The 1998 American Godzilla film is largely considered one of if not the worst entry in the series, with fans especially hating how little it got right about the character. From mere design to mannerisms, the characterization of the monster himself was despised, and the rest of the film wasn’t loved, either. Nevertheless, the movie did spawn one good thing in a most unlikely source.
Godzilla: The Series was the animated follow-up to the movie that replaced the planned sequel, but unlike the film, it’s actually good. Putting “Zilla” in a Saturday morning cartoon lens worked wonders for the monster, with many of the threats faced feeling like remixes of the classic movies from the 1960s and 1970s. Here’s how the American Godzilla cartoon in the ’90s was actually pretty decent.
What Was Godzilla: The Series About?
As mentioned, the 1998 Godzilla cartoon that aired on Fox Kids was a sequel to the events of the movie, depicting the rise of the last surviving Godzilla hatchling. The creature believes that Nick Tatopoulos from the film is his “parent,” and becomes fiercely protective of him after hatching. Nick and his friend form the group known as HEAT, or Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team. Their job is to protect the world from the rising threat of mutated monsters, who begin showing up more frequently after the first Godzilla’s death.
The military is quite suspicious of the new Godzilla, however, seeing him as a threat himself. Nevertheless, Major Hicks (another character from the movie) grows to depend on the lizard’s strength to fight against the many attacks that ensue in Earth’s major cities.
The series ran from 1998 to 2000, lasting for 40 episodes, though only 38 of these aired on Fox Kids. This is mainly due to the show, despite its decent popularity, being stuck in between the reigning cartoon juggernauts of the late ’90s, Pokémon and Digimon. Especially given that the franchise was otherwise dead in the water with the movie’s sequel cancelled, “Zilla’s” adventures came to an end.
How Godzilla: The Series Succeeded Where the Movie Failed
Outside of palling around with humans and seeing one of them as a parent, this version of the American Godzilla was much closer to the classic incarnation. Though he had the radically different American film design, he boasted not only the classic Toho Godzilla roar, but also his signature atomic breath. This attack was notoriously absent in the movie and hinted at only via a visual effect with a fire.
The episodes also wisely pitted him against other monsters, making for some epic battles that the movie’s numerous helicopter chases and ripoffs of scenes from Jurassic Park failed to deliver. These included giant sea monsters, insects and a mutant bat, many of whom evoked classic Toho monsters such as Mothra, Rodan and others.
Other threats involved an alien race who used a device to control the many monsters, as well Cyber-Godzilla, a cyborg created from the remains of the original beast. The former were a straight up redux of the mind-controlling aliens seen in Showa era Godzilla films such as Destroy All Monsters, while the latter was essentially this universe’s version of Mechagodzilla. His origin story even predicted the origin of the mechanical monster in Toho’s Godzilla X Mechagodzilla years later.
Even by fans who hated the movie, Godzilla: The Series is still a vast improvement. It also has a fairly serious and straightforward science fiction tone, making it stand out among the many comedic cartoons of the era. Sadly, the series can’t be streamed on any mainstream platform, even though many of the other American productions in the franchise are available on either Netflix or HBO Max. The complete DVD set can be purchased from Amazon or Walmart, however, so it’s still quite easy to enjoy the much improved adventures of the Roland Emmerich’s take on Godzilla.
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