Godzilla (Hanna-Barbera)

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Godzilla®
Godzilla in Godzilla
Subtitle(s) King of the Monsters,
Monster King of Justice (正義の怪獣王,   Seigi no Kaijū-Ō)
Species Giant radioactive prehistoric reptile
Height 400 feet / ~122 meters[1][note 1]
Weight 600 metric tons[1]
Affiliation information
null
Relations Godzooky (cousin)
Allies Godzooky, Calico crew
Enemies Firebird, Eartheater, Stone Creatures, Megavolt Monsters, Seaweed Monster, Energy Beast, Colossus,
Cyclops Creature, Chimera, Siren Sisters, Magnetic Monster,
Breeder Beast, Great Watchuka, Diplodocus, Time Dragon, Giant Squid, Giant Fly, Giant Octopus, Axor,
Power Dragon, Cyborg Whale, Giant Squid, Giant Ant, Giant Dragonfly, Giant Black Widow, Giant Beetle, Giant Bee,
Giant Venus Flytrap, Giant Antlion, Gravity Goliath, Golden Guardians,
Giant Manta Ray, Magma Lizard, COBRA's army, Frios aliens
Played by Ted Cassidy (voice)
First appearance Latest appearance
Godzilla episode 1,
"The Firebird"
Godzilla episode 26,
"The Deadly Asteroid"
Roar(s)
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Sandboxed pages are unfinished and not yet approved.
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Up from the depths, thirty stories high. Breathing fire, his head in the sky! Godzilla! Godzilla! Godzilla! And Godzooky! Godzilla!
„ 

— Theme song from Godzilla

Godzilla (ゴジラ,   Gojira) is a giant monster featured in the 1978 Hanna-Barbera animated series Godzilla. He is the first incarnation of Godzilla to be animated, as well as the second incarnation of Godzilla to originate in American media, after the Marvel Godzilla.

The King of the Monsters aligned himself with the crew of the research vessel Calico, coming to their aid whenever summoned by their companion, his "cousin" Godzooky. Godzilla arose many times to fight on behalf of the Calico crew against an array of vicious giant monsters, always emerging victorious. When other monsters threatened innocent lives, Godzilla was often called upon to fend off the creatures and help civilians escape harm.

Name

See also: Godzilla#Name.

Godzilla's Japanese name, Gojira (ゴジラ), comes from a combination of the Japanese approximation of "gorilla" (ゴリラ,   gorira), and kujira (クジラ), the Japanese word for "whale."

Design

The Hanna-Barbera Godzilla, unlike all previous incarnations of the character, is green in color. His dorsal fins are unlike those of any other Godzilla in that they begin at the top of his head, and are more triangular in shape compared to Godzilla's traditional maple leaf-shaped plates. They are also green in color rather than bone-white. The Hanna-Barbera Godzilla's arms are also very long, human-like and flexible, similar to the Showa Godzilla's. His eyes are black, his claws are light gray, and his atomic breath is a red, orange, and yellow flame. He possesses pectoral muscles to an extent.

Personality

The Hanna-Barbera Godzilla is very similar in personality to the Showa Godzilla, being a heroic monster that fends off other more dangerous creatures. The Hanna-Barbera Godzilla travels with the crew of the Calico and responds to help them whenever called by his "cousin," Godzooky. The Hanna-Barbera Godzilla is very conscious of human life and will take steps to avoid harming nearby civilians and help them escape during his battles with enemy monsters.

Origins

The reason for Godzilla acting as a companion for the crew of the Calico is because they rescued his "cousin" Godzooky who was lost and stuck in seaweed, and as a sign of gratitude, he became a companion to them.

History

Godzilla

"The Firebird"

When tremors from a volcanic eruption in the Aleutian Islands caused a series of tidal waves to threaten the S.S. Calico, the crew called on Godzilla to lift them above the wave. Following the tremors to their source on Pitkin and rescuing a group of researchers there, the crew discovered a Firebird nesting in the caldera, which chased them to the surface. Godzilla was called on again to battle the Firebird. As the two dueled on the slopes, Godzilla managed to lose his footing on a collapsing cliffside, allowing the Firebird to escape further north to lay her eggs. Godzilla and the Calico followed the Firebird to this new nest, where Godzilla battled the Firebird in a second round, with some playful interference from Godzooky. Godzilla put Godzooky onto a rock ledge for safety before driving the Firebird into the water below, chasing her into a sea cave. When Godzooky managed to knock a rock down from his perch into the water, it partially blocked the cave's entrance, inspiring Godzilla to grab another rock to completely seal the Firebird off. Godzilla surfaced up the Calico to let out a triumphant victory roar.

"The Eartheater"

When traveling to San Francisco to attend a scientific conference, the crew of the Calico finds the city besieged by earthquakes. When the Golden Gate Bridge becomes overloaded by people trying to evacuate, Godzilla is summoned to help carry an broken portion of the unstable bridge to safe ground. Investigating the fissures and discovering tunnels, the crew finds a monstrous Eartheater that has been causing the quakes. Losing the Godzilla Signal in their investigations, Godzooky calls Godzilla to battle the monster. Though his eyebeams are effective against the Eartheater, Godzilla becomes disoriented by the Eartheater's sonic waves, allowing it to make an escape back underground. When trying to bomb the tunnels shut, the crew ends up driving the Eartheater back to the surface. Escaping on a cable car and being propelled at high speed down the hill by Godzooky's weight, Godzilla is able to catch the crew before wrestling down the Eartheater again, who manages to escape with his sonic waves again. Godzilla and the team search the streets for the monster, only to find him climbing atop the Golden Gate Bridge. Godzilla used his eyebeams to try and knock him off his perch, with Godzooky baiting the Eartheater into making a final destructive blow with his tailclub. As the bridge tower crumbled, the Eartheater fell into the San Francisco Bay and melted into mud. Godzilla swam into the depths victorious.

"Attack of the Stone Creature"

"The Megavolt Monster"

"The Seaweed Monster"

"The Energy Beast"

"The Colossus of Atlantis"

"The Horror of Forgotten Island"

"Island of Lost Ships"

"The Magnetic Terror"

"The Breeder Beast"

"The Sub-Zero Terror"

"The Time Dragons"

"Calico Clones"

"Microgodzilla"

"Ghost Ship"

"The Beast of Storm Island"

"The City in the Clouds"

"The Cyborg Whale"

"Valley of the Giants"

"Moonlode"

"The Golden Guardians"

"The Macro-Beasts"

"Pacific Peril"

"Island of Doom"

"The Deadly Asteroid"

"Godzilla vs. Y2K Bug"

When a physical manifestation of the Y2K Bug attacked the Calico, Captain Majors' attempts to summon Godzilla failed as the Godzilla Signal was not fixed in time for the new millennium.

Abilities

Fire breath

In place of Godzilla's traditional atomic breath, the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla possesses a fire breath. This attack is still very powerful and effective against foes.

Laser beams

In addition to his fire breath, the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla can fire red laser beams from his eyes.

Nose flames

On one occasion, the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla was able to shoot flames from his nose.

Strength

He was able to throw Gravity Goliath all the way to the Moon with the help of a tractor beam.

Durability

He was able to tank all of COBRA’s advanced weaponry including weapons large enough to sink a battleship.

Weaknesses

Though powerful he still has weaknesses. He has been repeatedly been incapacitated, knocked out or put to sleep by certain foes and requires outside help from Godzooky and the Calico crew to be waken up or freed examples include being put to sleep by the Siren Sisters in Island of Lost Ships where it took Godzooky and Pete to wake him up, turned to a golden statue by the Golden Guardians in The Golden Guardians where the Calico crew used a laser to unfreeze him, being sent to a alternative dimension by Ze-us in The City in the Clouds when trying to defend the Calico crew where they had to had to bring Godzilla back, being put in suspended animation by the Colossus in The Colossus of Atlantis until the Calico crew tricked the Colossus into waking him up, he was knocked out by a old torpedo capable of sinking a battleship by a World War I U-Boat in Ghost Ship where Godzooky's help was needed to wake him up, he was temporarily poisoned and paralyzed by Giant Black Widow in Valley of the Giants where he needed to be waken up by the Calico Crew, and frozen by the Frios aliens weaponry in The Deadly Asteroid where the Calico crew had to unfreeze him. He was unable to stop the Cyborg Whale on his own with brute force until the Calico Crew was able to have godzooky tell Godzlla to bend the rudder. If Godzilla Signal is used in a metal area, Godzilla was shown when it was used in a ship, the metal blocked it out and only confused Godzilla. In Godzilla vs. Y2K Bug if the Godzilla Singal is damaged it will not summon him in. In Microgodzilla it was revealed that if Godzilla stays outside of water for too long, he will get sick. In The Horror of Forgotten Island was unable to break through the forcefield holding the Cyclops Creature on the Forgotten Island to help the Calico Crew until they were able to lower the shield for Godzilla arrive.

Roar

Hanna-Barbera was unable to acquire the rights to Godzilla's trademark roar, so the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla is voiced by actor Ted Cassidy instead.

However strangely in some bumpers he uses the Showa Godzilla roar.

Trivia

  • The Hanna-Barbera Godzilla is the third-tallest Godzilla on record, standing exactly 400 feet (121.92 meters) tall, only shorter than the Marvel Godzilla (184 meters) Godzilla Earth (300~ meters). However, he is also the second-lightest Godzilla on record, weighing only 600 metric tons, making him only heavier than the first TriStar Godzilla.
  • Years after Hanna-Barbera lost the Godzilla license, this incarnation of Godzilla and three of his monster foes made a cameo in a DC Scooby-Doo comic though unnamed to avoid legal issues from Toho.
  • The incarnation of Godzilla from the later animated series, Godzilla: The Series, shares some similarities with this Godzilla. Like the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla, he is an ally to humanity who is summoned by a team of scientists, often aboard their research boat, in order to fend off other malevolent giant monsters.

Notes

  1. Though officially considered to stand at 400 feet, or about 122 meters, the Godzilla theme song suggests him to instead be "thirty stories high." At the standard definition of 4.3 meters per storey, this would actually make him about 129 meters tall if taken literally.

References

This is a list of references for The King of the Monsters/Sandbox/Hanna-Barbera. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works. Shogakukan. 1 January 2000. p. 184. ISBN 978-4091014702. Check date values in: |date= (help)
    G5499SCW HB Godzilla 400 feet 600 tons.png

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