Everything Action Theater: Godzilla: The Series

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters brings the Legendary Godzilla to Apple TV+ this weekend and, back in 1998, Zilla came to Fox Kids Saturdays with Godzilla: The Series.  Picking up from the sequel tease at the end of Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla movie, an egg laid by Godzilla hatches, and Dr. Nick Tatopoulos (voiced by Ian Ziering) and his team are there for its birth.  Imprinting on Nick, the new Godzilla sees Nick as his parent and becomes highly protective of him.  When more kaiju begin to emerge and threaten the world, Nick and his team, designated HEAT or the Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team are tasked with traveling the globe and stopping them with help from Godzilla.  Along with Ian Ziering, the voice cast included Frank Welker doing Godzilla, Joe Pantoliano, Paget Brewster, Ronny Cox, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Linda Blair and Michael Chiklis.  Kevin Dunn, Malcolm Danare, and Michael Lerner reprised their roles from the movie. For Godzilla fans, the animated series was more in line with classic Godzilla, with this version able to breathe atomic fire and battling various kaiju, many inspired by classic Toho monsters.  Season 1 even included a three-episode plot that took inspiration from Destroy All Monsters.  The series lasted for 2 seasons for a total of 38 episodes.  A 39th and 40th episode was produced, but they did not air, eventually screened at the 2001 Asian Fantasy Film Expo in New Jersey before being made available on Mill Creek’s complete series DVD set.  Thanks to the Throwback Toons channel, you can watch the first episode, “New Family: Part 1” below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBgqfTBGGlA