Dragons And Rock Apes And Blobs, Oh My!

That's probably what Dorothy would have said had the cyclone brought her and Toto to Amzot/Quasar instead of Oz. But all kidding aside, the Herculoids were awesome enough to take my breath away.

Where else but on Amzot could there be Zok with his ability to shoot lasers? Or Igoo with that body of solid rock? Or Tundro and his energy rocks? And of course, Gloop and Gleep with their shapeshifting skills?

These animals never did anything without Zandor, Tara, and Dorno, the rulers of the planet. I remember how Zandor was firmly established as the king in the pilot episode "The Beaked People." Krokar was a talking humanoid parrot, but he and his loyal followers were pretty evil for birds. In fact, some of the aliens were inhabitants of the planet. Some were primitive like the Beaked People and the Raider Apes, while others were technologically advanced. But most of them came from other planets to take over Amzot and destroy the heroes. I thought it was way cool to see Zandor bounce off vines, and for him, Tara, and Dorno to attack with slingshots. Also intriguing was the fact that Zandor knew how to pilot spacecraft, and operate the time machine left there by Oton and the Time Creatures. Even a seemingly simple task like returning a Dorgyte to his neck of the woods was frought with danger. The best episodes of this version included "Sarko The Arkman,"(who was inexplicably called Arko instead), and "Attack From Space." Both of these had the Herculoids going to other planets to defeat their enemies. In the latter, although it was normal for Igoo to be angry when dealing with aliens, I think he overdid it when, after Zandor told him to open the doors quietly, and they slammed closed on his arm. He punched the doors in, causing Zandor to say, "I said, quietly." Igoo, did you ever consider anger management? This was also the only H-B superhero cartoon to show crossdressing. In "Attack Of The Faceless People," Zandor had Gleep disguised as Princess Serena in order to rescue Tara from Darkon. It was done for a serious purpose, but I found it amusing. I also liked "Ruler Of The Reptons" and "Prisoners Of The Bubblemen."

There was a slight gaffe I noticed in the episode "The Pirates." Two of the sky pirates were flying side by side, when their captain ordered them back to the ship. One turned to the other, and said, "Our orders are to return to the ship." Mr. Pirate, I think your buddy heard that.

After the show was cancelled in 1969, I was sure I'd never see the "ghosts" again. That's what I called Gloop and Gleep when I first saw them. But in February 1978, the reruns of the 60's iteration became part of the "Go Go Globetrotters" show on NBC. It was also the time that I saw such episodes as "Island Of The Gravites," "Malak And The Metal Apes," and "The Gladiators Of Kyanite." By then, I was going through hard times in high school, so I can say those Herculoids were able to cheer me up, and make me realize I was strong and could deal with any problem at all. Therefore, I was pleased as punch when later that year, they were included in "Hanna-Barbera's World Of Super Adventure."

Three years later, there were new episodes produced for "Space Stars." For these adventures, Amzot was renamed Quasar. And they, like Space Ghost, interacted with their fellow heroes. The only episode that left me scratching my head was "Endangered Spacies," which had them teamed up with....Astro And The Space Mutts! And in their own episodes, Zandor did things he never did in the '60's. In "The Purple Menace," he actually got angry with Dorno for disobeying him(what father didn't get angry when a son or daughter was disobedient?), and in "The Thunderbolt," he kissed Tara's cheek when she wished him good luck. Both of these iterations were top notch.

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for breakfast. I'm off to drink coffee from my Herculoids coffee mug.

My concluding words for this thread: Hip hip hooray for the Herculoids!

Trivia Question 89: Why did Dorno bail on the flying monkeys when they invited the Herculoids to a feast?

Trivia Answer: He found out that the feast consisted of snails, grubs, and ants. Not very palatable.