Godzilla: The Series (1998-2000) was an animated television series, produced by the Adelaide Productions. The company was previously known for such series as Jumanji and Extreme Ghostbusters. This series lasted a total of 40 episodes.In the first episode, one of the eggs that movie-Godzilla laid is found, it hatches and imprints on The Hero from the movie, Dr. Nick Tatopoulos. Naturally, he subsequently forms HEAT (the Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team) with four other humans, Drs. Elsie Chapman and Mendel Craven (both from the movie, as well), as well as Randy Hernandez and Monique Dupre. With Godzilla Junior loyal to Nick, they defend the world from various Kaiju that have abruptly sprung up, crazy and/or sinister humans and, eventually, invading psychic aliens (naturally).Contrast the earlier The Godzilla Power Hour.
In Serbia, where Godzilla as a franchise tanks horribly on regular basis, the series was popular enough to become one of only four American cartoons in history to be given a Serbian language dub. Particularly notable was that the entire series was given this, which had only happened once before. Ever.
Aesop Amnesia: The Movie this spun off from had Audrey somewhat harshly learning the lesson that the big scoop isn't worth screwing over your friends and/or love interests. Most of the conflict involving her in the cartoon has her conveniently forgetting this.
Monique: Indeed. It is almost as laughable a notion as one breathing atomic fire.
Played straight in "Deadloch": Nick doesn't believe in the Loch Ness Monster despite being the adopted father of a giant fire-breathing lizard.
Elise, being a fan of Alien Invasion theories and below trope, apparently forgotten about a certain event that took place a year ago. And being Mind Controlled as a result.
Area 51: And the rumors of aliens are a coverup for what's really going on.
Ascended Extra: Elsie and Craven actually appear in the 1998 movie, though you won't be blamed for not remembering them.
Bad Future: The episode "Future Shock" has the crew sent forward through time to one of these, where bio-engineered monstrosities have killed all the other kaiju (Including Godzilla) and overrun the world.
Big Creepy Crawlies: Let's see — the Megapede, Fire Monster, Giant Scorpion, Giant Spider, El Gusano Gigante, the Giant Bees, Giant Termites...
Blow You Away: The Shrewster's mutation allowed it to generate a tornado around itself, which both protected it from attack and drew food up to the Shrewster for easy consumption.
Body Horror: The Chameleon, as well as the aliens.
Conveniently Empty Building: A remarkable amount of people manage to not be killed during various monster fights. Sure it's technically a kids show, but still.
"Would you still be cheering if there were people in those warehouses?"
"Underground Movement" had the city of Miami suing HEAT for damage caused not by Godzilla but by their own weapons. Their lawyer gets them off on a technicality.
Downer Ending: " End of the Line" doen't have a happy ending for either Godzilla or Nick.
Energy Absorption: Several of the monsters had this type of ability, whether it be against fire or some other form of energy.
Case and point, Cameron Winter is most likely an expy of Lex Luthor. A Corrupt Corporate Executive? Check. Attempt to control the most powerful creature on the planet (Superman's case, the most powerful alien on the planet)? Check. Attempt to destroy it? Check. Unlimited resources? Check. Hire Mooks and sometimes idiots? Checkmate.
Family Friendly Firearms: A rare case of the shift to family-friendly lasers actually being part of the story. Real guns are used at first, but after "Monster Wars," where the invaders left some of their weapons behind on Earth, lasers start appearing in the military's hands.
Fantastic Voyage Plot: Of course, since they're going inside Godzilla, no shrinking is required.
Big Guy had some massive blood vessels, though.
Feed It With Fire: Several times had Zilla fire his plasma breath at both a fire monster and a monster manifested from dreams("What Dreams May Come"), each time causing them to grow bigger and more powerful as a result. "D.O.A." had a military force use a biological weapon against a massive worm creature, but it turned out to be derived from its natural food, so it fed on the weapon to grow bigger, stronger and pointier.
Giant Equals Invincible: Unlike the film, this is played straight. The only time a monster would die in this series is by fighting each other or a specialized weapon by the main character. Even when it's specially meant to kill, it could have the possibility to hurt Godzilla himself, as Nick had to be careful when the DNA creature turns into Godzilla and Elise says it could kill him.
Giant Flyer: Skeetara, Giant Bat, Quetzacoatl, Giant Cicada, the Giant Hummingbirds, the Giant Bees and their Queen...
Godzilla Threshold: Somewhat the trope namer. While Godzilla comes to the human's aid by himself, H.E.A.T decides to use his computerized voice to summon him when there's a kaiju that gives them trouble.
Happily Adopted: Interestingly enough, it was Godzilla that technically adopted Nick as his father since the giant lizard imprinted him (Nick was the first thing he saw and was covered in egg slime). Since then, the two have formed a bizarre father/son bond and protect one another from danger.
Hunter of His Own Kind: Many of the mutations were caused by radiation like in Godzilla's origin story. Not quite so tragic as most examples as many of them would just as soon as kill Godzilla as look at him.
Mega Manning: Skeetera, the giant mosquito whom could drain other monster's powers with their blood. Including Godzilla's fire.
Monster of the Week: Although many of the most notable creatures would return in the "Monster Wars" three-parter.
The series was known for odd yet real-looking kaiju designs, so it was part of the fun to see the latest monster, and whether it was a bird or a fungus.
Nanomachines: The Nanotech creature was originally designed to bio-degrade plastic. Naturally, it grows out-of-control and eats all the petroleum-based things it can find.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "D.O.A.," Randy and Monique break into a facility to obtain samples of the poison affecting Godzilla. Randy is made to stand guard and ends up surrounded by three armed guards. Monique steps out of the supply room, appraises the situation, and the scene cuts to a shot of the outside of the facility with the sounds of the fight cut over it. It moves back to show the three guards tied up.
In the Bad Future featured in "Future Shock," Hicks says that, to combat the Dragmas, he released all the monsters from Monster Island (which included, at least, C-Rex, King Cobra and the Giant Bat), but that they all fell in battle. None of this conflict is shown at all.
Also a moment of Fridge Logic here: Where the hell was Cyber-Zilla? They had the cyborg's corpse and it could be piloted or at least remotely controlled. Despite this, it wasn't ever referenced as having been involved in this whole thing.
Out of Order: 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."
Pair the Spares: In the last ten seconds of the series, Monique finally admits an attraction to Randy, thus pairing off all the (human) members of HEAT.
Not really an example. There had been romantic tension between those two (or least, on Randy's end, anyway) since the moment Monique was introduced as a character.
Papa Wolf: Inverted. Godzilla Jr. goes to crazy lengths to protect his adoptive father, which is often pointed out.
It is played straight fairly often too, if you are human and you do something that can harm Godzilla, Nick will cut a bitch.
Raised by Humans: Godzilla imprinted on Nick Tatapolous as his adopted father. He will save other humans if he has to. While knowing that there are humans who are bastards.
Recurring Monsters: In "Monster Wars," Crustaceous Rex, King Cobra, El Gusano, Queen Bee and Cryptocleidus all made return appearances. In the later episode "S.C.A.L.E.," Crustaceous Rex and King Cobra (as well as the Giant Bat introduced in "Monster Wars"') appeared again, this time as captives on Monster Island.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Godzilla originally glows orange eyes before launching his atomic breath. It becomes red later on, indicating that his Breath Weapon is becoming stronger.
Robot Names: Next-Millennium Intelligence Gathering Electronic Liaison, or N.I.G.E.L.
Randy: "Wouldn't that be 'Nmigel?'"
Running Gag: You can count on N.I.G.E.L. being smashed to pieces by the Monster of the Week or Junior at least once per episode.
Science Hero: A whole team of them, really. Even Monique has Hidden Depths like translating ancient Arabian glyphs.
Screwed by the Network: Particularly by our friends the Fox Network and 4KidsEntertainment: between being bounced around the schedule, having the episodes aired out of order, and frequently being pre-empted (ironically by Digimon in most cases), 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 almost a mercy killing.
Shout Out: Several pop culture references an episode is the norm. And then, Elsie mentions a giant lobster attacking the coast of Minilla. Also a Mythology Gag: When Nick tries to awaken Godzilla, he shouts to him if he's gonna let those "SpaceMonkeys" defeat him and take over Earth.
This led to a perceived rivalry with said trope namesake.
Took a Level in Badass: Purposefully done with "Zilla Jr." He's much tougher than his daddy and much closer to the Power Levels of the Japanese Godzilla.
Also, Nick is much more active than he used to be when Matthew Broderick portrayed him in the movie.
Tornado Move: The episode 2x11 "The Twister" had a giant rodent that could surround itself with a tornado.
Tunnel King: Godzilla, like his daddy, but even better at it than he was.
Turtle Power: The giant turtle in "End of the Line."
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: After Godzilla saves several people in a Runaway Train (using his hands, though that probably hurt for a kaiju like him), people sees to not panic after he saves them, and just walks off casually.
Who's Laughing Now?: "What Dreams May Come." A rather literal case there, as the Crackler monster has this weird chuckle-growl when active.
Why Isn't It Attacking?: The reason why Junior didn't eat Nick in the first episode on their second encounter? Because he imprinted on Nick not long after hatching and sees Nick as his "dad".
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