TV ACRES: Reptiles > Dinosaurs > Godzilla (Power Hour/Super 90)

Godzilla - Thirty story tall (300 foot) prehistoric monster featured on the animated Hanna-Barbera series THE GODZILLA SHOW (later titled THE GODZILLA POWER HOUR and GODZILLA SUPER 90/NBC/1978-80. The cartoon follows the adventures of the Calico, a white ocean-going research vessel under the command of Captain Carl Majors. His crew included Dr. Darien Quinn (lead scientist); her nephew Pete (blond teenager), and Brock (Carl’s black first mate).

The protector of the ship was a huge reptile called Godzilla. He befriended the ship's crew after they had rescued a younger, winged version of Godzilla named Godzooky (supposedly a nephew). To summon Godzilla, Capt. Majors uses a hand-held sonic device that buzzes Godzilla on the ocean floor. If the signal was not handy, Godzooky's cry for help also worked wonders at retrieving Godzilla from the deep.

During their travels, the crew of the Calico faced many dangers like tidal waves, earthquakes and deadly asteroids as well as creatures like The Mega-Volt Monster, The Seaweed Monster, The Time Dragons, The Stone Creatures, The Magnetic Horror, The Energy Beast, The Eartheater, The Firebird and The Cyborg Whale. Luckily, Godzilla was always on hand to save the day with his mighty strength, fiery breath and the red-laser like rays that shot from his eye.


Godzooky, Majors, Pete, Brock, Darien & Guest

Godzilla's fiery breath	Godzilla's Laser Beam Eyes

In the 1990s, the American film version Godzilla (1998) arrived in the theatres. However, it was not what moviegoers were used to seeing in a Gozilla film. According to Steve Ryfle, author of Japan's Favorite MonStar: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G, the reason the film failed was because "People go to a Godzilla movie expecting to see Godzilla come up out of the water, trash a city, get beat up by the military, and meet another giant monster. And then they want to see Godzilla kick that monster's ass. When you deviate from that, you're messing with people's hopes and expectations and they feel betrayed."

Inspired by the theatrical film, the sci-fi animated cartoon GODZILLA: THE SERIES/FOX/1998-2000 (40 episodes) picked up where the film left off and followed biologist, Nick Tatopoulos and one of Godzilla's off-springs (148 feet tall) as they investigated strange phenomena and ecological disasters for H.E.A.T (Humanitarian Ecological Analysis Team), a division of New York Institute of Technology's "World Assistance Program." Their headquarters was located at the end of Staten Island on an abandoned ferry. Their barnacled-covered boat was called "The Heat Seeker."

Nick first met Godzilla's sibling when it hatched in a subway tunnel and upon seeing Nick imprinted him as a parent. Nick and secret agent Phillipe Roache had just killed the reptile's father (Godzilla) after it wreaked havoc in the city of New York. Nick's contact with the military is Major Hicks, Nick's former associate who puts his faith in modern weaponry rather than Nick's gigantic reptile.

TRIVIA NOTE: The Japanese translation of Godzilla is "Gojira" as in the movie Gojira (1954).about a huge radioactive reptile who destroyed Tokyo after waking from a few million years of hibernation. This film was later reedited with short scenes of actor Raymond Burr as an American reporter and released as Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956). The gimmick of people running through the streets of Tokyo and shouting "Godzilla" has become a popular culture fixture. In 2002, the gimmick was spoofed in the spy film Austin Powers: Gold Member. Godzilla is a trademark of the Toho Co. Ltd. of Japan.