Earlier this year, the King of Monsters fired up the big screen in Godzilla Vs. Kong. This will likely be the radioactive kaiju’s last cinematic outing for a few years (at least in the U.S.), but you can’t keep a good creature down. Godzilla has thrived since his debut in his eponymous 1954 movie from Toho, appearing in dozens of subsequent features. And in 1978, the King of Monsters conquered a new medium in his own Saturday morning cartoon.
The Godzilla Power Hour
Simply entitled Godzilla, the series was created by Hanna-Barbera and aired on NBC. In its first season, the show aired as part of The Godzilla Power Hour, coupled with another series, Jana of the Jungle. This was the first time Godzilla was ever adapted into animation.
The cartoon followed the exploits of the research crew of the ship the Calico which traveled the globe investigating bizarre mysteries and what appear to be natural disasters. Invariably, the culprit turned out to be a giant rampaging monster (or two) and the crew had to summon Godzilla, recast as a hero here. He emerged from the sea and rescued the crew from the monsters.
Godzilla was redesigned by producer Doug Wildey and appears in a more animation-friendly minimal look with simple pointed spikes instead of the more ornate protrusions in the movies.
In this series, instead of atomic breath, Godzilla breathed fire like a dragon. (In one episode he breathed the fire from his nose, but that only happened once.) He also has the added ability to be able to fire laser beams from his eyes.
Ted Cassidy, Lurch from The Addams Family, supplied his roar which was– no lie– just him growling the word “Roooooaaaar” in a deep voice.
The crew of the Calico was accompanied by Godzooky, a smaller reptilian creature that appeared to be a relative of Godzilla’s but their exact relationship is never actually mentioned on the show.
There was a 1967 movie, The Son of Godzilla, and that little creature does bear a slight resemblance to Godzooky, specifically the fact that they can both only breathe rings of smoke, not fire or atomic energy. Unlike either Godzilla or the Son of Godzilla, Godzooky has tiny wings under his arms that allow him to fly, something that came in handy quite a bit on the show.
Godzooky, voiced by the legendary Don Messick, was the requisite ineffectual comedic sidekick, a cartoon staple. But he actually predated many of the most notorious, including Scrappy-Doo, who didn’t debut until 1979.
Animators had difficulties with both Godzilla and Godzooky, as they seemed to change size from shot to shot. At times, Godzilla towers over skyscrapers. At other times, he only appears about 50 feet tall.
The crew of the Calico consisted of Captain Carl Majors (Jeff David), scientist Dr. Quinn Darien (Brenda Thompson), and first-mate Brock Borden (Hilly Hicks). They were accompanied by Quinn’s young nephew Pete Darien. Usually, the three adults would investigate the episode’s mystery with Pete and Godzooky sneaking after them and getting into trouble.
Godzilla usually popped up about twice an episode, in an action scene toward the beginning and later toward the end to battle the main villain(s). When he is needed, the crew (usually Carl) would summon Godzilla using “the Godzilla Signal” a pager-like device with a big red button that Carl wore clipped to his belt. (At least once, there is shown to be another red button on the Calico’s controls)
Rebranding ‘Godzilla’
As you can see, in its first season, The Godzilla Power Hour with Jana of the Jungle aired during a block that also featured Yogi’s Space Race, and The New Fantastic Four. Sounds like a pretty action-packed Saturday morning! The dopey headline in this ad, “Saturday Morning Fever” is a cringey “adults trying to sound hip” reference to the hit movie Saturday Night Fever which was popular at this time but was NOT for kids to put it mildly.
Two seasons of Godzilla were produced, each consisting of 13 episodes. It aired in reruns for a few more years following that. After a few months, The Godzilla Power Hour was renamed The Godzilla Super 90 by adding reruns of Jonny Quest. In 1979, there had been plans to bundle reruns with new shows The New Schmoo and The Thing, but those plans were dropped and Godzilla aired as its own half-hour show. In 1980, reruns were aired as part of The Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour, and as The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour with the Funky Phantom in 1980. Finally, in 1981, it aired as part of The Godzilla/Hong Kong Phooey Hour.
I don’t fully understand why networks felt the need to bundle shows like this and there isn’t much information about cartoons from this period. But it was a very common practice. It made sense with The Godzilla Power Hour as both Godzilla and Jana of the Jungle were brand new action-adventure shows. But I don’t quite get pairing it with The Funky Phantom or Hong Kong Phooey.
Years later, reruns were shown on TNT, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang. In 1999, Cartoon Network broadcast the satirical short “Godzilla vs. the Y2K Bug.” (Are you old enough to remember the Y2K hysteria?) The design of Dr. Quinn Darien appeared as Dr. Gale Melody in an episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law.
Godzilla was released on DVD in 2006-07 and renamed Godzilla: The Animated Series. Three volumes were released but they are long out of print and can go for hundreds of dollars on the aftermarket.
Godzilla returned to animation in 1998 in Godzilla: The Series, based on the American Tristar Pictures big-budget film, directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Matthew Broderick. (Would you like to see that featured in a future Saturday Morning Superstars?)
Have you ever seen Hanna-Barbera’s Godzilla? What did you think?