In a way, it almost makes sense for Hick's demotion to major in the series. As a major, his rank would make him a touch more approachable to Nick given that he's usually seen out on the field when compared to his original rank of colonel, even if a colonel would have more weight to be able to throw around. Plus, he has foremost knowledge of dealing with the likes like Godzilla compared to other military figures seen in both film and series, and thus would be more inclined to flexible thinking and follow the teams' suggestions.
In the film, most of the characters - notably Hicks and Phillipe - had difficulty pronouncing Nick's surname. Why is The Unpronounceable averted here? Both had enough time to practice pronouncing it right.
Also, remember Audrey's news report in the movie and the first episode? Nick has become a household name because of her, so there's probably no one in the world that doesn't know how to (properly) pronounce his name at this point.
Watching many of the episodes,there is an overall theme beyond the Monster of the Week format, there is an ongoing battle between Mutualism versus Parasitism.
We've seen a lot of mutualistic relationships with Godzilla and his adopted family, HEAT. The first two episodes clearly paid off:
Godzilla and Nick: Protecting him from the military and he protected his father from the squids.
Godzilla and Elsie: Offering food and he would show affection.
Some of the Mutations coexisted in Mutualism with their surroundings.
El Gusano made the soil richer and thus grew the very flowers which was the basis of the bioweapon that nearly killed Godzilla, yet made El Gusano stronger.
The mutated bees and plants in "Hive" reflect real world symbiosis between bees and plants. The mutated bees spread the mutation by pollinating, to which the plants provided food to the bees in return.
Several of the Mutations are Parasites.
C-Rex: Hunting the Squids for their digestive tar.
Skeetera: Thriving on blood.
Medusa: Draining lives of their fluids.
Armillaria: Absorbing amino acids off of living things and turning ecosystems into wastelands.
In relation to the last post, Godzilla most certainly has taken several of his adopted family's traits, like thinking smarter and be braver. It helps that he has been watching them whenever he surfaces.
It's also the reason why Godzilla is superior over his father, both pre and post-resurrection. The Tachyon aliens assume that Godzilla will use his basic abilities to go up against Cyber Godzilla, who already had counter measures like the one used against the Giant Bat, but they never anticipated that the mutation would think his way out of problems.
Audrey's change in character makes a lot of sense once one remembers that she quit her old network at the end of the movie to be with Nick, who proceeds to disappear for weeks without any contact to her so as to study Godzilla. She then finds out the new Godzilla that Nick never told her, while also working with another girl who clearly shows interest in him. It's easy to see how Audrey would see this as an immense betrayal and harden her resolve and ambition for a story rather than abandon it.
This is even more notable as Nick basically did exactly what Audrey did eight years ago: disappear without a trace after she made a huge decision for him and it had the exact same results.
In What Dreams May Come, Nick picks Craven to be in charge when he's not around. At first this seems ludicrous as Craven's a Lovable Coward, but think about it. Randy's far too immature, Elsie is too arrogant, and Monique is most likely to kill someone if Nick's not around to object but Craven is the most pragmatic of the group and would think ways to solve problems without carrying some over-excessive bravado. This faith pays off big time when the DRAGMAs arrive and Craven became a Future Badass leading the resistance in the Bad Future.
The episode "Web Site" presented the idea that Craven's Sonic Signaler will be a better communication device for Godzilla than the cry signal but this is never brought up again. Why? Godzilla was acting erratic and even hostile whenever that Sonic Signaler was activated and the reason is that the device is affecting his mind and we all remember in "Monster Wars" of another similar device that affects Godzilla's mind. Most likely Craven and HEAT notices this as well and had the idea dropped.
In a case of Dramatic Irony, the DRAGMAs look like Triceratops, a peaceful herbivore, but they end up bringing about mankind's extinction while Godzilla resembles a carnivorous Tyrannosaurus and he protected humanity, even sacrificing his life in the process. It's unknown if the ceratopsian-traits was intentionally added there by Dr. Insley but in the end, it further proves the proverb, "The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions".
At first it may seem strange that Nick would be willing to stick with Audrey despite her constantly making the mistakes she does, however if one pays attention to her actions, Audrey never makes the same mistake twice. Each time she upsets Nick it's over something different. That's why he's so forgiving, whenever she promises not to do something again she really doesn't. They just happen to have jobs that are difficult to coexist without conflict.
Nick’s personality change from reactive to proactive is more than likely Character Development resulting from the climax of the cab chase in the film, which at one point involves him summoning the courage to grab a live electrical cable and jam it into Godzilla’s gums. This electrocutes him and causes him to stop trying to swallow the cab, resulting in their escape.
Due to the events of the movie and episode 2, could you imagine what would happened if Godzilla wasn't spared, and having all kaiju loose, and not to mention the Tachyon invasion? It would be one hell of a Crapsack World.
Worse than that, if all the infant Godzillas survived in the movie. Seeing how Godzilla was much stronger than his father, and there were hundreds of others like him, it would likely have been even worse than what the movie implied, especially since we see it that the infant Godzillas grow to a fairly large size in only a few days.
So in other words, if things hadn't happened exactly right - most of the eggs dying off, Junior imprinting on Nick and being friendly towards him, the military realizing that Junior wasn't as big a threat as Senior - the world would be utterly screwed. Earth came within a razor's width of utter catastrophe, and no one knew it - not even HEAT.
it’s also worth noting that because Godzilla is stated to be both incapable of reproducing like his father and is the last of his kind, the Earth and humanity will be helpless to the various mutations or aliens invaders that pop up in the future when Godzilla finally kicks the bucket and isn’t around to fend these threats off.
If DRAGMAs killed off every mutation on Monster Island, were Nessie, her baby and the Swamp Beast killed as well?
In the episode Competition, a japanese child tells their mother that they saw Godzilla as they fly over him on an airplane. The mother responds "Now why would Godzilla be in japan?". In the context of the series, it's just a joke that points out the creature's Adaptational Nationality. However, it hits differently when you consider that Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!, a movie that references and takes place after Godzilla (1998) (and The Animated Series in the English Dub), has the original Godzilla return half a century later full of hatred to remind Japan of his past, most of whom have forgotten and underestimated the horror and destruction he brought in Godzilla (1954).
