Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Tarzan and The Herculoids



Both of these properties were part of my regular Saturday morning viewing as a kid, so this is a meeting I have been imagining for decades.  Their worlds really do seem like they would easily go together.  I would have loved to have seen an animated crossover.  Heck, make it live action - Sure there would be special effects required, but think of the money that could be saved on the wardrobe budget!

12 comments:

  1. I want to know about the Transformers connection! The ship is the Autobot's Ark!

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  2. Well, back in the early 1970's, ABC managed to do a corporate crossover between Filmation's Groovy Ghoulies and Warner Brothers' venerable FTA's Daffy Duck and Porky Pig! So, I guess a Filmation/Hanna-Barbera crossover wouldn't have been impossible, at that time.*

    As to Cyborg Caveman's observation? I believe he's right. So, even if you hadn't initially planned this as another two-parter, you could just do a non-consecutive sequel featuring Tarzan and the Herculoids aiding the Dinobot Transformers against the Decepticons in Paul-Ul-Don.

    *Especially if the story and teleplay had been written by Philip Jose' Farmer!

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  3. I think the Herculoids would be better matched with John Carter of Mars. Mostly I think this, because the Herculoids could then go against the Tharks. Tharks are 15 foot tall, green barbarous Martians with large protruding tusks. But then again, the Herculoids and even the Tharks could also be good encountering He-Man and Skeletor.
    Oh, and I think Cyborg Caveman was right. The ship does look like the Autobot Ark. Ross, tell us, is it the Ark?
    Ordinaryguy2

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  4. ITEM: Not to be a prat, but the leader of the Herculoids is Zandor - not Zandar.

    ITEM: There hasn't been a good Tarzan movie in a while, and never a good H-B super heroes movie. Maybe a made-for-TV Jonny Quest movie... eh. There are plenty of good films that could work - this pairing, Space Ghost and Green Lantern, Young Samson and Goliath and Hercules, Birdman and Hawkman... even Sinbad Jr. and Popeye.

    ITEM: If the bits and pieces I've read remain correct, originally the leader of the Herculoids was Zantar - not Zandor. Why? Switch the syllables and you'll easily see.

    This piece is a delight! More H-B super heroes, Ross!

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  5. If done right, I think live-action Herculoids on the big screen would be fantastic. Igoo could be done with performance capture*, and the other beast-type characters would be full CGI. I hope someone picks up on the idea and runs with it!

    Also, I support Cary's suggestion of a follow-up story with the Dinobots included. Maybe the Herculoids get captured... just seeing "Tarzan and the Dinobots" as the header would grab my interest.

    @ELS: An animated movie adaptation of the Green Lantern/Space Ghost team-up published a couple of years ago would be loads of fun.

    *Andy Serkis, naturally. His extensive experience with p-cap primates is only the biggest reason for my choice.

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  6. @Bob Greenwade: On Sci-Fi Channel's (now Sy-Fy) Cartoon Quest, They had, outside the cartoon programs, a family that was dressed much like the Herculoids.

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  7. @ELS: An interesting team-up could be Go-Go Gophers and Space Kidettes; their cartoon shorts were often aired together on syndicated television even though they're from different animation companies (Total Television and Hanna-Barbera); of course the two franchises WERE both sponsored by General Mills.

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  8. @Bob Greenwade & Anonymous: if a direct-to-video animated feature was ever made, loosely based on that GL/SPACE GHOST team-up, I would want the villains to be Black Widow and the Spider Guild!

    Of course, the name "Black Widow" is now copyrighted/tradmarked/patented/whatever-else-you-wanna-call-it (they're all interchangeable, as far as I'm permanently concerned) by Marvel. As is the name "Spider Woman!" Yet, in 1966-68, both aliases were alternately used by the same Space Ghost villainess. A femme fatale voiced by the same actress who voiced Jan; the late, great Ginny Tyler.

    If I were DC films, I would split the difference and address the villainess as "Spider-Widow!" True, she was a Golden Age suerheroine for Quality Comics, whose inventory were eventually bought by DC. But, the character herself has never been revived for a modern-day adventure! At least, not to my knowledge.

    So, if DC doesn't want to make use of her as a crime-fighter, they should modify her for use as a classic H-B criminal.

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  9. @Unknown: What about He-Man and Mightor?; both heroes transform themselves (and their animal sidekicks) with magical weapons; Mightor could be much like a Flintstonized He-Man spoof.

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  10. Considering Mightor predates He-Man by two decades, I'd say the latter is more of a Conanized Mightor spoof.

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  11. Hanna-Barbera has very cool superheroes, even at a time when stretch, deform, expand, or contract one's body into any form imaginable powers were considered 'very cool' (Coil-Man, Meteor Man, Gloop, and Gleep) and every child needed to have a mascot (the list is long). Too bad they can't find a way to exploit this well. Look at recent movie 'Scoob!', who - despite the good technical quality of the animation - managed to de-characterize both the 'Mystery, Inc.' gang and the Blue Falcon (here a dull superhero parody).

    In the comics, between 2017 and 2019, we had the publication of 'DC Meets Hanna-Barbera' with 'Booster Gold / The Flintstones', 'Suicide Squad / Banana Splits', 'Adam Strange / Jonny Quest', 'The Flash / Speed ​​Buggy', 'Super Sons / Dynomutt', 'Black Lightning / Hong Kong Phooey', 'Aquaman / Jabberjaw', 'Deathstroke / Yogi Bear', 'Green Lantern / Huckleberry Hound', 'Nightwing / Magilla Gorilla', 'Superman / Top Cat', in addition to the aforementioned 'Green Lantern / Space Ghost'.

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  12. Oh, and I still hope to see the meeting between ...

    ... The Galaxy Trio and the Fantastic Four ...

    ... here at Super-Team Family: The Lost Issue.

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