The Secrets of Isis (1975–1976) User Reviews

Hatshepsut's Amulet

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 18 July 2008]

This was a great Saturday morning show for more than the kids. The dads too enjoyed seeing JoAnna Cameron as Isis dealing with all kinds of 20th century trouble.

By day Cameron was Andrea Thomas mild mannered archaeologist who came into possession of an ancient amulet, purportedly the property of Queen Hatshepsut back in the day. Worked properly and the spirit of ancient Isis entered the body of presumably a female and could give one superpowers.

JoAnna Cameron was one drop dead gorgeous goddess. Many a pubescent teen had some fantasies about her. Like Clark Kent she kind of dressed down in Andrea Thomas mode and had the requisite pair of dorky looking glasses as I recall.

I wouldn't mind seeing this again sometime.

Brings back memories!

[goodmans101 · 8/10 · 21 August 2011]

Just noticed the series can be streamed on Netflix and its been fun re-living all the episodes. Joanna Cameron was gorgeous as Isis/Andrea Thomas and had the perfect legs for the Isis short skirt. The story lines were pretty simple and since this show was targeted for kids there were "life lesson" story lines with every episode. One big downside is the unfortunate decision to drop Joanna Pang in the second season. Ronalda Douglas wasn't a great replacement. (To this day Joanna Pang does not know why she was replaced.) One interesting tidbit: the opening of episode 22 (the last) uses the same voice over as season 1. You hear the name "Cindy Lee" instead of "Renee Carrol". (Was that by accident or design by the producers?) I think the show laid the groundwork for the future Wonder Woman series since it showed that a woman character could be the lead for a TV show.

The beautiful JoAnna Cameron and her "great legs"

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 13 March 2014]

I saw an episode from the fourth season of Columbo called "Negative Reaction," which starred Dick Van Dyke as a murderous photographer, and couldn't help but take note of the incredibly beautiful young woman that played Dyke's girlfriend. I looked her up on IMDb and discovered that the woman, JoAnna Cameron, played the titular heroine in the 70s Saturday morning series "The Secrets of Isis." This explains my interest in picking up the "Isis" DVD set. I only vaguely recall the show as a kid; so there's very little nostalgic factor with me.

The show beat out the similar primetime series "Wonder Woman," debuting Sept. 9, 1975. "Wonder Woman" didn't appear until sometime in 1976.

"The Secrets of Isis" was a low-budget Saturday morning series and obviously geared toward kids. Each episode has a moral; the cast is upbeat, likable and multi-cultural; the vibe is simple and wholesome; and the F/X are cheap. Each segment only runs 20 minutes (not including credits) and the last two episodes feature Captain Marvel of "Shazam!" All that said, the show possesses a certain charm. One can't help but respect that JoAnna Cameron took the role seriously.

In the interview section of the DVDs the producers admit that they chose JoAnna to play Isis because she had "great legs." And so she does. In fact, it's the first thing I noticed about her when I saw that episode of "Columbo." JoAnna is fairly short and kind of thin, but curvy at the same time. In any case, her legs are truly exquisite. Her face and presence also exude great intelligence and poise. A very uniquely beautiful woman, to say the least. Lynda Carter of "Wonder Woman," by contrast, was tall and ultra-voluptuous (I personally get sick at the sight of nigh-anorexic women). Another great 70s beauty was Erin Gray of "Buck Rogers."

BOTTOM LINE: Despite its numerous shortcomings noted above, "The Secrets of Isis" is worth picking up for those nostalgic of the show or those fascinated by JoAnna Cameron's great beauty, intelligence and poise; or both. And, by all means, watch it with your kids.

early empowered superfemale on TV

[kynoceph · 27 September 2002]

Entertaining show for kids with drop-dead-gorgeous JoAnna Cameron as a teacher who changes into the goddess Isis to fight evil. The show came on the air in the mid-70's, during what was then a public uproar over violence on children's television, so Isis defeated most of her villains non-violently and offered a moral at the end of the show. The show only lasted one season but was re-run for many years after that.

The show caught on in South America when it was rebroadcast there in the 1980s, and "Isis" has many Brazilian fans.

The show is mostly valuable today for the fun cornball factor and for the fact that Ms. Cameron, who bears a striking resemblance to Catherine Zeta-Jones, was a knockout who wore short skirts and had great legs. Neo-pagans and Wiccans will find much to raise an eyebrow over, as the goddess aspect is treated with unusual respect for the time and place the show came out.

JoAnna Cameron retired from show business in the 80's and went into nursing, specializing in geriatrics. Recently she has made appearances at science fiction and TV nostalgia conventions and by all reports is still a gracious and beautiful woman.

Whatever happened to Joanna Cameron? Commemorating "Isis" on its 40th Anniversary

[raysond · 9/10 · 3 October 2001]

I remember this show like it was yesterday;a modern day high school teacher that see trouble coming and goes into a room has a secret ring on her finger and says,"Oh,mighty Isis!" and changes into a Egyptian princess named Isis with superpowers who helps out kids who get into trouble and fights off evil doers. It came on Saturday Mornings around 10:00am and I can remember this show being on. This was a dynamite show to watch by the way since it only was on for two seasons and went right off the air(and its reruns) for much of the decade(as part of the Shazam/Isis Hour). However,there was Isis who comes out at the end of the show to give a message or two about certain things(which became part of a Filmation staple and a big winner during its run on CBS). The series lasted two seasons on Saturday Mornings from September 6, 1975 until October 23, 1976 and it produced 22 episodes where CBS repeated it entirely until 1979 when it was combined "The Shazam-Isis Hour". Since the show's star was a fashion model before she became an actress,Joanna Cameron was a knockout to watch as Isis. She was beautiful. By the way,whatever happened to her after that? After her stint as "Isis" Joanna Cameron went on to star in the short-lived series based on "Spider-Man",and from there was a guest star in several television shows until she retired from show business and Hollywood altogether in the 1980's. Today,she does public appearances but she left Hollywood for the hotel marketing business based in Hawaii.

Revised on July 8, 2015

The Secrets of Isis

[ShadixBear · 10/10 · 19 July 2019]

I loved this show as a kid and looked forward to it every week just like I did with Shazam and when it disappeared from TV I got discouraged thinking to myself that it must have been a dream or that I imagined it being so good like that. "Isis". I see that Captain Marvel/Shazam has been revived by way of a movie so why couldn't they do the same thing with Isis and if they do they need to do a little more back story explaining how Andrea knew that She found out that She was the heir to The powers of Isis. I bought the DVD collection of the TV Show and still watch it to this day!

Isis

[texasredge-95123 · 4/10 · 8 November 2017]

I watched this show regularly every Saturday Morning in the late 70's . I looked forward to seeing every Saturday. It was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid. I was too young at the time to notice the low budget production aspects of it and too young to care.

Once the TV show went off the air, this character completely disappeared from comic/superhero book culture and I never understood why. I can remember in the 80's and 90's telling people about my memories of this show and no one seemed to remember it or even have heard of it.

However a few decades later and thanks to the miracle of YouTube, one night for giggles I thought I would search for it, and to my everlasting surprise, I discovered that all 22 episodes were available for free viewing on YouTube.

It was at that time that I binge watched the first 10 or so episodes back to back. It was the first time sine the late 1970's that I had seen this any of this series that I remembered so fondly from my childhood.

First off, I didn't remember the actress playing Isis (JoAnna Cameron) being that beautiful. She is absolutely stunningly gorgeous. Secondly, I had no memory of this show being was so campy. Thirdly, The low budget really shows in every episode. Fourtly, there really is no real action scenes in this show (for some reason I thought I remember seeing Isis fighting bad guys... but those memories must've been false memories because Isis does a whole lot of nothing in this series. The Character is played out as being more of a flying sorceress than she is a superhero. Fifthly, I didn't remember Shazam/Captain Marvel being in so many of these episodes.

I guess I had this expectation that I was going to rediscover something that I loved from my childhood in the late 1970's. But what I got was a reality that wasn't anywhere near as good as I remembered as a child.

But it does have some redeeming qualities to it, such as JoAnne Cameron being so beautiful (and looking very good in that short skirt). Each episode tries to tell a moral story.

Overall this show is well below average

But I am glad to see that the new TV series "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" brought the Isis character back ((( but DC changed the name of the character from Isis to Zari because the name "Isis" has become associated with middle east terrorist groups in recent years.

Unreal cavalcade of unintentional humor

[selfdestructo · 10/10 · 21 April 2023]

Where's Andrea?!? At the end of every episode, they go through this charade when Andrea shows up "late" and everybody goes: You shoulda seen it! Isis was here! I don't know how much more obvious it could be that Andrea and Isis are the same person. Both even have these distinctive cowlicks next to her ears (I'm sure there's a term for this hairstyle, I'm just not hip enough to know it).

This "children's" show is a riot. First of all, there's Rick, her co-worker, and you can cut the sexual tension between the two of them with a knife. There are two episodes in the middle of this series where Rick ALMOST figures out Andrea's secret (with some distinct nudging from her), and then that is promptly dropped and Rick remains clueless for the rest of the series. In one episode, he professes he has the hots for Isis... to Andrea! Sheesh.

70's sexism and racism is alive and well in this series! And every grade-A dope on the show (almost always a guy) turns out to be the sweetest person by the end of the episode. The music in the first season borrows heavily from 70's porn, and the second season they introduce a horror movie-like soundtrack! Isis wears a real short skirt, and you do occasionally get glimpses of some of Isis' super-undies. The high school students at her school seem well into their 30's, and I spotted at least a few "kids" with male pattern baldness.

One of my favorite moments from the series is when Andrea summons the powers of Isis, to rescue some dirty dishes from a creek. In another episode, her red Camaro is stolen by a couple thugs, and re-painted yellow at a chop shop/junkyard to be sold! It was a great running gag that her car remained yellow for the rest of the series. Yeah, plenty of incompetent criminals presented here. The "class clown" kid was a borderline-terrorist in-training. Oh, and Andrea's force field is stolen, that everybody "plays" against, like mimes! Just when I don't think this show can possibly out-cheese itself, it goes and does it again. The season 2 opener (at least I'm assuming -- They ditched the Asian girl, and Isis had a new wig) REALLY took the cake. There's a kid who hilariously plays "blind" the whole episode, and we're shown further proof the makers of this series should be brought up on animal abuse charges. There are instances where they use insanely fake animals (like out of an old B-monster movie), which is seemingly a blessing in disguise considering how they treated that poor raccoon and the horses.

Apparently, there was a craving for MORE Isis. She went from appearing once per episode, to twice, and in some instances, three times! And that never got tiring. It only added to the comedic value this show is so rich in. Terrifically entertaining.

Extras: After watching the extras/interviews included with this set, I am convinced everyone involved gave The Secrets of Isis their sincerest efforts. Well, there is one writer who has a lighter (and more appropriate) attitude toward what they accomplished with the series. If your enjoyment comes from "nostalgic" value, you're biased. Hey, take it as you may...

It must have been wonderful back in the day for little kids, young girls. Doesn't hold up well now, but has a charm to it. Part of female superhero pop culture.

[reb-warrior · 5/10 · 23 July 2022]

I would have been only 3 when it aired, but I think I saw it in reruns when I was a little older. I have memories, not much, that I really liked it.

The show wasn't of great quality, to begin with. Tho as a child I liked it. It's extremely lighthearted. Low budget. Bad fx. Not the greatest action or acting. The stories were not great. It was a Saturday morning thing in 1975, so...

JoAnna Cameron was quite stunning as Isis. She looked like a superhero. She had presence. She was good in the role for what it was at that time. Joanna Pang is beautiful as Cindy Lee. I think it's ok for the nostalgia and would charm people that watched as little kids. However, it wouldn't hold up for today's kids who are used to better production values, action, and good modern stories. I mean, I suppose you could show your grandkids, that this is what grandma used to watch and they would think it was funny. Probably in a cute way, I hope.

I love that at the end of each episode they had a message to the viewers which still holds up today. I love that it has a diverse cast, main, recurring, and guest stars. This is 1975 people! Bravo.

Did this remind anyone else of She-Ra from the 1980s? It did to me. The costume was similar. They were two people heroes. Andrea would become Isis by calling on great mystical power, just like Adora would do to become She-Ra. Andrea had her amulet which gives her the power to transform herself into Isis. Adora had her sword which gives her to power to transform into She-Ra. At the end of each episode, there was some kind of message to the viewers by Isis and She-Ra. Also, the voice for both Isis and She-Ra kind of had a similar tone. Isn't it interesting that both these shows were produced by Filmation? Coincidence, or not?

It's cool that from the show, the DC comic character was created. I've read the character is expected to be in the Black Adam movie in 2022. Not too shabby a legacy for a show that only had 22 episodes in 1975. I think the story of Isis and how she came about and the powers she had is pretty cool. She stayed in our memories, this very rare thing of the female superhero, from back in the day.

It may not hold up very well anymore, but there's a charm to it looking back and seeing how things were presented back then. They didn't have CGI nor a big budget. It's almost kind of cute. And remember, it was for little kids. I think a lot of young girls at the time, like myself, would have found this show awesome. Never forget the legacy. She's a part of female superhero history in pop culture, which in turn, inspires female empowerment. 5/10.

After Batgirl before WonderWoman

[MARKUSJEFFERSON · 23 February 2004]

As a little boy in during the "70's; Isis (JoAnna Cameron) was my second crush, after Batgirl (Yvonne Craig). And then, after Isis; was WonderWoman; my crush on Lynda Carter was never broken after seeing her play the super-heroine. When they teamed Isis up with Captain Marvel; I was in kid heaven. I always thought there was something going on between those two; whenever they winked at each other. I'm after all; Isis is a goddess and of fertility;no less and then you have Captain Marvel; not really a god but man created and endowed with powers by the gods. The Immortals new what they were doing. I hope they release both Isis/Shazam! shows on dvd at the same time; when the long talked about Shazam! movie makes it to the theaters.

Joanna Cameron was the bombdiggity!!!!

[lovestonerocks · 18 February 2004]

Yeah, I remember this show. It was far out. the best part was when she took off those glasses and ran around fighting crime in that short little white costume number. I'm surprised this show isn't on DVD yet with Shazam!. Isis would definitely make a cool show today. It was a head of it's time.

Still Okay But Shazam! Is Better!

[StuOz · 28 September 2019]

70s Saturday morning kid's show about a female superhero: Isis.

I had two reactions to this series so here we go:

My 1970s childhood reaction. I thought this series was one of the great wonders of the world. Isis seemed supercool to me, the series plots were fine, the action scenes were outstanding and this series was generally speaking: must-see-TV.

My current middle aged adult reaction. Today I often proudly go down memory lane and watch TV shows of my youth, and I have a great time. But I am sorry to report that this Isis series is missing a lot of the punch it had but related series of the day - Shazam! (1974-76) - still stands tall the way it did decades ago.

But that does not mean that Isis is not worth a look in this century. There are a few episodes that are still wonderful entertainment - mainly "Lucky" and "The Sound Of Silence". "Lucky" is a touching tale of a kid's relationship with his pet dog. "Silence" actually introduces science fiction into the series as a stolen force field makes trouble for all concerned.

And there were a few episodes where John Davey (Captain Marvel in Shazam!) made a guest appearance, and this was a thrill. Isis and Shazam! also shared many of the same music cues during the run of both shows. I would say the music cues were about 40% of the entertainment value in Isis.

However, the Isis series really ran into problems towards the end and the last three episodes - Year Of The Dragon, Now You See It..., ...And Now You Don't - rank as some of the worst Saturday morning TV of the 70s.

If you wish to re-visit all those old live-action 70s Saturday morning TV shows I would consider watching Shazam!, Ark 11, Land Of The Lost, Bigfoot and Wildboy...and maybe leave Isis to the end of your viewing list. Enjoy!

my favorite Isis spell.....

[shearblack · 20 February 2004]

o zepher winds that blow on high, lift me now so i can fly...she used to say that when she flew away. Did Isis ever actually fight a bad guy. Seems like she was always putting out fires and rescueing kids in 70's gear from a disabled boat! Great show, i wish i could see it again.

The original body piercing goddess...

[Buzz Vinard · 24 April 2002]

Today's tribal kiddies have nothing on Isis for piercing endurance. That woman wore earrings the size of soup tureens...and flew! How could she do that? I just don't know!

Seriously, it was a fun show, perfectly targeted for its audience.

Isis also had good advice for the kids, like "don't talk to strangers", "don't prank call the police", or "don't share needles with the junkie ho's on south avenue". She was way ahead of her time.

But I think Trinity could have kicked her ass.

Oh Mighty Isis.

[jeff-150 · 19 August 1999]

Much loved show from the seventies in constant saturday morning rerun for the second half of the decade on saturday mornings. Part of the Shazam/Isis hour. My hazy memory also throws in memories of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl with this one. Comparisons to network show Wonder Woman are like comparing apples and oranges...

Another Wimpy Saturday Morning Ethics Lesson

[Sargebri · 25 March 2003]

Just like Shazam, Isis was another in the series of Saturday morning television series that was overly preachy about right and wrong. In this one, a high school science teacher finds an amulet that gives her the ability to turn into the Egyptian goddess Isis who each week uses her powers to get stupid teenagers out of dangerous situations and help them learn a valuable lesson at the end. I prefer my super heroes to be involved in knock down drag em out fights, than to have them rescue me and teach me a valuable life lesson. That was the problem with Saturday morning television in the 1970's because it tried to be too relevant and overly preachy.

Fairly excruciating to sit through with the sound on.

[dave13-1 · 13 April 2012]

Joanna Cameron became a minor cult favorite back in the 70s with this campy show about a teacher who gains the powers of a goddess. Cameron was a goddess herself, fantastic looking and amiably charismatic. She had star quality, but little in the way of real acting chops, and the script and stories did her few favors. Brian Cutler played her slightly chauvinistic and obviously dense colleague Rick Mason - did he never notice that Andrea the Teacher and Isis the Goddess wore the same perfume? Joanna Pang played student Cindy Lee, who was supposed to be a teenager although she looks about 25. As always on shows like this, she gets into danger about once a week. (Honor students clearly have little in the way of street survival skills. Don't get into the car with strangers, Cindy! Or do, and maybe we'll be rid of you.)

Typical episodes featured tired, familiar TV action plots involving car thieves, or crooked land developers, or missing teenagers - the sort of thing you would see on a re-run of Adam 12: safe, TV-style, G-rated crime and danger. Yet this simple-minded approach was teamed with an often condescending and preachy tone that got annoying over time, especially when watching episodes in marathon fashion as on a DVD.

Basically this is a bad, cheap, poorly written show with laughable pre- Christopher Reeve superhero and flying effects, but with a knockout leading actress in the title role. Watch with the sound off.

I Thought This Was A Documentary About Theocratic Murderers !

[Theo Robertson · 14 February 2017]

Always know your enemy has been part of my mindset . You're travelling to the Middle East then how better to educate yourself than watching a documentary about THE SECRETS OF ISIS which will inadvertently give away their weaknesses in amongst their shallow propaganda . Wow these mass murdering terrorists really know how to big themselves up . As the titles start anyone finding "This amulet you and your descendants are endowed by the Goddess Isis . With the powers of the animals and elements . You will fly with the falcons , run with the speed of gazelles and command the elements of sky and Earth" Well who said propaganda has to be truthful in anyway ? Especially if it's being spouted by religious maniacs

I started to get a bit confused when "A young science teacher dug up the amulet and found she was heir to the secrets of Isis" . Let me get this straight

1) She's a woman

2) She's in to science

Both of these points would get you murdered in the Caliphate but I guess if you're making a propaganda video to stick on youtube then it's probably best to downplay the negative aspects like summary execution and sexual slavery and if you've a cute career woman as your poster girl then potential Jihadis will jump to conclusion that they've a ready made wife waiting for them in the Caliphate . Seems a bit hypocritical that she's allowed to walk around semi naked while the rest of her sisterhood are under a jackboot that makes Il Duce look like a libertarian anarchist combined with Emily Pankhurst in comparison

It seemed that the makers of this propaganda haven't gone very far to make their videos . It looks like it was filmed in California somewhere with a multi-ethnic cast who all speak English , but hey they're sugar-coating what is a war where they've alienated the entire Muslim world against them . I did get a wee bit confused by things like American police cars appearing but I guess the Arabs left them behind same as they left all their other American equipment and vehicles when they deserted in 2013

It wasn't until seeing several episodes of this dire , patronising , family fare that the penny dropped that this was nothing to do with the so called Islamic State and was a rival to WONDER WOMAN except even worse . Can we all stop referring to the terrorist organisation as ISIS and call them "Daesh" roughly translated from the Arab acronym "Those that cause trouble and disconcern" . If we do that means I wouldn't have wasted a morning watching this rubbish .