Godzilla (1978 TV series)


Godzilla is an American animated monster television series produced by Hanna-Barbera, in association with Henry G. Saperstein. The series aired on NBC in 1978 in the United States with the title The Godzilla Power Hour and on TV Tokyo in Japan. The series continued to air until 1981, packaged with other series under various titles.
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. Split off into its own half-hour, the show aired for a few months in 1979 as The Godzilla Show, and then as The Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour for most of 1980, before another repackaging as The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour with the Funky Phantom in late 1980, and then The Godzilla/Hong Kong Phooey Hour until its cancellation in 1981.
The series acquired the retronym of Godzilla: The Original Animated Series for its DVD release.

Premise

The series follows the adventures of a team of scientists on the Calico, a hydrofoil research vessel, headed by Captain Carl Majors. The rest of the crew include scientist Dr. Quinn Darien, her nephew Pete Darien and her research assistant Brock Borden. Also along for the ride is Godzooky, the "cowardly nephew" of Godzilla and Pete's best friend, in a comic foil 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 rings.
The group often call upon Godzilla by using a special signaller when in danger, such as attacks by other giant monsters. Godzooky is also able to roar to summon Godzilla. Godzilla's size in the animated series shifts radically, sometimes within a single episode or even a single scene. For instance, Godzilla's claws 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.

Voice cast

In regard to the origin of the series, Joseph Barbera came up with the idea of licensing Godzilla. He explained in a 1990s interview "My job back then was to dig up new characters, new ideas, new shows, and I had wanted to do Godzilla for awhile. I liked the monster thing, and the way it looked, and I thought we could do a lot with it. So I contacted Henry Saperstein, who was a very good friend and we got talking about it. Then there was an executive at the network who wanted to get into the act, and urged us to lighten the storyline up. So, I came up with the character Godzooky, who was like his son. The show had a sort of father-son relationship, which we had done before on shows like Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy and Jonny Quest.
Barbera also explained why the show had little violence and deviated from the source material. "The problem with the show was simply this: When they start telling you in Standards and Practices, 'Don't shoot any flame at anybody, don't step on any buildings or cars,' then pretty soon, they've taken away all the stuff he represents. That became the problem, to maintain a feeling of Godzilla and at the same time cut down everything that he did. We managed to get a fair show out of it. It was OK. Godzooky kind of got the kids going."

Episodes

Season 1 (1978)

Season 2 (1979)

Broadcast

Godzilla originally aired in these following formats on NBC:
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. The original plan was to keep it as part of another 90-minute arc, only it was to be paired up with episodes of The New Shmoo and The Thing. The planned title was Godzilla Meets the Shmoo and The Thing. However, these plans dissolved and the show was simply aired on its own in its own half-hour timeslot. Hanna-Barbera would pair episodes of The New Fred and Barney Show with the Shmoo and the Thing instead as both Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo and Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. Two months later, episodes of Godzilla and The Super Globetrotters were packaged together as The Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour which ran until September 20, 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 first was The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour, which ran until November 15, 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. Throughout the 1980s until the late 1990s, the series rested in limbo. Since 1993, it has been rebroadcast on TNT, Cartoon Network and Boomerang, as well as on Retro TV for a brief time on Saturday mornings between 2015–2016.

Home media

The first 13 episodes from the first season were released on DVD, in three separate volumes titled Godzilla: The Original Animated Series. Volume 1 contains the first four episodes, Volume 2 contains the next four and Volume 3 contains the last five.
As of November 9, 2011, all episodes from the first season became available for streaming on Netflix and Hulu. The second season episodes of Godzilla have never been officially released on any home media format.

Production credits

Season 1
Season 2