The Godzilla Power Hour
Encyclopedia
Godzilla is a 30-minute animated series co-produced between Hanna-Barbera Productions
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...

 and Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...

 in 1978
1978 in television
The year 1978 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1978.For the American TV schedule, see: 1978-79 American network television schedule.-Events:...

 and aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 in the US and TV Tokyo
TV Tokyo
is a television station headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a blend of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...

 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

The series is an animated adaptation of the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese Godzilla
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...

films produced by Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...

. The series continued to air until 1981, for a time airing in its own half-hour timeslot until its cancellation.

Format

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 Dr. Quinn Darien, a female scientist; Brock, her assistant and Carl's first mate; and her teenage nephew Pete. Also along for the ride is Godzuki, the son of Godzilla and Pete's best friend who has a lighthearted role in the show. Godzuki can fly using the small wings under his arms, though his father Godzilla is unable to fly. Whenever Godzuki tries to breathe fire, he just coughs up smoke and he never seems to have the ability to shoot laser beams from his eyes. (He breathed fire once in the episode, "The Beast of Storm Island".) Probably not by coincidence, Pete and Godzuki's relationship is very similar to Pete and Elliot's in the Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 feature film, Pete's Dragon
Pete's Dragon
Pete's Dragon is a 1977 live-action/animated musical film from Walt Disney Productions and the first Disney film to be recorded in the Dolby Stereo sound system...

(1977).

The group often call upon Godzilla by using a special communicator when in peril, such as attacks by other giant monsters. If the communicator is not present, or lost, Godzuki uses a special howl to summon him. 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
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

's heat vision.

Hanna-Barbera was unable to use Godzilla's trademark roar, so they cast Ted Cassidy
Ted Cassidy
Theodore Crawford Cassidy , known as Ted Cassidy, was an American actor who performed in television and films. At 6 ft 9 in in height, he tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie...

 to voice the character, similar to his role in the live-action series The Incredible Hulk. In Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Godzilla's trademark roar was added and replaced the Ted Cassidy sound effects. Godzuki is voiced by Don Messick
Don Messick
Donald Earl "Don" Messick was an American voice actor best known for his work for Hanna-Barbera. Perhaps his most well-known voice creations include Scooby-Doo, Papa Smurf, and Dr. Benton Quest....

. (The American remake Godzilla
Godzilla (1998 film)
Godzilla is a 1998 science fiction monster disaster film film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. It is a loose remake of the 1954 giant monster classic Godzilla. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The film relates a tale of a nuclear incident...

(1998) could not use the trademarked Godzilla roar for legal reasons so they had to call in Frank Welker
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...

 to create a different, yet similar, sounding roar for their Godzilla monster.)

The basic formula of a scientific team and research vessel in league with Godzilla investigating strange phenomena was revived in another cartoon, Godzilla: The Series
Godzilla: The Series
Godzilla: The Series is an American/Japanese animated television series which originally aired on Fox in the United States. The show premiered on September 12, 1998, and is a direct sequel to the American Godzilla remake.-Plot:...

, which acts as an animated sequel to the 1998 Godzilla film.

Each episode would include a brief exposition on a scientific instrument or phenomena, thus providing an educational segment for the show.

Voices

  • Ted Cassidy
    Ted Cassidy
    Theodore Crawford Cassidy , known as Ted Cassidy, was an American actor who performed in television and films. At 6 ft 9 in in height, he tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie...

     - Godzilla
  • Jeff David - Captain Carl Majors
  • Al Eisenman - Pete
  • Hilly Hicks
    Hilly Hicks
    Hilly Gene Hicks is an American character actor, born May 4, 1950 in Los Angeles, California.-Biography:The role for which Hicks is perhaps best known is Lewis Moore in the TV mini-series Roots...

     - Brock
  • Brenda Thompson - Quinn
  • Don Messick
    Don Messick
    Donald Earl "Don" Messick was an American voice actor best known for his work for Hanna-Barbera. Perhaps his most well-known voice creations include Scooby-Doo, Papa Smurf, and Dr. Benton Quest....

     - Godzuki

Series monsters and villains

  • The Fire Bird (Episode 1)
  • The Earth Eater (Episode 2)
  • The Stone Creatures (AKA The Guardians of Ramal, Episode 3)
  • The Megavolt Monsters (Episode 4)
  • The Seaweed
    Seaweed
    Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae...

     Monster (Episode 5)
  • The Energy Beast (Episode 6)
  • The Colossus of Atlantis
    Atlantis
    Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....

     (Episode 7)
  • The Cyclops
    Cyclops
    A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...

     Creature (Episode 8)
  • The Chimera
    Chimera (mythology)
    The Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...

     (Episode 9)
  • The Minotaur
    Minotaur
    In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...

     (Episode 9)
  • The Siren
    Siren
    In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...

    s (Morphea is the only one named, Episode 9)
  • The Magnetic Monster (Episode 10)
  • The Breeder Beast (Episode 11)
  • The Watchuka (Episode 12)
  • Great Watchuka (Episode 12)
  • Diplodocus
    Diplodocus
    Diplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...

     (Episode 13)
  • Carnivorous Plant (Episode 13)
  • Time Dragon (Episode 13)
  • Godzuki Clone (Episode 14)
  • Voltrang's Clone Monster (AKA The Giant Squid
    Squid
    Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...

    , Episode 14)
  • Giant Fly
    Fly
    True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

     (Episode 15)
  • Giant Octopus
    Octopus
    The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...

     (Episode 16)
  • Axor (Episode 17)
  • The Power Dragon (Episode 18)
  • The Cyborg Whale
    Whale
    Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...

     (Episode 19)
  • Magma Lizards (Episode 20)
  • Moon Monster (AKA 'Gravity Goliath', Episode 21)
  • The Golden Guardians (Episode 22)
  • Flying Manta Ray
    Manta ray
    The manta ray is the largest species of the rays. The largest known specimen was more than across, with a weight of about . It ranges throughout waters of the world, typically around coral reefs...

     (Episode 23)
  • Spider Crab (Episode 23)
  • Jellyfish
    Jellyfish
    Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...

     (Episode 23)
  • Sea Turtle
    Sea turtle
    Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...

     (Episode 23)
  • Tropical Fish
    Tropical fish
    Tropical fish include fish found in tropical environments around the world, including both freshwater and salt water species.Tropical fish are popular as aquarium fish, due to their often bright coloration...

     (Episode 23)
  • Sharks (Episode 23)
  • Squids (Episode 23)
  • Electric Eel
    Eel
    Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

    s (Episode 23)
  • Giant Black Widow (Episode 24)
  • Venus Flytrap
    Venus Flytrap
    The Venus Flytrap , Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces...

     (Episode 24)
  • Ants (Episode 24)
  • Giant Beetle
    Beetle
    Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

     (Episode 24)
  • Giant Antlion
    Antlion
    Antlions are a group of insects in the family Myrmeleontidae . The most well-known genus is Myrmeleo. There are about 2,000 species...

     (Episode 24)
  • Bees (Episode 24)
  • Dragonfly
    Dragonfly
    A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...

     (Episode 24)
  • COBRA group (a fictional terrorist group armed with modern weapons technology, not to be confused with the group of the same name from the G.I. Joe
    G.I. Joe
    G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...

     franchise) (Episode 25)
  • The Ice People of Frios (Episode 26)

Broadcast history

Godzilla originally aired in the following formats on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

:
  • 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
Jana of the Jungle
Jana of the Jungle is a cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera. It first aired alongside Godzilla as The Godzilla Power Hour.-Plot:The series is essentially about a female version of Tarzan named Jana , who traveled to the rain forests of South America in search of her lost father...

. 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
Jonny Quest (TV series)
Jonny Quest – often casually referred to as The Adventures of Jonny Quest – is an American science fiction/adventure animated television series about a boy who accompanies his father on extraordinary adventures...

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 Shmoo
The New Shmoo
The New Shmoo was a 1979 cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for NBC.-Plot:This show about a group of teenagers — Mickey, Nita and Billy Joe — who solve mysteries and crimes with their friend, Shmoo, a character from Al Capp's newspaper comic strip, Li'l Abner...

and The Thing
Fred and Barney Meet the Thing
Fred and Barney Meet The Thing was a 60-minute Saturday morning animated package show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from September 8, 1979 to December 1, 1979 on NBC. It contained the following segments:*The New Fred and Barney Show...

. 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
The New Fred and Barney Show
The New Fred and Barney Show was a 30-minute Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera as a 1979 series revival of The Flintstones from February 3 to October 20, 1979 on NBC...

with the Shmoo and the Thing instead as Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo
Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo
Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo was a 90-minute Saturday morning animated package show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from December 8, 1979 to November 15, 1980 on NBC...

. A month later, new episodes of Godzilla and The Super Globetrotters
The Super Globetrotters
The Super Globetrotters is an American Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for NBC. It premiered on September 22, 1979 and ran for 13 episodes.It was a spin-off series from Hanna-Barbera's Harlem 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
Dynomutt, Dog Wonder
Dynomutt, Dog Wonder is an American animated television series produced for Saturday mornings by Hanna-Barbera about a Batman-esque super hero, the Blue Falcon and his assistant, a bumbling yet generally effective robot dog Dynomutt, who could produce a seemingly infinite number of mechanical...

 Hour
ran until November 1980, followed by The Godzilla/Hong Kong Phooey
Hong Kong Phooey
Hong Kong Phooey is a 16-episode Hanna-Barbera animated series that first aired on ABC Saturday morning from to . The main character, Hong Kong Phooey, is a superhero who uses Chinese martial arts to fight crime. Hong Kong Phooey is the secret alter ego of Penrod "Penry" Pooch, a "mild-mannered"...

 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
The Smurfs
The Smurfs is a comic and television franchise centred on a group of small blue fictional creatures called Smurfs, created and first introduced as a series of comic strips by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo on October 23, 1958...

, which would last 3x 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
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...

, Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 and Boomerang
Boomerang (TV channel)
Boomerang is a 24-hour American cable television channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. Boomerang specializes in reruns of animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives, including pre-1986 MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...

.

Season 1 (1978-1979)

  1. "The Fire Bird" (September 9, 1978)
  2. "The Earth Eater" (September 16, 1978)
  3. "Attack of the Stone Creature" (September 23, 1978)
  4. "The Megavolt Monster" (September 30, 1978)
  5. "The Seaweed Monster" (October 7, 1978)
  6. "The Energy Beast" (October 14, 1978)
  7. "The Colossus of Atlantis" (October 21, 1978)
  8. "The Horror of Forgotten Island" (October 28, 1978)
  9. "Island of Lost Ships" (November 4, 1978)
  10. "The Magnetic Terror" (November 11, 1978)
  11. "The Breeder Beast" (November 18, 1978)
  12. "The Sub-Zero Terror" (November 25, 1978)
  13. "The Time Dragons" (December 2, 1978)

Season 2 (1979-1980)

  1. "Calico Clones" (September 15, 1979)
  2. "Micro Godzilla" (September 22, 1979)
  3. "Ghost Ship" (September 29, 1979)
  4. "The Beast of Storm Island" (October 6, 1979)
  5. "The City in the Clouds" (October 13, 1979)
  6. "The Cyborg Whale" (October 20, 1979)
  7. "Valley of the Giants" (October 27, 1979)
  8. "Moonlode" (November 3, 1979)
  9. "The Golden Guardians" (November 10, 1979)
  10. "The Macro-Beasts" (November 17, 1979)
  11. "Pacific Peril" (November 24, 1979)
  12. "Island of Doom" (December 1, 1979)
  13. "The Deadly Asteroid" (December 8, 1979)

Production credits

  • Executive Producers: William Hanna
    William Hanna
    William Denby Hanna was an American animator, director, producer, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of people for much of the 20th century. When he was a young child, Hanna's family moved frequently, but they settled in Compton, California, by...

     and Joseph Barbera
    Joseph Barbera
    Joseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....

  • Producer: Doug Wildey
    Doug Wildey
    Douglas S. Wildey was a cartoonist and comic book artist best known for his co-creation of the 1964 animated television series, Jonny Quest for Hanna-Barbera Productions.-Early life and career:...

  • "Godzilla" was developed for television by: Dick Robbins, Duane Poole
  • Creative Producer: Iwao Takamoto
    Iwao Takamoto
    Iwao Takamoto was a Japanese-American animator, television producer, and film director. He was most famous as being a production and character designer for Hanna-Barbera Productions shows such as Scooby-Doo....


Spoof

  • In response to the Y2K hype, a cartoon was made where the crew fought the Y2K Bug (who claims he prefers the name "Millennium Bug"). The Y2K Bug renders their Godzilla caller useless. It is implied that they forgot to "update the embedded computer chips."

  • Professor Quinn Darien appeared as Dr. Gale Melody in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
    Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
    Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is an American animated television series comedy created by Williams Street and produced by Cartoon Network Studios that aired on Cartoon Network during its Adult Swim late night programming block. The series' pilot first aired in 2000, and later became a series in...

    episode "Shoyu Weenie" voiced by Grey DeLisle
    Grey DeLisle
    Grey DeLisle is an American voice actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne. To date, she has released four solo albums and has featured on the tribute album Anchored in Love: A Tribute to June Carter Cash and film soundtrack of Loggerheads...

    .

DVD 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 9 November, all episodes of season 1 are also streaming on Netflix and available to view on Hulu.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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