Among the odd factoids about Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Herculoids is that Zandor's original working name was "Zartan", an obvious variation of Tarzan.
So obvious was it in fact, that the name was changed to avoid the legal ire of the Burroughs estate.
But it does put this outer space jungle family into a somewhat different perspective to imagine them as the MGM-RKO Tarzan family unit. Zandor becomes "Tarzan", Tara turns to "Jane", and Dorno makes a fine "Boy". It's all rather elegant and reimagines that particular cinematic jungle family from outer space.
And Igoo, Tundra and the other critters make some better sense as Tantor, Cheeta, and other denizens of the Mutia Escarpment translated to the distant planet of Amzot. Gloop and Gleep in particular get the role designated to the trickster Cheeta, the comedy relief. "The Beasts of Tarzan"...er...Zartan indeed!
I find it a fun way to reflect on this outstanding Alex Toth designed cartoon. 
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I don't recall ever seeing the "Herculoids" in the UK, certainly not in the Scottish TV area, but those Alex Toth design pages are very nice indeed.
ReplyDeleteAside for my insane affection for Birdman, Herculoids is likely my favorite of the Hanna-Barbara cartoons of that era. Even Space Ghost takes a backseat by a small margin. The cartoons had a great pace and the relative brevity kept the family unit from becoming cloying.
DeleteA long time ago I pegged Zandor as a Tarzan-clone, albeit with a swipe from Captain America's shield, just because he had some mysterious friendship with/command over these exotic animals. But I didn't know that his name was originally that close to that of Tarzan, so that's a cool factoid. Sounds like Alex Toth giving a shout out to a favorite creator.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree that HERCULOIDS had great pace for a cartoon that usually had to find stuff for a large cast to do within under fifteen minutes per episode. I find myself wondering if Toth or someone else was even thinking, "what if we put Tarzan, Jane and Boy on John Carter's Mars?" But as soon as I say that, I have to admit that the stories only occasionally emphasize the native races on Amzot as ERB concentrated on Mars's people. There's a lot more emphasis IMO on alien invaders, often cruel-looking mechanical menaces that might be more familiar in BUCK ROGERS than on Mars.
The emphasis on robot menaces was likely so that Igoo could crush them without qualm. The morality of killing the enemy was not quite something that Hanna-Barbara was interested in debating.
DeleteI agree that the robots were easy targets for ultraviolence. There were a few occasions in which fully human opponents-- say, the Gladiators of Kyanite-- were subjected to carnage that probably would've turned them into mincemeat, but the results were covered up by big explosion effects.
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