The Herculoids
The Herculoids is an American Saturday-morning animated-cartoon television series, created and designed by Alex Toth, that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show debuted on September 9, 1967, on CBS. Hanna-Barbera produced one season for the original airing 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 are rooted in science fiction, and have story direction and content similar to Jonny Quest and Space Ghost.
In the show, the space barbarian family Zandor, Tara and son Dorno fight alongside their giant pet Herculoids — dragon Zok, rhinoceros Tundro, rock ape Igoo and the shape-shifting Gloop and Gleep — to keep their planet safe from invading robots, mad scientists and mutants. The diverse team fought an endless battle against a stream of villains including, according to Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, "the Faceless People, Destroyer Ants, Raider Apes, Mutoids, Arnoids, Zorbots, the Mekkano mechanical men and the Ogs, a strange form of vegetable life."
This series is set on the distant planet Amzot. The name "Amzot" was first mentioned in the Space Ghost episode "The Molten Monsters of Moltar" and in the series proper in the "Time Creatures" episode.
Characters
There are eight regular characters who make up the Herculoids:The Herculoids
Humans
The three humans were the only ones who could communicate in English.- Zandor - The protector of Amzot/Quasar, and leader of The Herculoids.
- Tara - Zandor's wife.
- Dorno - Son of Zandor and Tara. Despite being their son, he still refers to them by their first names, rather than "Mother" and "Father." However this changed in the 1980s revival of the series.
Creatures
- Zok - A flying space dragon. He can emit laser beams from his eyes and tail. His eyes also produce a "nega-beam" that can neutralize certain energy attacks. Zok can survive in space unaided, is capable of interstellar travel, and can breathe fire.
- Igoo - A rock ape. An extremely large and powerful simian, he has extremely dense rocklike skin and is nearly invulnerable to harm. In one episode, Igoo wades through a pond of molten lava. Igoo has a kind and gentle temperament as well as a great fondness and devotion for Tara, and would do anything for her.
- Tundro - A ten-legged, four-horned rhinoceros/Triceratops hybrid. He can shoot explosive energy rocks from his cannon-horn. His natural armor-plating is exceptionally strong, similar to Igoo's rock skin. His legs have the ability to extend to a remarkable length, somewhat like stilts. He can also spin his head at blinding speed, allowing him to drill through solid rock, and has the ability to make magnificent leaps.
- Gloop and Gleep - Two protoplasmic creatures. They are able to absorb and deflect energy blasts and laser beams, often placing themselves between attackers and other Herculoids to act as shields. They can also form shapes including, but not limited to: cushions, trampolines or parachutes to break falls; stretching themselves between tree limbs or rocks to act as slingshots; encircling an attacker's limbs to restrain them, or the entire body to squeeze and render them unconscious. Gloop is the larger of the two.
Legacy
Cameos
Roughly contemporaneous to their own series premiere, the Herculoids made an appearance in an episode of Space Ghost, "The Molten Monsters of Moltar". In the "Council of Doom" story arc, Space Ghost, while battling the combined might of all of his enemies, meets a number of Hanna-Barbera heroes just as they were debuting in their own respective series. Along with the Herculoids were Shazzan, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, the last two sharing one series. Several episodes of Space Ghost Coast to Coast mention or show the Herculoids. In "Lawsuit", Space Ghost mentions the Herculoids' planet. In the episode "Sequel", he goes to their planet and refers to it as a "rotten hippie monster commune" after they demand he leave while pelting him with stones. Gloop is mentioned by name and features prominently in the Sealab 2021 episode "Hail, Squishface". Gloop makes several guest appearances on as well. Gleep is mentioned at one point but he does make cameos in "Mindless" and "Juror in Court", and Zok makes an appearance in "Peanut Puberty".Tundro makes an appearance in "Beyond the Valley of the Dinosaurs" firing his energy rocks at Phil Ken Sebben, who forgot to close the hot tub time portal to prehistoric times, and Tara appears on the evolution chart in between Fred Flintstone and Race Bannon in "Evolutionary War". 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 the scene, Gloop fails to get a babysitting job from Lois. In protest, Tundro shows up and fires his energy rocks at Lois. Gloop and Gleep appeared in a cameo as captured prisoners of a hostile alien race in the Dexter's Laboratory episode "Mis-Placed in Space". The Herculoids appear in issue 50 of New Mutants when Professor X is searching for Magik on a planet in the Shi'ar galaxy.
Episodes
Original series
Each show featured two Herculoids episodes.| Nº | Title | Original air date |
''Space Stars'' revival
Voices
- Ted Eccles, Sparky Marcus as Dorno
- Virginia Gregg as Tara
- Don Messick as Gleep, Gloop
- Mike Road as Zandor, Zok, Igoo, Tundro
- Vic Perrin as Mekkor and the Captain of the Sky Pirates
- Paul Frees as Sarko
''The Herculoids'' in other languages
- Les Défenseurs interplanétaires
- The show was introduced by ATV in Hong Kong as "宇宙泰山" in traditional Chinese or Cantonese, which stands for Tarzan in Space or Universe.
- Gli Erculoidi
- Os Herculóides
- Los Defensores Interplanetarios or Los Herculoides
- A Herkuloidák
- 怪獣王ターガン Kaijû Ô Tâgan
- Sandor. The cartoon was dubbed into Welsh and transmitted during Yr Awr Fawr on Sunday mornings. Originally shown on BBC2 Wales and then BBC1 Wales in the late 1970s and 1980s, this was before the introduction of the Welsh language channel S4C in 1982.
Home media
In other media
Comic books
The Herculoids have appeared in various comic books through the years. In 1968-1969, they appeared in issues #1-2 and 4-7 of the series Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes. In 1978, they appeared in issue #3 of the Marvel Comics series TV Stars. Between 1997 and 1999, they appeared in issues #5, 9, 13 and 17 of the DC Comics series Cartoon Network Presents.In 2016, the Herculoids played a major role in the DC Comics series Future Quest, that also featured characters from various animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera such as Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles and Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor.