The Herculoids is an action cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1967 for CBS.
Overview[]
The Herculoids featured the warrior king Zandor, his wife Tara, and their son Dorno. These three appeared to be the only human inhabitants of their primitive planet. When trouble arose, Zandor summoned a small army of exotic beasts: Igoo, an giant ape with nearly-invulnerable rock-like skin; Zok, a space dragon who generated laser beams from his eyes and tail; Tundro, a dinosaur-rhinoceros hybrid with impenetrable armor and the ability to shoot explosive energy rocks from the horn on his head, and Gloop and Gleep, a pair of protoplasmic shape-shifters. The Herculoids all displayed human-level intelligence, were able to understand human speech and employed impressive combat techniques and teamwork in battle.
The Herculoids later appeared in all new adventures in NBC's Space Stars, often crossing over with Space Ghost, Teen Force and Astro and the Space Mutts.
Voice Cast[]
- Teddy Eccles and Sparky Marcus as Dorno
- Virginia Gregg as Tara
- Don Messick as Gleep and Gloop
- Mike Road as Zandor, Zok, Igoo and Tundro
- Paul Frees as Sarko
- Vic Perrin as Mekkor
Episodes[]
- The Beaked People
- The Raider Apes
- The Pod Creatures
- Sarko the Arkman
- The Mole Men
- The Pirates
- The Spider Man
- Mekkor
- Destroyer Ants
- The Lost Dorgyte
- Defeat of Ogron
- The Android People
- Temple of Trax
- Swamp Monster
- Laser Lancers
- The Raiders
- Tiny World of Terror
- Prisoners of the Bubblemen
- The Time Creatures
- The Gladiators of Kyanite
- Mekkano, the Machine Master
- Invasion of the Electrode Men
- Mission of the Amatons
- Queen Skorra
- Attack of the Faceless People
- The Zorbots
- Return of Sta-Lak
- Revenge of the Pirates
- Ruler of the Reptons
- The Island of the Gravites
- Malak and the Metal Apes
- The Return of Torrak
- Attack from Space
- The Antidote
- The Mutoids
- The Crystallites
Comic Books[]
The Herculoids appeared in several comic books:
- In the late 1960s, they appeared in issues #1, #2 and #4 through #7 of Hanna-Barbera TV Super Heroes.
- In 1978, they appeared in Marvel Comics' TV Stars comic book.
- From 1997 to 1999, they appeared in four issues of DC Comics' Cartoon Network Presents.
Continuity with Space Stars[]
The Space Stars series included the Herculoids in its canon to show that Zandor and his family and friends were well known throughout the galaxy, and good friends of Space Ghost and the Teen Force.
But exactly what had originally happened to the central characters that had actually made Zandor, Tara, and Dorno as anti-technological and as primitivistic as they were all shown to be was never explained in any of the episodes of Space Stars or The Herculoids, and Alex Toth, who had created and designed the characters and developed the core format of the series, would not talk whenever asked about it. It is not known whether even either William Hanna or Joseph Barbera, Toth's employers throughout the majority of his career, knew the true answer to that specific question, and there have been no known attempts at fanon speculation on the subject.
Availability[]
On 14 June 2011, Warner Archive released The Herculoids: The Complete Original Animated Series on DVD in Region 1 as part of its Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.
On 27 July 2021, the series was released on Blu-ray. It features aspects unreleased in the previous home DVD, like Season 2 alt titles and narration.
External Links[]
- The Herculoids at the Big Cartoon Database