The Herculoids

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Title card
GenreScience fiction
Created byAlex Toth
Directed byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Voices ofMike Road
Virginia Gregg
Teddy Eccles
Don Messick
ComposerTemplate:Pluralize from textTed Nichols
Template:Pluralize from text of originUnited States
No. of episodes18 (36 segments, 1967–1969)
11 (1981–1982)
Production
ProducerTemplate:Pluralize from textWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Running time22 min. – two 11-min. segments (1967–1969)
6-min. segments of Space Stars (1981–1982)
Production Template:Pluralize from textHanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
NetworkCBS
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Related
Space Stars
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The Herculoids is an American Saturday-morning animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, created and designed by Alex Toth. With plotlines rooted in science fiction and fantasy, the show debuted September 9, 1967, on CBS.[1] While Hanna-Barbera produced one season for the initial airing, the original 18 episodes were rerun during the 1968–69 television season.[2] Eleven new episodes were produced in 1981 as part of the Space Stars show.[3]

Plot

On the planet Amzot (renamed Quasar in the revival), the space barbarian family Zandor, Tara, and son Dorno fight alongside their giant pets—laser dragon Zok, space rhinoceros Tundro, rock ape Igoo, and the shape-shifting duo Gloop and Gleep—to keep their planet safe from invaders. The Herculoids' pets understood human speech and often displayed various emotions.[4] The Herculoids team battled against many different villains: invading robots, mad scientists, and mutants, including "the Faceless People, Destroyer Ants, Raider Apes, Mutoids, Arnoids, Zorbots, the Mekkano mechanical men and the Ogs, a strange form of vegetable life."[5]

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 (voiced by Mike Road) – The protector of Amzot/Quasar, and leader of The Herculoids.
  • Tara (voiced by Virginia Gregg) – Zandor's wife.
  • Dorno (voiced by Ted Eccles in the original series, Sparky Marcus in 1981) – 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

The five creature characters of The Herculoids are:

  • Zok (voiced by Mike Road) – A dragon with bat-like wings. He can emit laser beams from his eyes and tail and produce a "nega-beam" that neutralizes certain energy attacks. Zok can survive in space unaided, is capable of interstellar travel, and can also breathe fire.
  • Igoo (voiced by Mike Road) – An ape who possesses dense, rock-like skin and is nearly invulnerable to harm. Igoo has a kind and gentle temperament, except when his loved ones or home are threatened, and displays great fondness of and devotion to Tara in particular.
  • Tundro (voiced by Mike Road) – A ten-legged, four-horned rhinoceros/Triceratops hybrid. He is highly durable and can shoot explosive energy rocks from his horn. His legs can 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 (both voiced by Don Messick) – 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 also possess the ability to shape-shift which they have used in numerous ways, including transforming into cushions, trampolines, or parachutes to break falls; stretching themselves between tree limbs or rocks to act as slingshots; and binding an attacker's limbs to restrain them, or encircling their entire body to squeeze and render them unconscious. They can also momentarily divide their body mass into separate portions under their full control when necessary until they reunite.

Production

After the success of Space Ghost, CBS' head of daytime programming, Fred Silverman, commissioned Hanna-Barbera to develop three new action-adventure series in the same vein for the 1967–68 fall schedule consisting of The Herculoids, Shazzan, and Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor.[6] Silverman stated that the series faced an uphill battle due to being what he called "second generation" shows, repeats of the same idea (in this case, the formula established by Space Ghost) and being seen as derivatives that couldn't match the original.[6] Joseph Barbera described The Herculoids as being of a similar mold to a Tom and Jerry short wherein a setup would be quickly established (usually a stranger needing help or a threat from an outside force) which would then lead to a serious of attacks and counterattacks in a manner not too dissimilar from a Tom and Jerry short's delivery of visual gags.[7] During development, potential titles considered for the show were Zartan or Zandor before finally settling on The Herculoids.[8] According to Barbera, The Herculoids achieved a then unheard of 60 share in the ratings beating the already impressive 55 share of Space Ghost the previous season which prompted Silverman not to order any further episodes of Space Ghost and instead pool support behind The Herculoids.[9]

Broadcast

The series was broadcast on CBS from September 9, 1967 through September 6, 1969.[10] Beginning February 4, 1978, NBC rebroadcast the series by packaging it with Harlem Globetrotters and airing it under the package title of Go Go Globetrotters until September 2, 1978.[10] On November 9, 1992, Cartoon Network aired the series as part of their Boomerang programming block dedicated to showcases of older cartoons.[10]

Legacy

After its initial run, The Herculoids was featured in several anthology wheel series produced by Hanna-Barbera including Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure, Space Stars (for which 11 additional episodes were created), Power Zone on Cartoon Network, and both the Cartoon Network and Boomerang incarnations of Super Adventures. The series has also influenced other artists across various media. In common with a number of other action-adventure cartoons from the 1960s, The Herculoids was pulled from reruns in the 1970s due to increased complaints by parents' groups over perceived violence in children's cartoons.

Award-winning video game designer David Crane has stated that he enjoyed the series as a child and that the character of Blobert from the A Boy and His Blob franchise was directly inspired by Gloop and Gleep.[11] Jamaican-American DJ DJ Kool Herc at one time employed a backing band which also drew its name from the show, fictionalized versions of which appear in the Netflix period series The Get Down.

In other media

Roughly contemporaneous to their own series premiere, the Herculoids made a crossover appearance in the Space Ghost episode "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 leaves while pelting him with stones.

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

Gloop and Gleep make several guest appearances on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law as well. They make cameo appearances in the episodes "Mindless" and "Juror in Court". Zok makes an appearance in "Peanut Puberty", where Phil Ken Sebben throws a graph chart at him. In the episode "Beyond the Valley of the Dinosaurs", Phil is attacked by Tundro. In "Evolutionary War", Tara appears on the evolution chart in between Fred Flintstone and Race Bannon.

Tundro and Gloop appear in the Family Guy episode "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter", where Tundro attacks Lois Griffin in retaliation for Lois not hiring Gloop as a babysitter.

Igoo, Gloop and Gleep make cameo appearances in Space Jam: A New Legacy. They are among the Warner Bros. 3000 Server-Verse inhabitants who watch the basketball game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.

Igoo, Gloop, and Gleep make minor appearances in Jellystone!. The Herculoids appear in the third season finale "Marinara Madness", in which they are portrayed as hillbillies.

Episodes

Original series

Each show featured two Herculoids episodes.

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Space Stars revival

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Voices

The Herculoids in other languages

  • The characters' names in Japan were Targan (Zandor), Marmi (Tara), Kane (Dorno), Maryû (Zok), Rikira (Igoo), Tangurô (Tundro), Hyûhyû (Gloop) and Bôbô (Gleep).
  • Template:Langx. The cartoon was dubbed into Welsh and transmitted during Yr Awr Fawr (The Big Hour) 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

On June 14, 2011, Warner Archive released The Herculoids: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[12]

On July 27, 2021, the complete series was released on Blu-ray. The Blu-ray includes the opening narration and the second-season alternate titles that were not released on the Complete Series DVD.

In other media

Comic books

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File:Super tv heroes 1.jpg
File:Herculoids.jpg
Super TV Heroes #1 (1968) and Cartoon Network Presents #17 (1999), featuring the Herculoids on their covers

The Herculoids have appeared in various comic books through the years. They appear in issues #1–2 and 4–7 of the Gold Key Comics series Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes (1968–69). They appear in issue #3 of the Marvel Comics series TV Stars (1978). Between 1997 and 1999, they appear in issues #5, 9, 13 and 17 of the DC Comics series Cartoon Network Presents.[13]

In 2016, the Herculoids play a major role in the DC Comics series Future Quest. This series features characters from various Hanna-Barbera animated series such as Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, and Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor.[14] They also featured in issues #9–11 of the spin-off title, Future Quest Presents, in a story written by Rob Williams and illustrated by Aaron Lopresti.

In 2024, it was announced a Herculoids comic from Dynamite Entertainment is in the works.[15] The first issue was published in February 2025.[16]

See also

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Markstein, Don (2007). "The Herculoids". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Like the majority of Hanna-Barbera's late '60s adventure characters... The Herculoids were created by designer Alex Toth.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 407–408. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 771–772. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 279. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. pp. 139–140. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Sennett, Ted (October 30, 1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Studio. ISBN 978-0670829781.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ehrbar, Greg (2024). Hanna-Barbera, the recorded history: from modern stone age to meddling kids. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-5185-7.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mullaney, Dean; Canwell, Bruce (2023). Genius, Animated: The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth. IDW Publishing. ISBN 979-8887240510.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Barbera, Joe (1994). My Life in 'Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century. Atlanta, GA: Turner Publishing. pp. 73–76. ISBN 978-1-57036-042-8.
  10. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 433. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.G4 staff (April 10, 2009). "David Crane Interview Part 2: Pitfall and A Boy and His Blob in High Definition" (Flash video). G4. Retrieved September 29, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Herculoids - 'The Complete Series' DVDs: Packaging, Date, Cost and Extras". Archived from the original on September 14, 2011.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Herculoids" (characters search). Grand Comics Database. May 18, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2021 – via comics.org.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Future Quest". DC Comics. May 18, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dynamite's Herculoids, Ben 10, Captain Planet, Dynomutt, Blue Falcon". July 26, 2024.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."A First Look Inside Herculoids #1 by Tom Sniegoski & Craig Rousseau". November 21, 2024.

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