Even back in the 90s this version of Godzilla really didn’t get a lot of respect, since it didn’t really follow the same spirit as the atomic lizard that had spawned the whole story. For one thing, this Godzilla wasn’t that damage resistant and had a very different breath weapon that was more akin to a traditional dragon from a fantasy story than the atomic-breath spew that the classic Godzilla is known to have. The cartoon that came along though was something that upped the game a bit and actually might have redeemed this version of Godzilla since it did bring more of the old school feel to it that people were wanting, and it did finally give Godzilla other enemies to fight that weren’t exactly the traditional enemies that we were used to, but were definitely interesting all the same and were capable of putting on a good show. By this point, people didn’t even care that two sequels after the initial movie had been canceled since the studio likely figured that they’d done enough damage. The cartoon was great enough tough that it was almost like an apology for the movie.
Here are at least a few things about the cartoon that made it worth it.
This wasn’t the first time Godzilla was made into a cartoon.
The first Godzilla cartoon was made back in the late 70s and as anyone can imagine it was kind of hokey and the animation wasn’t that great, but at the time it was considered to be good enough since nothing like it had been done before. By the time the 90s came around though the animation had to change in a big way and since it was following the movie, Godzilla had to look different, move differently, and essentially be far more mobile than ever before.
There were only two seasons.
Obviously the animated series didn’t take off as well as people would have thought it might, but it did entertain the fans at least a little bit since it went back to form in a way and did its best to ensure that people would be entertained. But if there’s ever going to be another animated Godzilla series it’s more likely than not that it will stick to the current template and won’t bother to deviate again since people have liked what they’ve seen in recent times.
It did pick up where the movie left off.
So if anyone remembers, one last egg had hatched inside the remains of Madison Square Garden and the big version of Godzilla was well and truly dead. But somehow the youngling bonded with Nick and he became a kind of like a surrogate parent. All the same, the military still wanted to end Godzilla while Nick and his team often worked with the big lizard to take down other humongous monsters.
The cartoon made Godzilla into a heroic character.
Despite Godzilla’s beef with the military that he didn’t really start, he did get to take on creatures that were doing massive damage to cities, which made him the hero since otherwise, the movie made Godzilla out to be the villain despite doing what nature intended while trying to survive. In the cartoon, he had the chance to be a heroic character for once and not some seriously aggressive lizard that was intent on wrecking things left and right.
There were a lot more monsters to deal with.
Every episode there was at least one more monster or two or three and Godzilla would have to fight at least one of them since there were monsters will different purposes and powers that had to be contended with. We didn’t get to see a lot of the older monsters that we would have recognized, but that was likely by design since this version of Godzilla was still seen as something entirely different and not really beholden to the old style. But some of the monsters were obviously modeled around older monsters that had come and gone since the similarities were a little too easy to point out.
Godzilla’s durability returned.
Unlike the parent lizard in the movie, this Godzilla was able to take a heap of damage and not fold, as the lizard had to contend with some rather heavy hitters and had great need of that heavy, scaled hide that would protect him from most damage but not all. This Godzilla was so insanely nimble though that it differed in a lot of ways from what people were used to since up until this point Godzilla was never really known for being light on his feet. It was different though, that’s for certain.
The version we have now is definitely the preferred one, but can you imagine King Kong fighting this version from the 90s? That would be an awkward battle to say the least.
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