In
“The Colossus of Atlantis,” a quake at sea brings the legendary lost city of
Atlantis to the surface.
After
the Calico is destroyed by an automated crushing machine inside the metropolis,
the crew explores its new home and discovers a “time chamber.” The crew also finds the population of the
city locked in suspended animation.
A
giant robot Colossus now vigilantly guards the city, and must be destroyed
before the people of Atlantis can be awakened and set free. Unfortunately, the ancient guardian has also
trapped Godzilla in suspended animation too.
Brock
and Dr. Quinn use the time chamber to seek an answer, but find themselves
trapped in the distant past, at the very moment Atlantis first sank beneath the
waves…
After
several episodes that repeat a basic formula, the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla
(1978) mixes things up a bit with this week’s thoroughly-enjoyable installment,
“The Colossus of Atlantis.”
In
short, there are enough elements in this episode to fill three entire segments
of the animated series, and accordingly, the episode moves at lightning-fast
speed.
Unexpectedly,
we see the Calico crushed like a tin can at Atlantis, an act undone by use of
the time chamber, but that’s only the beginning of the surprises.
The
episode also takes the viewer back in time to the destruction of Atlantis, and reveals
in the story’s climactic moments that the city is no city at all…but a
spaceship. The Atlantians (in the spirit
of The
Fantastic Journey [1977], perhaps…) are all aliens.
The
real revelation, however, is that by traveling to Atlantis, Brock and Quinn
actually become an irrevocable part of the city-ship’s history. Since they are
present when the island is sunk, they must seek sanctuary in the suspended
animation machinery to stay alive. This
development means they are asleep for thousands of years before they are even
born, and awaiting their future crew-mates to awaken them.
With
all this excitement going on, “The Colossus of Atlantis” is an inventive and
smart episode that trades in some pretty clever science fiction concepts. Where most episodes have been satisfied, thus
far, to feature Godzilla slugging it out with some giant monster at a
picturesque locale, “The Colossus of Atlantis” really goes for broke. The villain, Colossus, is a machine servant
that has malfunctioned, harming its creators.
This plot idea provides a nice “yang” to the yin of Atlantis’s amazing
technology.
Thus
far (seven episodes in), “The Colossus of Atlantis” is by far-and-away the best
episode of the series.
Next
episode: “The Horror of Forgotten Island.”
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