Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Shazzan


Shazzan was an animated television series, created by Alex Toth and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1967 for CBS. The series followed the adventures of two teenage siblings, Chuck and Nancy, traveling around a mystical Arabian world, mounted on Kaboobie, the flying camel. During their journey they face several dangers, but they are always helped by Shazzan, a genie with magical powers out of this world.

Shazzan is very large, being able to hold Chuck, Nancy and Kaboobie in the open palm of his hand. He is wise and jolly in nature, usually appearing with a cheerful "Ho-ho ho-HO!" and referring to the two children as his "little masters". Chuck and Nancy each wear one half of the broken ring, which has to be joined to bring forth their magical servant. A frequent plot device is that the two teenagers became separated, most often by the act of a villain. They can not summon the omnipotent genie until they manage to find each other. Once Shazzan materializes, it is extremely bad news for the villain.

2 comments:

  1. You know, this was definitely in my time (I was 8 in '67) but for some reason, my brother and I never got into Shazzan. We knew about it, we even used the phrase in our pretend games of magic, but I don't really remember watching the show.

    Of course, there were so many good cartoons to watch back then that we probably just couldn't fit it in to our busy schedule. But - unlike the cartoons of today - I'm sure it wasn't just a half hour of thinly veiled liberal ideals and product placement.

    Oh for the days of The Flintstone's, The Jetson's and and The Bugs Bunny / Road Runner Hour!

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  2. I remember Shazzan but only has a cartoon that aired during the Banana Splits show.
    Cooking up a mess of fun lots of fun for everyone.
    Tra,La,La, La, La, La, Tra, La, La, La, La, La.
    Well you get the idea

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