70s Live Kid Vid News Desk

Isis box set release date
According to both TV Shows on DVD and Andy Mangel's site, the complete series of Isis will be released on DVD by BCI/Eclipse on July 24, 2007. The bonus features have not been announced yet, but judging by their previous sets, the set should include interviews and commentary tracks. As always, Andy Mangel's site is best source for up to date information on this and other BCI & Filmation releases.

In other Isis related news, BCI/Eclipse will be releasing Hero High on DVD on May 22nd. Hero High was one of the animated segments from The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!, the 1981 animation/ live action Filmation series. Each episode of the series featured two Hero High animated segments, as well as live action wraparound footage, including jokes and songs, with the cast of Hero High.

The Hero High segments featured the humorous adventures, both in school and out of school, of a group of young superheroes. The animated versions of Isis and Captain Marvel showed up as guest stars on the series.

The box set will include all of the animated Hero High segments. As as bonus feature, about 20 minutes of the live action segments will be included with the set. Other extras include interviews and commentary. For the full details, go to Andy Mangel's Hero High page. Unfortunately, the set will not include the animated Shazam! episodes.

Ghost Busters DVD set to be released in April
The complete Ghost Busters series will be released on DVD on April 17th, 2007. Besides the entire series, the set will include photo galleries, interviews with Lou Scheimer and Bob Burns, and the "I'll Be A Son Of A Ghostbuster" episode of the animated series.

Isis and Ghost Busters creator passes away
I recently found out that Filmation writer Marc Richards passed away late last year. Mr. Richards created and wrote all of the episodes of the Ghost Busters. He wrote episodes for several of Filmation�s animated series, and was also responsible for creating Isis. A short obituary can be found here.

The complete series of Jason of Star Command on DVD in May
Jason of Star Command is coming to DVD on May 8th, 2007. The box set will include all episodes from both seasons, as well as several extras, including a documentary on the series, and commentary tracks from actors Craig Littler and John Berwick and special effects artists Chuck Comisky, Jim Aupperle, and John Carl Beuchler.

Saturday Morning Television Veterans pass away
CBS news correspondent Christopher Glenn died on October 17, 2006 from liver cancer. From 1971 to 1986, Glenn was the narrator for CBS's In the News. These short segments, which aired in between the various Saturday morning series on CBS, featured news stories aimed at kids. You Tube has a couple of In the News segments here and here.

Glenn was also one of the hosts of the Saturday morning news series, Thirty Minutes. The series, which ran from 1978 to 1982, was an attempt at a Saturday morning version of 60 Minutes.

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Blaxploitation actress Tamara Dobson died on October 2, 2006 from complications involving multiple sclerosis and pneumonia. Best known as the title character in Cleopatra Jones, as well as the sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. Dobson played Samantha on the second season of Jason of Star Command.

Obituaries can be found here and here.

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Stanley Z. Cherry passed away from cancer on September 27, 2006. Cherry was the main director, producer, and uncredited (re)writer on the Kids from C.A.P.E.R. Prior to C.A.P.E.R., Cherry directed and/or wrote episodes for a variety of series, including The Addams Family, Gilligan's Island, and the show that inspired C.A.P.E.R., The Monkees.

Variety has an obituary.

New Jackson Bostwick interview
The latest issue of Filmfax (#112) has an interview with Jackson Bostwick, the first Captain Marvel, on Shazam!
(Thanks to Carol from 70s Live Kid Vid mailing list for the info!)

New clips added to You Tube
More clips have been added to the 70s Live Kid Vid You Tube channel, including several shows I plan to add in the future, including Hot Dog, Hot Hero Sandwich, and Jambo.

Ark II DVD set details
On November 7, 2006, Ark II will be the first of the live action Filmation series to debut on DVD. Besides containing all 15 episodes (including the rare "Lottery" episode), the box set will include a 30 minute documentary on the series, episode commentary from cast and crew members on the first two episodes, "The Flies" and "The Slaves," a photo gallery (including art from animated version of the series that never got off the ground, and an episode guide.

Red Hand Gang episodes available online:
The unofficial Red Hand Gang site has the first six episode of the series available for download.

Banana Splits coming to DVD in 2007?:
On his blog, animation writer Earl Kress posted a list of Hanna Barbera series, including the Banana Splits, that are tentatively scheduled for DVD release in 2007.

Krofft ringtones available:
Rhino's New Media Marketing / Mobile Non-Music Department sent in this press release:

Consisting of master audio ring tones, ringback tones, video ringers, voice ringers, mobile wallpapers and more, Rhino plans to make all Krofft mobile content available through all major U.S. wireless carriers and aggregators, directly via premium short message service (PSMS) by texting KROFFT to 74466, and by visiting www.rhino.com/ringtones.

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters Reunion in Atlanta::
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters stars Johnny Whitaker, Scott Kolden, and Rip Taylor will be appearing at the annual Dragon Con, in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1 - 4). Marty Krofft and Lidsville star Butch Patrick are also scheduled to appear.
(Thanks to Noreen, Johnny Whitaker's Webmistress, for the info!)

More Filmation DVD News (Updated)
Ark II is scheduled to be released on November 7, 2006 from BCI Eclipse. Space Academy is scheduled to be released in the early 2007, Jason of Star Command is scheduled for Spring 2007, and Ghost Busters and Isis are scheduled for Summer 2007. For the most up to date information on these upcoming releases, as well as the various animated Filmation releases, check out Andy Mangel's BCI DVD Page.

Anyone attending the San Diego Comic Con should catch the From She-Ra and He-Man to Dungeons & Dragons and Beyond! on Friday, July 21, from 4:30 to 6 pm in Room 5AB. The panel will cover the upcoming BCI DVD sets, including both animated and live action Filmation series, as well as 80s animated series, including Dungeons & Dragons and Defenders of the Earth. Andy Mangels will moderate the panel, which is set to include Filmation founder, Lou Scheimer, and Krofft Superstar Hour writer, Mark Evanier.

Besides appearing on the panel, Lou Scheimer, along with his daughter, Filmation voice actress Erika Scheimer, will also be signing autographs at the Tower Records booth (#4829) at Comic Con on Thursday, July 20th from 2 to 4 pm; Friday, July 21st from 2 to 4 pm; and Saturday, July 22nd, from 12 to 2 pm.

Saturday Morning Television Veterans pass away
Lennie Weinrib, who provided the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf and played Magic Mongo, passed away on June 28th. Besides voicing Pufnstuf, Weinrib was also the main writer on the series. Weinrib provided many of the voices for other Krofft series, including Lidsville and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Other Saturday morning live action work included voicing the character of Knock-Knock, the woodpecker, on the Skatebirds, as well as guest spots on the Ghost Busters and the Kids from C.A.P.E.R.

Krofft writer Mark Evanier's wrote a great obit on Weinrib here and linked to another good one here, which lists many of his animation credits.

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Jeff Winkless, who played Fleegle on the Banana Splits Adventure Hour, passed away on June 26th. Jeff was an active member of the Banana Splits Yahoo Group and was reportedly working on a book that was going to cover his time on the show. Besides playing Fleegle, Jeff worked as a voice over artist and scored films. The IMDB has an extensive list of his credits.

Lancelot Link DVD set incomplete
According to the Digital Bits website, the recent Lancelot Link box set is incomplete. Image Entertainment was only given 12 of the episodes, one of which had sound problems. So the set is missing the three following episodes: The Great Brain Drain / The Great Double Double Cross, The Sour Taste of Success / The Baron's Birthday Ball, and The Spy Who Went Out in the Cold / Too Many Chumps, as well as the Weather or Not segment from the 12th episode. Weather or Not was previously released on Lancelot Link, Volume 4.

The Krofft brothers in New York City:
According to the Rhino Newsletter, Marty Krofft will be appearing this Saturday, May 20th, at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square starting at 11 a.m. He'll be there to promote and sign copies of the upcoming Bugaloos DVD box set. This is your chance to get the box set a few days before its official release date.

Next Monday, May 22nd, both Sid and Marty will be apparing as part of Makor's "Televisionaries" panel series in the Steinhardt Building of the 92nd St. Y. More information including tickets, time, directions, and info about the panel series can be found here.

Monster Squad & Kids from C.A.P.E.R. Action Figures
The great Mego Museum site has unearthed photos of prototypes for action figures and vehicles from Monster Squad and the Kids from C.A.P.E.R. Made by Ideal, the figures and vehicles were featured in the company's catalog. To my knowledge, none of the figures were actually available for sale.

Upcoming DVD info
The release date for the Bugaloos DVD box set has been pushed back to May 23rd. The set will include interviews and commentary from several cast members, as well as director Tony Charmoli and Sid Krofft.

A few weeks later, June 13th to be exact, the complete Lancelot Link series will be available on DVD. So far, no extras have been announced.

On the Filmation DVD front, release dates have been announced for a few of the animated series, including the New Adventures of Flash Gordon and She-Ra: Princess of Power, but no specific dates have been set for Ark II, Ghost Busters, Space Academy, Isis, and Jason of Star Command. For the most up to date and accurate information on the various Filmation series DVDs, go here.

Video clips galore
You Tube is a great source for all types of video clips, including a lot of Saturday morning related ones.
Here's a playlist of 70s live action clips to get you started:

Land of the Lost and Space Academy reviews
Author John Kenneth Muir has been posting, interesting, in-depth reviews of Land of the Lost and Space Academy episodes on his blog. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Space Academy reviews.

H.R. Pufnstuf star Jack Wild passed away on March 1 after an extended battle with cancer. More extensive obituaries can be found here and here.

Hot Hero Sandwich co-creator Bruce Hart passed away on February 21. Hart was one of the original writers on Sesame Street and co-wrote series' theme song. Following his stint on Sesame Street, Hart was involved as a writer and producer on Marlo Thomas' Free to Be...You and Me album and special. Hart's co-collaborator n all of the projcets listed above was his wife, Carole.

For those not familiar with Hot Hero Sandwich, it was a Saturday Night Live-styled show (it was shot in the same studio as SNL) for the Saturday morning set, featuring skits and musical performances. In the near future, I plan on adding a page for the show. Until then, you can watch the opening credits.

Filmation DVD Help
A message from Andy Mangels, who is working on the the upcoming Filmation DVD releases:

As you may or may not have heard by now, BCI Eclipse has acquired 230 hours of Filmation live-action and animated programming for release on DVD, in addition to the great set of He-Man DVDs now being produced. You can read both press releases here: www.andymangels.com/BCI_DVDs.html

As you can see, some titles have been announced, though not nearly all titles. What HAS been announced so far are:
She-Ra: Princess of Power
The Legend of Bravestarr
Blackstar
Ghostbusters
The New Adventures of Zorro
The Lone Ranger
Groovie Goolies
Snow White Happily Ever After (feature film)
The Secrets of Isis (live-action series)

As with the He-Man DVDs, I'm one of the people in charge of special features on the DVD sets, and we're planning some great ones. But we may need your help. Here's where you - the super-fans - come in.

We are looking for the following items, from ALL Filmation shows (except He-Man and Fat Albert). If you have anything and can share it with us, please CONTACT ME directly.
** Scripts, Storyboards, Memos
** Cels, Backgrounds, Model Sheets
** Promotional Press Photos, Behind-the-scene Photos
** Contact information for any past Filmation employees or actors that you know

* Important item 1: I cannot guarantee anything to you at this time in terms of use or recompense, as some shows we are not releasing or materials may be duplicated.
* Important item 2: I cannot address any OTHER Filmation properties in this forum other than what it says in the press releases. Please DO NOT ask me about release dates, titles other than the above, or etc.

We've done our best to topload the He-Man DVDs with some of the BEST Special Features for any animated series. We hope to continue this trend with our further Filmation releases. Keep watching my webpage for more news!

Best, Andy Mangels
DVD Special Features director/writer/consultant member, International Association of Media Tie-In Writers
www.andymangels.com
www.wonderwomanmuseum.com

Isis DVDs confirmed!
In a press release, Entertainment Rights confirmed that Isis will be coming to DVD in the near future.

It turns out that the upcoming DVDs will not be the first official video release of Isis. The great Unofficial Isis Appreciation Page has unearthed information on an early 80s UK video release.

Shazam! on DVD
Jackon Bostwick, the original Captain Marvel, on Shazam! is offering a limited edition autographed DVD featuring 5 episodes of the series through his website. In other news, Bostwick recently did an interview with the horror movie site, Terror Trap, about his work on the horror film, The Prey.

Electric Company DVD now available
A 4 DVD box set of the best of the Electric Company, the popular PBS educational series from the 1970s, has been released. The set features 20 episodes from the show's long run. You can order it here.

Filmation shows coming to DVD in the near future.:
BCI acquired the North American DVD distribution rights of Entertainment Rights' Filmation Catalog, which includes several animated series, along with the following live action series: Ark II, Ghost Busters, Isis, Jason of Star Command, and Space Academy.

A new poll has been created for fans to vote on which Filmation live-action shows they would like to see on DVD.
Vote here.

Retro Saturday Mornings off the air
Cox Cable's Retro Saturday Morning has left the air, after a 2 1/2 year run. Over the course of its run, the three hour block featured reruns of almost every Krofft Saturday morning series from the 1970s, with the exception of the second season of Bigfoot and Wildboy and the Krofft Superstar Hour/Bay City Rollers Show. Most notably, the block featured reruns of the Krofft Supershow, including all of the songs and skits featuring the hosts, Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, which had not been seen in the United States since their original airings.

More Bugaloos DVD Info
TV Shows on DVD is reporting that the The Bugaloos box set will be released on March 14,2006. Tranquility Forest, the premier Bugaloos' site, has more information and photos. In other Bugaloos DVD news, Rhino has also released a sampler DVD, featuring three episodes, "Firefly, Light My Fire", "Courage, Come Home" and "The Uptown 500". The sampler can only be found in stores owned by Trans World Entertainment, which includes FYE, Coconuts, and Wherehouse.

Robbie Rist on Myspace.com
Big John, Little John star Robbie Rist has his own page at Myspace.com, which features several of his songs.

Land of the Lost Complete Series Box Set
After releasing each season individually, Rhino Home Video has released all three season of Land of the Lost in one large DVD set.

The Bugaloos are coming to DVD in 2006:
Tranquility Forest, the premier Bugaloos' site, reports that Rhino Home Video plans on releasing a box set of the entire series of The Bugaloos in Feb. 2006.

Mystery Island airing on Boomerang:
Mystery Island, the live action, serialized, adventure series from the original Skatebirds, is currently airing on the Boomerang Network. The Mystery Island segments are being shown as part of the Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, which airs Monday through Friday at 4 PM EST.
(Thanks to Glenn McLain for the tip!)

Far Out Space Nuts/Gilligan's Island star passes away:
Far Out Space Nuts star, Bob Denver, has passed away at the age of 70. CNN has the story. A message from Denver's family can be found on Denver's official site.

1978 Krofft Saturday Morning Preview Show reviewed:
Film Threat's Bootleg Files column reviewed the 1978 NBC Saturday Morning Preview Special, The Bay City Rollers Meet the Saturday Superstars, which gave viewers the first look at The Krofft Superstar Hour.
(Thanks to Glenn McLain for the tip!)

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters DVD Box Set coming soon:
The first season of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters is scheduled to be released on DVD on September 13, 2005. Extras on the series include episode commentary and interviews from creators/producers Sid and Marty Krofft and actors Johnny Whitaker and Scott Kolden, as well as an interview with Krofft writer/producer Si Rose. Order it through Amazon.

Land of the Lost and Pufnstuf DVD Compilations to be released:
On August 30, 2005, Rhino Home Video released "best of" DVDs, each containing four selected episodes, from the most popular Krofft series, Land of the Lost and H.R. Pufnstuf.
The Land of the Lost DVD, Stak Attack, features four Sleestak-centric episodes: "The Sleestak God," "Fair Trade," "Blackout," and "The Repairman." Order it through Amazon.
The Pufnstuf DVD, H.R. Pufnstuf: 4 of Sid & Marty's Favorites, features "The Magic Path," "The Box Kite Caper," "Dinner For Two, Please, Orson," and "Waddya Mean The Horse Gets The Girl?" episodes. Order it through Amazon.

Jackson Bostwick (Shazam!) Interview:
A new interview with Jackson Bostwick, the original Captain Marvel on Shazam!, has been posted on the Comiccon.com An older interview with Bostwick can be found on the same site.

Information about television airings, video releases, new websites, interviews, reviews, etc.

Check it out