In
“The Time Dragons,” the Calico detects a nuclear satellite falling from orbit
on a collision course with the ship.
Godzilla is summoned, but when he catches the falling object, the
exploding uranium causes both the giant monster and the Calico to travel back
in time, to a prehistoric epoch.
In
this prehistoric age, the area is geologically unstable, and the Calico crews
help save a tribe of cave-men from local threats including a tar pit, flooding,
and a diplodocus. Peter, meanwhile, is nearly dinner for a carnivorous plant.
Godzilla
and the Calico eventually make it back to the present -- to the moment
immediately prior to the satellite’s fall from the sky -- but something else has
come along to the present with them: a giant, combative dinosaur.'
The
season finale of Hanna Barbera’s Godzilla (1978) is a fine note to
go out on, one that -- like the best episodes of the series (“Colossus of
Atlantis”) -- is crowded with ideas, and not just giant monster fights.
Here,
a time travel story is pretty compelling, even if some key issues are
side-stepped. For instance, if the
Calico emerges from the time warp before the point it left, shouldn’t there be
two such vessels now?
Similarly,
none of the characters enunciate much concern that by saving the cave-men of
the region, the crew is actually altering their own time-line, and the shape of
the future. Perhaps that tribe was
selected (by nature) to become extinct.
In
short, no one stops to weigh their actions, or consider the idea that an act in
the past (like the killing of a man-eating plant) could have repercussions for
the timeline’s future.
Finally,
it’s also a shame that there is no discussion of Godzilla that relates him to prehistory,
presumably the age in which his species thrived. Would Godzilla feel more at
home in this epoch, an age of giant creatures? Perhaps…
The
crew never once voices the obvious idea that Godzilla has come home, and that,
for his own good and happiness, perhaps should remain in this home.
Still,
“The Time Dragon’s” book-end structure makes for some fun moments, with the
meteor appearing at the episode’s beginning (to hurl the Calico and Godzilla
back in time) and at the episode’s end, to hurl his dinosaur opponent back
instead.
Sadly,
“The Time Dragon” is the last commercially available episode of the 1978 Godzilla,
so starting next week I’ll be reviewing a different series instead. I must admit, I really like this program and
its occasional high-concept lunacy. If the second season should become
available, I’ll continue blogging the Hanna Barbera series from that point.
Next week, I begin blogging Korg, 70,000 BC, a live-action Hanna-Barbera series from the mid-1970s.
It's a shame you won't be reviewing the second season. It was a definite improvement.
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