Shazzan
Shazzan was a Saturday morning cartoon, 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 his sister Nancy) traveling around a mystical Arabian world, mounted on Kaboobie the flying camel. During their journey they face several dangers, but they're always helped by Shazzan, a genie with magical powers out of this world.
The intro to the cartoons and the first episode give this plot description:
"Inside a cave on the Maine coast, Chuck (voiced by Jerry Dexter) and Nancy (voiced by Janet Waldo) find a mysterious chest containing the two halves of a ring. When they join the rings, the word Shazzan is formed. After uttering this magic command, the twosome are transported to the magical kingdom of the Arabian Nights. Here they find the genie Shazzan (voiced by Barney Phillips). Shazzan presents them with Kaboobie (voiced by Don Messick), a flying magical camel. Shazzan will serve them every time when they call him, but they cannot return home until they take back the rings to their rightful owner. And so, they start their fantastic voyages."
Shazzan was invincible; for all their boasts, nothing the villains did could hurt Shazzan. In addition to the Shazzan rings, Chuck and Nancy were also equipped with other magical items, such as a rope that would move on command, a flying carpet, and a cloak that made the wearer invisible.
Trivia
- Shazzan is not to be confused with Shazam!, the 1970s comic book/television revival of Golden Age super hero Captain Marvel, created by C. C. Beck.
- Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse created a parody of Shazzan, appearing on the May 14, 2005 broadcast of Saturday Night Live (host: former castmember Will Ferrell; musical guest: Queens of the Stone Age with Will Ferrell as fictitious Blue Oyster Cult band member Gene Frenkle). The parody, entitled "Shazzang!", depicted the genie Shazzan(g) quickly defeating the villain, but then maiming and executing the villain in an increasingly sadistic fashion, to the consternation of Chuck, Nancy, and Kaboobie. The parody was generally well-received, but some viewers found the segment to be excessively violent and disturbing. It is shown on the DVD version of the SNL special "The Best of TV Funhouse" and according to commentary, is a vague allegory of George W. Bush invading Iraq to please his father.
- Shazzan has appeared on an episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. In the episode, he had a long-standing rivalry with Mentok the Mindtaker. He has another cameo appearance as part of a human pyramid in Abu Ghraib alongside other Middle Eastern cartoon characters.
