-Barbera's Top Cat cartoon before passing far too soon at the age of 51.

Also, I'm upset that I'm not the first person to latch upon Pvt. Doberman and his stellar comic book career, but I want to suggest to DC they might go a long way towards incurring my renewed goodwill by offering an Archive Edition of the complete run of Sgt. Bilko's Pvt. Doberman and sending me a free  review copy here in Japan.

The Mighty Isis #8: When Cindy Met Rennie

Rennie Roberts, that is.  It happens in The Mighty Isis #8 (Dec.-Jan. 1977-78), the comic's final issue.  The story is called "Darkly Through the Mutant's Eyes," written by  Jack C. Harris, pencilled by Mike Vosburg and inked by Marvel stalwart Al Milgrom.  Rennie is an unusual name, so it's safe to assume this is supposed to be the TV character and they just made a little mistake with her surname.  But you know, that kind of carelessness isn't enough of an explanation for a hardcore comic book geek like me, so I've put way more thought into this than most would consider sane.

Here's what I've come up with.  The DC Comics version of Isis and her supporting cast are alternate universe versions of the characters familiar from the live-action show and they live on one of those numbered or lettered DC earths where things are subtly different.

How different?  Well, I'm not sure, but I doubt Andrea Thomas works at Larkspur High in the comic.  And Isis spends a lot more time fighting sorcerous foes than helping kids get over losing their beloved dogs or reconcile with their Chinese heritage.  There's also the Rick Mason-Thomas romantic subplot, which at one point is actually a love triangle with a Mason-smitten Cindy Lee; none of this occurs in the live action show.  So perhaps this Rennie Roberts person is the DC universe Rennie Carol.  Different parents, occupying roughly the same place in dimensional continuity.  After all, she looks nothing like Ronalda Douglas, who played Rennie-Prime on TV.

Another explanation is way back in 1977, no one particularly cared as much as I do now about consistency between the comic and the Filmation show.  Someone told Harris there was a new student assistant on the show named Rennie, he shrugged and said, "Far out, but I've got some Wonder Woman to write.  I can't be wasting my time learning all these characters' names."

Which is kind of a shame.  This panel offers the tantalizing possibility Cindy Lee actually was around for the second season of Isis, but the stories that aired were just the ones involving Rennie.  In some ghostly alternate vision, Cindy and Rennie were pals and good-natured academic rivals trading shifts as Ms. Thomas's student assistant.  The Mighty Isis might have benefited from a regular back-up feature where Cindy and Rennie team to solve minor mysteries such as what's in the hamburger patties in the Larkspur cafeteria, because it sure ain't any kind of beef.  You know, with Ranji, C.J. and Feather dropping in from time to time.

Then again, that's probably a stupid idea.  Nothing would have helped sales and by the time Rennie appeared, it was a moot point anyway.  An editor's note in the letters page tells us there just weren't enough fans to keep the book afloat financially, but what few there were could keep watching the Saturday morning TV show for their Isis fix.  With the show already out of production, that wouldn't be true for long.

You gotta believe!

Class! Class! Let's compare the live action Isis characters to their comic book counterparts...

Okay, class.  Good morning, glad to see you're all here.  We're going to do something a little different today.  That's right, Cindy, this will be on the test.  So pay attention all of you and take notes.  Let's take a look at the DC comics versions of our favorite characters from the Filmation live action TV series Isis-- also known as The Secrets of Isis-- and see how alike or different they are from the real thing.  Yes, Cindy, it will be fun.  Everyone look at the screen...

Here's Andrea Thomas in her everyday guise as a teacher:

(Mike Vosburg/Vince Colletta, Isis #3, Feb.-March 1976-77)

She is smart and pretty, Cindy, and a model teacher.  I completely agree.  And here she is in her Isis identity:

(Dick Giordano, Shazam #25, Sep.-Oct. 1976)

What's that?  How many times has she saved you, Cindy?  Amazing!  Yes, if you'd like, you can write an extra-credit essay about Isis and what she means to today's young women.  Here's Andrea Thomas's colleague Rick Mason:

(Mike Vosburg/Vince Colletta, Isis #2, Dec.-Jan. 1976-77)

Thank you, Cindy.  You're so right.  He is a dedicated teacher and his mustache is quite snappy.  Here's Dr. Barnes:

(Mike Nasser/Frank Giacoia, Isis #2 Dec.-Jan. 1976-77; Mike Vosburg/Vince Colletta, Isis #3, Feb.-March 1977)

Good question, Cindy.  We'll talk about that in just a moment.  Anyone besides Cindy have a question?  Anyone?  No?  No one has a question?  Okay, I hear some talking but no questions.  Let's hold it down and look at the screen.  I think we'll all recognize...

(Dick Giordano, Shazam #25, Sep.-Oct. 1976)

Yes, Cindy, that's you!  And no, Rennie Carol never appeared in The Mighty Isis comic.  The closest anyone came was the depiction of a character named Rennie Roberts (although I could have sworn her first name is lettered as Pennie) in the final issue.  That's also the one where the writer labels you "class president" of Larkspur High, Cindy.

Now, as to your question about why Dr. Barnes looks so different.  Compared to the main cast, the character wasn't on the show that often and some of the artists probably never saw even a single publicity photo of actor Albert Reed.

Actually, as you've noticed, none of the likenesses are exact.  They're more general than perfect caricatures.  I think Dick Giordano's take on the cast Shazam! #25 comes closest, but I have a suspicion this has something to do with licensing.  If you've read Marvel's Planet of the Apes adaptations, you'll notice at no time does George Tuska make Taylor look like Charlton Heston, nor does Alfredo Alcala give his Beneath the Planet of the Apes astronaut more than a passing resemblance to James Franciscus.  To do so would have involved other legal and financial arrangements and it just wasn't considered worth the time, effort or money.

Another good point, Cindy!  As you say, Marvel did occasionally use exact likenesses of the Star Wars actors in that title, and DC made a point of at least trying for perfect likenesses in their Star Trek titles.  Yes, even now at Dark Horse, artists draw Buffy as close to Sarah Michelle Gellar as they can.  These things depend on legal departments and the artist's hand, but sometimes licensing means "make 'em look consistent with all appearance in every medium."  Luke Skywalker looks just like Mark Hamill on every book cover, Captain Kirk is always either William Shatner or Chris Pine these days and so on and so forth.

Anyway, back to Isis.  My guess is we're looking at a similar deal here between DC and Filmation and as long as Isis had long dark hair, Rick Mason his mustache and Cindy Lee her pigtails, no one probably gave a rip.  As for Dr. Barnes, he could be anything or anyone depending on who drew him.

You're right again, Cindy.  I am just a speculating fool.  Still, that was a lot of fun, wasn't it, class?  Comparing these?  We enjoyed it, didn't we?

Class?

The Secrets of Isis Episode 22: "...And Now You Don't"

The miscreants who stole the "trigger mechanism" of Rick Mason's fabulous weather-making contraption are still at large, but that doesn't stop his colleague Andrea Thomas and their four sleuthing student friends (that's Rennie Carol, C.J., Ranji and Feather to you and me, Russ) from celebrating Mason's release from jail.  While the villains fiddle-fart around meteorologically and create thunder and lightning from a clear blue sky, the good people of Larkspur High poke gentle fun at Mason's recent predicament by baking him a chocolate cake full of jail-break accessories like a metal file and a shiv made from a melted Styrofoam cup and a toothbrush handle.  After all, what are friends for if not to help you bust out of the calaboose when you've been falsely accused of theft and espionage?

Just kidding about the shiv, by the way.

And so we come to the grand finale of The Secrets of Isis, "...And Now You Don't" (aired October 23, 1976), part two of a thrilling story which has already seen Mason arrested for a crime he didn't commit, a music-and-magic performance, four students risk life, limb and their own freedom to help, a kick-ass custom van, Isis calling Captain Marvel for help and a trio of crooks make off with a most dangerous device.  You couldn't ask for a more exciting way to bring a series to a close, and yet it also makes you wish they'd gone for a third season.

Which, I suppose, was the whole idea behind this sudden change in direction.  From gentle personal dramas punctuated with jeopardy to gentle crime drama punctuated with jeopardy.

This is an action-packed thirty minutes.  When the kids foolishly try to scam the thieves and capture them, but thanks to some clumsiness clambering around inside a warehouse, Feather and Ranji end up trapped inside some kind of holding pen with everything electrified (some nice animated lightning bolts complete the effect). C.J. kung fu kicks his way into the warehouse, but it takes Isis to effect the rescue; someone at Filmation must have remembered it was her show after all.  All Isis has to do is pass through the warehouse roof's molecules then whip up a rhyming spell that affects electricity and all is well.  Kind of.

Now that the true mastermind has been revealed as Mason's scientific rival, the Professor, helpful federal agents decide the kids' harebrained decoy idea isn't so harebrained after all and adapt it for themselves, using Mason as the bait.  The bad guys quickly kidnap Ranji and Mason at gunpoint, forcing them to their doom in Ranji's sweet ride.  What a way to go!

But Isis and Captain Marvel are flying in hot pursuit.  When the Professor tries to make his escape in a convenient helicopter, Mason bravely leaps into the passenger's seat.  Captain Marvel uses his fabulous strength to ground the whirlybird as C.J. engages the villains in combat.  Finally, Isis duplicates herself multiple times to trap them and it's back to the amphitheater where Ranji and Rennie admonish us to believe in magic.  A stunned Mason can't get over Isis's last trick, but Thomas pretends he must have imagined the whole thing.  Finally, she turns to us, the viewers, winks and offers her last piece of teacherly advice, "You gotta believe."

And with that, The Secrets of Isis becomes part of television history.  You couldn't ask for a better way for Isis to end, unless said way featured Cindy Lee riding to the rescue on the back of a couple of crocodiles while blowing a trumpet.

NOTES:  Wow!  A helicopter!  The fine people at Filmation went all out for the last episode of Isis, didn't they?  It's not some futuristic prototype or anything sexy like that, but I doubt rental fees, insurance and fuel didn't come cheap for this baby even in relative Isis terms.  This is the Isis equivalent of hiring Marlon Brando to play Superman's dad or Jack Nicholson as the Joker.  Only the helicopter weighs approximately 600 pounds less than mid-70s Brando.

We've touched on Joanna Cameron's acting skills just a bit during this marathon blog event but we haven't really done her justice.  In each episode, Cameron provides poise, grace, a child-friendly gravitas and just a touch of self-awareness to keep from appearing silly.  The acting in Isis varies from summer stock quality at times up all the way up to confident, slick professionalism, and Cameron holds her own at the center of Isis and contributes the most to its believability, at least to its intended audience.  Plus, she looks fantastic in the Isis costume.

It's fun to deconstruct things in an absurdist way, but Cameron consistently pulls Isis out of the realm of slick camp like the Sid and Marty Krofft oeuvre.  Probably renders it slightly boring in a way to people who love to snark and snipe, but I can appreciate the show's sincerity, and Cameron's.  Instead of psemi-psychedelic weirdness, Isis gifts viewers with some mild excitement that calls to mind the best of ABC's Afternoon Specials rather than splashier fare like Electra Woman and Dyna Girl-- except for this episode, which plays out like an extremely low budget Bionic Woman series entry.  While she's overshadowed a little in this two-parter by the Rick Mason-centric plot, the introduction of the sleuthing teen team and a guest appearance by Captain Marvel, Cameron gets to sign off on Isis knowing she never phoned it in, put her tongue too far in her cheek or sacrificed her dignity while entertaining impressionable young kids (and possibly their older siblings).  A job well done!

That's not to belittle the supporting work by Brian Cutler and Ronalda Douglas.  Cutler grounds each episode with his low-key, minimalistic approach and geniality, while Douglas adds perkiness.  We learn quite a lot about Cutler's Mason, but we're only just getting to know Douglas's Rennie Carol so the abrupt series end registers as even more disappointing.  While I had a lot more fun with Cindy Lee, she became more a Greek chorus over the course of the first season and less a participant, her job to introduce Thomas to the student of the week then bow out until required for a reaction shot or some exposition.  Rennie seems to get her hands dirtier, and offers a lot more personal info along the way in her shorter stint.  Mason remains the ideal Steve Trevor-esque sidekick to Isis.

The show really missed an opportunity by not having Joanna Pang reprise her role as Cindy Lee sometime during this season.  It would have been a lot of fun to see both her and Rennie Carol on the case together, or eating sandwiches on the lawn at Larkspur High while talking about how great Ms. Thomas is and comparing notes on Isis sightings.

Evan C. Kim busts out his Bruce Lee impression here, using the Dragon's patented high-pitched growls and yowls as he super-kicks his way into the warehouse where Feather and Ranji are about to be fried by lightning bolts.  I'm not sure what good Shao-lin kung fu is against electricity, but when your friends are in trouble, you'll try anything.  Kim would later put his Lee sounds-n-moves to work in the longest, most elaborate segment of 1977's Kentucky Fried Movie.  I'm generally in favor of any call-back-- comedic or otherwise-- to Bruce Lee, one of my personal heroes.

Ranji pulls out the stops for the show's musical climax, a reprise of the "You Gotta Believe" song we saw him rehearsing with Rennie Carol in the previous episode.  Not a microphone in sight, but he and Rennie fill that amphitheater with sound.  It reminds me of some of one of those chorus performances you'd see at amusements parks like Six Flags Over Georgia when your poor, exhausted parents wanted to get out of the sun.  You know, at the Crystal Pistol Palace.  Yeah, I hated those, too.

Ranji and Rennie Carol team up for a cute scene where he uses her in a levitation trick.  You know Rennie isn't really afraid, but she whimpers to comic effect.

Two signs this show was shot in the mid-1970s-- Mason drives a VW Thing he's equipped with a CB radio.  Thomas marvels at his high-tech device, and it comes in handy, too, when the kids pull their first boneheaded stunt.

The Professor eats an apple while discussing schemes with his minions.  Well, minions is glamorizing them a bit.  They're more like hirelings.  Is the apple symbolic of the Professor's knowledge of evil?  I'm probably reading too much into it.  He's just a guy who digs apples.  Paul Hampton, the guy who plays him, wrote songs for the likes of Elvis Presley, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Bette Midler.  Nobody major, but maybe you've heard of them.

And once again Captain Marvel puts his lonely life on display, this time just hanging out in the desert without even boulders or fallen trees as an excuse.  Maybe the guy just likes to get out there, breathe some fresh desert air and think.  Think about the poor life choices that turned him into the kind of guy who likes to wander the deserts alone while wearing a superhero costume.  The helicopter capture at the end is pretty spectacular a stunt not only by Isis standards but even by Steve "The Six Million Dollar Man" Austin standards.  Let's see Lee Majors fly and drag a helicopter out of the sky.  It's accomplished partially with a process shot with Marvel slightly out of scale and then with an altogether believable physical performance by John Davey as he mimes straining against the heavy aircraft while Brian Cutler watches from the passenger's seat.

For the second episode in a row, someone throws his or her voice.  This time it's Isis, calling to her superheroic colleague.

Isis's final trick is pretty neat, too.  Mason regales a doubting Thomas (I'm clever!) with a story of twelve Isises (Ises?), but count them for yourself.  He's off by seven, giving Mason a tendency towards exaggeration or at least over-excitement.  There's a sweet moment when Isis turns and smartly declares, "And that, Ranji, is how I do it."  Nice way of taking back some of the spotlight that's rightly hers.

You gotta believe!

The Secrets of Isis Episode 21: "Now You See It..."

Rick Mason moonlights as some kind of super high-tech inventor and he's darned good at it.  So good, in fact, he's created a device that can actually control the weather over an entire state-wide area.  Of course something as powerful as a weather manipulating gadget could attract interest from all the wrong people-- and that's just what happens when someone frames Mason himself for stealing it.  Yes, it's the opening gambit of the exciting two-part Secrets of Isis series conclusion.

"Now You See It..." (October 23, 1976) takes The Secrets of Isis into overtly superheroic action, with an outlandish macguffin more appropriate for Wonder Woman or The Six Million Dollar Man.  A weather control device is completely ridiculous, but you know what?  This episode is a whole lot of truly silly Saturday morning fun, full of action featuring some engaging guest stars.

It starts like a low budget spy flick with the theft-- featuring an evil Rick Mason-- and then cuts to Ranji, a multi-talented young entertainer, practicing his music and magic act with Rennie Carol at an empty ampitheater.  The Feds come in, arrest Mr. Mason, which leads Rennie and Ranji to round up a little gang and do some sleuthing of their own.  That means we get to meet C.J., a cool young dude with martial arts skills and Feather, who appears to be some kind of reformed juvenile delinquent in a knit cap.  The four of them make quite a quartet, trouble-prone and energetic, almost as if Filmation decided to introduce some Hanna-Barbara into the show, a little Scooby Doo, complete with a happening Ford E150 customized van belonging to Ranji and featuring some appropriately mid-70s side-panel deco.

You have to like the conceit Mason is such a well-loved teacher even Sweat Hogs refugees like Feather are willing to put down their basketballs to help him, but Ms. Thomas has a point.  It's never a good idea to go outside the law.  It's a lesson she has to transform into Isis to teach the gang, and they're so determined (and hard-headed) it even requires the assistance of none other than Captain Marvel himself to get it across.  But not before the two villains get away with part of the weather control machine, nearly kill Ranji, C.J. and Feather with an out-of-control car (which is on fire to boot).  Isis calls in reinforcements in the form of her good friend Captain Marvel (who apparently spends part of each day hefting random boulders out in the desert).  Marvel swoops in and realizes, "I've got to lift that van!" and proceeds to do just that, saving the boys.  The final scene sounds an ominous note as the completely exonerated Mason warns of the damage even part of the device can do-- and not just locally, but statewide.  It's definitely an alarming situation and calls into question the wisdom of using scientific knowledge to tamper with and try to control the natural world rather than adapt to it.  Dark clouds and thunder add a Shakespearian atmosphere to the finale.

The legendary Evan C. Kim plays C.J.  You may remember Kim as Loo in the "Fistful of Yen" Bruce Lee parody from the 1977 classic Kentucky Fried Movie.  And if you don't, you're either very young or you've come to the wrong blog.  Kim was a staple of my childhood.  My brothers exposed me to Kentucky Fried Movie early on, forever warping my mind into something sick and wrong, but I also encountered Kim in a dramatic role in 1978's Vietnam War flick Go Tell the Spartans (starring Burt Lancaster); as the only caveperson able to speak modern English in Ringo Starr's under-valued (but still pretty lousy) Caveman; and then as a fiesty yet doomed cameraman in NBC's sci-fi allegory V.  His largest role to date was as Clint Eastwood's partner in the last of the Dirty Harry movies, The Dead Pool, which, oddly enough, is the only Kim theatrical release I haven't watched.

Feather, Kim's partner in crime-busting here, is played by Craig Wasson, who also appeared in Spartans.  They probably smoked a doob or two and laughed about Isis, but you get the feeling their association might have gone on for a bit longer if Filmation had its way.  This episode of Isis has spin-off written all over it, sort of how C.J. cracks the case of the Mason doppelganger by drawing all over a surveillance photo of random men taken by Rennie.  Wasson worked with Brian DePalma and fought Freddy Kreuger in the third Nightmare on Elm Street flick and does prolific audio book narration to this day.

Ranji, who shows a lot of charisma during his musical numbers and wears the flashiest costume-- and has magical powers to rival Isis's-- apparently dropped out of show biz following his appearance here.  I have no idea what happened to him.

I feel certain this episode was either Filmation's last-ditch effort to generate interest in the show and keep it on the air by establishing a dynamic new direction or else their attempt to set up a spin-off with Ranji, C.J., Feather and possibly (one would hope) Rennie Carol.  The emphasis on the rather large cast has the unintended effect of rendering poor Mason something of an after-thought, even with all the energy expended on his behalf.  And while we do get as much Isis as usual, Ms. Thomas ends up largely sidelined, which is always a mistake.  Joanna Cameron provides regally self-aware advice as Isis, but Thomas is the show's heart.

NOTES:  Who the heck is this Ranji guy anyway?  I mean, he gets a huge showcase here.  Was Filmation grooming him for Saturday morning super-stardom?  He's a multi-talented threat. Pleasant singing voice, winning smile, awesome turban, because an Indian American guy named Ranji is required to run around in one and a matching tunic as well.  Uncomfortable ethnic stereotyping aside-- remember Jonny Quest's equally magical be-turbaned pal Hadji-- Ranji has a lot of charisma and would have made a great team leader if Filmation had taken this concept to production.

Ronalda Douglas is no slouch herself.  She has a strong singing voice, even if it is a little quavery.  Each member of the team appears to have some sort of expertise.  Feather is a schemer with a questionable background (always helpful when battling crime), Ranji drives, does magic and sings, C.J. is the group's muscle and hippest dresser.  What does Rennie bring to the table?  She's an ace photographer, which makes her the group's surveillance expert.  They simply could not have cracked the case without her skills.

Gosh, how I wish Cindy Lee were part of this crime-busting team.  What might she have contributed?  Well, every team needs a factotum, right?  And who can argue with perpetual positivity and cheerfulness?  She would have given the gang a sunny outlook even when things turned grim, such as on this case when an entire state faces environmental disaster.

Amazingly, the actor who plays the fake Mason actually looks a lot like Brian Cutler after C.J. scribbles all over Rennie's photo of him.  But not as much as he does when Cutler is playing the same character in disguise.  I've always enjoyed scenes where an actor pulls off prosthetics to reveal a completely different actor.  Of course make up technology was nowhere near advanced enough in 1976 (or even today) to produce a Rick Mason clone that would stand up to even the slightest scrutiny.  Suspension of disbelief.  You will believe a woman can fly, after all, and a convincing Rick Mason disguise isn't as outrageous a concept as a weather control machine you can drive around in the trunk of your car.

First Ms. Thomas and her "circle guard" and now Mr. Mason and his weather control device.  Jesus, Larkspur High has a brilliant science faculty.  Albert Einstein himself would probably feel overwhelmed by the level of genius these two teachers display!  They seem to do little teaching.  We have seen Thomas in the classroom but either Larkspur is a city of perpetual sunlight or else the high school administration has completely lost control.  Call Dr. Barnes!

The guards at Operation Weathermaker (that's the name of Mason's project... or the facility where he works on it...) are a pretty slack bunch.  First they let a fake Mason slip by them, then fall for Ranji's voice throwing trick.  Yeah, that's another of Ranji's powers.  He's able to not only speak with a convincingly female voice, but also project it so that it sounds as though someone is calling for assistance from a distant parking lot.  Guard Gunderson (probably from Minnesota) falls for it.  What a dope!

Being Captain Marvel must be a lonely occupation.  Every time we see him on this show he's by himself in some wilderness area, either lifting trees or rocks.  Doesn't this guy ever relax and play skee-ball with his friends?  Does he have any friends besides Isis?  Second Captain Marvel John Davey reprises his guest spot here.  He sort of botches his "lift the van" line, but the director (Arthur H. Nadel) leaves it in.  Makes you wonder how bad the other takes were, or if there were any other takes.  Isis wasn't exactly a high-budgeted affair and in this episode finances were already strained with all the guest stars and process work.  Nadel probably figured Davey at least said all the words in the correct order so to hell with it.

The Secrets of Isis Episode 20: "Year of the Dragon"

Julie Chen wins a science award but when it threatens to expose her father's old school Chinese ways to the students and faculty of Larkspur High she begins acting out, leading to a couple of very nearly fatal accidents.  The first one happens because she's decided to flee a fellow student and unwisely chooses to hide from him in a wrecked car awaiting compaction in a junkyard.  The second comes when she retreats to a meadow for some quiet contemplation over her personal dilemma.  This time she falls into an abandoned well.

Being Julie Chen must be difficult!

On one hand, Julie's sick of everyone patronizing her over Chinese culture and callously assuming she's an expert on all things Asian, but on the other, she feels a deep conflict about her cultural identity.  As a result, she magnifies well-meaning but clueless comments into insults and tries to plot with Rennie Carol to trick her father into skipping the school assembly where she's due to receive her award.  And she constantly has to cheat death.

"Year of the Dragon" (aired October 16, 1976) explores Joy Luck Club territory about as well as you'd expect from a 1970s kids show about a magical super-heroic goddess.  I have to give Isis credit for trying to broach these issues, even if it's in a broad, obvious way.  And once again, all problems are resolved by one person trying to save another person's life.  While I'm sure most parents actually would sacrifice themselves for their children-- as in this case, nearly literally-- the idea that you have to go to such extremes to earn some simple respect probably isn't very realistic or even fair.

When you think about it, Julie's problems could probably have been better handled by that compassionate and clever-unto-herself teacher Andrea Thomas with a few frank discussions and genuine dialogue rather than through physical jeopardy.  But that's not why kids tuned into this show.  Isis has to do her thing twice in every show.  By California statute.  I've read the state codes.  It's in there.  Kind of in the middle, just after the stuff about building standards in an earthquake zone.

Still, let's not be too harsh with Isis.  The 1970s were a time when television-- especially children's television-- had just begun to explore sensitive issues.  With a new story possibilities and responsibility came a lot of inadvertent mixed messages along with the shoehorned-in heroics, the heavy-handed moralizing and forced happy endings.  At least in this case the Chens are genuinely likable-- especially Julie's long-suffering dad-- so I'm not going to begrudge them a jeopardy plot resolution to their issues, especially when it leads to the wonderful spectacle of Mr. Chen clinging to a levitating ladder while his daughter and Isis look on.

Victor Sen Yung, who plays Mr. Chen, had a career spanning decades, from the 1930s into the late 1970s before he tragically died of accidental asphyxiation.  As a young post-grad student at UCLA and USC, he started acting and played "Number Two Son" in several of the Charlie Chan films but was probably best known for his portrayal of Hop Sing on Bonanza.  If his IMDB bio is to be believed, around the time he took the role on Isis, he was actively seeking work outside the acting business.  His portrayal Mr. Chen is sincere and yearning, with a real touch of sadness, which makes me wonder if he was finally sick of typecasting and playing comedic relief and guest spots.

In a rather bizarre incident that took place in 1972, he was a passenger on a hijacked airliner and was wounded when the FBI stormed the plane.  That, along with his WWII service and long acting career mark him as an interesting guy in his own right.

Jeanne "Julie Chen" Joe has had a spottier acting career, with sporadic roles on TV and in films between Isis and just recently.  That's because she's been doing other things like teaching.  Plus, she has a number credits as a production coordinator and assistant to executive producers, working on films as diverse as Angel Heart, First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II.  Okay, okay, those last two aren't so diverse, but she did write a book called Ying-Ying: Pieces of a Childhood (San Francisco East/West Publishing Company, 1982) and its sequel, Ying-Ying 2:  Jasmine By the Bay (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012).  Her portrayal of Julie Chen is spirited and intense, angry yet sympathetic.

There are a few cringe-inducing moments that find some of our regulars inadvertantly expressing white privilege, but overall this particular Isis attempts to instill some racial and cultural sensitivity as part of its more overt theme of being proud of who you are and where you're from, so that's something in its favor.  Don't make assumptions about another person's life based on their appearance or family name.  You don't know what journey they're on, but it's probably different from yours.  Accept what they have to teach you about themselves without imposing your viewpoint on the lesson.

Notes:  There's a short stop-motion action sequence when Isis uses her powers to repair a wooden ladder that"s conveniently lying near the well where Julie's father is trapped.  Doubly convenient is how the rungs just happen to still be lying next to the ladder in the grass, and none have rotted over the years.

Finally, we get to see Rick Mason doing what he does best-- eating.  After hinting at some gourmand leanings in previous episodes, "Year of the Dragon" lets Mason loose on a sumptuous Chinese meal.  You know the Chens had to close early that night after Mason cleaned them out.  I can just picture him after the meal, kicking back on his boat, toothpick between his teeth, opening his fortune cookie and reading the note inside, "There are but two Isis episodes more, and they will consist of a two-parter centered around you, my friend!"

The Secrets of Isis Episode 18: "The Class Clown"

We never learn why his former high school gave Rudy the boot, but somehow he's landed at Larkspur High where he immediately begins a reign of terror.  In the course of a single day, he shakes up another student's soda, embarrasses the class brain with chewing gum and a roll of paper, nearly kills Rennie Carol by rigging up an inflatable life raft to expand in the chemistry lab (spilling volatile chemicals and unleashing a toxic cloud) and then almost costs himself his own life after sabotaging a school bus on field trip from which he's been punitively prohibited.  Doesn't stop him from chasing the outing halfway around the state.  Is he a would-be comedian, or is he an incipient psychopath stalking his classmates for revenge?  Whatever he is, Rudy is a flake!

They call him "The Class Clown" (aired September 25, 1976), but as played by Alvin Kupperman, despite a slight resemblance to comedian supreme Albert Brooks, Rudy comes across as a destructive, impulsive weirdo and the least pleasant troubled guest student showcased thus far on Isis.  It also doesn't help matters Kupperman was 30 or 31 when this episode aired and looks every bit his age.  His isn't a bad performance by any means; it's just tonally at odds with what we're supposed to be feeling here.  In my experience, class clowns are disruptive but amusing; Rudy is certainly the former but he's only the latter if you think random destructive acts are hilarious.  Well, they can be.  Just not in this episode.  Even Rudy doesn't do a lot of laughing afterwards.  He just kind of blames others for shunning him or whatever the hell his motivation is supposed to be.  Frankly, I stopped caring about the time he started setting up his potentially deadly raft trick.  Andrea Thomas does her best to convince Rudy he doesn't have to pull outrageously dangerous stunts to make friends, but it takes a near-death experience for the guy to find his redemption.

Which takes place off-screen, with Thomas merely telling Rennie and Rick Mason about it, as if the episode itself had grown so sick of Rudy's frantic antics it no longer wants any part of him.  Shot with some menacing low angles and with some more ominous music cues this episode could have been chilling.  Instead, it's just kind of bizarre and haphazard, like Rudy himself.

Joanna Cameron continues to play Andrea Thomas as the most understanding, compassionate teacher since Pete Dixon held forth on Room 222.  She's not as hilarious as her contemporary Gabe Kotter, but Thomas doles out life lessons and gentle yet tough guidance as appropriate.  I haven't spent a whole lot of time praising Cameron's performance as the titular "dual person," but in either incarnation the woman simply rocks.  When dope Rudy sneers, "No one will miss me" when told he can't go on the field trip, Thomas quickly adds, "I'll miss you."  If the guy had an conscience at all that would have been the moment he gave up his murderous ways (I seriously believe the Larkspur authorities need to check his house's crawlspace for bodies).  This episode also sees the welcome return of Albert Reed as Dr. Barnes.  He gives Rudy a quick campus tour and promises him a clean slate.  Dr. Barnes is always a welcome presence.

But the true class clown of Larkspur High is none other than Rick Mason, who cheerfully dons a chaffeur's cap for his role as busdriver.  Brian Cutler has a gift for putting across Mason's corny sense of humor as well as his man-of-action turn when he commandeer's poor Rennie Carol's car for the high speed climax.

"Class Clown" even features some ambitious process shots-- ambitious in Isis terms-- as they show Isis actually flying into the smoking chem lab from outside the school and Mason and Rudy walking up an incline magically conjured from smoke by Isis.  Both effect scenes show their seams, but it's impressive enough the producers decided to spend a little more money this season and not rely on the over-used stock footage from the first year.  The smoke stairway is pretty bizarre, a blurry diagonally-split screen effect that goes on a bit too long for its own good but provides the episode's best visual.  Other than Mason in his cap.

Sorry I didn't get to those Isis posts!

The week before winter vacation proved busier than I anticipated, with longer days.  Circumstances didn't leave much time for watching The Secrets of Isis, much less blogging about it.  I'm on vacation now so once again let me offer you a hollow promise of fun and frivolity to come.  But it will have to wait.  I'm about to spend a few days in Tokyo.  I'll do some comic book buying while I'm there, but most of what I find will be posted on my new blog about being an American comic book fan in Japan.  That's where I plan to talk about the latest books and news, leaving this blog for the good old stuff we all love so much.  Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Al Williamson, Dani Moonstar, classic Marvel, Dell and EC and that sort of thing.

Happy Holidays, True Believers!

The Secrets of Isis Episode 17: "The Hitchhiker"

Curse your demonic charisma, Charlie!  Danger loving girls Hope and Joann cannot resist it, nor can they the illicit thrill of hitching rides.  Charlie and his buddy give the two friends the ride of a lifetime involving a high-speed police chase and a disaster narrowly avoided thanks to Isis's magical powers of molecular whammy-ma-doodling and time reversal.  This also leads to a sore time for Rick Mason as the horse he was riding bolts and injures his posterior region, but just when you think everyone's learned a lesson in responsible travel, Hope goes for another spin with Charlie instead of sensibly taking the city bus to the class picnic with Joann.  This time there's a speeding train involved.

The first few minutes of "The Hitchhiker" (September 18, 1976) are the most exciting of any Isis episode yet.  It starts like an Afterschool Special about rebellious teens, shows Charlie already in trouble with the law (he brazenly rips up a traffic ticket just moments after getting it) then goes into the chase sequence and still manages to put both Andrea Thomas and Rick Mason on horseback.  It features the most amazing special effect yet attempted by the Isis crew-- the goddess uses her magic to make Charlie's speeding car pass completely through a huge earth-moving machine (I initially identified it as a road grader, but I'm not so sure what it is other than it's huge and yellow like the best Tonka toy ever created) blocking the highway-- and their momentum sends the kids hurtling off a cliff.  Also their car.

A simple film-reversal brings them back but it's so intense and action-packed you're left wondering if you're watching The Secrets of Isis or The Streets of San Francisco.  Cereal bowls probably spilled across the US the morning this originally aired.

It's hard not to see the whole hitchhiking plot as a metaphor for sexual awakening or experimentation. Charlie, despite his unfortunate hair, is a happening young guy known as a "good driver," and cars have always been linked with sexuality (at least in urban legends and Beach Boys songs).  The initial encounter is like a make-out session at a party gone a bit too far, with Isis as the adult authority figure who steps in-- much like a timely chaperone-- to prevent complete disaster.  Joann gets the message, but Hope has tasted the wild life and wants more.  Later, she takes another ride with the dangerous Charlie but when he goes a bit too fast, Hope wants to back down.  Charlie tells her he thought she was going to be "fun," but things almost turn tragic when his junky car-- condom with a hole in it?-- stalls on the railroad tracks in front of the speeding train of impending teen pregnancy.  Driving home the point is the rift between the two girlfriends.  When one of a matched pair begins dating, the other person is often marginalized.  Even Rick Mason notices and comments on it, and he's dealing with a sore bum at the time.

This is yet another Isis with a high-powered guest star.  Barry Miller plays Charlie with gusto and provides such energy the episode tends to flatten when he's not around.  He later went on to co-star as the doomed Bobby C. in the John Travolta disco epic Saturday Night Fever, where his character dealt with teen pregnancy in a literal rather than metaphorical way.  And badly, at that.  He would also win a Tony for his portrayal of Arnold Epstein in the Broadway version of the Neil Simon play Biloxi Blues.  But I'm certain he has his Isis role in bold on his actor's resume and probably spotlights a few clips on his personal career highlight reel.

Here's where things get crazy, though-- and you might want to sit down for this next bit.  Miller also appeared twice on Isis's sibling show Shazam.  Incredibly, after that, Miller also managed a guest spot on The New Adventures of Wonder Woman.  All he needed was an Electra Woman and Dyna Girl role and he would have made history.  But I suppose winning a Tony is still pretty good.

Ronalda Douglas explores Cindy Lee territory in this episode.  With her Dorothy Hamill bob and chirpy voice, she's a similarly positive presence.  Strangely, though, while we learned nothing at all of Cindy Lee's home life, the producers give Douglas a lengthy and surprisingly funny exchange with Brian Cutler where it's revealed Rennie Carol has two car-crazy brothers and knows quite a bit about autos herself.  She provides the Cindy Lee voice of caution to Hope at one point, but the character comes across as every bit as cheerful as but a little less naive than Cindy.  I really liked that aspect of Joanna Pang's performance-- and with her eagerness to participate in academics, I imagine Cindy Lee as either an only child or else the oldest in a competitive yet sheltered middle class household.  Douglas's Rennie Carol more than likely shares a similar background, albeit as the youngest in her family.  I can't help wondering if we'll meet those brothers in a later episode.

Notes-- This is the second episode in a row we find Joanna Cameron and Brian Cutler on horseback, and the second in which we get a shot of Cutler riding hell-bent for leather.  Could the producers afford a stunt person, or did Cutler handle it all himself?  It's hard to tell in the long shot of Mason on his runaway ride.

The photography seems a bit murky at times, too.  Looks like they shot some of the scenes on a rare overcast day in sunny California.  This gives the early going a kind of low-rent moodiness and there's so much going on I couldn't help but think of some old MST3K flicks like Teenagers from Outer Space or the immortal Teenage Strangler.  The sound quality is also suspect, with the mix erring on the upper range, so the dialogue comes across as overly shrill at times.  Of course a lot of this is due to this material being nearly forty years old.  Who's going to spend the money to re-master old episodes of Isis and bring them up to current audio-visual standards?

That's not a rhetorical question.  I want to know who will volunteer to do humanity this service.

More Isis reviews and commentaries are on their way!

Sorry for the lack of Isis fun.  I'm not pulling a Cindy Lee and vanishing on you.  I'm just very busy with preparing tests for my own students.  So I suppose you could say I'm as fun as Rick Mason, as wise as Dr. Barnes and as good looking as Andrea Thomas.  Things ease off next week so there should be more time for watching the show and writing about it.  I'm also preparing a big post comparing the show's characters to their DC comic book counterparts.  It involves a lot of screen grabs and Photoshop magic so it's become quite a project unto itself.  Look for it in the near future.

I'll post when I can, Isis fans!

The Secrets of Isis Episode 14: "Scuba Duba"

Rick Mason is thoroughly disgusted with student Steve and his blatant disregard for scuba diving safety.  Steve lacks the patience and self-control necessary for scuba diving's many pre-dive checks and holds the buddy system in disdain.  This leads to a potentially tragic situation and only Larkspur High's resident goddess-- Cindy Lee-- can save the day.

No, just kidding again.  Of course it's Isis who help Steve learn a valuable lesson.

This is an episode heavy on the Rick Mason, which isn't a bad thing.  He's not like mayonaise, delicious in the proper proportions on a sandwich but ultimately overwhelming and muting even the sharp tang of mustard.  You can dollop Rick Mason on freely and he only brings out the best in your crisp, leafy greens such as lettuce and your thinly sliced deli meats.  I'm thinking turkey, but some of you may prefer ham or even roast beef.  Whatever you like, Rick Mason has you covered.  Brian Cutler gets to stretch a little and show greater range, within the still limited parameters of Isis.  It's not as if we're going to see an episode where Cutler gets to cut loose when Mason loses his fiance to heroin addiction or suffers a crisis of religious faith after witnessing a plane crash.  And that's okay.  We're not here for that.  We've seen flashes of the generally genial Mason's temper but "Scuba Duba" (airing December 6, 1975) shows him consistently frustrated with Steve, a nice enough but somewhat hard-headed guy who just seems determined to alienate the science teacher/scuba club sponsor.

When we first see Steve, he's excited about the possibility of photographing a rare eagle's nest.  His enthusiasm seems genuine and even endearing, and soon he's clambering down the side of a hill to get that snap.  Despite his apparent mountaineering experience and a stern warning from his more sensible friend Nancy (although practically everyone is more sensible than Steve; he makes show off Steve Elwood look like model citizen Cindy Lee), the danger-prone dude relies on a ratty old rope as his "safety" line.  It doesn't take long for him to come to grief, but luckily Andrea Thomas is on the scene with her own camera.  A quick change to Isis and Steve is free to bedevil poor Mr. Mason once more.  Twice more, in fact.

Born in 1953, Eileen "Nancy" Chesis had already been a series regular on The Tom Ewell Show (your guess is as good as mine) and clocked time on Bonanza (twice), but she seems to have made her debut on none other than Lassie.  After a guest appearance on Matt Helm, she apparently left the business, at least in front of the cameras.  Brian "Steve" Byers was a newcomer, having recently made his own debut on The Bob Newhart Show and he stuck it out long enough to play "Male Reporter #1" and "Medic" on two different episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 (although just thinking of a plot where he could have played "Male Reporter-Medic #1" on a single episode might provide fun for those of you stuck on the toilet for long periods... just waiting for something to happen).  Other credits include M*A*S*H, Three's Company, Joanie Loves Chachi and Full House.  Both give the solid, professional performances we've come to expect from Isis guest stars.  They aren't there to blow us away with flash and prove themselves the next Meryl Streep or Al Pacino.  They just have to be believable and sympathetic, and that's just what they do.

The show's underwater climax is quite exciting and the setting is a pleasant change of pace from the mountains and hills used in most episodes.  It has a novelty and a level of difficulty that appeals.  The scuba club appears to be diving in a very large lake or perhaps a cove or inlet, and once under, they encounter all kinds of underwater life, tall fronds of aquatic plants and whatnot that look more native to the ocean.  But what do I know about scuba diving?  My only experience with the sport is having some acquaintances who are PADI-certified.  I've always wanted to get certified myself, but despite my lifelong love for and interest in sharks (I've spent personal time studying them on my own, and fishing for them-- strictly catch-and-release-- off the Florida coast), I also have a strong phobia of them.  Specifically, being devoured by one while scuba diving.  I know fatal shark attacks while diving are at least as rare as fatal lightning strikes, but they're rarer still on land.

Notes--  Mason ultimately proves too nice for his own good.  Or maybe that's for the best for Steve.  It's not as if Steve's endangering anyone but himself, and this is one scare that directly impacts that aspect of the guy's personality; in this case, I truly believe he's learned a life lesson that will stick.  Although one thing that bugged me throughout the episode was the danger to the school's funding.  Kind of cold-blooded, you think?  Well, hear me out.

Mason and Ms. Thomas obviously have made Larkspur High one of the top academically performing schools in the state, which is why they get to have things like a scuba club in the first place.  That equipment is relatively expensive.  So Steve clowns around, gets himself seriously injured, or worse, killed-- then what happens to Rick Mason and Larkspur High?  Lawsuits, recriminations, possible firing, that's what.  Even though Mason has done everything humanly possible to prevent the tragedy, he's the one who will bear the brunt of the blame, and I seriously doubt the school board is willing to go down with him.  End result:  loss of a fine teacher, the collapse of the state's top academic program, the breaking of Dr. Barnes's mighty heart and declining resources left for Ms. Thomas.  Mason's career is on the line here, but so are the futures of many students like Cindy Lee and Nancy.

Sure, we worry (as does Mason) about Steve's young life, but it's also important to think of all the other consequences beyond just the grief counseling needed for his friends and classmates-- not to mention the devastation wrought on the guy's family-- if he'd managed to drown himself under Mason's supervision.  those are other reasons Mason is so angry at Steve, and why you should take some rules very seriously.  There's an Isis episode for you.

I think this way now that I'm an old person, but I probably would've been a complete Steve when I was 16 or 17.  Worse, even.

We also learn at the start of of this episode Andrea Thomas is a much better tennis player than Rick Mason.  I have to say Joanna Cameron looks like someone who knows how to handle a racket and I wish they'd thrown in a scene where she and Brian Cutler actually play a game.  Larkspur High's best science teachers are pretty well-rounded people when you think about it (and you should, rather than try to do something productive with your time).  Not only are they highly intelligent and motivated professional educators, but they're athletic and have their own outside interests--  Mason with his boating, scuba diving and pizza-eating and Thomas with her tennis prowess, trekking, bird-watching and nature photography.

The Secrets of Isis Episode 12: "Funny Gal"

Every school has a clown.  I don't mean the grease-painted kind.  I mean the class clown.  I imagine even North Korean high schools have classroom comedians who can tell some mean greedy, imperialistic American jokes and have their the other students rolling on the floor with laughter.  Larkspur High's resident jokester is Carrie Anson, but most of hers are directed towards herself.  The comedic impulse often springs from self-loathing, as a kind of coping mechanism.  So it is with Carrie.

Carrie has body issues and chooses to express her feelings by making everything a goof, a lark.  Everyone's friend Cindy Lee tries to help Carrie by suggesting she run for student body president.  Andrea Thomas and Rick Mason think that's a splendid idea, and talk Carrie's friend Greg into nominating her and running her campaign.  Things get a little out of hand when Carrie overhears part of a conversation where Greg makes disparaging remarks about her (he's actually voicing the secret message Carrie sends with every joke) and it drives her into a shame spiral that culminates in a bizarre and dangerous publicity stunt-- Carrie steals Mr. Mason's prized motor boat.  With a storm coming, Isis is going to need help from none other than Captain Marvel himself to save the wayward girl and convince her she has value to everyone.

Yes, it's "Funny Gal"  (November 22, 1975), with a special guest appearance by John Davey, the second Captain Marvel of Isis's sibling show Shazam!, who just happens to be cleaning up the road-- literally; he moves a large fallen tree out of the right-of-way-- near Larkspur.  After that, it's just a short flight to where Isis is battling the elements with her magic.  I'm not sure why a simple thunderstorm is beyond Isis's capabilities, since she's previous displayed power over time itself, but anything that gets two costumed heroes working side-by-side gets my vote as a successful episode.  And besides this week's problem student herself, everyone seems to get some humorous lines this time out in what-- by mild-mannered Isis standards-- is a pretty witty script.

Sandra Vacey's Carrie is less funny gal than playfully melodramatic gal, given to theatrical pronouncements.  She also owns a megaphone and a junker of a car.  She uses both to try to organize a fast-food caravan, but her brakes go out leading to the first Isis rescue of the show.  Isis tries to convince the girl there are more important things than having a svelte body so boys will like her.  That's easy for Isis to say.  Not only is she a goddess, but she's lean and muscular like a 1970s tennis pro.  But this episode has one of the show's better lessons-- you have to learn to love yourself no matter how hammered by media presentations of beauty standards hammer you.  Look for your own talents and develop them, and don't try to hide who you really are.

Body concerns continue to plague young women even today, which suggests what progress we've made since 1975 hasn't been enough.  Unfortunately, the episode's message gets a little garbled during the boat theft stunt.  Carrie comes to realize her self-worth only because superheroes are willing to rescue her and it's a turnaround that comes a little too quickly for believability's sake.  I'm left wondering if Carrie really learned her lesson or if she was merely trying to dodge the blame for grand larceny.  I suppose Rick Mason is too nice a guy to press charges, but he really could have made Carrie's life a worse hell than she's already convinced it is.

Speaking of hells, my old high school was a vicious place but at least my time there fell chronologically between when Isis aired and when kids starting shooting each other.  We were pretty rotten, though.  Larkspur High must be the most pleasant high school in the nation, if not the universe.  While students can be hard on outsiders like Wayne Moss, the only person who picks on Carrie is herself, at least as far as we're shown.  She seems to be fairly well-liked.  Of course not all personal problems are external in origin.  Sometimes the vulnerable among us convince themselves of the worst things with no help from bullies or even the merely insensitive.  Still, Carrie's lucky to have friends like Greg and Cindy Lee, plus caring teachers like Mason and Thomas.  I can see her turning more and more to the performing arts, maybe joining an improv comedy class and working her way up through the show-biz ranks.  Imagine a world where Carrie Anson, after a few successful appearances on The Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman ends up headlining her own ABC sitcom a la Roseanne.

It would probably turn into a real bummer like Grace Under Fire starring Brett Butler, so maybe that's not such a good thing after all.  How about a short stint as a writer-performer on Saturday Night Live, then a collaboration with Ben Stiller on his old sketch comedy show?  Maybe she'd be doing something critically acclaimed but little-watched on NBC.  Better?

No?

Notes--  Appropriate, I suppose, for the first episode since "Fool's Dare" to deal with the problems of a female student, "Funny Gal" mines some mild humor out of Rick Mason's mild mannered mid-1970s male chauvinism.  Thomas and Cindy invite him to a picnic lunch, so he decides to mooch rather than bring his own spread.  He manages to guilt them into giving him some of Thomas's famous fried chicken and one of Cindy's deviled egg sandwiches.

"You know something, Mr. Mason," Cindy opines, "I think you ought to get married."

"I'm going to," Mason replies soberly.

Thomas looks at him in surprise.  "You are?  When?"

"As soon as I find someone who looks like Isis," Mason tells her.  His eyes dart playfully to Cindy as if to tell her a joke is in the offing.  And here it is:  "And cooks like you."

"If that's your attitude towards women, you're going to end up a very old and hungry bachelor," Thomas says, smirking ever so slightly.

He's also apparently tricked the two into cleaning his boat for him (multiple times!), so he's kind of a con artist, too.  I know it's just a way for the episode to establish Mason has a boat-- you know, in order for Carrie to steal it later without having to create a whole new boat-owning character-- but how's he able to afford a boat on a teacher's salary?  Something odd is going on.  Probably not as odd as his love for meaty pizza pies with strawberry jam among the toppings, though.  Week by week we unpeel Rick Mason like an onion and discover new layers to his personality, while lead character Andrea Thomas remains largely a mystery.  Perhaps she simply has no hidden quirks.  Self-actualized, that's what she is.

Cindy Lee breaks out of the overalls and busts her hump down at the marina while wearing that patchwork culottes outfit she last wore in episode 6, "Lucky." Must be her tropical/resort wear.  Or maybe the overalls were in the wash.  Isis knows they could stand a vacation!

There's a slick little flying effect where Isis soars past the high school on her way to save Carrie.  They must have suspended Joanna Cameron somehow.  I'm not sure how secure the flying rig was, but Carmeron wears that confident Isis expression on her face, so either it was pretty safe or she deserved an Emmy award.  She then uses her magic powers to flip Carrie's out-of-control car around (without using a rhyming couplet-- maybe the scripters misplaced their rhyming dictionaries).  They use a simple film edit, but the shot also involves a super-imposed Isis in the foreground.  Along with boat rental and whatever equipment they used for the scene where Captain Marvel physically tows the boat to safety this must have been one of the more expensive episodes to date.

I like that Captain Marvel actor Davey (he later played a ton of roles in both The Rockford Files and Barnaby Jones, two shows I used to love back in those days) doesn't try to deepen his voice to sound more heroic, but he doesn't have a lot of vocal presence.  Seems kind of like the beefy guy next door, who just happens to enjoy cavorting in red tights and a white cape for a little post-office stress relief.  Nice dive, though!

Sandra Vacey's last credit is for the disastrous heist film Every Girl Should Have One where she appeared with John LaZar (formerly the bizarre Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell of "This is my happening and it freaks me out!" Beyond the Valley of the Dolls infamy and later the villain of Deathstalker II) and Zsa Zsa Gabor.  She's just fine in this episode, so it's surprising she didn't keep at it.  On the other hand, how can you top performing with John Lazar and Zsa Zsa Gabor?  Better to call it quits.

One little slip-up.  The opening scene apparently takes place in the late afternoon, as evidenced by the long shadows and golden light, but a few moments later as Carrie's car goes out of control, the shadows are all short and directly beneath objects indicating a shooting time closer to noon.  Boy,  I really hope someone got fired for that blunder!

The Secrets of Isis, October is Spookey Month Edition featuring Episode 6: "Lucky"

Randy Martin is crazy about his canine pal Lucky.  And why not?  Lucky loves Randy right back in that special unconditional way dogs do.  The pair show up at Larkspur High one afternoon to play fetch and bring good luck to Larkspur High's baseball... or softball... team (the episode doesn't quite make it clear, and either way, just last week it was the height of football season so something screwy's going on) and join the high school kids on the beach for a pre-game party.  Some of the guys from rival Central High show up and there's some good-natured trash talk back and forth, but things take a tragic turn when one of the guys tosses a ball for Lucky to fetch and the dog goes into the raging Pacific Ocean.  Randy tries to save his dog, Isis rescues them both, but it's too late for Lucky.  The dog was just too old and its heart couldn't take the strain.

Angry at the world for robbing him of his best friend, Randy seeks solace at a local dam just before a water pressure test.  When he drops Lucky's collar-- a melancholy keepsake-- onto some jagged rocks down in the spillway, the unhappy boy tries to retrieve it, only to catch his ankle.  Trapped with only a minute or two before thousands of gallons of water comes rushing his way.  It's Isis in a race against the raging flood for Randy's life!

Hold up a second.  Before we review the episode let's address this whole "getting your foot caught" business.  Something like this happens in almost every story.  Since the show eschews most superhero violence (Isis tosses some tires and levitates a car; that's about as intense as it gets), there aren't a lot of bad guys running around with ropes and chains to bind their victims so Isis can come to the rescue.  And a lot of times, the jeopardy the characters find themselves in-- chased by car thieves, menaced by a diseased bear, or simply about to be washed away by a torrential dam release-- would be fairly easy to escape but for an injury of some kind.  The show specifically targets its characters' ankles almost to a fetishistic extent.  It just never tires of the ol' ankle-in-the-rock gag.  In this case, Randy just falls behind a large rock and starts screaming bloody moider.

It would be comic, but actor John Doran turns out to be preternaturally skilled at conveying pain and fear.  For a moment I was convinced some hidden creature had ripped his foot completely off.  Couple that with the recent loss of his dog and some all-too-believable angry crying scenes, and you've got one poor little guy having a crappy day.

"Lucky" is a strong episode, one that tackles the ultimate issue:  Death.  Nothing is so serious as death, and as a subject, death encompasses all others.  You can imagine quite a few young viewers knew the confusion and pain accompanying the loss of a beloved pet or even a family member.  Parents often struggle with how to tell their children about death and come up with a lot of confusing euphemisms, which generally just confuse the kids.  Most kid-vid offerings stay well away from this subject.

Not Isis.  Rather than sidestep it or cop out, Isis confronts death in a straightfoward, honest way.  When a tearful Randy asks Isis why Lucky had to die, she simply tells him, "It was time."

"Couldn't you save him?" Randy asks.

"No," she replies.

Isis explains no one has that power.  It's a hard-hitting moment, and leads to a short speech on the cycle of life compassionately delivered by Joanna Cameron.  It's her finest moment of the series so far, especially when you consider she delivers this monologue while wearing faux Egyptian jewelry and a skimpy minidress outfit to portray a superhero.

This scene also gives the show a chance to introduce a new Isis power-- the gem she wears on her forehead can project images into a person's mind.  It's nice to visualize the episode's lesson, and all it takes is a simple superimposition trick.  Isis ties Lucky's death to everyone's, but also makes the case that death is necessary so life can continue-- we are born, we grow, we grow old, we die and we return to the earth to nourish a new cycle of growth.  This is nature's way and no superhero, even one endowed with the powers of the earth, sky and water, can alter this simple fact.

Another well played scene features Cutler and Pang.  Thomas takes the call from the vet, her expression changes and everyone knows it's the worst possible news without her having to tell them.  At first I wanted to chalk it up to the script trying to soft-sell the moment-- and given the workings of network standards and practices, there may have been a deal by which Isis could use the word "death" only a certain number of times in the episode-- but fine performances all around make underplaying the scene the best choice.  I can't help but compare this to what's largely considered the worst of Star Trek, "Spock's Brain," where the pivotal moment goes for broke and devolves into high camp, or the now infamous "Walker says I have AIDS" moment from Walker, Texas Ranger.  There's a right way and a wrong way to break news and guess who gets it right.

Working from an especially strong script by Ann Udell, director Hollingsworth Morse (an old-school pro who helmed episodes of practically every TV show from the 1950s to the 1980s, the Arthur Digby Sellers of Isis) elicits some very effective performances from regulars and guest stars alike.  Most importantly from Doran, who carries the show and brings a believability to his role the bereaved dog owner.  He could easily have proven obnoxious during the scenes where he's crying and lashing out bitterly at the Central High guy who tossed the fatal ball, but instead he's pitch-perfect.  Roles dried up for the guy as they tend to do for kid actors, but not long after this job he portrayed Our Gang legend (and future Perry White impersonator) Jackie Cooper in the TV movie Rainbow, opposite Broadway's first Annie, a badly-miscast Andrea McArdle as Judy Garland, directed by none other than Cooper himself.  That's a pretty strong endorsement.

You know, when Cooper was a lad they used to make him cry on cue by threatening to kill his dog.  Just thought I'd throw that out there.

I really enjoy any scene with Rick Mason.  Cutler opens the episode with both Doran and Lucky, breaking W.C. Fields's famous maxim about working with children and dogs.  It's subtly expository as we learn about Randy's big brother (a Larkspur alumnus and well-known to Mason and Thomas) and the bond between boy and canine, but mostly it's just fun.  Plus, for an added bonus we find out Rick Mason had a dog of his own as a boy, but didn't have Randy's knack for training.  Cutler has a hilarious bit of business when Randy talks him into tossing the ball to Lucky and the teacher tries to get out of it, can't, then does it awkwardly.  The guy's trying, he really is and you get a sense his heart is in the right place, but he isn't lying-- Rick Mason probably just isn't that great with animals.  The show relies on Cutler to bring a light touch to various scenes and it's just so darn hard not to like the guy and his character.

And look at that awesome black and white checked sport coat.

But once again, the ever-reliable Pang as Cindy Lee has some of the funniest moments in what's generally a heavy-duty episode.  While Randy discusses the importance of chemistry to would-be veterinarians with Ms. Thomas, Cindy tries to lure Lucky for a race.  What is it with Cindy and racing?  Bikes, dogs, UFOs.  There's nothing that kid won't challenge to a contest of speed.  Lucky is too old and too obedient to give in, though, and Thomas informs Cindy he's a "one man dog."  Cindy then introduces the lucky charm/baseball story element and she and Randy end up sharing a soul shake over Larkspur's chances against Central High.  That's right--  Cindy Lee does a soul shake.

Later, during what passes for a crowd scene on the Isis budget, she spots some dudes walking up the beach.  "It's the guys from Central High!" she shouts with probably more enthusiasm than the moment warrants.  But that's Cindy Lee all over.  She's the show's incarnation of niceness.  She happily waves at these rivals and it turns out they're not there to cause trouble.  A lesser show would have featured these Central High guys as villains; on Isis, they're portrayed as genuinely nice guys who show up to have some good natured fun.  They even give Randy a new dog at the end of the episode-- although Central High spokesperson Glen takes some of the saccharine edge off by insisting Central will cream Larkspur anyway.

I may have mentioned this before, but Joanna Cameron was amazingly fit during her time as Isis.  Her miniskirt costume is practically chaste compared to what your modern-day women supers wear, but it displays her toned arms and legs to great effect.  I also want to point out that Joanna Pang as Cindy Lee looks simply amazing in her short culottes/mini-dress outfit on the beach.  It's easy to see why Glen and his Central High buddies "just happened" to be strolling along the beach that day.

Now that we're on the topic of death and dying, reading E.B. White's Charlotte's Web would be a good follow-up to any viewing of "Lucky."  And a viewing of 1982's Peabody-award winning The Electric Grandmother TV movie, too.  You know, the adaptation of Ray Bradbury's I Sing the Body Electric with Maureen Stapleton as the robotic grandmother who helps a family deal with loss, especially Agatha-Agamemnon.  Death and humanity's varied reactions to it are themes running through a lot of Bradbury's work.  From the Dust Returned deals with this explicitly, as does his 1972 fantasy novel The Halloween Tree.  We can relate this book back to Isis because in The Halloween Tree, Bradbury makes a special effort to show how Egyptian mythology influenced our Halloween revels.  We celebrate mortality in all things autumnal, dark and strange.  Or, in Isis's case, sunshine-infused spring days with Cindy Lee asking a dog for a foot race.

Safety note:  When Isis gingerly makes her way over the loose rocks in the spillway, she appears to have changed from her usual high-heeled boots into some sensible flats. Yet when she and Randy make it to safety, she's once again in those high heels!