The Herculoids is an American Saturday-morning animated-cartoon television series, created and designed by Alex Toth, that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show debuted on September 9, 1967, on CBS.[1] Hanna-Barbera produced one season for the original airing of the show, although the original 18 episodes were rerun during the 1968–69 television season, with The Herculoids ending its run on September 6, 1969.[2] Eleven new episodes were produced in 1981 as part of the Space Stars show.[3] The plotlines are rooted in science fiction and fantasy.
In the show, the space barbarian family Zandor, Tara and son Dorno fight alongside their giant pets the Herculoids — laser dragon Zok, space rhinoceros Tundro, rock ape Igoo and the shape-shifting Gloop and his son Gleep — to keep their planet safe from invading robots, mad scientists and mutants.[4] The diverse team fought an endless battle against a stream of villains including, according to Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, "the Faceless People, Destroyer Ants, Raider Apes, Mutoids, Arnoids, Zorbots, the Mekkano mechanical men and the Ogs, a strange form of vegetable life."[5]
