The Herculoids

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The Herculoids

The Herculoids title card
Genre Animated series
Created by Alex Toth
Voices of Mike Road
Virginia Gregg
Ted Eccles
Don Messick
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of episodes 18 (36 segments, 1967–1969)
11 (1981–1982)
Production
Running time 22 min.: two 11 min. segments (1967–1969)
6 min. segments of Space Stars (1981–1982)
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Original run September 9, 1967 – January 6, 1968
Chronology
Related shows Space Stars
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Herculoids is a Saturday morning animated television series that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show debuted on September 9, 1967 on CBS. Hanna-Barbera produced one season for the original incarnation of the show, although the original 18 episodes were rerun during the 1968–69 television season, with The Herculoids ending its run on September 6, 1969. Eleven new episodes were produced in 1981 as part of the Space Stars show. The plotlines were rooted in science fiction, and had story direction and content similar to Jonny Quest and Space Ghost. This series takes place on a far-away planet named Quasar in the land of Amzot (it should be noted that the planet was originally unnamed; it was only called Quasar in the Space Stars episodes; and, Amzot was first mentioned in the "Time Creatures" episode of the original series).

Contents

[edit] Characters

There were eight regular characters;

[edit] Humanoids

  • Three Humanoids:
    • Zandor, (voiced by Mike Road), the protector of Amzot/Quasar. Leader of The Herculoids.
    • Tarra, (voiced by Virginia Gregg), Zandor's wife.
    • Dorno, (voiced by Ted Eccles, then by Sparky Marcus in 1981), son of Zandor and Tarra.

[edit] Creatures

  • Five Creatures of The Herculoids:
    • Zok, (voiced by Mike Road), a flying dragon. He emits laser beams from his eyes and tail. His eyes also produced a "nega-beam" that could neutralize certain energy attacks. Zok could survive in space unaided, was capable of interstellar travel, and could breathe fire.
    • Igoo, (voiced by Mike Road), a rock ape. An extremely large and powerful simian, he had extremely dense skin and was nearly invulnerable to harm. Igoo has a great fondness and devotion for Tarra, and will do anything for her. He will go to any lengths to defend Tarra.
    • Tundro, (voiced by Mike Road), a ten-legged rhino-triceratops. He shoots explosive energy rocks from his cannon-horn (Zandor, Tarra, and Dorno also occasionally shot similar rocks with slingshots). His natural armor-plating was exceptionally strong, similar to Igoo's rock skin. His legs had the ability to extend to a remarkable length, somewhat like stilts. He could also spin his head at blinding speed, allowing him to drill through solid rock.
    • Gloop & Gleep, (both voiced by Don Messick), two protoplastic creatures. They could assume any shape or form that they chose. They could also subdivide themselves into multiple smaller units (each having eyes), which moved more or less in unison. Gloop was the larger of the two, while Gleep seemed to be a juvenile and was often paired off with young Dorno. Their unique physical makeup apparently provided even more protection from physical or energy-based attacks than Igoo's stony hide. They seemed to be able to absorb energy blasts and laser beams that are directed towards them.

[edit] Saju

In the Space Stars episodes from 1981, there was also a sixth creature in close association: Saju, an enormous Godzilla-like animal whose size was matched only by her enormous strength. She was not considered a member of the group in canon, as she only appeared in one episode, and did not travel with them on their various remote adventures.

[edit] Synopsis

Together, the Herculoids battled to defend their planet from menaces on Quasar and from Outer Space. All of the Herculoids displayed Human-level intelligence, and Zandor & Tarra displayed a working knowledge of complex alien technologies as well as the ability to pilot interstellar spacecraft. Although the "speech" of their companions was limited and repetitive, Zandor, Tarra and Dorno (c.f.The Mutoids: "Gleep says that the aliens who landed are attacking Dorno and Tundro.") demonstrated that Gloop & Gleep, at least, had a comprehensive mode of communication, and that they could at least understand and interpret the "language". In reality, the voices were brief tracks supplied by two actors and reused throughout the series, in keeping with Hanna-Barbera's thrifty ethos.

A number of episodes featured alien invaders who came to Quasar to seek revenge against Zandor for some unspecified battle or adventure from the past.

[edit] Continuity with Space Stars

The Space Stars series included the Herculoids in its canon to show that Zandor and his family and friends were well-known throughout the galaxy, and good friends of Space Ghost and the Teen Force. This suggests, though the series never stated, that Zandor and Tarra may have been civilized, technologically capable people who escaped to Quasar to hide or retire after previous intergalactic adventures.

[edit] Appearances on other shows

Gloop is mentioned by name and features prominently in the Sealab 2021 episode "Hail, Squishface".

Gloop makes several guest appearances on Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, as well, Gleep is mentioned at one point, and Zok makes an appearance in one episode (Phil Ken Sebben throws a graph chart at him)

The Herculoids is mentioned in an episode of The Venture Bros., where an old "fan letter" of Dr. Venture to the show is discovered. Upon reading, the letter is revealed to be more akin to hate mail; young Rusty Venture called the Herculoids hippies for not fighting in Vietnam.

Tundro and Gloop appear in an episode of Family Guy, "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter". In one scene, Gloop fails to get a babysitting job from Lois. In protest, Tundro shows up and fires his energy rocks at Lois.

[edit] The Herculoids in other languages

  • Italian: Gli Erculoidi
  • Brazilian Portuguese: Os Herculóides
  • Spanish: Los Defensores Intergalácticos or Los Herculoides
  • Hungarian: A Herkuloidák
  • Japanese: 怪獣王ターガン Kaijû Ô Tâgan (Monster King Targan)
    • The characters' names in Japan were Targan (Zandor), Marmi (Tarra), Kane (Dorno), Maryû (Zok), Rikira (Igoo), Tangurô (Tundro), Hyûhyû (Gloop) and Bôbô (Gleep).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Languages