Godzilla is an American animated series co-produced by American animation company Hanna-Barbera Studios and the Japanese film company Toho in 1978 and aired on NBC in the United States and TV Tokyo in Japan. The series is an animated adaptation of the Japanese Godzilla films produced by Toho. The series continued to air until 1981, for a time airing in its own half-hour timeslot until its cancellation.
Godzilla was packaged in many formats over its three year run from 1978 to 1981. These included The Godzilla Power Hour, The Godzilla Super 90, Godzilla, The Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour, The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour, The Godzilla/Hong Kong Phooey Hour, and Godzilla. Godzilla appeared in reruns on USA Network from the 1980s until the early 1990s, on Cartoon Network from 1993 to 2000, and on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang beginning in 2000.
Overview
The series follows the adventures of a team of scientists on the research vessel called the Calico, which is headed by Captain Carl Majors. The rest of the crew include scientist Dr. Quinn Darien, her nephew Pete, her research assistant Brock, and the ship's first mate, Carl. Also along for the ride is Godzooky, the "cowardly cousin" of Godzilla and Pete's best friend, who has a lighthearted role in the show. Godzooky can attempt to fly using the small wings under his arms. Whenever Godzooky tries to breathe fire, he usually just coughs up smoke.
The group often call upon Godzilla by using a special communicator when in peril, such as attacks by other giant monsters. Godzooky is also able to howl to summon Godzilla. Godzilla's size in the animated series shifts radically, sometimes within a single episode or even one scene. For instance, Godzilla's claw can wrap around a large ship, and only minutes later the team of scientists fit rather neatly on Godzilla's palm. In addition, Godzilla's trademark atomic breath is altered so he breathes simple fire. He can also shoot laser beams from his eyes much like Superman's heat vision.
Hanna-Barbera was unable to use Godzilla's trademark roar, so they cast Ted Cassidy to voice the character, similar to his role in the live-action series The Incredible Hulk.
Each episode would include a brief exposition on a scientific instrument or phenomenon, thus providing an educational segment for the show.
Cast
- Ted Cassidy - Godzilla
- Jeff David - Captain Carl Majors
- Brenda Thompson - Quinn
- Hilly Hicks - Brock
- Al Eisenmann - Pete
- Don Messick - Godzooky
Broadcast history
Godzilla originally aired in the following formats on NBC:
- The Godzilla Power Hour (September 8, 1978 – October 28, 1978)
- The Godzilla Super 90 (November 4, 1978 – September 1, 1979)
- Godzilla (September 8, 1979 – October 13, 1979)
- The Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour (October 20, 1979 – September 20, 1980)
- The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour (September 27, 1980 – November 15, 1980)
- The Godzilla/Hong Kong Phooey Hour (November 22, 1980 – May 16, 1981)
- Godzilla (May 23, 1981 – September 5, 1981)
The Godzilla Power Hour consisted of half-hour episodes of Godzilla and Jana of the Jungle. A total of 13 original episodes were produced in 1978, with the first eight airing as part of The Godzilla Power Hour. In November 1978, the show was expanded to 90 minutes with the addition of Jonny Quest reruns and retitled The Godzilla Super 90.
For the second season beginning in September 1979, the show was separated from its package programs and aired in its own half-hour timeslot as simply Godzilla. A month later, new episodes of Godzilla and The Super Globetrotters were packaged together as The Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour which ran until September 1980.
On September 27, 1980, after 26 half-hour episodes, the show went into reruns and Godzilla was once again teamed up with other Hanna-Barbera characters: The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour ran until November 1980, followed by The Godzilla/Hong Kong Phooey Hour which ran until May 16, 1981. On May 23, the show returned to the half-hour format as Godzilla and the last regular showing aired on September 5, 1981 (to be replaced by The Smurfs, which would last three times as long). Throughout the 1980s until the late-1990s, the series rested in limbo (with the exception of a limited videocassette release of two episodes). Since 1993, it has been rebroadcast on TNT, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang.
Episodes
Season 1
1. "The Fire Bird"
2. "The Earth Eater"
3. "Attack of the Stone Creature"
4. "The Megavolt Monster"
5. "The Seaweed Monster"
6. "The Energy Beast"
7. "The Colossus of Atlantis" 8. "The Horror of Forgotten Island"
9. "Island of Lost Ships"
10. "The Magnetic Terror"
11. "The Breeder Beast"
12. "The Sub-Zero Terror"
13. "The Time Dragons"
Season 2
14. "Calico Clones"
15. "Micro Godzilla"
16. "Ghost Ship"
17. "The Beast of Storm Island"
18. "The City in the Clouds"
19. "The Cyborg Whale"
20. "Valley of the Giants"
21. "Moonlode"
22. "The Golden Guardians"
23. "The Macro-Beasts"
24. "Pacific Peril"
25. "Island of Doom"
26. "The Deadly Asteroid"
In Other Media
- In response to the Y2K hype, Cartoon Network created a short ("Godzilla vs. the Y2K Bug") in which the Calico is attacked by a personified Y2K Bug. The Godzilla calling device is useless because the crew forgot to update the embedded microchip.
- Professor Quinn Darien appeared as Dr. Gale Melody, a music expert, in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Shoyu Weenie" voiced by Grey DeLisle.
Home Release
All 13 Godzilla episodes from the first season have been released on DVD, in 3 separate volumes titled Godzilla: The Original Animated Series. Volume 1 contains the first 4 episodes, volume 2 contains the next 4, and volume 3 contains the next 5.
As of November 9, 2011, all episodes of season 1 are also streaming on Netflix and available to view on Hulu.