Oh mighty Isis!
February 2, 2009 6:10 PM Subscribe
Forget your Buffies, your Wonder and Bionic Women. The first weekly American live-action television series starring a female superhero was The Secrets of Isis. (previously)
Its star, Joanna Cameron, currently manages hotels in Hawaii. (inspired by)
Its star, Joanna Cameron, currently manages hotels in Hawaii. (inspired by)
The Secrets of Isis? Well, I'll be. I always remembered it as Oh, Mighty Isis (the transformation catchphrase.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:29 PM on February 2, 2009
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:29 PM on February 2, 2009
It got a funny write up on the Onion a.v. club [url=http://www.avclub.com/articles/oh-mighty-isis,23280/]blog[/url].
posted by Ruby Stevens at 6:36 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Ruby Stevens at 6:36 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Hah! I remember this! Vaguely. So, I'm watching this, and I'm thinking that she probably could have done it without the transformation... I mean recreational swimming ain't much of a super-power is it?
posted by Mister_A at 6:38 PM on February 2, 2009
posted by Mister_A at 6:38 PM on February 2, 2009
Strangely, just this past weekend, I read up on her just this past weekend. I also discovered that the other half of the bill (Michael Gray as Billy Batson) owns a florist shop. I somehow would prefer my childhood TV superheroes to be doing dinner theatre in Branson, Missouri rather than doing something this... mundane.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:39 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:39 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
What? I think running a flower shop is awesome! Mundane my ass!
/mild, genial outrage
posted by Mister_A at 6:42 PM on February 2, 2009
/mild, genial outrage
posted by Mister_A at 6:42 PM on February 2, 2009
I love the Whiteness!
Huh? Like Joanna Pang?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:48 PM on February 2, 2009
Huh? Like Joanna Pang?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:48 PM on February 2, 2009
Presented by Filmation, in the days before Fat Albert and He-Man, and their other ultra-limited-animation productions.
posted by JHarris at 6:53 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 6:53 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
He-man was like 12 FPS or something...
posted by Mister_A at 7:00 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by Mister_A at 7:00 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Mister A it's not just that, it's how they shamelessly reused animation all over the place. Every character had a shot in their archives running diagonally from background-right to foreground-left. If the character was in a fight in that episode then you could count on seeing it right before the fight, or its mirrored counterpart.
These days, it'd prompt one to say "I choose YOU Skeletor!"
posted by JHarris at 7:05 PM on February 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
These days, it'd prompt one to say "I choose YOU Skeletor!"
posted by JHarris at 7:05 PM on February 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
Even as a terrible show-watching kid I hated Isis.
It's a cool premise, and I'm glad that someone decided to do a kids' show with a female superhero. But to my Saturday Loony-Tunes addicted self, it was a drag. We only watched it on boring rainy days because it came on after the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour.
posted by oneirodynia at 7:09 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
It's a cool premise, and I'm glad that someone decided to do a kids' show with a female superhero. But to my Saturday Loony-Tunes addicted self, it was a drag. We only watched it on boring rainy days because it came on after the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour.
posted by oneirodynia at 7:09 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Yeah oneirodynia, but compared to Bugs Bunny, nearly everything sucks. He's Bugs Bunny.
posted by JHarris at 7:11 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 7:11 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Member when Shazam and Isis got together. That was cool.
posted by boots77 at 7:12 PM on February 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by boots77 at 7:12 PM on February 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
Forget your Buffies
Er. No, I shall not. I may even threaten bodily harm if you suggest such again, frankly.
posted by Brockles at 7:21 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Er. No, I shall not. I may even threaten bodily harm if you suggest such again, frankly.
posted by Brockles at 7:21 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Man-o-man was Joanna Cameron ever hot.
posted by illiad at 7:28 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by illiad at 7:28 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
illiad: "Man-o-man was Joanna Cameron ever hot."
She was the beginning of the end of my latency stage.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:32 PM on February 2, 2009
She was the beginning of the end of my latency stage.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:32 PM on February 2, 2009
Jesus, I totally forgot that existed.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:16 PM on February 2, 2009
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:16 PM on February 2, 2009
I was Isis for Halloween and my best friend was Shazam.
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 8:23 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 8:23 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle wasn't a superhero but she was a heroic.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:38 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:38 PM on February 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
..lass
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:39 PM on February 2, 2009
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:39 PM on February 2, 2009
DC introduced Isis into their regular comic line-up, I think it was last year.
The premise was a human caught the eye of Captain Marvel's vicious counterpart, Black Adam, and he granted her a portion of his power. Long story short, she died and in his rage Black Adam murdered an entire country.
posted by exparrot at 8:44 PM on February 2, 2009
The premise was a human caught the eye of Captain Marvel's vicious counterpart, Black Adam, and he granted her a portion of his power. Long story short, she died and in his rage Black Adam murdered an entire country.
posted by exparrot at 8:44 PM on February 2, 2009
Ahhh, memories. I used to watch Isis and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. That show starred the awesome Dierdre Hall, later the star of "Days of our Lives."
posted by Miastar at 8:47 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Miastar at 8:47 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Nice! I remember this show -- and crushing on Isis as a wee wolf cub.
This post helped reconnect me to Tarzan and the Super 7 and led me to the, apparently somewhat ahead of its time, Space Sentinels. Thanks!
posted by lord_wolf at 8:49 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
This post helped reconnect me to Tarzan and the Super 7 and led me to the, apparently somewhat ahead of its time, Space Sentinels. Thanks!
posted by lord_wolf at 8:49 PM on February 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
I have been known to exclaim at the moment of ecstasy
OH MIGHTY ISIS!
Sorry.
-
posted by Ron Thanagar at 11:14 PM on February 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
OH MIGHTY ISIS!
Sorry.
-
posted by Ron Thanagar at 11:14 PM on February 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl made me feel funny down there.
posted by wittgenstein at 7:14 AM on February 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by wittgenstein at 7:14 AM on February 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
bonobothegreat: "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle wasn't a superhero but she was a heroic."
According to her Wikipedia article, she could communicate with animals. If that's enough to make Aquaman a superhero, it counts for her too. So if her 1955 TV series was weekly, she claims the crown.
posted by Joe Beese at 9:47 AM on February 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
According to her Wikipedia article, she could communicate with animals. If that's enough to make Aquaman a superhero, it counts for her too. So if her 1955 TV series was weekly, she claims the crown.
posted by Joe Beese at 9:47 AM on February 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
DC introduced Isis into their regular comic line-up, I think it was last year.
Or maybe it was 1976.
posted by straight at 10:04 AM on February 3, 2009
Or maybe it was 1976.
posted by straight at 10:04 AM on February 3, 2009
Isis was my first experience with female superheroes, and my 10-year old self developed a major crush on her. I think it had something to do with the short flouncy skirt.
One can't really call Isis a good series, but for the time, it was impressive; bear in mind, this was during the major drought of good children's series that lasted through the 70s, up to the mid-80s. Compared to the other things that were on the channel then, it was pretty damn good.
Still, it would have been interesting to have say, Bruce Timm work on a remake of the character. Oh well.
posted by happyroach at 10:20 AM on February 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
One can't really call Isis a good series, but for the time, it was impressive; bear in mind, this was during the major drought of good children's series that lasted through the 70s, up to the mid-80s. Compared to the other things that were on the channel then, it was pretty damn good.
Still, it would have been interesting to have say, Bruce Timm work on a remake of the character. Oh well.
posted by happyroach at 10:20 AM on February 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
Shazam and Isis were like a srange netherworld between the bright, 2-D universe of Saturday morning cartoons, and the faded, 3-D world of adults that was about to begin. You watched them and clung to every moment, not because they were enjoyable, but because they represented the last few minutes of childhood to be savored before succumbing to the mind-numbing dullness of, say, Master's golf.
posted by malocchio at 10:37 AM on February 3, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by malocchio at 10:37 AM on February 3, 2009 [3 favorites]
I loved this show, and was also Isis for Halloween when I was...5? I "played Isis" for years. It may have been my first step down the road to feminism. I bought a bootleg (er, collector's copy) on DVD at a con years ago and...and...
Wow, it wasn't very good.
posted by JoanArkham at 12:35 PM on February 3, 2009
Wow, it wasn't very good.
posted by JoanArkham at 12:35 PM on February 3, 2009
JoanArkham, we should trade childhood Halloween photos -- I was Athena shortly after seeing Clash of the Titans (age, what? 5 or 6 maybe?). My mom made me a papier maché helmet and everything. Sweeeet.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 1:39 PM on February 3, 2009
posted by bitter-girl.com at 1:39 PM on February 3, 2009
I. Loved. This. Show.
I still think about it. I bring it up at least once a year (along with "Shazam!") to people who say stuff like, "so, was your mom giving you drugs?" because they don't remember it. And now, here, in this place of blueness, people who DO! Hurray!
Only Wonder Woman could supplant my love of Isis, but she didn't - I had an entire pantheon of ass-kicking women to inspire my commitment to justice and a good tussle.
posted by batmonkey at 2:35 PM on February 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
I still think about it. I bring it up at least once a year (along with "Shazam!") to people who say stuff like, "so, was your mom giving you drugs?" because they don't remember it. And now, here, in this place of blueness, people who DO! Hurray!
Only Wonder Woman could supplant my love of Isis, but she didn't - I had an entire pantheon of ass-kicking women to inspire my commitment to justice and a good tussle.
posted by batmonkey at 2:35 PM on February 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
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