Trivia / Godzilla: The Series

• Accidentally Correct Zoology: Komodithrax is depicted as reproducing asexually like Godzilla. While iguanas capable of reproducing asexually are still unknown, in 2005 it was discovered Komodo dragons are indeed able to produce fertile eggs without a mate.
• Approval of God: It's no surprise that Toho loves this series than the actual film the show spun-off from. It says a lot, considering Toho considers the series a redeeming factor of the 1998 film on their official YouTube site.
• Billing Displacement: The discs for the DVD set feature Audrey with the team instead of Monique, even though Audrey was only in a handful of episodes and was never a member of the team.
• Dueling Shows: Subverted. Kong: The Animated Series was ostensibly created to compete with it, but that was rendered moot when Godzilla: The Series wound up being Screwed by the Network roughly a year before Kong started airing.
• Executive Meddling:
  • Like with Trendmasters and other various companies, Sony told the show's team that do not to reveal the design of the lead monster. It's the reason why the series went by the name "H.E.A.T Seekers", and there were fake storyboards that the main monster was called Gorgon, and a reporter thought he landed something big for the series, only until after the film and this series was released that it was a Godzilla production after all. In a twist of irony, the series was much more better received by fans as Godzilla was portrayed in a Truer to the Text manner than the actual film.
  • Due to FCC regulations, if a monster displayed any signs of hostility and acts more of a monster, they get "destroyed". But if It Can Think, they get spared and sent to Monster Island. Because of this, any time Godzilla fights an opponent that acts like a monster, he kills it on-screen. But if they displayed any kind of intelligent thinking, they get shipped to the island, and the monsters that live on Monster Island as of S.C.A.L.E were capable and sentient.
• Fan Nickname: Godzilla fans and fans of this series will call the title monster "Godzilla Jr.", "Junior", and "Zilla Jr.". Most fans go for Godzilla Jr. (not to be confused with the Heisei Godzilla Junior) because the title monster acts like Godzilla.
• Foiler Footage: When the series was being worked on, it was given the Working Title HEAT Seekers after the ship in the series, and presented the series as a superhero cartoon, along with codenames for certain characters (with Godzilla called "Gorgon" or "Thingy") to keep production a secret.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: For quite some time, the only releases this show had were two DVD releases that only had a few episodes, one in particular covering the "Monster Wars" trilogy, as well as two VHS tapes. Netflix streamed all 40 episodes for a time (which included two episodes that never aired during its original run), and then to coincide with Godzilla (2014), Mill Creek Entertainment gave the entire show a 4-disc DVD release.
• The Other Darrin: Ian Ziering and Charity James replace Matthew Broderick and Vicki Lewis as Nick Tatopoulos and Elsie Chapman, respectively.
• Out of Order: Fox Kids aired much of the series out of order (such as airing "What Dreams May Come" before "Leviathan") due to the Pokémon: The Original Series vs Digimon Adventure war they had with Kids' WB! at the time of all three shows' airing during 1998-2000. The original airdates put King Cobra's debut in "Monster Wars," when it should have not-quite died in the episode aired right after that, "Competition." Averted by Netflixand Mill Creek DVD who put the series in production order (albeit misnaming "Talkin' Trash" and "D.O.A", the third and fourth episodes, respectively, as the other. The DVD keeps things in order).
• Promoted Fanboy: Several of the staff members that worked on the series were huge Godzilla fans, Jeff Kline, and Audu Paden being one of them. This pretty much explained why Godzilla was much more Truer to the Text despite taking after the movie, in which it wasn't.
• Recycled Script:
  • The overall plot of the first Gameboy game is based on the episode "The Winter of Our Discontent", with the Boss Battles taken from "Dreams of What May Come", "Hive", and "New Family: Part Two".
  • The second game is unsurprisingly based on the "Monster Wars" three-parter from the animated series' first season, with the most notable difference being the fact that Godzilla is never put under Mind Control by the Leviathan Aliens.
• Recycled: The Series: Naturally.
• Refitted for Sequel:
  • One of the elements of the original pitch was an alien that possessed one of the human characters and slowly transforming his body into the aliens. This would be used in the series proper with the Leviathan Aliens.
  • For the original pitch for GODZILLA 2, Nick would have found the last Godzilla hatchling, and he quickly imprinted on him, but Nick drives it away so he can spare it from being killed. Both he and Phillipe would find Godzilla later fully grown and finding out he had his own children, but they had to contend with a giant mosquito named (and we're not making this up) Queen Bitch. She were to killed half of his children until the Runt helps kill her, and Nick parts in good terms with Godzilla, knowing he will protect the world. The series instead changes to Godzilla finding Nick's property and staying near Staten Island, and Queen Bitch became Skeetera, but Godzilla's own brood were Adapted Out. The other thing the series and Godzilla 2 have in common is that Godzilla is much more Truer to the Text and has his atomic breath, something that was heavily criticized by G-Fans on the '98 film.
  • The film Godzilla was to have the ability to change color like a chameleon, explaining why Godzilla could suddenly disappear without a trace. This ability was given to the Chameleon, which is a clone of Godzilla.
• Role Reprise:
  • Malcolm Danare, Kevin Dunn and Michael Lerner reprise their respective roles as Dr. Mendel Craven, Major Hicks, and Mayor Ebert from the movie.
  • In the French dub, Jean-Pierre Michaël and Mario Santini reprise their roles from the movie as Dr. Nick Tatopoulos and Mayor Ebert respectively.
• Screwed by the Network: Particularly by our friends the Fox Kids network and Kids' WB!: between being bounced around the schedule, having the episodes aired out of order, and frequently being pre-empted (ironically by Digimon in most cases due to the Fandom Rivalry against Pokémon), it's no surprise the show couldn't find an audience (because the audience couldn't find the show). The arrival of the Fox Box block was the finishing blow.
• Stock Sound Effects: A lot of the monsters
  • C-Rex: Black bear and elk.
  • Cryptocleidus: Whale songs.
  • The Sharptooth roar is audible in P.E.M.C., the Armillaria, and the Chameleon.
  • P.E.M.C.'s high-pitched screech is reused for the Mutant Jellyfish, the Fire Monster, and the Giant Water Beetle.
  • Skeetera and the Cicada share chirping.
  • El Gusano, the mutant rats, Bacillus, the Thorny Devil, the Giant Centipede, and the Cicada have modified pig screeches.
  • The baby Quetzalcoatl's screeches have clearly audible Jurassic Park velociraptor screeches mixed in.
  • The Ice Borers, Termite Queen, and Giant Manta Ray have elephant roars.
  • The Giant Bat's screeches are actually elk bugles and dolphin squeaks.
  • Komodithrax's roar is obviously a modified version of the Jurassic Park T. rex's roar.
  • Queen Bee's shrieks are some very angry-sounding cats.
  • Godzilla Jr. himself often roars the same as his father, which is just a modified version of the one from the Japanese films.
• Technology Marches On: Played straight most of the time.
  • The cell phones used are the old clamshell style with antennae, not to mention the disk that Nick uses to load the program in "Talkin' Trash" resembles a somewhat over-sized 3.5-inch floppy. Animal's professional video camera uses VHS cassette tapes, and Randy was playing a video game console that's pretty much the first PlayStation in "New Family, Part 1" (the show was produced by Sony, so it was likely enforced).
  • Randy and Mendel's palm-sized laptops, on the other hand, somewhat subverts it by having what looks like control pads on the keyboard portion and are much smaller than mid-2000s laptops/tablets, not to mention probably much more powerful considering the various uses. Some of the equipment used throughout as well - laser-based weapons, the mini-sub, the H.E.A.T. Seeker, etc.
  • The episode "Vision" had giant hummingbirds mutated by and that fed on chlorofluorocarbons as the Monster of the Week, and had begun attacking aircraft for their fuel. Even at the time the episode was written, the use of CFCs was being phased out worldwide for being incredibly toxic and damaging to the environment. Such a plot wouldn't really work nowadays. ^note CFCs are still being made illicitly in some locations, but almost entirely in Asia... where hummingbirds don't live.
• Working Title: The series was called HEAT Seekers while it was being worked on, to hide the relation to the movie. Concept art of Godzilla were also either called "Gorgon" or just "Thingy/Thingie".
• What Could Have Been:
  • Several kaiju - many of which were loosely based on Toho's - were designed for the show but never appear, with some only making brief cameos in the opening. These include Anguirus, Biollante, Gigan,^note Reimagined as a bat-like kaiju with a Lamprey Mouth. Gus the Spider, Manda,^note Reimagined as a worm. and Megalon. According to Word of God, these concepts were never meant to actually represent these monsters, since almost all of them were In Name Only anyway and it would have been too costly and time-consuming to license the rights to all the monsters from Toho.
  • Komodithrax was originally going to be a female version of Godzilla, explaining Nick's line where he wonders if she's the same genus as him.
  • There was also going to be technology that would have allowed Nick to ride on and "pilot" Godzilla, which partly ended up being included in a retooled form in the episode "Vision", where Godzilla is outfitted with goggles that allow him to see the Monster of the Week.
  • There was originally going to be a toyline to promote the show. Trendmasters (which had also created the toys for Extreme Ghostbusters) made some finished toys, but prototype toys weren't finished. Due to lack of sales from the 1998 film, Trendmasters abandoned the line altogether. One being a blue repaint of the Ultimate Godzilla figure to represent Jr.
  • Originally the Sub-Zero Manta was intended to be a giant bird called Bird of Prey, but when the creators learnt they were already set to use giant birds in future episodes they changed it to a mutated manta ray. Despite that, the Sub-Zero Manta's name remained Bird of Prey in Japan.

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