Saturday Morning Cartoon

Little kid Steve was probably never more excited about a Saturday morning cartoon than this one, which debuted on NBC in 1978. A Godzilla cartoon! Who could believe it? The greatest monster ever, who combined the awe-inspiring wonder of dinosaurs with the sheer greatness of fire-breathing dragons in one towering, city stomping visage.

Sadly, the cartoon did not quite live up to expectations. Here's the title sequence. See if you can spot the exact moment everything is ruined.



If you said "and Godzoooooooky!" you are correct. What the hell was that stupid thing? And why wasn't Godzilla eating him? And then stomping on that boat? And then laying waste to Tokyo? So many narrative problems.

But the series did have its moments. If you disregard Godzilla's dumb laser beam eyes (?!) and his gargling roar and his constantly-shifting scale and his human "friends"--and of course horrible Godzooky--a Kaiju-worshiping child could at least savour the annihilation of futuristic jets and cannons.

At least until Godzooky showed up, flapping and flopping and squawking like a concussed Scooby-Doo.



Damn you, Godzooky. Damn you to hell.



This is available on DVD, unbelievably.