Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Godzilla (1978): "Attack of the Stone Creature"

In “Attack of the Stone Creature,” the Calico investigates the story of two scientists who claim to have been run off from the Great Pyramids by monstrous and colossal stone guardians.  These guardians can cause catastrophic weather shifts.

Quinn and the other crew members head to the Pyramid of Ra Mal in Egypt, on the river Nile and only narrowly avert disaster when Godzilla saves their chopper from going down in an ice storm.

Soon, Godzilla must battle the Guardians of Ra Mal, the goliaths that protect the ancient pharaoh’s treasure, and have done so for generations.

The Hanna-Barbera Godzilla cartoon’s format is itself frozen in place, as we see from this early episode. 

The story features a picturesque location (in this case, the Great Pyramids), follows the Calico crew on a second expedition, after a first expedition is attacked or destroyed, and -- of course -- Godzilla arrives to save the day after giant monsters are discovered. 

And there is an inordinate amount of vocal gratitude for Godzilla when the Big Guy comes through.  “Thanks, Godzilla! We couldn’t have done it without you!”

You can add to the mix too the idea of Godzooky getting into some comic-relief trouble, Scooby Doo style (and here he ends up inside an ancient pyramid).

The only variation from the last two installments is, perhaps, the number of monsters Godzilla must engage.  This week we get two villains for Godzilla to combat instead of one.  Next week, in “The Megavolt Monster,” we get three.

I don’t mean to imply that the cartoon is bad, or poorly done, only that the stories, at this juncture, feature precious little in terms of variation.  Hopefully, I’ll have something more intriguing to say about the series next week.

That established, I did enjoy the scene in "Attack of the Stone Creature" in which the monsters attack Godzilla with...snowballs.

Next week: “the Megavolt Monster.”