It's weird how you can remember things one way and then find out your memories are wrong.I have recently been watching old stuff I liked as a kid and most of it is unbearable crap.The Herculoids isn't unbearable, it's just really strange.These people live in some sort of nuclear wasteland where nothing grows and every other being in the universe wants to invade their barren wasteland.They never even explain the relationship between the characters.The man and boy do and say lots of things to lead you to believe that they aren't father and son.One really good thing about this cartoon is that they kill people.That's always refreshing.

"The Herculoids" was a favorite of mine as a kid back in the late 70's during its later runs on various networks. (I remember it being included in a large block of various other series headlined by the "Harlem Globetrotters" and later in new episodes as part of the "Space Stars" series. Like what was said, the artwork was high quality...superior to many other TV series of the time, and the story lines, while always formulatic, did the job of entertaining the viewer. A typical 10 minute episode was as followed:*First 30 seconds, some alien or invader arrives, unleashing a fleet of attack crafts or robots. *The next two minutes...the Herculoids and their humans discover the bad guys, either by them attacking or issuing a threat. The next 30 seconds...the good guys make a plan. *The balance of the episode: backed by a jazzy soundtrack, the Herculoids turn the bad guys' equipment into junk ending with the said bad guys being sent away or escaping with their pride seriously wounded. The only thing that I always wondered about...why didn't Zandor and company open up a scrap yard...they sure cornered the market!!

Maybe it was a case of the right series' at the right time, but during the fall and winter of 1967 I discovered the magic of animated superheroes. And at the core of this revelation was the wonderful Herculoids.I always thought there was a great story behind the story. What was apparently the only three humans on a planet that was home to other humanoid species... leading a band of powerful animals who also did not seem to be indigenous to the planet Amzok... changed to the planet Quasar with it's revival on NBC years later...But the stories that were told were very gripping. There was a camaraderie and a fellowship between the family and the animals; Zok and Gloop & Gleep and Tundro and Igoo... none of them would think of allowing anything to befall Tara or Dorno... and though obviously not the most powerful of the group, Zandor was the leader and all the animals knew it...Yeah, there was a deeper story here that never got to be told... but what they did tell was quite enjoyable in 1967 and still is in 2007. :D

The Herculoids might be the only great example of pulp sci-fi animation. Every episode featured a host of new alien nemeses with little or no explanation. Delightfully however it also featured little or none of the "master of the obvious" dialogue that plagued all the later Hanna Barbera cartoons; "Zoiks Scoob it's a sea monster..." The art has a very warm comic book feel. You won't find the nightmarish rainbow palette that many of todays toons are subjected to. The quality of each episode is consistently high given the archetypal characters, stories etc... In fact, it is precisely the simplistic pulpiness that keeps me wide awake even at ridiculous hours of the morning. The imaginative landscapes and creatures hooked me as a boy, and have yet to let go.