The Herculoids first aired on CBS in 1967, relating the daily challenges of planet Quasar’s King Zandor, wife Tara, son Dorno and a team of strange animals – The Herculoids.
Tundro was a multi-legged triceratops-like creature who fired exploding rocks from his horn, while Zok, a flying space dragon, fired energy beams from his eyes and his tail.
Gloop and Gleep were two ghostlike beings who could morph into different shapes, and Igoo was a giant indestructible ape made of rock, who lobbed a seemingly endless supply of conveniently placed logs and boulders.
Not that Zandor (who wore green trunks and gold bracelets) and his brood were helpless on their own.
The King’s shield not only acted as a boomerang but worked as a parachute as well. Tara was no slouch of a marksperson herself, and even their son Dorno was adept at slinging those exploding rocks.
But more often than not it was their beastly pals who mixed it up in the heaviest fighting.
Poor Igoo was usually relegated to “easy-target” status via the same routine: Give an intense war cry, stand in one spot and throw a few heavy objects, then boom – take it on the chin and go down for the count until the others finish the fight.
Essentially every episode was the same – A belligerent interloper lands on Quasar (Amzot in earlier versions) and immediately attacks whoever’s closest for no reason; cannon-fodder Herculoid animals defend the planet and take all the damage (Igoo getting the worst of it, of course); Zandor, Tara or Dorno figure out the attacker’s weakness and direct the creatures in defeating it, thus grabbing all the glory.
Each week, this impressive group of eight would fight off such villains as the Faceless People, the Beaked People, and the Mutoids.
Parts of the show appeared in repeats as a segment of Go Go Globetrotters, and in 1981, the show was resurrected using all the original voices (except Ted Eccles) on Space Stars.
King Zandor Mike Road
Queen Tara
Virginia Gregg
Prince Dorno
Ted Eccles
Zok
Mike Road
Gloop
Don Messick
Gleep
Don Messick
Igoo
Mike Road (1)
Ted Cassidy (2)
