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8 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Better Than the Movie and Most TV Shows, Animated or Live, 21 August 1999 Author: Cole Williams (raptor_2) from United States
Godzilla the Series takes place where the near-blockbuster movie left off. Nick Tatapolous finds the original Godzilla's one surviving egg. During its hatching, the baby Godzilla implements Nick as its adopted father.This could've gone into corny areas, as did several other tv show's and the other godzilla cartoon from the 70's, with Godzilla always being there for them no matter what, and always a good guy. NOT SO HERE. Godzilla, though seeing Nick as his "father", also sees the entire planet as his own nest. So, whenever a monster attacks Nick, or starts taking its own land, Godzilla will fight it off. but it also means that mankind definitely gets in Godzilla's way, and there is often little NIck can do, since its not like he can just call an independent thinking creature like Godzilla off. And thankfully, in the series, Godzilla does breath his radioactive fire. And he is much meaner and more assertive against enemies than the movie Godzilla. But several characters from the movie are back in the seires, and are much more interesting at that. The rarely seen Elsie Chapman and Mendel Craven are more 3 dimensional here, as are Audrey Timmons, Animal, and Major HIcks. Several episodes even devote more than ample time on character's histories and relationships to each other, such as an episode where a major character is Elsie's one time fiancee, or plenty of episodes where newcoming characters Monique Dupree, a frech secret agant, and Randy Hernandez, an early 20's hacker, hit it off, but not so well as in most relationships. And the majority of the monsters are great and original. One problem though is that they are often shown in all their designs glory in the first few minutes of an episode. All in all, the series has more plot twists and refreshing script work than the movie. I strongly suggest that everyone watches it and gives it the attention it deserves.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: I don't believe it., 9 January 2006 Author: noise_pollution1618 from Switzerland
I saw this cartoon rerun in Zurich (where i live), and I could not believe my eyes! The movie back in '98 made me disappointed, a. for having one monster fighting off a military (people don't come to see a monster fighting just the military, they want monsters fighting each other) and b. because they were trying too hard to be like Jurassic park at the end.But this takes a completely different approach. The last baby of the Godzilla movie considers Nick (the main character) his "father", so whenever some ugly creature starts rampaging around New York (the enemy monsters can also be very well designed), so Godzilla comes and pretty much makes sure they can never touch New York again. He has the same design from the movie, and he can finally shoot fire from his mouth and is a lot more nimble. Godzilla fans rejoice.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: One of the better series on TV, 6 April 2000 Author: Figaro-8 (greyfigaro@hotmail.com) from Columbia, SC
Okay, so he doesn't look like he did in the '50s. If you really want to see how Godzilla should be done, tune in to this series. This has some of everything: well-developed characters we can actually identify with, clever stories that will thrill you, make you laugh, and might even teach you a thing or two, and (of course) fantastic monster creations. In the past, Godzilla has been presented as being totally bent on destruction (IMHO) or has been reduced to last-minute save-the-day status (in the '70s Hanna-Barbera cartoons). Here he is an independently-thinking creature. Although he takes it upon himself to protect the HEAT team (and the planet), he is a monster first and foremost, with a huge appetite and unpredictable actions. After countless episodes, he is still a mystery. This series keeps my glued to the tube every time.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Brilliant, better than the movie but with original zing, 15 April 2007 Author: Transient-Orca from United States
I grew up watching this show every saterday morning. I loved the first movie, but always hated the originals. But one thing I have noticed is that people who liked the originals actually like this series,and the people who loved the newer series love it more.It keeps the new Godzilla (1998) but adds more of the classical aspects from the originals. I even enjoyed this show, to this day.Some monsters I didn't like, like the huge insects, but most were pretty cool, and amazing.The characters we actually pretty developed, and Godzilla was more like the original, meaning he could be violent and rampaging at times, but in the end he was sort of on the good side. He was an unpredictable creature that could be on your side or the other. ANd his decision would make or break you.Really I enjoyed this series, its to bad it had to end because of the lame Digimon and Pokemon wars that ensued at this time.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Very Entertaining but needs more episodes or another LAM (Live Action Movie), 12 November 2008 Author: dekabreakomegaX-1 from Philippines
In all my years as a Daikaiju fan, this is one of the best.This unlike the Godzilla in the film, is much more powerful and faster. This Godzilla The Series is a very wonderful fast paced animation that was better than the HB version. He is fast, agile, strong and affectionate, even playful in some occasions to humans especially to Dr. Nick. This however, ended up canceled in TVs and that made it bad not only to this show, but to other shows as well because of that Pokemon VS Digimon wars. Now as to this, I hope that this will have a Season 3 or another Live Action Movie with Godzilla Jr. (Zilla Jr.) as an Earth Protecting Daikaiju, a more reminiscent to his Japanese version. The battles are good and entertaining, may they make some more. Why end the show when the fans are enjoying it? That needs more emphasis on the duels of Godzilla in this GTS, sadly the action was limited. And that's all.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Great animated series! One of the best ever!, 18 July 2005 Author: Movie Nuttball from U.S.A.
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I am a huge Godzilla fan, I grew up with Godzilla, I just love seeing this awesome monster just destroy cities and fighting other monsters. I like his enemies as well but Godzilla is the Icon! This is really an awesome animated series! I you know, I am a huge Godzilla fan and though I wasn't complete pleased with Godzilla 1998 there were things I did like how he looked, his personality and such but he wasn't the indestructible monster that we all know and that is what I didn't like about the film and how he died. It would have been one of the greatest films of the century if he would have been immortal. But neither is he in the cartoon though he does fight other monsters and the people understand he more. People who love Godzilla's trademark roar will be happy to know he roars through out the series! Another thing I like about this cartoon series is he even has he other roar he does in the US movie. All of his characteristics are captured here from the 1998 film as well. Kevin Dunn reprises his Major Hicks role again only this time he is animated and Joe Pantoliano is in it so those are nice treats! All of the animated characters are great! The animation is very crisp, clean and very beautiful and I love the intros! In short and in My opinion, this is what the the United States 1998 Godzilla film should have been!
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Second review: better than the movie and other cartoon, but lacks enough 'Zilla action, 31 July 2001 Author: Cole Williams (raptor_2) from United States
This is my second, more carefully constructed review for this series. As said, i won't cover the ground details as i did before, but offer a second opinion.I still like this series, and I do think it's better than the movie, in that it has better, more believable characters, and Godzilla acts more like Godzilla than he did in the remake.The main problem is that, in his own cartoon show, Godzilla is rarely seen, and often treated as a mere Deus Ex Machina!Sure, there are some interesting monsters, and they get plenty of screen time, but most of them are just large insects, and any potential mystery about their appearance is ruined, since they usually are completely seen in the prologue before the opening credits.And yes, the human characters are more than just cardboard cut outs, they earn our interest, and interact instead of just act towards each other. In other words, the almost exact opposite of the characters from the 70's Hanna-Barbara show (but even they had good intentions).But, unfortunately, while the the humans and monsters are often interesting, the producers of the show forgot one thing: this is called "Godzilla: the Series", so why is it he only shows up twice an average episode?!? And when he does show up, its usually when he either makes his first appearance, gets injured, then comes back in at the end to kill the monster after the humans fail.While the humans don't fail always, whatever plan they do have requires Godzilla uses him as a plot device, and without it, he probably wouldn't have shown up in the episode at all!Its like in most of the Gamera (re: flying-turtle Godzilla knock-off) movies: Cool evil monster comes in, humans stare at it, Gamera comes in, get wounded, retreats, humans attempt to kill cool evil monster, fail, then either Gamera comes back and kills it himself or becomes integral to the human's attempts to kill it. (also, for fun, add in tiny short wearing children who are "friends of Gamera")Basically, take this formula, replace the boring Japanese people with the interesting cartoon characters, take out the tiny-short wearing kids and put in NIck Tatopolous, and (this is the worst part) replace Gamera with Godzilla, and you have generally every episode of the series, though not as lame as the older gamera movies, but not as good as the recent ones.also note: While Godzilla and Nick in the show have a relationship somewhat like Gamera had with whatever small kid he was saving, Godzilla is not under Nick's control. And while Godzilla does often protect Nick, it is often not his main reason for being in the story. Also, while Gamera mostly followed the kids, Godzilla and Nick often follow each other to wherever the story takes them.However, the episodes where Godzilla is the center of attention are absolutely excellent! The episode where Godzilla is cloned, where he is being mind controlled, where Nick and Monique go inside him to stop a virus, are all great shows.Especially great is the one where Godzilla meets up with another monster like him, and becomes a surrogate mate. That episode takes everything good about the series (character development and interaction, monster fights, and drama), and rolls it into a perfect episode. Heck, they even have a giant mutant turtle in that one! An obvious nod to Gamera, and a monster fight Kaiju fans would kill to see.Overall, "Godzilla: the series" is good, a great improvement on the movie, and its worth seeing every episode, but it could have been great if only Godzilla himself were in it more.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: ???, 24 May 2000 Author: Op_Prime from Ardmore, PA
This Godzilla series was great and much better than previous efforts (the earlier animated series and even the movie). This series picked up where the Sony movie left off. In this series, the HEAT team and Godzilla faced new monsters: giant bat and bee, mutated seas creature, that kind of stuff.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Godzilla Is Currently My Favorite Animated Series, 8 March 2000 Author: crazy-22 (van3@gate.net) from Brooksville, Florida
I highly recommend Godzilla: The Series to anyone who enjoys well written stories, great monsters and characters you can really root for. The stories are imaginative and filled with Fil Barlow's fantastic creature creations. A big plus is the inclusion of strong female characters. Monique Dupre, Elsie Chapman and even Audrey Timmonds are brave, intelligent and capable.The underlying relationships of the characters are often what makes the show such fun: Randy Hernandez' endless quest to impress Monique, his teasing friendship with Mendel Craven, and Mendel's quiet longing for the oblivious Elsie truly hooked me on the show. Characters are also multi-dimensional and capable of change. Mendel is often used as comic relief, but his creative genius often saves the day and he can be selflessly heroic should the need arise.Check Godzilla: The Series out. You won't be sorry.
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