The Godzilla Power Hour
Debut: January 01, 1978
Ended: January 01, 1981

The Godzilla Power Hour was a 60-minute Saturday morning animated series co-produced between Hanna-Barbera Productions and Toho in 1978 and aired on NBC in the US and TV Tokyo in Japan. The series was an animated adaptation of the Japanese Godzilla films produced by Toho. The "Power Hour" aspect of the title consisted of half-hour episodes of Godzilla and Jana of the Jungle (not to be confused with the similarly-named Marvel Comics character Jann of the Jungle). The series continued to air until 1981, for a time airing in its own half-hour timeslot as simply Godzilla, until its cancellation. The series followed the adventures of a team of scientists on the research vessel called the Calico which was headed by Captain Carl Majors. The rest of the crew included Dr. Quinn Darien (a female scientist), Brock (her African-American assistant and Carl's first mate) and her teenaged nephew Pete. Also along for the ride was Godzooky, the nephew of Godzilla and Pete's best friend who had a light-hearted role in the show. He could fly using his small wings under his arms, though his uncle Godzilla was unable to fly.The reason probably being that his mother also had this ability because his father is most likely Godzilla's younger sibling as Godzilla can't fly. Godzooky was voiced by Don Messick. The group would often call upon Godzilla by using a special communicator when in peril, such as attacks by other giant monsters. If the communicator was not present (or lost), Godzooky would use a special "howl" to summon him. Godzilla's size in the animated series shifted radically, sometimes within a single episode or even one scene. (For instance, Godzilla's claw will 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 was altered so he breathed simple fire. He could also produce laser blasts from his eyes much like Superman's heat vision. Hanna-Barbera were unable to use Godzilla's trademark roar so they cast Ted Cassidy to voice the character, similar to his role in the live-action series The Incredible Hulk. In Japan, Godzilla's trademark roar was added and replaced the Ted Cassidy sound effects that Hanna-Barbera used. 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. The second half of The Godzilla Power Hour was essentially a female version of Tarzan named Jana (voiced by B.J. Ward), who traverses the rain forests of South America in search of her lost father. She has long blonde hair, wears a dress made of unspecified animal skin and a necklace which doubles as a throwable weapon given to her by her father, and she is always barefoot. Besides her animal friends, Ghost the albino jaguar and Tiko the coatimundi (the latter more resembled a Water Opossum), Jana has two human friends: Dr. Ben Cooper (Michael Bell) and Montaro (Ted Cassidy), who is armed with the Staff of Power that can cause earthquake shockwaves when it strikes the ground. This is one of the very few Hanna-Barbera series that have yet to be seen on Cartoon Network or Boomerang. Godzilla originally aired in these following formats on NBC: 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) 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 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. A month later, new episodes of Godzilla and The Super Globetrotters were packaged together as The Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour which ran until September 1980. On September 27, 1980, after twenty-six half-hour episodes, the show went into reruns and Godzilla was once again teamed up with other Hanna-Barbera characters: The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour ran until November 1980, followed by The Godzilla/Hong Kong Phooey 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. Throughout the 1980s until the late-1990s, the series rested in limbo (with the exception of a limited videocassette release of two episodes). Since 1997, it has been rebroadcast on TNT, Cartoon Network and Boomerang. --Data courtesy of Wikipedia

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