Godzilla: The Series

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File:Godzilla The Series Opening**Godzilla: The Series** is an American animated series which originally aired on Fox's Fox Kids programming block in the United States. The series premiered on September 12, 1998, as a direct follow-up to the 1998 *Godzilla* film. During its second season in 1999, *Godzilla* was removed from the airwaves due to the "Pokemon Wars" between rival networks. This was not due to poor ratings, but to a desire by FOX to fight fire with fire and put the *Pokemon*-like shows *Digimon* and *Monster Rancher* up against the WB Network to try and lure viewers back to FOX. After a break of a couple months, *Godzilla* returned to Fox and finished its second and final season with two episodes left unaired.

## Plot

Using an art style similar to that of Adelaide's previous productions *Men in Black: The Series*, *Jumanji* and *Extreme Ghostbusters*, the series follows the Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team (H.E.A.T.), a research team led by Dr. Nick Tatopoulos as they battle giant monsters which frequently appear in the wake of the events depicted in the 1998 film *Godzilla*. Godzilla, the only hatchling of its species to survive in the movie, imprints on Nick and becomes the chief weapon summoned against the other monsters encountered by the human characters. The series also introduces two new characters: Monique Dupre, a French secret agent assigned by Philippe Roache to keep an eye on Godzilla and H.E.A.T., and Randy Hernandez, an intern of Nick's who specializes in computer hacking.

## Characters

**Godzilla** (vocal effects by Frank Welker) — A giant mutant iguana and the only surviving offspring of the first Godzilla that attacked New York City in 1998. Due to Nick's presence at his hatching, Godzilla has imprinted on Nick as his parent, and as a result he is very protective of him. Nick also has the ability to control Godzilla to a certain extent, which allows the humans to use him as a weapon against other mutated monsters. He always seems able to sense when Nick is in trouble, and is quite willing to follow him and the rest of H.E.A.T. all over the world. Unlike his biological parent, he seems to be incapable of asexual reproduction, yet has many traits similar to the Japanese Godzilla, such as having a tougher hide, being able to heal rapidly from injuries and breathe radioactive fire (with his spines and eyes flashing when he uses this attack).

**Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos** (voiced by Ian Ziering) — Leader of H.E.A.T. and the "adoptive father" of Godzilla. Nick fiercely protects Godzilla and other mutants from both foreign and domestic governments. He is portrayed as younger and with longer hair then he is in the movie, as well as less absent-minded.

**Dr. Elsie Chapman** (voiced by Charity James) — One of the original members of Nick's team; often sarcastic for what she think pass as humor, and partly interested in Mendel. She specializes in studying the behavior of Godzilla and the other monsters.

**Dr. Mendel Craven** (voiced by Malcolm Danare) — The team's engineer and chemist. He is slightly cowardly (as his last name implies) and prone to numerous strong allergies, but is often resourceful. He is also enamored of Elsie. Although initially fearful of Godzilla, over the course of the series he comes to trust the monster as an ally.

**Randy Hernandez** (voiced by Rino Romano) — An intern working under Nick, and like him, is Godzilla's defender. He calls Godzilla "the big guy", and sometimes "the G-man", and he has referred to him as "Mr. G" and "the Lizard King", each on one occasion. Hugely talented in all fields of technology, but extremely lazy and somewhat laconic. He has a crush on Monique, but is always refused when he attempts to court her.

**Monique Dupre** (voiced by Brigitte Bako) — A French Agent of the DGSE specializing in hand-to-hand combat and infiltration. She is originally sent to have Godzilla killed, but becomes a member of H.E.A.T. after being assigned to supervise Godzilla indefinitely. She generally seems cold and impassive, but on occasion shows genuine care and concern for her teammates and Godzilla.

**N.I.G.E.L.** (voiced by Tom Kenny) — Short for "Next Millennium Intelligence Gathering Electronic Liaison", N.I.G.E.L. is an analysis robot created by Mendel and reprogrammed by Randy to have various quirky personalities, from Texas cowboy to Shakespearean. A running gag on the show is that he is damaged or destroyed in almost every episode presumably to be rebuilt or replaced later (evidenced by Craven's remark in the episode "End of the Line" that he should "just buy spare parts in bulk").

## Episodes

*Godzilla: The Series* has a total of 40 episodes, spread over 2 seasons, that were produced from September 1998 to April 2000. Two episode, "The Ballad of Gens Du Marais" and "Tourist Trap," were left unaired in North America.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Johnson, Bob. The Ultimate Guide to GODZILLA: THE SERIES. scifijapan.com. Retrieved on March 1, 2015.