MAIN
CAST:
While watching Filmation’s live-action Shazam!
as a kid, Obie Scott Wade
wondered what would have happened if the titular character shouted something
like “SHE-zam!” instead of his typical transformation word. Would he become a
different hero? Get a different costume? The idea kept churning around in his
head until he eventually developed the concept of SheZow.
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| The newest SheZow! |
SheZow centered on the Hamdon
family in the fictional city of Megadale (based on Belmont
Shore in Long Beach, CA and Melbourne,
Australia) moving into the home of recently deceased relative, Agnes Monroe (Elizabeth Nabben). The
12-year-old son of the family, Guy (David-Myles Brown & Samuel Vincent),
discovered a secret compartment which held a ring.
Jokingly putting it on turned him into the superheroine SheZow (still a boy,
but now in woman’s clothing). Along with being the height of couture fashion,
Guy also gained super strength, speed, empathy and agility, a sonic scream, and
an arsenal of weaponry in her Beautility
Belt including laser lipstick
(a laser sword that looked like a tube of lipstick) and a boomerang brush. He
also had She-S-P, a precognitive ability that warned him of immediate danger,
and would eventually gain the abilities of flight and animal communication. That’s
not to say SheZow was without weaknesses: particularly getting his hair mussed
or wearing a color other than pink. His powers also needed to be frequently
recharged by being around nature and could be affected by any ailments
afflicting Guy. Because of Guy’s natural looks, he comes off as the most
beautiful girl in the city when transformed.
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| Maz reacting...well to Guy's new identity with Kelly looking on. |
Aiding Guy in his newfound superhero
occupation was his twin sister Kelly (named for Wade’s sister, voiced by Diana
Kaarina), who was president of the international SheZow Fan Club and was a
self-proclaimed expert on the heroine (although she was as unaware that Agnes
was her as anyone), and best friend Maz Kepler (Matt Hill), who constantly
adopted identities of his own to try and be SheZow’s sidekick. Together, Guy
and Maz had a pet brick named Rick. Unaware of these events was their father, Boxter (Dan Hamill), a police officer
who hated SheZow because he felt she interfered with police business, and
mother, Droosha (Nabben),
a bongo-playing poet who adored SheZow (although she did find out in one
episode, but had her memory erased). There was also Wanda (Cecelia Ramsdale), editor of
the school newspaper, Kelly’s best friend and whom Guy had a crush on. However,
Wanda thought Guy and Maz were idiots for the stupid stunts they always did in
trying to emulate what they saw on their favorite show, Buttwipe.
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| Sheila, a heroine's best friend. |
SheZow operated out of the She-Lair, which rested deep
below Agnes’ house. Among its chief features was a place to store SheZow’s
primary mode of transportation, the Shehicle, and the
supercomputer operated by snarky A.I. Sheila (Jacquie Brennan). Sheila appeared
as a pair of pink lips on the monitor and enjoyed jokes at Guy’s expense.
However, she was serious when she came to their work and was actually fond of
Guy; mentoring him as much as a rambunctious 12-year-old could be mentored.
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| Most of S.I.C.K.: Candy Rapper, Mega Monkey, Mocktopus and Chill Finger. |
To go along with this quirky heroine
was an assortment of equally quirky and eccentric villains. Among them was Cold Finger
(a play on the name of James Bond villain Goldfinger,
voiced by Lyall Brooks),
formerly SheZow’s biggest fan who turned to villainy over a sense of betrayal
and possessed ice powers; Dr. Frankenweather
(a play on Frankenstein,
voiced by Taj Moore), a former TV weatherman who wanted to control the weather
to conquer the world; Fibberachee
(a play on Liberace,
voiced by Moore), a rock star who was jealous of SheZow’s popularity and was
able to turn his audience into zombies that did his bidding; Mega Monkey (Brooks), a
genetically-enhanced monkey from the future who desired to enslave the world; S.I.C.K. (Society of
Incredibly Callous Kriminals), the team formed by Mega Monkey comprised of
yo-yo-wielding Señior
Yo-Yo (Brooks), the candy-themed rapper Candy Rapper (Hamill),
the excessively-drooling Spit
Bubble (Brooks), sea monster Mocktopus (also Brooks),
and SheZow’s jealous former sidekick Tara (Brennan); SheZap (Vincent), SheZow’s
evil clone created from a discarded fingernail that fell into toxic waste; Tattoozala (a play on Methuselah, voiced
by Brooks), the world’s oldest tattoo artist whose own tattoos could come to
life via a magic chant; Brouhaha
(Brooks), an anthropomorphic fox and trickster from the 50s who laughs to the
tune of “Shave and
a Haircut”; and Baby
Scarington (Nabben), a monster baby doll that can control nightmares,
amongst others.
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| XSELSIOR: Buff Buddy, Geek Sheikh, Glint Eastwood and Captain XL. |
Other characters included the chauvinistic
superhero team XSELSIOR, comprised of Buff Buddy who had super
strong extending armpit hair, Captain XL (Moore), who
had a sizeable girth and super strength, Geek Sheikh, who could
control technology, and Glint
Eastwood (a play on Clint
Eastwood), with mesmerizing powers; Uma Thermal (named for Uma Thurman, voiced by Nabben),
a heroine with fire powers and a temperament to match; and gender-bent
duplicates from another dimension: Gal Hamdon, aka DudePow (incidentally—and
weirdly—the heroes became each other’s love interest, voiced by Ramsdale), Kelli Hamdon (Moore), Maizy Kelper (also
Ramsdale) and A.I. Dudley
(Mark Katz). The characters were designed by Kyla May, Claire Cheok and Paul Tippett.
SheZow was actually
introduced to the world on May 4, 2007 as an episode of the short-lived Disney Channel
anthology series, Shorty
McShorts’ Shorts. The short, animated by Pilot Mercury Filmworks, saw Guy (Jason Earles) and Kelly (Emily Osment) finding the ring,
Guy becoming SheZow, and rescuing his best friend (named Jose, voiced by Tyler Posey) from two
neighborhood bullies. Wade was able to revive the concept and sell it to Network Ten in Australia, where it made its
debut on December 15, 2012. The show was eventually presented to The
Hub (now Discovery Family)
for its North American broadcast, and then-head Margaret Loesch was initially
hesitant based on the concept. However, after viewing it and seeing it was
funny, she placed it on the network and it began its run thereon June 1, 2013. Brown
played the starring role in the Australian and New Zealand broadcasts, but was
recast with Vincent for other English-speaking territories. Christopher Elves served as the composer
and sang backing vocals on the theme with Jeff Gunn.
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| SheZow with his alternate double, DudePow. |
The
series was written by Wade along with Lazar Saric, Brendan Luno, Tania Lacy, Josh Hamilton, Keith Wagner, Dennis Haley, Marcy Brown, Becky Overton, Ann Austen, Kevin Sullivan, Denise Downer, Justin Kennedy, Ray Boseley, Kate Knechtel, Mark Fellows, S. Armstrong & S. Krause,
Carter Crocker, Kevin Nemeth, Chris Carter, Eric Truehart, Dan Reheuser, Tommy Campbell, Josh Worth, Philip Dalkin and Doug MacLeod, with Reheuser serving
as story editor with Wade and Mark Winslow as script consultant. Wade has
stated in interviews that most of the gags and gadgets came from ideas from
female members of his staff; particularly SheZow’s weaknesses. A recurring joke
featured the addition of “she” to various words, turning them into puns (such
as “hilarious” becoming “she-larious”). Each episode was comprised of two
segments. Animation duties were handled by Moody Street Kids, Kickstart Productions and Vision Animation.
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| The prerequisite evil clone. |
Because
of the central conceit of the show, SheZow came
under fire before it even aired in the United States; particularly from
conservative and family groups. They charged that the series was pushing a LGBT
agenda and that it would “confuse children about gender.” Wade maintained that SheZow
had nothing to do with being transsexual or any kind of agenda, and was
simply a comedic hero in a silly costume. Further, he denied the idea that the
show could be harmful to children since he was a kid when he initially
conceived of the idea.
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| Trouble alert: the show's about to be cancelled! |
Ultimately, the series only managed to run a single season despite decent ratings. Hasbro, the majority partner in The Hub, was having financial difficulties at the time that would ultimately lead to their selling their stake to Discovery Communications the next year. Network Ten also didn’t order any additional episodes. The show did manage to rack up two Australian Screen Sound Guild award nominations, however. In 2014, SheZow gained an official Twitter and Tumblr account (both largely inactive now) where they announced a line of apparel available through Café Press and the first issue of a comic published through Wade’s company, ObieCo Entertainment. It was made available in a limited print run and digitally through Amazon. The series has not yet received any official home media releases; however, the SheZow World accounts did promote the fact that episodes are available in various forms and quality around YouTube and for free streaming on TubiTV.
EPISODE
GUIDE:
“SheZow
Happens / Cold Finger” (12/15/12 AUS, 6/1/13 US) – Guy finds and puts on his
Aunt’s ring, becoming SheZow. / Kelly convinces Guy to appear at SheZow Con
where he ends up battling SheZow’s old foe, Cold Finger.
“Makin’
Bank / Super Sidekick” (12/16/12 AUS, 6/8/13 US) – Guy takes a $500 bill after
foiling a bank robbery, causing him to shrink and lose his powers. / Guy
becomes jealous when Max, in his sidekick guise as the Shaverine, saves the day
and earns the praise of the town.
“Glamageddon
/ SheZap” (12/21/12 AUS, 6/15/13 US) – The original SheZow’s former sidekick
Tara challenges him to a duel. / When Guy spits a broken nail into some toxic
chemicals, he creates his own slimy evil double: SheZap!
“S.I.C.K.
Day / Stuck Up” (12/22/12 AUS, 6/22/13 US) – When Boxter ends up in an
embarrassing photo in the newspaper, Guy comes up with a plan to get him credit
for stopping a villain. / When the town honors Guy with a stamp and holiday he
becomes stuck up and things start sticking to him.
“SheZow
Meets DudePow / ShePhat” (12/23/12 AUS, 7/27/13 US) – Stopping Cold Finger’s
scheme causes SheZow to accidentally open a portal to another dimension and
bring over his counterpart: DudePow. / Deciding to get endorsements leads
SheZow to extreme gluttony and reduces his effectiveness as a hero.
“Guy
& Doll / Family Tree” (12/28/12 AUS, 6/29/13 US) – Baby Scarington traps
Guy in a super nightmare. / Following Mega Monkey through time leads Guy and
Kelly into meeting a succession of former SheZows.
“Babysitter
Jitters / No Tattoo 4 U” (12/29/12 AUS, 8/3/13 US) – SheZow has to watch a
de-aged Kelly and Maz while also dealing with animals escaping from the zoo. /
A day at the fun park is interrupted when Tattoozala attacks a tattoo parlor.
“A
Walk in My Heels / She-T” (12/30/12 AUS, 8/10/13 US) – Guy invisibly saves
Kelly, making her believe she has powers of her own. / SheZow unwittingly ends
up in the middle of an alien plot to steal the planet’s oceans.
“Brouhaha
/ Shehicle Pickle” (7/6/13 AUS, 8/17/13 US) – Guy and Maz unwittingly sell a
containment device when they go through Agnes’ things to raise money. / SheZow
takes the busted Shehicle to a mechanic who’s actually the car thief, Mr.
Cylinder.
“Momnesia
/ Facsimilady” (7/13/13 AUS, 8/24/13 US) – Guy’s mother stumbles upon his
secret and intends to share it with the whole town. / Guy discovers a robot
maid in the She-Lair that ends up malfunctioning after cleaning up some spicy
food.
“ShePal
/ Le Pigeon” (7/20/13 AUS, 8/31/13 US) – Guy tries to impress a girl on the
school paper by getting her an interview with SheZow. / SheZow must protect the
town from Le Pigeon and his flock of deadly birds.
“In
She-D / Fibberachee” (7/27/13 AUS, 9/7/13 US) – Using expired vanishing cream
to sneak into a 3-D movie causes Guy to go “No-D”, which will wipe him out at
midnight. / The kids’ favorite pop star has decided to become the biggest star
in the world by eliminating SheZow.
“Sarcazmo
the Great / SheSquatch” (8/3/13 AUS, 9/14/13 US) – A backyard renovation
magician goes nuts on the Hamdon yard in order to improve ratings on his show.
/ Guy must go camping in order to recharge his powers and ends up encountering
the SheSquatch.
“Fortune
Kooky / Black is the New Pink” (8/10/13 AUS, 7/6/13 US) – Winning a fortune
cookie puts Guy in the crosshairs of a mob boss. / Guy tries out a new look for
SheZow that ends up costing him his powers.
“Mr.
Nice Guy / Dental Breakdown” (8/17/13 AUS, 7/13/13 US) – A chick flick gives
SheZow super empathy that prevents him from using violence against his enemies.
/ The Tooth Fairy’s nephew discovers Guy’s lost tooth contains SheZow power and
uses it to enhance his magic.
“Crash
Thunder / Meet Dr. Frankenweather” (8/24/13 AUS, 7/20/13 US) – Guy helps his
favorite wrestler overcome his fear of trolls. / SheZow must stop a mad scientist
from altering the weather.
“Maz
Junior / Uncommon Cold” (8/31/13 AUS, 9/21/13 US) – Guy’s new pet is desired by
a wealthy man who illegally collects endangered species. / Guy’s cold is
enhanced by his powers, forcing him to race to find a quick cure.
“Transformation
Overload / Wishington” (9/7/13 AUS, 9/28/13 US) – Guy seeks help to stop his
random transformations. / Guy and Maz abuse a wishing well, irritating the
resident leprechaun.
“PSA-Lister
/ Friend or Faux” (9/14/13 AUS, 10/5/13 US) – Guy decides to try and find fame
by doing PSAs as SheZow. / When Kelly quits being his advisor, Guy turns to the
SheZow fan club.
“SheZow
for a Day / No Girls Allowed” (9/21/13 AUS, 10/12/13 US) – Discovering that a
twin can wear the ring, Kelly becomes SheZow and discovers heroing isn’t as
easy as it seems. / SheZow expresses interest in joining a new superhero team
only to be discriminated against.
“Unplugged
/ Lawn Gone Mad” (9/28/13 AUS, 10/19/13 US) – Guy’s desire to win an auction
leads to Shelia taking herself offline. / Guy tries using an untested super
fertilizer to restore the lawn after he destroys it.
“Evil
Villains Day / Vampire Cats in Zombie Town” (10/5/13 AUS, 10/26/13 US) – Mega
Monkey brainwashes the Mayor into giving villains a free pass on “Evil
Villain’s Day”. / Guy angrily tossing his game system causes a video game
villain to come to life.
“SheZon’s
Greetings / Snow Way, Dude!” (10/12/13 AUS, 11/30/13 US) – SheZow has to rescue
Santa from the clutches of Tatooselah. / Cold Finger is freed and plans to put
SheZow in a prison similar to his.
“Hot
Rocks / SheZap is Whack” (10/19/13 AUS, 11/9/13 US) – SheZow and Maz meet a
rock-n-roll-loving lava monster while trying to keep the planet from exploding.
/ SheZap traps Guy so he can steal the Shehicle.
“Missing
Link / Null and Void” (10/26/13 AUS, 11/16/13 US) – SheZow and Maz find Maz’s
long-lost uncle. / A pair of foreign exchange students come to town expressly
to defeat SheZow.
“Supernatural
History / DudePow Returns” (11/2/13) – Madame Curiador wants to steal SheZow’s
ring for a museum exhibit. / DudePow recruits SheZow to help her defeat Mega
Monkey in her world.
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