Welcome to the Sony Godzilla Timeline.  Here, you will find a chronological listing for all the major events seen in Tristar’s Godzilla universe.  Information from this timeline has been pulled from the 1998 feature film Godzilla, the film’s adult and junior novelizations, the film’s script, the 1998-2000 FOX KIDS animated series Godzilla: The Series (which ran for 40 episodes), and promotional material released by Sony for both the film and its animated television sequel.

(NOTE: This timeline is still very much a work in progress.  Currently, the only material present below pertains to the events of the film and the first nine episodes of the animated series. Additions pertaining to the events of the remaining episodes are coming soon.  Until then, enjoy!)

 

Part 1: Prehistory

 

Late Cretaceous Period (65 MYA)

• A massive spacecraft piloted by an advanced species known as the Leviathans crashes into the South Pacific Ocean. Sinking thousands of fathoms into the depths, the crippled ship comes to rest at the bottom of what will one day be known as the Hazard Abyss. The ship’s occupants – bio-mechanical beings capable of hovering flight and possessing telekinetic powers – begin to study the physiology and genetics of the planet’s fauna, ultimately preserving the DNA of various species for their own use. In time, they begin to engineer their own creatures using this acquired genetic material, including a race of small, lizard-like Reptilians that protect their ship from potential intruders, and two giant Cryptocleidus that patrol the waters around their submerged craft. Unable to raise their ship and return to their home world, the Leviathans begin transmitting a powerful distress beacon using high-density particles that travel faster than light (one day known as “Tachyon” signals) into the cosmos in an attempt to seek help. Eventually, in order to preserve their lives over the eons, the surviving Leviathan’s place themselves in stasis, waiting for the day when their ship is finally discovered. (NOTE: With their ship incapacitated, it’s highly likely that the aliens used the craft’s collection of escape pods to venture to the surface – or at least other parts of the ocean – in their quest to study the planet, and to acquire the genetic material necessary to engineer the Reptlians and the two Cryptocleidi. It is unknown just how long after their crash the aliens placed themselves in stasis while waiting for rescue, but it was obviously enough time to genetically engineer several species of dinosaur-hybrids. The lifespans – sans stasis – of the Leviathans is also unknown.)

Between the 1st Century BC and 1st Century AD

• Veneration of a gigantic, feathered  reptile-like creature begins within the Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan. (NOTE: While this deity – soon to be known as Quetzalcoatl – might be the work of mankind’s imagination (both within and beyond the context of the creature’s Godzilla: The Series appearance), the above date does reflect the real-world moment in time when the entity first began appearing in Mesoamerican art and records.)

Between 1300 and 1521

• The Aztec civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica.  Amongst their pantheon of deities is Quetzalcoatl, a gigantic bird-like creature venerated as the god of wind and air.  The destructive monster is, however, all too real, and soon poses a threat to the Aztec people.  The beast is eventually sealed beneath a massive pyramid built at the base of its volcanic lair, trapping it underground and saving the civilization from certain doom.  (NOTE: The exact time of Q’s internment within the volcano is unknown, but must have occurred prior to the end of the Aztec civilization in 1521.  How the ancient Aztecs managed to seal the creature away beneath the pyramid is unknown, as is why such a dangerous creature continued to be venerated as a major deity after likely causing a great deal of destruction within the civilization.)

1941

• June

  • A baby boy, future Meyer of Manhattan, is born to the Ebert family. (NOTE: Meyer Ebert’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actor Michael Lerner’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released. His first name is also unknown, but his last name is an in-joke from producer Devlin and director Emmerich referencing legendary movie critic Roger Ebert, whom had consistently given the duo’s previous movies negative reviews.)

 1943

• December

  • Charles Caiman, future WIDF-TV News Anchor in Manhattan, is born. (NOTE: Caiman’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actor Harry Shearer’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s mid-fifties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released.)

1948

• July

  • Phillipe Roache, future agent in the French Secret Service and occasional ally to H.E.A.T., is born. (NOTE: Phillipe’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actor Jean Reno’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released.)

Between 1950 and 1959

• The island of Santa Marta become the site of repeated underground nuclear testing, and remains an atomic proving ground until the end of the decade. (NOTE: The exact year in which the tests began is unknown, but the island’s history as a nuclear test site is confirmed to have taken place “in the 1950’s” in the Godzilla: The Series episode entitled “Hive”.)

1956

• August

  • Anthony “Tony” Hicks, future Colonel/Major in the US army, is born. (NOTE: Hick’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actor Kevin Dunn’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s early-forties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released. His first name appears in the film’s script and is mentioned several times in Godzilla: The Series. Oddly, he is dubbed “Alexander” Hicks in both the adult and junior novelizations.)

1960

• March

  • Elsie Chapman, future doctor of paleontology and member of H.E.A.T., is born to parents Jack and Peg Chapman. (NOTE: Elsie’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actress Vicki Lewis’ actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s mid to late-thirties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released.  The names of Elsie’s parents are revealed in Godzilla: The Series‘ 21st episode, “Wedding Bells Blew“.)

1962

• March

  • Niko “Nick” Tatopoulos, future biologist, scientific aid to the US military, founder of H.E.A.T., and surrogate parent to the second Godzilla, is born. (NOTE: Nick’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actor Matthew Broderick’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s mid-thirties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released.)
  • Cameron Winter, future tech guru, inventor, founder/CEO of Solstice Technologies, and rival of Nick Tatopoulos, is born. (NOTE: Cameron’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on voice actor David Newsom’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s mid-thirties appearance when Godzilla: The Series (set from 1998 – 2000) was released.  As further evidence, Newsom shares his birth month with Matthew Broderick, whose character of Nick attended collage at the same time as Cameron Winter, making the two likely close in age.)

• November

  • Mendel Craven, future doctor, technician/inventor and member of H.E.A.T., is born. (NOTE: Craven’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actor Malcom Danare’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s mid-thirties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released.)

1964

• April

  • Victor “Animal” Palotti, future cameraman for WIDF-TV in Manhattan, is born. (NOTE: Animal’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actor Hank Azaria’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s mid-thirties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released.)

• June

  • A baby boy, future Sargeant in the US army, is born to the O’Neal family. (NOTE: Sgt. O’Neal’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actor Doug Savant’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s mid-thirties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released. His first name is also unknown.)

1965

• February

  • A baby girl named Lucy, future employee of WIDF-TV in Manhattan and wife of Victor “Animal” Palotti, is born. (NOTE: Lucy’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actress Arabella Field’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s earl-thirties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released. Her maiden name is also unknown.)

1966

• January

  • Audrey Timmonds, future research assistant and later reporter for WIDF-TV in Manhattan, is born. (NOTE: Audrey’s exact date of birth is unknown, so the above date is based on actress Maria Patillo’s actual birth month, a plausible estimate given the character’s early-thirties appearance when Godzilla (set in 1998) was released.)

1968

• June

  • The French Government tests the first of many nuclear weapons in the French Polynesian Islands, wiping out entire ecosystems and reducing several islands to radioactive wastelands. Local wildlife is all but wiped out, including several species of reptile. The iguanas that called the islands home are either killed or forced to swim for their lives, in search of safer nesting grounds. Left behind are nests full of eggs, their shells absorbing the intense radioactivity left in the wake of the tests, which continue to be conducted for nearly three further decades. (NOTE: The month of June as the start date for the French nuclear testing is revealed in the junior novelization.)

Between 1970 and 1979

• With 20 years having elapsed since the last atomic test on the island of Santa Marta, the land is quickly purchased and converted into a luxury resort. (NOTE: The exact year of Santa Marta’s conversion from atomic test site to resort is unknown, but is said to have happened “20 years” after the last test in the 1950’s. This information comes from Godzilla: The Series’ ninth episode, entitled “Hive”.)

Between 1978 and 1980

• Randy Hernandez, future computer hacker, assistant to Dr. Niko “Nick” Tatopoulos, and member of H.E.A.T. is born. (NOTE: This timeframe for Randy’s birth is speculation, as no concrete age is ever given for the character. In addition, voice actor Rino Romano, who portrayed Randy in Godzilla: The Series, was older than the character, so using his age as a basis for Randy’s doesn’t work. From dialogue in various episodes of the series, it is known that Randy is college-aged, likely 18-20 during the events of the earliest episodes. In addition, it is known that he attended Empire State Tech for a time, but was booted out and began a search for another collage to attend. If Randy enrolled at Empire State Tech at 18, it’s possible he could have been kicked out anywhere from a few months to a year later. It is unknown how long he searched for a new school, or for how long he attended Norfolk County Community College before the beginning of the series, but for all these events to happen over a time span longer than two years is unlikely. Therefore, I have placed the year of his birth between 18 and 20 years before his first appearance in the show. The information pertaining to Randy’s schooling troubles comes from the fifth episode of the series, “The Winter of Our Discontent”.)

1980

• Niko “Nick” Tatopoulos enrolls in college. (NOTE: This date is inferred based on Nick’s assumed age of 18 in 1980. It’s unknown at what college or university Nick enrolled, or what his major was. However, he did receive his doctorate, and it can be inferred that he studied biology, given his future occupation.)

Between 1980 and 1990

• Nick makes the acquaintance of a brilliant student named Cameron Winter. Arrogant and ambitious, Winter refers to the studious Nick with the nickname “Nickels”, believing that to be “all he was going to earn” one day. Nick comes to resent Winter, and spends his time focusing on his studies and avoiding his rival at all costs.

1984

• Audrey Timmonds enrolls in college. (NOTE: This date is inferred based on Audrey’s assumed age of 18 in 1984. It’s unknown at what college or university Audrey enrolled, or what her major was. However, she definitely attended the same school as Nick, and it can be inferred that she studied journalism, given her future ambitions.)

1986

• April 26

  • A safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR takes a turn for the worse when a radioactive leak in reactor #4 leads to a catastrophic explosion caused by an uncontrollable nuclear reaction.  Massive amounts of radioactive materials are released into the atmosphere and ground surrounding the plant, and the nearby town of Pripyat is quickly abandoned.  31 lives are lost as a direct result of the accident, which becomes the first Level 7 event at a nuclear power plant in history.  (NOTE: This horrific event is, of course, no work of fiction.  The tragedy is still seeing repercussions to this day, and since the accident, the only other nuclear power plant to experience a similar, Level 7 incident has been the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, which experienced a catastrophic meltdown following the 5/11 earthquake and tsunami in 2011.)

• Fall

  • Nick and Audrey meet and begin dating. During the next few years they grow closer, and attend anti-nuke rallies to protest atomic testing. (NOTE: The couple were said to have dated four years, hence the placement of the beginning of their relationship in 1986, four years prior to their breakup in 1990.)

1990

• Following their graduation from college, Nick proposes marriage to his long-time girlfriend Audrey. Believing that her life will be boring and unable to envision herself living with a biologist, she refuses the proposal by leaving promptly for New York, hoping to fulfil her dream of becoming a reporter. She leaves with no warning, letter, or phone call to Nick. (NOTE: Audrey’s reasons for refusing Nick’s proposal are outlined in both the adult and junior novelizations. The date of their breakup is said to be 8 years before the events of the film, hence its placement in 1990.)

Between 1990 and 1997

• Nick sets up a research laboratory in an abandoned warehouse – once the property of the Staten Island Star Ferry Conpany – on Staten Island outside New York City, in order to begin his studies in biology. (NOTE: The exact timeframe for Nick’s founding of his lab is unknown, but must take place after his graduation, but before meeting and hiring Randy Hernandez in 1997. It’s possible that Nick was able to acquire the lab after being employed by the government in 1995, but this is speculation.)

1994

• Meyer Ebert is elected to his first term as Meyer of New York City.

1995

• Dr. Niko “Nick” Tatopoulos begins working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where he focuses on affecting change in the world and its obsession with nuclear power by studying radioactive samples and radiation’s effects on living organisms. His findings are to be compiled into a census for the American government.
• Nick is assigned to study the effects of radiation on the earthworm population of the Chernobyl nuclear accident site, and quickly discovers that, due to the animal’s exposure to radiation, they have grown to be 17% larger than unaffected specimens in other areas.
• Audrey Timmonds accepts a job as a research assistant at WIDF-TV in Manhattan, hoping that the position will ultimately lead her to fulfil her dream of becoming a reporter.

Between 1996 and 1998

• Young Randy Hernandez begins attending classes at Empire State Tech. However, his penchant for computer hacking soon gets him in hot water with the Dean of Sciences, and his continued infractions eventually lead to his expulsion from the school. With so many black marks on his record, Randy struggles to find a school that will accept him. Eventually, he is enrolled at Norfolk County Community College, much to his embarrassment. Considering the school beneath him, he keeps his expulsion from Empire State Tech a secret, and routinely skips classes while also refusing to turn in assignments on time, if at all. (NOTE: Pinning down exact dates for Randy’s various school problems is difficult. Much of the above information is revealed in the fifth episode of Godzilla: The Series, entitled “The Winter of our Discontent”, during the events of which Randy is enrolled at Norfolk Country Community College. Just how long he had been there, or at Empire State Tech, is unknown, and much of it boils down to the fact that Randy’s exact age is unknown. On the assumption that he is between 18 and 20 when the series begins, I have placed these events 18-20 years after an estimated birth year.)

 1997

• March

  • Nick meets Randy Hernandez who, despite his young age, possesses exceptional computer/hacking skills. Seeing potential in the former Empire State Tech student (and taking sympathy to his academic plight), Nick hires Randy as his assistant, and brings him to his Staten Island research laboratory. (NOTE: In the Godzilla: The Series pilot episode, “New Family: Part 1”, Nick introduces Randy to the rest of the prospective H.E.A.T. team, stating that he has been working with him “for 14 months”, placing the date of their meeting in March of 1997.)

 

Part 2: The Dawn of a New Species

 

1998

• May

  • The Japanese fishing ship known as the Kobayashi Maru, its cargo hold filled with fish, is attacked by a mysterious force during a voyage in the South Pacific. Massive claws pierce the metal hull, and the bridge is destroyed by the impact of a swinging tail. The ship’s bow sinks below the waves in minutes, leaving only one survivor – an elderly man – as a witness. (NOTE: The name of the ship is revealed in both the adult and junior novelizations. An early draft of the script dubs the ship the Cori Akido, but this name never reappears in any subsequent material related to the film.)
  • The early morning following the storm, the old fisherman/cook is rescued and brought to a hospital in Papeete, Tahiti. News of his survival reaches the French government, who quickly organize a task force to interrogate the man.  (NOTE: The adult novelization, junior novelization, and other publications identify the survivor as the ship’s cook, and evidence of this can be clearly seen in the film during the opening sequence, in which the old man narrowly avoids being stabbed by falling knives.)
  • In Russia, biologist Dr. Niko “Nick” Tatopoulos returns to Chernobyl to dig up another collection of mutated earthworms for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but is interrupted by the arrival of a helicopter from the American military. Nick’s equipment is confiscated, and he is informed by Kyle Terrington of the US State Department that he has been reassigned. (NOTE: Terrington’s name is revealed in the film’s script.)
  • The following day, a team of five French Secret Service operatives, led by Phillipe Roache, arrive in Papeete, Tahiti to interrogate the survivor of the Kobayashi Maru sinking. The terrified old man, suffering from radiation sickness, hasn’t spoken a word since his rescue, but upon seeing Phillipe’s lighter and being asked once more what he saw, begins to repeat the same word: “Gojira”.
  • After an 18 hour trip, Nick is brought to Golfo de San Miguel, Panama via seaplane, where he is introduced to Colonel Anthony “Tony” Hicks. Still unaware of the situation, Nick is led through a destroyed fishing village by Hicks to a massive, radioactive footprint dug into the countryside. (NOTE: Col. Hicks’ first name appears in the original script and in several episodes of Godzilla: The Series.  Interestingly, the script also denotes his rank as Major instead of Colonel, which is likely the reason why Hicks suddenly became a Major in the animated series, as many of the show’s finer details are derived from the same early script.  Oddly, he is dubbed “Alexander” Hicks in both the adult and junior novelizations.  Both publications, as well as the script, also identify the location as a fishing village, note the presence of fish carcasses spread across the area, and emphasize the presence of radiation left behind by the monster.  The length of Nick’s flight is noted in the script.)
  • Nick is introduced to his new colleagues: Dr. Elsie Chapman from the National Institute for Paleontology, and technician/inventor Dr. Mendel Craven. Craven plays a tape containing footage of the half-submerged Japanese fishing ship, which was finally released by the French government. Included in the footage is a recording of the elderly fisherman, and Nick, Hicks, Elsie, and Craven hear him repeat the word “Gojira”.
  • In Manhattan, Audrey Timmonds, research assistant at WIDF-TV, attempts to get answers from her boss of three years, news anchor Charles Caiman, about a promotion that will finally land her the dream position of reporter. Caiman blows her off and openly flirts with her, despite being a married man.
  • The giant footprints are followed from Panama to the Great Pedro Bluff in Jamaica. The tracks end at the coast, where the military finds a beached cargo ship with huge claw marks in its hull. Col. Hicks is dismayed to discover that men are already surrounding the ship taking samples and measurements, and Phillipe Roache arrives to take the blame. Presenting a card for La Rochelle Casualty and Property Insurance to the Colonel, Phillipe hopes to use the ruse as a cover to learn more about the mysterious incident. However, the military forces him and his “insurance” men to fall back.
  • While studying the hull of the ship, Nick discovers cans of fish and a flesh sample stuck in the twisted metal of the hull. Phillipe watches him work from a distance, and the two’s eyes meet for a brief moment.
  • Night falls, and on America’s Eastern Seaboard, a mere 200 miles from the coast of Main, three fishing trawlers stop dead in the water, their fishing nets apparently caught on something below the surface. Moments later, and the ships are dragged backwards and then under the surface. The men hear a low rumbling sound before one of the ships bobs to the surface on its side. (NOTE: The incident is confirmed to have occurred “off the coast of Main” in the junior novelization.)
  • Hours later, on a plane bound for New York, Nick analyzes the recovered skin sample as the report of the sunken ships comes in. Ellie postulates that the creature responsible for the shipping disasters is a Theropeda Allosaurus, a carnivorous dinosaur species that was believed to have died out in the Cretaceous Period. Nick mentions the radiation discovered in his skin sample and present in all locations visited by the creature as being a clue rather than an anomaly, citing the animal as being too big to be a lost dinosaur. He instead posits the theory that the creature originated in the French Polynesion Pacific area, a region exposed to dozens of nuclear tests over 30 years. Nick believes that the creature, like the earthworms in his study, is a mutated aberration caused by the fallout; a completely incipient creature. The dawn of a new species… the first of its kind.
  • Reports come in of a “sea monster sighting” near Cape Cod.  Nick, Elsie, and Mendel Craven spend the remainder of their flight to New York dissecting the news bulletins, checking their data, and exchanging theories on what might be behind these strange occurrences. (NOTE: The Cape Cod sighting – and details on how Nick and the team spent the rest of their flight – is revealed in the junior novelization.)
  • A day later, around noon, Audrey meets with her friends/co-workers Lucy and Victor “Animal” Palotti in the Athens Diner in Manhattan, where they commiserate about Audrey’s encounter with Caiman the previous day. Lucy refers to Caiman as a “douche-bag, gutter-slime, dog-crap, puke-chunk”, and expresses her fears that Audrey doesn’t have what it takes to make it in the big city. Audrey glances at the TV – playing WIDF’s News at Noon – and sees Nick amongst the military personnel.  (NOTE: The time of Audrey, Animal, and Lucy’s lunch meeting can be inferred from the airing of WIDF’s noon news block, the existence of which is revealed in the film’s junior novelization.)
  • Down by the docks near the city’s Fulton Fish Market, an old man named Joe attempts to catch a fish in the East River, but instead hooks something much larger. The creature responsible for the sinking of the fishing ships begins to swim ashore, the mountain of water ripping apart the dock as the beast rises to walk over a bridge and enter the city. Standing 60 meters in height, the beast begins its trek through Manhattan, crushing all in its path. The monster drops small boats and yachts from its spines as it moves, crushing cars under its feet and picking up a truck in its mouth.
  • Mayer Ebert holds a rally in the rain, celebrating his term as an unparalleled success and attempting to drum up support for his re-election later in the month. The appearance of the monster interrupts the rally, scattering the attendees and sending Ebert running for cover.
  • As Charles Caiman complains over the phone about his current slate of news stories, his secretary sees the giant creature pass by the window, its face at eye-level with the WIDF building’s 12th floor.  She attempts to alert Caiman, but he turns too late to glimpse the beast. (NOTE: The floor number of the building is identified in Godzilla: The Junior Novelization.  Caiman’s secretary is unnamed in both the adult and junior novelizations, as well as in the script.  Interestingly, the junior novelization places this scene after Animal’s close call while filming the monster, not before.)
  • The monster passes the café where Audrey, Lucy, and Animal are eating, shattering the glass windows as it passes. Cameraman Animal, never one to turn down a challenge, follows the beast with his camera, hoping to film it for WIDF-TV News on Channel 12. He is nearly crushed underfoot, but succeeds in being the first to capture the creature on film.
  • The military sets up a Mobile Command Center in New Jersey. Nick – in America for the first time in three years – arrives with Hicks, Elsie, and Craven.  Sgt. O’Neal greets Hicks with the news that the Meyer has approved the evacuation of the 3 million residents of the city, and that the National Guard has been called in. The monster has somehow disappeared following its brief rampage, despite there being no evidence that it has left Manhattan. Nick believes that the monster is still in the city, hiding within the buildings.
  • WIDF airs its report on the loose “dinosaur”, showing Animal’s footage, shot barely a half hour earlier. WIDF personnel begin relocating to a station in New Jersey with the goal of getting set up in time for their 10:00 broadcast. Animal – wearing his lucky leather jacket – rides in the chopper with Caiman to continue reporting while Audrey and Lucy pack for the evacuation. The news reports that dozens -of civilians have been reported as killed, with thousands of others injured. (NOTE: Details on Animal’s affection for his pocket-filled lucky jacket can be found in the junior novelization.)
  • Audrey again sees Nick on the TV, and tells Caiman that she knows someone on the inside who can provide exclusive information. He refuses to listen, but she steels his press ID tag.
  • Civil defense stations are set up thorough Manhattan, and city, military, and health officials set up a command post on the Jersey shore in anticipation of the evacuation.
  • The evacuation begins via cab, car, and subway. Caiman flies through the city in a helicopter as Animal films the devastation, with Caiman citing the incident as the worst in the city since 1993’s World Trade Center Bombing. He reports that many stores have been completely cleared by looters, including those owned by Warner Brothers and Disney.
  • Meyer Ebert surveys the evacuation from his helicopter, fighting for his candy from his partner, Gene. (NOTE: Just as Meyer Ebert is named for legendary film critic Roger Ebert, the name “Gene” is a reference to Roger’s long-time partner Gene Siskel. The characters were so named as an in-joke to the two men, who had consistently given producer Devlin and director Emmerich’s previous films negative reviews.)
  • The Meyer lands in the Jersey Command Center, and attempts to reassure his campaign contributors. Phillipe Roache again introduces himself as an insurance man, saying that he represents nearly 13% of the buildings in the city while he places a bug on the collar of the Meyer’s shirt, telling him he can count on their emotional and financial support. (NOTE: The placement of this scene is slightly reshuffled in the junior novelization, with Phillipe approaching Ebert before he gets on the chopper instead of after his landing.  However, to maintain consistency, the film’s order of events has been used here.)
  • Caiman and Animal’s chopper lands at the command center, and Caiman notices that his ID badge is missing from his briefcase.  Animal shows the police his own badge to gain both he and his boss access to the press area. (NOTE: This scene occurs in the junior novelization, building upon the short scene from the film showing Caiman’s reaction to loosing his badge.)
  • On a subway heading out of the city, Lucy helps Audrey put her own photo into the ID to pass herself off as a reporter to Nick. The two women borrow glue from the backpack of a nearby schoolboy to complete the forgery. (NOTE: The acquisition of the glue isn’t seen in the film, but is noted in the junior novelization.)
  • In a nondescript truck, the French Secret Service team – Phillipe Roache, his men Jean-Luc, Jean-Claude, Jean-Phillipe, and Jean-Pierre, and young woman – listen in on the meeting between the military and the Meyer, who is complaining about the evacuation taking place during an election month.  Phillipe complains about the pastries and coffee Jean-Luc has acquired from Yum Yum Donoughts. (NOTE: The junior novelization makes mention of a young woman operating the equipment in the French team’s van, but she is never named or mentioned again.  Could this mystery woman be Monique, prior to her introduction to Nick in the second episode of Godzilla: The Series?  The name Yum Yum Donoughts appears in both the adult and junior novelizations, as well as the script.)
  • Sgt. O’Neal reveals that a subterranean cavern has been found beneath the Flatiron Building in the 23^rd Street subway station, discovered by Lieutenant Anderson and his men earlier that afternoon. The revelation that the creature can burrow through underground tunnels makes the established Quarantine Zone redundant, and the 14 tunnels leading out of the city – none of which have yet been used by the monster – are ordered sealed to keep the creature on the island. Nick suggests using fish to draw the creature out, citing the presence of fish at most of the creature’s attack sites as evidence that the monster craves them as a food source. (NOTE: The junior novelization identifies a “Lieutenant Wells” as the man who finds the tunnel.  The same publication states that only five tunnels lead off the island, rather than fourteen.)
  • As night falls, Nick’s plan is put into effect. 12 dump trucks unload tons of fish into a pile in the street, and the wait begins as the rainy night continues. The proceedings are watched by the French Secret Service team via video feed hooked to a monitor in their motel room.
  • Nick eventually determines that the smell of the fish is being blocked, and opens the street’s manhole covers to let the scent waft underground. The trick works, and moments later, the monster arrives, emerging through the ground under the last uncovered manhole. The beast has a close encounter with Nick – who holds off the military from firing – and then moves on to eating the fish. Nick takes several pictures with a disposable camera.
  • The military opens fire, with the monster dodging the missiles and running away from the scene. Using a combustible gas shot from its mouth, the beast engulfs the pursuing vehicles in fire. Echo Unit follows the monster in helicopters, intent on taking it down with side-winder missiles. Echo 1 fires, but the monster dodges again, sending the missiles into the Chrysler Building.
  • Looters robbing an electronics store – containing a TV playing It Came From Beneath the Sea – are nearly crushed by the monster. The three copters fire machine guns at the beast, who disappears into the side of a building, where he is barraged by gun fire. The beast then emerges from the building behind them, surprising the copter pilots and catching them off guard. The monster swats Echo 1 out of the sky and crushes Echo 2 in its teeth before pursuing Echo 4. Just when the pilot thinks he has evaded the monster, he is killed when the beast jumps up and eats the copter.
  • The monster grabs the Empire State Building in its claws, arching its back and roaring defiantly into the stormy sky. Minutes later, and the beast disappears back underground, leaving more crushed buildings – and an intersection empty of fish – in its wake.
  • Nick finds a sample of blood in the fish trap location, and brings it to his tent in the Jersey Command Center to study. Noticing high levels of gonadotropic hormones and clomiphene citrate – all chemicals specific to pregnancy – he leaves to purchase pregnancy tests to confirm his suspicions. (NOTE: This scene does not appear in any version of the story, but its existence can be inferred based on dialogue from Nick in which he discusses finding the blood sample. He obviously saw something unusual in the blood that prompted him to seek out the pregnancy tests.)
  • A media blackout is enforced, keeping the public in the dark about the situation. Audrey finds Nick entering a drug store to purchase pregnancy tests, and follows him, leading to their first meeting since she dumped him 8 years earlier. Her forged ID badge convinced Nick that she finally made it as a reporter.
  • Audrey accompanies Nick to his tent in the military base. He reveals that he has been hard at work on creating a census for the government that catalogues new species created by nuclear contamination, including the amphibious creature that has emerged in New York. The pregnancy test comes out positive, and Nick discovers that the male monster is capable of asexual reproduction. He theorizes that the monster traveled a great distance to Manhattan to nest, and that, like other lizard species, the creature could be capable of laying up to 12 eggs at a time. He leaves for the lab to confirm his suspicions, and Audrey finds the pictures he has kept of them for the last 8 years. She then finds and watches a tape labeled “First sighting: TOP SECRET”, which contains the French footage of the sunken Japanese ship and the naming of the monster, as well as newer footage taken by the US military of the footprints in Panama and Jamaica. Audrey steals the tape.
  • A military party searches a tunnel, barely missing the eye of the creature as they retreat, having seen nothing to report.
  • Audrey assembles the stolen footage into a news report hosted by herself, with the help of Ed Mullins, a WIDF editor, who is stationed in a news van. She presents the report to Murray, the station manager at WIDF. (NOTE: Ed’s last name is revealed in both the adult and junior novelizations.)
  • The military plan to lure the monster to Central Park so they can get a clear shot at it. Nick presents his findings from the blood sample, revealing that the monster is about to lay eggs, or already has, with each baby able to reproduce on its own. Nick believes that their hatching is imminent, and that the fish in the subway tunnels are meant to feed these young.
  • Still listening in on the military, the French become interested in Nick and his findings. (NOTE: In this scene, the French refer to Nick as “Professor Tatopoulos”, the only time this moniker is used. If Nick was, indeed, a Professor, it is unknown what, where, or when he taught.)
  • WIDF airs “The Origin of the Species: A WIDF Special Report”, revealing the name of the monster – Gojira – as that of the mythical sea dragon of Japanese song and legend, which Caiman butchers as “Godzilla”. He has stolen Audrey’s report. The report goes to say that the monster can be traced back from Jamaica, to Panama, and finally to French Polynesia, and that Nick believes the creature is nesting. Nick is removed from the project under suspicion of leaking confidential information to the press, and he realizes that Audrey stole his tape. The French team pack and leave the motel.
  • Audrey tries to call Nick but then sees him packing his belongings into a cab. She admits to lying about being a reporter, saying that she hadn’t made it since their breakup and her move to New York. Nick angrily blows her off, and the cab leaves for Newark Airport as Audrey apologizes quietly in the rain.
  • Animal follows Nick in his van, hoping to talk some sense into him. Phillipe reveals himself as the driver of the cab, locking the door and telling Nick that he is with the French Secret Service. Nick recognizes him from Jamaica as the insurance worker. He tells Nick that the military has no intention of looking for the creature’s nest, and that he has hijacked him because Nick is the only one who wants to find the nest as much as he does. Animal follows the cab to a warehouse filled with weapons, where Phillipe reveals that his government is seeking to clean up the mess caused by its nuclear testing in the south pacific. The French need to know where to start looking for the nest, and Nick joins their team in hopes of helping exterminate the monster now known as Godzilla.
  • Animal returns home to an apartment full of refugees, and convinces Audrey to join him in following Nick back into the city. They sneak through a broken fence and into a vent that will take them to the 23^rd subway station, the same location that the French team is headed.
  • Phillipe and his men – Jean-Luc, Jean-Claude, Jean-Phillipe, and Jean-Pierre – dress as American GI’s, each taking a bar of gum to “look more American”. With Nick’s help, Phillipe’s team bluff their way through the defense line and into the city.
  • The Central Park fish trap is on schedule to begin at 8:00 PM that night. The military hope that the open area of the park will enable them to more clearly fire on Godzilla and defeat him once and for all.
  • Audrey and Animal find the team underground, and climb into a destroyed subway train in hopes of descending to the lower level. A soda can rattles down the train, and Godzilla emerges through the earth, crawling through the tunnel and bursting through the surface to seek out the fish. The French team continue through the tunnel Godzilla has just burrowed through, with Audrey and Animal close behind.
  • Godzilla is spotted in Section 5, heading towards Central Park. The beast is weary as it approaches the military and the fish trap, and finally roars as it refuses to enter the park. The military fires at will, with dozens of helicopters and missile launchers firing on the creature as it heads towards the Westside Highway and jumps into New York Harbor. Three submarines – The USS Utah, USS Indiana, and USS Anchorage – are waiting in the murky waters, and the Utah fires two missiles at the beast. Godzilla leads the missiles back towards the Anchorage, his spines rupturing the underside of the sub before the missiles destroy it. Godzilla then heads back toward Manhattan, and each of the remaining subs fire a missile at the beast as it attempts to dig into the rock on the coast. The missiles strike, and Godzilla – its gigantic body stunned and sinking to the bottom of the river – is presumed dead.
  • The French team follow the tunnel to Madison Square Garden, and climb into the arena through the huge hole excavated by Godzilla. Once inside, Nick and the team discover 3 ten foot tall eggs surrounded by the rotting carcasses of dead fish. They soon discover that they are, in fact surrounded by the gigantic objects, and Nick estimates that the arena is now home to “way more” than 20 eggs. When the lights in the arena are turned on, more than 200 eggs are illuminated around the massive hole in the center of the stage. The team quickly discover that they did not bring enough explosives to destroy the entire nest.
  • Animal and Audrey arrive and begin filming. Nick hears sounds from one of the eggs, which hatches a 9 foot tall Baby Godzilla. Soon, more eggs begin to wiggle and hatch, filling the arena with an ever-growing pack of infant monsters who, thanks to their fishy smell, view the humans as food. The team evacuate, attempting to bar the doors to contain the infants in the arena. However, Jean-Philippe and Jean-Pierre are attacked and eaten before they can escape.
  • Animal and Audrey hide in the locker room, crawling into the ceiling to escape the creatures as they attempt to knock down the door.
  • Thousands of angry refugees have gathered outside the Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, demanding to be let back into the city after news of Godzilla’s demise is made public. The military has refused to allow the citizens back into the city until divers have returned from retrieving its body. Elsie urges the military to search for the nest, and Hicks agrees despite Ebert’s protests.
  • Back in the Garden, Phillipe ties a door shut with a firehose, yelling to Nick to dial 555-7600 to reach the military and order a bomber strike to blow up the building, saying he can get through by telling them the situation is a “Code Dragonfly”. When the cell phone fails, Nick tries a payphone, but is again unable to get through. Phillipe and his two remaining men depart to hold off the babies, leaving Nick to go and get help.
  • Jean-Claude finds a door to the arena open, and turns around to find four babies behind him in the hallway. He fires his gun but is attacked. Jean-Luc panics and fires his gun into a nearby arena door, weakening it and allowing a pack of babies to burst through and pounce on him.
  • Nick evades the babies, who are starting to overrun the building. He jumps into an elevator, kicking one of the babies in the head as it attempts to attack him. The first floor the elevator opens on reveals more babies, ravenously tearing into bags of popcorn.
  • Nick finally emerges from the elevator on the floor Phillipe is on, and Animal and Audrey fall out of the ceiling, joining the group. Phillipe destroys Animal’s camera. Audrey suggests broadcasting to get a message to the outside, and Animal recovers his tape from the destroyed camera as a horde of babies close in on them. Once in the broadcast room, they contact Audrey’s friend Ed in the WIDF news van, who agrees to broadcast them live across the television in New York after Animal shows him footage of the babies flooding out of the arena.
  • Yielding to pressure, the military finally gives the okay for civilians to return to their homes.
  • Audrey begins her broadcast, bringing Nick on to explain the discovery of the 200 eggs and their 9 foot tall, highly adaptive occupants. With the military listening in, Nick reveals that the infants will soon leave the nest to hunt elsewhere, and that the species, born pregnant, could multiply to 40,000 within one year. Nick and Audrey plead for the destruction of the building, regardless of their own fates, before the creatures can escape. Audrey vindicates Nick and proves that his theory about the creature nesting had been correct all along.
  • Hicks orders the destruction of the building. Ed contacts the team with the message, “YOU WIN. MILITARY SAYS YOU’VE GOT LESS THAN SIX MINUTES BEFORE YOU’RE ALL TOAST. GET OUT!!!!!” Phillipe shoots out the window of the studio as the creatures burst into the room, and the team repel down a rope into the arena, which is now empty of fish. They dodge a pack of charging babies as they fight towards the exit.
  • Three F-18 jets launch and begin their mission to fly to the building and destroy it.
  • The group arrive in the lobby, and find it full of hungry Baby Godzillas. Less than 30 seconds remain before the building is destroyed. With more babies arriving behind them, Phillipe shoots the three glass chandeliers from the ceiling, sending them crashing to the floor and scattering the babies in a path that allows them to clear the building. Phillipe uses his machine gun to seal the door and the group runs away seconds before the building is hit and the babies exterminated. Their mission successful, the F-18’s turn around and head back to their base. With all forgiven, Nick and Audrey share a kiss.
  • Seconds later, a rumbling noise accompanies the rising form of the adult Godzilla’s head from the fiery wreckage of Madison Square Garden. Prodding the bodies of his blackened and burnt babies, the adult Godzilla looks upon the four humans standing in front of him, believing them to be the murderers of his children. The creature pulls himself from the building and gives chase, pursuing the group through an ally.
  • Phillipe hot-wires a cab – formerly owned and driven by New York resident Harun Tazman – and the group quickly drive away. Godzilla emerges from an ally in front of them, and the cab drives up his foot and ankle before launching away and continuing down the street. As Animal and Audrey argue about which road to take, Godzilla jumps in front of them and attempts to bite their car. They quickly choose to turn down Broadway. (NOTE: Harun Tazman’s name can be seen when O’Neal locates the cab ID a few scenes later.)
  • Already on Broadway is O’Neal and his convoy, who witness Godzilla pursuing the cab. Nick notices O’Neal and tells Phillipe to turn the cab around, tripping Godzilla and causing him to fall. Nick throws the cab ID plate out of the window, allowing O’Neal to locate the radio frequency used to contact that specific cab. He reports to Hicks that Godzilla is still alive, and Hicks orders the three F-18’s to turn around before returning to base.
  • Godzilla fires his combustive gas at the cab, igniting cars that fly through the air towards them. They drive into the nearby Park Avenue Tunnel, but find the other end blocked off. O’Neal makes contact with the cab, telling Nick that they need to lure the creature into the open so the military can get a clear shot at him. Nick formulates a plan and suggests they head to the Brooklyn Bridge. Phillipe shines the cab’s high beams into the eyes of the monster, allowing them to escape the tunnel. Hicks directs the F-18’s to the Brooklyn Bridge.
  • Upon arrival, Godzilla bursts through the bridge, grabbing the cab in his mouth and clamping down. They escape when Nick jabs a loose electrical cable into the monster’s gums, allowing Phillipe to hit the gas and drive out of the monster’s mouth and back onto the bridge. Godzilla jumps onto the bridge and begins to run after the cab again, his ankles blowing through the support girders as he runs. The monster jumps over the first tower and then back onto the bridge, weakening it. Godzilla passes through the next tower, tanging his spines in the suspension wires, just as Nick had planned.
  • Hicks gives the order to fire, and each jet hits Godzilla with two missiles on his right side. Moments later, the cab makes it across the bridge just seconds before its collapse. The jets hit Godzilla with another 6 missiles on his left side, and the beast falls, his head crushing the cab. Nick approaches the whimpering beast as the rain pours down, making eye contact with the dying Godzilla as his heartbeat slows and then stops, the light fading from his eyes as they close for the last time.
  • The silence is broken by the jubilant cheers of the citizens. Lucy celebrates in her home, seeing Animal on the television. At the Command Center, Elsie impulsively kisses Craven. Ebert decides to capitalize on the death of the monster for his campaign, and his long-suffering assistant Gene gives him a thumbs down. Hicks congratulates O’Neal on “one hell of a job”.
  • Nick tells the press that he has promised his story to Audrey, and Audrey announces her resignation to Caiman. Animal notices that his tape is missing from his camera, and that Phillipe is gone. Nick receives a call from Phillipe, who thanks him for his help and tell him that he will return the tape once he has “removed a few items”. He then hangs up and disappears into the night.
  • Deep in the bowls of Madison Square Garden, the last remaining egg – buried under tons of fiery rubble – waits in the darkness, ready to hatch the final offspring of Godzilla.

 

Part 3: New Family

 

1998

• May

  • Following the death of Godzilla, Audrey attempts to interview Nick, who she credits for destroying the creature. Nick blows off the interview and makes his way to Hicks, insisting that the military begin a sweep of the remains of Madison Square Garden. If even a single egg still remains, the entire ordeal could start again, unleashing a second Godzilla upon the city. (NOTE: The beginning scenes of Godzilla: The Series do not gel completely with the events seen at the end of the feature film. Godzilla’s death is played out slightly differently in the first 30 seconds of the pilot, with fewer missiles killing him and his head missing the cab as he falls. In addition, Audrey is presented as a full-fledged reporter, despite quitting as Caiman’s WIFD research assistant. Perhaps she was quickly promoted on site and handed a microphone? Regardless, I have chosen the film version of Godzilla’s death and its immediate aftermath as the definitive version, with the following events from the series linked to the film as best as possible.)
  • Major Hicks leads a team into the wreckage of the Garden, with Nick in tow. Nick attempts to get help from Elsie and Craven, but they believe an infrared scan of the area will yield no readings. In desperation, Nick calls his research assistant Randy Hernandez, a young hacker who uses a satellite uplink to enable infrared scanning for Hicks and his team. Randy operates from a Nick’s research facility/lab in an abandoned warehouse once owned by the Staten Island Star Ferry Company. (NOTE: Hicks has apparently received a promotion between the events of the film and the series, as his rank is now Major instead of Colonel.  The “real world” explanation for this comes from the fact that the animated series used an early script as the basis for its plot which, while nearly identical to the final shooting script, contained a few minor differences.  One of these was Hicks’ rank, which changed from Major to Colonel before Godzilla (1998) went before the cameras.)
  • A cave-in causes Nick to lose his footing and tumble down a tunnel, separating him from Hicks and his men. Nick awakens inside of a gigantic footprint, his body covered in amniotic fluid. Before him, sitting outside the footprint, is the final egg of Godzilla. Seconds later, and the egg begins to hatch, soon unleashing a final Baby Godzilla into the cavern. Grabbing a metal pipe, Nick prepares to fight the creature off. However, as the infant approaches, it begins to smell the amniotic fluid on Nick and, instead of attacking, licks his face. Nick hits an electrical cable with the pipe, causing an electrical burst that frightens the Baby Godzilla off. The tiny monster frantically digs a tunnel into the earth and disappears. Nick follows the baby through the tunnel and arrives on the other side in time to see it disappear beneath the waters of New York Harbor. (NOTE: The hatching of the Baby Godzilla is, of course, changed from how it was depicted at the end of the feature film. The location is slightly different, and, most obviously, Nick is now present to witness its birth.)
  • The military shuts down Nick’s scientific team that helped defeat the first Godzilla, with Hicks stating that the armed forces will be able to handle the creature on their own. With ships, submarines and planes closely monitoring the Eastern Seaboard, Hicks believes that it will only be a matter of time before the second Godzilla is found and defeated. Nick, Elsie, and Craven can do nothing as their equipment is packed and the army moves out.
  • Nick believes that only him and his friends are capable of tracking the monster, and suggests that they use his lab on Staten Island as a staging area to conduct their search. Not content to let the army screw the operation up, Elsie and Craven agree.
  • In Jamaica, a tour guide near the beach points out one of Godzilla’s footprints, left a few days earlier when the beast began its trek across the country. At a nearby beach, swimmers are suddenly consumed by a spreading black substance that coats the surface, and then pulled under water by tentacles.
  • Nick brings Elsie and Craven to his lab, where they note the dilapidated state the building is in. Nick greets his tank of earthworms, and introduces his friends to Randy. He reveals his belief that the Baby Godzilla hasn’t yet made it to the Atlantic, where the military is focusing its search, citing the instinct that drew its father to Manhattan as a plausible motivator for keeping the creature close to the city. Randy hatches a plan to lure the creature to the island using a recording of Godzilla’s vocalizations made during the creature’s first swim through the Hudson River. Nick expresses his desire to study the infant creature instead of killing it.
  • Craven has his newest invention shipped to the island: an artificially intelligent robotic device designed to acquire various kinds of data from environments too dangerous for humans. He calls it the Next-Millennium Intelligence Gathering Electronic Liaison, or N.I.G.E.L.
  • As N.I.G.E.L. places fish in a cage-trap meant to capture the Baby Godzilla, Randy receives word of strange occurrences in Jamaica. Believing the culprit to be Godzilla, Nick decides to take the team there.
  • In the river, Craven and Randy place buoys that play the sound of the adult Godzilla’s vocalizations, and sure enough, the sound lures the now 20 foot tall juvenile Godzilla to the island. Too large for the trap, the monster tears it apart after eating the fish inside. N.I.G.E.L. is sent to lure the monster back into the water, but is promptly swatted away. Godzilla begins to follow Nick across the island, ultimately picking him up in its giant hand. However, instead of eating him, the monster again licks Nick’s face, seeming to remember him from its hatching. After being set down, Nick attempts to lure the creature back into the water, but fails. The team rush inside, and the juvenile Godzilla rests outside, patiently waiting for Nick to reappear. (NOTE: The destruction of N.I.G.E.L. in this scene begins a running joke in the television series, wherein the poor bot is brutally “killed” in every episode, save one. The writers have confirmed that this was a reference to the character of Kenny from the long-running animated series South Park.)
  • Nick theorizes that the creature has imprinted on him, citing the intermingling of his scent and that of the amniotic fluid he was covered in when it hatched as the reason for the monster’s behavior. He convinces his reluctant team members to let him study the creature instead of calling Hicks.
  • Elsie and Nick begin their study of the creature, noting that it hunts based on necessity, and that it functions less on instinct and more on intelligence and loyalty. Nick is also able to confirm that the creature is infertile, thereby incapable of producing offspring as its father had. (NOTE: It is unknown if this infertility would have been consistent across all 200 of the Baby Godzillas – making the species an ultimately short-lived one, or if only a select few were born incapable of asexual reproduction. The length of time Nick and Elsie spend studying Godzilla is unknown, but when Audrey arrives to seek her exclusive, she claims Nick hasn’t returned her calls for “weeks”.)
  • Craven discovers that Randy has reprogramed N.I.G.E.L.’s voice as a prank. (NOTE: It won’t be the last time, as Randy’s constant meddling with N.I.G.E.L. to produce everything from random accents to celebrity impressions becomes a running joke in the series.)
  • In Jamaica, the US military set up fish traps, believing Godzilla to be the culprit behind the strange attacks in the area, despite the unusual presence of tar in the water.
  • In New York, Audrey and Animal arrive on Staten Island to obtain Nick’s delayed exclusive, and nearly discover Godzilla. Craven uses N.I.G.E.L. as a cover.
  • The following day, in Jamaica, a ship called Huntington, helmed by a Captain Tilbert, continues the search for the missing swimmers. However, the ship is attacked and sunk by gigantic tentacles. The incident is blamed on Godzilla, despite the fact that the creature is still confirmed in New York, under study by Nick. Nick decides to take the team to Jamaica to determine if there is a second Godzilla afoot… or something else entirely.
  • Meanwhile, Audrey and Animal sneak into the dock surrounding the lab, and discover Godzilla. Moments later, the military appears and begin an attack against the juvenile beast. As Hicks orders his tanks and helicopters to fire, Godzilla’s spines begin to flash blue, and a green energy beam erupts from his mouth, taking down a helicopter. Hicks tells Nick that he has crossed the line, and threatens him with arrest for treason. Nick coaxes the injured Godzilla back into the water, but a missile strike from an approaching jet causes a massive explosion in the river, seemingly killing the monster. (NOTE: Godzilla’s newfound Atomic Ray is an obvious homage to the Japanese version of the character (appearing green instead of the traditional blue), and is only the first of many references to Toho’s films within the show.)
  • The existence of the second Godzilla is revealed to the public, and its supposed death is the subject of the following day’s news report. Nick blames Audrey for calling Hicks, but she denies knowing anything about Godzilla before sneaking into the dock. She, Nick, Elsie, Randy, Craven, and Animal have been confined to the lab by the military, but Hicks frees them, telling Nick to go back to digging up worms.
  • Randy hacks into Hick’s phone records in an attempt to out the informant, but the call is untraceable. Elsie and Craven head for Jamaica to find the force responsible for the ongoing attacks. In the lab, Randy finds a strange woman using his computer, and attempts to jump her. She takes both him and Nick down easily, and introduces herself as Monique Dupre, member of the French Secret Service and underling to Phillipe Roache. It was Monique who called in the airstrike against Godzilla, and she requests the aid of Nick and his team in taking down the second mutation that has appeared in Jamaica. In return, she offers to provide her combat expertise, a state-of-the-art research vessel, and weapons. (NOTE: Monique presents a card to Nick that identifies her as an “employee” of “Chargeures Property and Casualty Insurance”, a cover similar to Phillipe’s in the film. However, Phillipe supposedly represented “La Rochelle Casualty and Property Insurance”. The reasoning behind this discrepancy is never identified in the story. Perhaps Phillipe’s cover was blown, necessitating the change in company name?  The “real world” explanation comes from the fact that the animated series used an early script as the basis for its plot which, while nearly identical to the final shooting script, contained a few minor differences. One of these was the change in name from “Chargeures” to “La Rochelle”.)
  • In Jamaica, Elsie and Craven study the tar that has washed ashore, discovering a still-living fish inside a clump of the sticky material that appears to be physically drained. Elsie determines that the tar was draining the fish’s electrolytes while also keeping it alive, acting as a kind of external stomach that digests food for a different, as-yet unseen organism.
  • Monique provides Nick with a research vessel, but its condition is less than state-of-the-art. Audrey uses credit card records to discover Elsie and Craven’s boat rental in Jamaica, and she and Animal join Nick’s expedition. As they leave New York, Elsie calls Nick to inform him of her findings, but is interrupted when a gigantic squid emerges from the water, destroying their boat and dragging her and Craven beneath the water.
  • Nick and the team arrive in Jamaica after nightfall, and find the remains of Elsie and Craven’s boat. Nick attempts to get help from the American Embassy, but gets nowhere. Randy eventually pinpoints the location of N.I.G.E.L. beneath the water, and uses the bot to drag Elsie and Craven’s unconscious bodies, completely coated in tar, to the surface. Nick is able to break down the tar and resuscitate his friends.
  • The research vessel is attacked by the squids, and Nick is nearly consumed. However, his life is saved by Godzilla, who emerges from the water and burns the squids with his fiery ray. Upon examination, Nick and Elsie realize that the bodies of the mutated squids that line the beach weren’t all destroyed by Godzilla. Their corpses bear the same signs of nutrient drainage seen in their own prey, and Nick deduces that the squid are part of a larger food chain, supplying food for another organism. Moments later, and this larger organism reveals itself as a gigantic, crustacean-like monster that walks upon two huge arms and attacks with tentacles hanging from its underbelly. (NOTE: Although unnamed in this or future episodes, the monster is known as Crustaceous Rex (C-Rex) in officially published materials.)
  • The gigantic mutation attacks the nearby town, consuming highway tar as a replacement for the tar produced by the squids. Nick and Audrey steal a truck hauling a load of hot tar, and lure the monster to the coast, where Godzilla emerges to engage it in battle. Hicks arrives on the scene, and Nick informs him that this new monster could possibly be the first new mutation of many to come.
  • The C-Rex returns to land, but is pelted by boulders thrown by Godzilla from the top of a cliff. The monster takes the bait, and the unstable cliff collapses, sending the C-Rex falling to the beach below, where it is buried by the falling stone. Godzilla is also buried, but digs himself out in time to face a squadron of Hick’s helicopters. Before they can fire, Godzilla submerges and loosens the sunken ships from the squids’ tar, returning them, and their still living victims, to the surface. Nick convinces Hicks that Godzilla will be a necessary ally in the coming war against a world of mutations, and Hicks orders his men to stand down, telling them, “Godzilla is dead.” The monster swims off unharmed.
  • The following day, Audrey’s report on the destruction of the C-Rex airs. She credits the military for the monster’s defeat, leaving Godzilla out of the story to protect the creature. Nick counts his blessings, glad that they won’t be facing an uncertain future alone.

 

Part 4: The Age of Mutations

 

1998

• May

  • A garbage strike begins in New York, with trash bags piling up in the streets.
  • Meyer Ebert wins his bid for re-election. (NOTE: With weeks having passed since the events of the film, and the election scheduled for the same month Godzilla attacked New York, it can safely be assumed that Meyer Ebert won the election, as he appears several times in the animated series. No word on if Gene still serves as his wingman/punching bag.)

• June

  • The garbage strike enters its fifth week, and Audrey reports on the situation for WIDF-TV. Meyer Ebert begins pressuring the scientific minds of the city for a solution, should the strike continue any longer.
  • At the Manhattan Institute for Advanced Technology, scientist Dr. Felix Hoenikker believes he has found a solution to the garbage crisis: nanotech drivers. Hoenikker has developed a group of microscopic computers that work together to control a colony of microbes, which consume petroleum-based products at a rapid rate. However, Hoenikker feels that the resulting entity – a blob of pulsating, garbage-consuming nano-bots – is still weeks away from deployment, as he has not yet tested its regenerative properties. Worse still, the microbe colony escapes its containment and attempts to consume one of Felix’s lab assistants, her life finally saved when the scientist vacuums the creature off of her body. Nevertheless, he is given an ultimatum: have the microbes ready for use in 24 hours, or loose the institute’s grant money.
  • At Nick’s Staten Island laboratory, Randy paints the team’s research vessel, giving it a set of eyes and a toothy mouth, and officially christening it the Heat Seeker. The group name themselves “H.E.A.T.” (an acronym for “Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team”).
  • N.I.G.E.L. locates Godzilla’s lair beneath the waters of the Hudson River, in a cave approximately 4.7 miles from H.E.A.T. headquarters.
  • Above water, Meyer Ebert MC’s a demonstration of Dr. Hoenikker’s nanotech creature, with a helicopter dropping a canister containing the creature onto a garbage barge in the Hudson. The creature quickly devours all of the trash, much to the crowd’s pleasure. However, the monster soon begins to spread its tentacles towards the tug boat pulling the barge, and a malfunction prevents Hoenikker from controlling its movements. The helicopter lifts the men to safety as the boat is consumed.
  • As H.E.A.T. prepares to use a mini-sub to enter Godzilla’s lair, Nick gets wind of the nanotech disaster, and the Heat Seeker is launched to the site. The team is granted access to the barge; as Nick says, being the man who took down the first Godzilla has its occasional perks.
  • Nick speaks with Dr. Hoenikker over the phone, and is informed that the nanotech creature is in a feeding frenzy: the more it eats, the faster it will reproduce, and the faster it reproduces, the more it will need to consume. Nick suggests overloading the monster with an electromagnetic discharge, and N.I.G.E.L. is deployed to unleash 2,000 volts into the monster. However, the bot doesn’t get far before it is beheaded and destroyed.
  • A trio of ships armed with fire hoses succeed in pushing the massive creature off of the barge, but this causes the monster to grow even larger, evolving into a multi-legged form that proceeds to attack an oil tanker. Monique outflanks it, and Nick, Elsie, Craven, and Randy attack it with electrified harpoons/cables (weapons originally intended for Godzilla, should the monster have gotten out of hand). During the assault, one of the monster’s tentacles is blown off and lands on the ship, where Randy quickly seals it in a glass jar.
  • The monster submerges momentarily, emerging seconds later to jump out of the water and pass the Heat Seeker. The monster finally arrives at the tanker, gorging itself on the oil within and growing even larger. Evolving further, the beast launches towards Nick and his team, but they are saved when Godzilla erupts from the water and engages the tentacled behemoth in battle.
  • Dr. Hoenikker expresses his shock at seeing Godzilla alive, believing that the military had killed the creature after the C-Rex incident. As the monster tackles the nanotech creature into the opposite shore, Meyer Ebert callously intones that Godzilla is “Jersey’s problem now.”
  • The nanotech creature reforms again and again around Godzilla, eventually covering most of the monster’s body in an attempt to smother him. Godzilla’s atomic ray succeeds in freeing up his airways for only a moment, and the creature dives into the bay at it continues its fight.
  • Elsie and Craven study the nanotech fragment secured by Randy, discovering that if the drivers are removed from the microbes, the colony dissipates. Nick retrieves the controls for the colony’s drivers from Dr. Hoenikker, with the intent of using Randy’s computer skills to upload a virus into the giant nanotech creature’s drivers, thus destroying the microbes that make up its body.
  • Godzilla returns to shore, and the nanotech creature slithers off of his body as it zeroes in on the petroleum in a nearby refinery. The supply is enough to grow the creature to city-sized proportions.
  • Hicks arrives on the scene in a helicopter, feigning surprise at seeing Godzilla alive. He radio’s Nick, who tells him that they are close to a solution.
  • Randy’s virus succeeds in crashing the nano drivers in their small sample, and a plan is hatched to deliver an infected second sample into the body of the larger creature, which has now grown to tower over Godzilla. Nick successfully deploys the infected sample via Hick’s helicopter, and the massive creature crumbles into dust.
  • Hicks allows Godzilla to escape again, citing the dangers of opening fire on the creature in an oil refinery. Nick thanks the Major, who worries that he will soon run out of excuses for keeping the monster alive, especially since the world now knows that Godzilla still lives.
  • Reports of monster sightings in Central America reach H.E.A.T., with witnesses dubbing the giant, worm-like creature “El Gusano Gigante” (literally “The Gigantic Worm”, in Spanish). Nick and the team arrive in the jungle to investigate, discovering massive channels of excavated earth left in the worm’s wake.
  • After discovering fresh soil left behind as a by-product of the worm’s digestive system, the massive creature emerges from the ground, nearly swallowing Nick in the process. Stuck in the massive mouth of the creature, he is saved when Monique fires a zip line into its hide. Safely reaching the ground, Nick marvels at the presence of teeth in an annelid, and muses that the monster might even be a carnivore.
  • El Gusano’s massive body blocks a river, which sweeps the team away as it crawls out of the channel. Soon cornered by the monster, the team is saved when Godzilla arrives and tackles the giant worm. Nick is stunned that Godzilla traveled thousands of miles out of an instinctual need to protect him, his adoptive father.
  • The team is rescued by the local military, but the overzealous General Albondiga refuses to cease fire. Instead, he fires a new, experimental missile designed to deliver a biological chemical weapon. The weapon unleashes a poisonous smog that further mutates El Gusano, and renders Godzilla horribly ill. El Gusano escapes into the ground, and an infected Godzilla stumbles back into the sea.
  • N.I.G.E.L. observes Godzilla underwater, noting his erratic breathing and decreasing heartbeat. Nick and Monique dive down to his resting place,  a gigantic air hose in tow, with the goal of pumping enough air into his lungs to create a buoyancy that will cause him to rise to the surface. Randy and Craven observe in the mini-sub as Godzilla’s body begins to float upward, destroying N.I.G.E.L. in the process.
  • Randy and Monique are dispatched to find a sample of the chemical that has infected Godzilla, and commandeer a garbage truck to break into a military base. Monique is successful in retrieving the sample, and the two outrun the General in their truck.
  • Nick and Craven retrieve N.I.G.E.L.’s backup driver to salvage his toxicology report on Godzilla. Soon after, Craven voices his concerns over being on the frontlines, believing he’s not cut out for being a “doer”, rather than a “thinker”. Nick allows him to work in the lab, his comfort zone.
  • Nick, Craven, and Elsie discover that the chemical is wiping out Godzilla’s T-Cells, and that the monster has a maximum of 12 hours to live.
  • Craven studies the sample given to him by Randy and Monique, and its essence is discovered to be derived from a local orchid. Craven announces that an antidote can be synthesized, but only if he has access to the fresh buds of the orchid itself. The team return to the jungle, discovering one of El Gusano’s gigantic holes, its rim and walls littered with the remnants of the orchid they seek. It appears that the flower and the monster form a symbiotic circle; the soil left by the worm fertilizes the flowers, and the flowers feed the worm, explaining the bio-weapon’s lack of adverse effects on its body. The flowers are gathered, and the remnants are burned by the team in hopes of slowing General Albondiga’s weapons program.
  • The scent of the burning flowers draws El Gusano to the surface, and Craven volunteers to rush the flower samples back to the Heat Seeker to synthesize the antidote. Dodging the monster’s attacks, and backed up by the team’s flamethrowers, Craven returns to the ship and finalizes the antidote. Facing his fears, he fires the canister into Godzilla’s throat, neutralizing the chemical and resuscitating the monster. Craven pilots his boat into the coast, Godzilla hot on his heels. Landing on the beach, Craven narrlowly misses being trampled by Godzilla as the monster runs into the jungle.
  • The team lure El Gusano to the coast, but the sudden arrival of the General halts their attack. Nick and his friends are quickly detained, and the chemical weapon is readied for a second strike. However, Godzilla arrives to once again confront El Gusano, and the two monsters engage in a titanic battle. Randy successfully prevents to bio-weapon from hitting Godzilla for a second time, and Godzilla uses his Atomic Ray to cook and shrink El Gusano to roughly the size of a human. Severely weakened, the monstrous worm burrows back into the ground, defeated for the moment.
  • The H.E.A.T. team retreat to the shore, and Craven announces that he is a changed man with no intention of remaining on the sidelines. However, a fearful scream following a roar from Godzilla indicate that his days of cowardice may not be entirely behind him.
  • Several weeks later, Godzilla begins acting erratically in the waters near H.E.A.T. HQ. Nick and the team discover the cause to be a signal beacon floating on the surface. The beacon has drawn Godzilla to a dock lined with storage units, which open and deposit piles of fish to lure Godzilla to shore. Upon eating them, Godzilla is attacked by five mosquito-like Attack Drones. One is destroyed by Godzilla’s atomic ray, but one succeeds in landing upon the creature and injecting him with a green liquid. A second drone places a small device in Godzilla’s ear that appears to detonate, causing the monster to fall onto the dock stunned. Seconds later, and Godzilla recovers, destroying two more drones as he retreats into the water.
  • Before Godzilla can escape, a gigantic ship appears and a voice from the deck accuses the H.E.A.T. team of trespassing on private property. When the lights on the ship activate, the voice is revealed to belong to billionaire tech developer, Solstice Technologies CEO, and former collage rival if Nick’s, Cameron Winter. He claims that he intended no harm, and that he only wanted to test his Cybernetic Flying Drones against a “worthy opponent”. He invites the heat team ashore to his facility for a tour, the first ever permitted to anyone outside the company. Nick, believing that Cameron is up to something, only accepts when Monique offers to sneak into the facility for a “private tour”.
  • Once inside, Cameron meets with the team, and walks them through the facility as Monique scales the outside of the building. Cameron brings the team to his bio-engineering facility – the largest in the world – where his team is breaking new ground on cloning technology. The team also witness a factory assembling an army of Cyber Drones. Meanwhile, Monique trips a laser detector, setting off an alarm in Sector G and unleashing a trio of guard dogs. Cameron and the team arrive on the scene, where neural stimulators in the dogs’ ears are triggered, calling off their attack.
  • Cameron offers the H.E.A.T. team the chance to join forces with him, enticing them with the promises of full government cooperation, first rate facilities, and generous salaries. He then reveals to Randy that he can help him erase a series of “academic problems” from his past. The team refuse, despite Cameron’s insistence that mutation-based weaponry will be the next wave in warfare technology.
  • Godzilla follows one of Cameron’s subs to the facility, crashing through the metal gates and lifting the sub upwards in his jaws. While thrashing his head from side to side, the device implanted into Godzilla’s ear is knocked free. Nick, Cameron, and the team arrive on an outside balcony in time to see the device crash in front of them. Nick commands Godzilla to set down the sub and flee the facility. Cameron reveals the device to be a neural stimulator similar to the ones used on his attack dogs. Furious, Nick takes his team and leaves.
  • Randy’s academic advisor from Norfolk Country Community Collage arrives at H.E.A.T. HQ and is jumped by Monique. Randy reveals his identity, and that he was booted out of Empire State Tech.
  • Randy’s advisor reveals that the young man has been late on turning in assignments and hasn’t been attending classes regularly. Nick defends Randy by saying that he has been helping to look out for the environment with H.E.A.T., but this does little to diffuse the situation. As the conversation continues, Godzilla breaches and roars.
  • Beneath the surface, Cameron’s sub follows Godzilla, emitting a powerful frequency. When Godzilla fails to respond, Cameron orders the frequency increased by 1700 megahertz. Godzilla continues to resist, but Cameron has already achieved his goal. The irrational monster surfaces at H.E.A.T. HQ, refusing to listen to Nick. Godzilla fires an atomic blast directly at his surrogate father, whose life is saved when he is tackled off the pier and into the water by Monique, who believes the incident to be “a wakeup call”.
  • Randy, convinced that he is helping to save his friends from the now violent Godzilla (as well as repaying Nick for aiding him after he was kicked out of school), meets with Cameron Winter, who speaks to the Empire Tech Admissions board and arranges for Randy to return to the school the following fall with a full scholarship. In addition, all prior disciplinary actions have been expunged. Randy is presented with a device that Cameron claims with stimulate the pleasure centers in Godzilla’s brain, instantly pacifying him should he ever go out of control again.
  • Randy commandeers N.I.G.E.L. to insert the device into Godzilla’s ear, but is caught by Craven and the rest of the team. Randy claims he did it to save the team, but Nick angrily refuses to listen. Randy departs HQ on his motorcycle, and Nick order Craven to remove the device, stomping the remote control device meant to pacify Godzilla beneath his foot.
  • Elsie discovers the remote to be a fake, containing a speaker and no controls. Seconds later, Godzilla breaches, and departs the area, the victim of involuntary motor control. The Heat Seeker gives chase as N.I.G.E.L. attempts to remove the device from Godzilla’s ear. Cameron notices, and commands Godzilla to destroy the bot. The monster surfaces at Fort Berkley and begins to attack the military base. Craven postulates that Cameron is using Godzilla to, in effect, declare war on the US Army. Tanks and artillary fire on Godzilla, but few successful hits are made.
  • Meanwhile, Randy sits in a bar alone. Looking up at the TV, he sees a news report on Godzilla’s attack. The report reveals the destruction of millions of dollars in weaponry and the endangerment of over 500 soldiers, as well as the mobilization of air support. Randy runs out of the bar.
  • Nick and Monique sneak into Cameron’s facility, successfully subduing his guard dogs. They themselves are subdued when a Cyber Drone delivers an electric shock that renders them unconscious.
  • Godzilla is knocked down by military fire, but Cameron, viewing the action via a satellite, orders the beast to stand again. Nick and Monique are brought to his control center, and Cameron reveals that Godzilla is merely a “prototype” for a prospective army of similarly controlled Godzillas that could become the next quintessential weapon of mass destruction, as well as a cash cow for Cameron and his company. His attack on the military base was both a test of the tech, and an excuse to become the Army’s chief supplier for all of their destroyed weaponry.
  • As Cameron gloats, an unauthorized deployment of the Cyber Flies is detected. Monique seizes the moment to disarm her captor, and Nick jumps Cameron. With the guards put to sleep by Monique’s gas, Nick destroys Cameron’s remote, but the neural stimulator continues to interfere with Godzilla’s natural motor control. The Cyber Flies arrive on the scene, and one succeeds in landing on Godzilla and destroying the control device in his ear. Randy emerges from the shadows of Cameron’s control center, his mission to save Godzilla a success. Using the drones to block the missiles of the Army’s F18’s, Randy redeems himself and allows Godzilla to safely return to the water.
  • As Godzilla descends, Craven is relieved to see that N.I.G.E.L. survived. Seconds later, the bot short circuits and sinks into the sea.
  • Back in Cameron’s lab, the army arrives. Cameron is stunned when they arrest him instead of Nick and the team. Randy reveals that he put in a call to Hicks, as well as providing data on Cameron’s control systems and other illegal activities. Cameron swears that he and H.E.A.T. will meet again.
  • A few days later, Randy attends class at Norfolk County Community College, finally committing to his education.

• July

  • Work on rebuilding the city after the first Godzilla’s still recent attack continues. On a rainy night, cement trucks fill in the massive footprints left by the monster during his rampage. (NOTE: Its unknown just how much time has elapsed since Godzilla’s first appearance, but it can safely be assumed that it has only been around two months. It’d only be natural for the city to still be rebuilding this soon after the attack. But if this estimation is correct, than there sure were a lot of mutation sightings in that short time!)
  • On the same night, a homeless man attempts to scavenge food from a dumpster, and has an encounter with a gigantic, mutated sewer rat.
  • Meanwhile, Nick and Audrey dine together, their first meeting in three weeks. As they commit to making their duel career relationship work, each receives a summons to their respective workplaces: Nick via a call from Elsie, and Audrey when Animal shows up at the restaurant.
  • Nick rendezvous with the H.E.A.T. Team in the sewers, where a construction worker shows them a large hole in a closed-off section of the tunnel. Nick finds bite marks in the concrete.
  • Audrey and Animal interview the homeless man who witnessed the giant rat. They appear dubious of his claim of seeing a monster.
  • N.I.G.E.L. is sent into the burrowed tunnel, which slopes downward a mere 6%. A few minutes later, a giant rat discovers and seemingly destroys him.
  • Above ground, the team witness N.I.G.E.L.’s fate via Craven’s laptop. The water suddenly bulges and Godzilla emerges, unaware of the team’s presence and fixated on something unseen. Driven by pure hunting instinct, Godzilla locates a giant rat on the dock and gives chase.
  • Audrey’s report on the giant rat sighting airs on NEWS 8. (NOTE: Just how “NEWS 8” is related to WIDF on Chanel 12 – as seen in the 1998 film – is unknown. Maybe the report is airing at 8:00 PM? Perhaps WIDF changed channel affiliates? Perhaps it’s a continuity error in an animated television show sequel to a summer blockbuster film? The possibilities are endless…)
  • A red truck – fully loaded with military grade weapons – arrives in New York from Pennsylvania, bringing redneck poachers Dale, Bill, and Hank to their next hunting ground. The hunter trio hope to bag the ultimate kill: Godzilla himself. (NOTE: The last names of the poachers are unknown, as is their history beyond their origin point of Pennsylvania, which is revealed in publicity material released be Sony.  Whatever their backstory, they certainly won’t be the final hunters with their sights set on Godzilla…)
  • A giant rat emerges to threaten Andrey and Animal, but is chased off by the poachers when they begin firing on the creature. The trio give chase, with Audrey and Animal following close behind in their news van. The rat suddenly reappears behind the two vehicles and jumps onto the van, breaking the glass with its giant sabre teeth. The van reverses onto Godzilla’s foot, and is jarred loose when the giant lizard spots the rat and chases it off.
  • Godzilla pursues the rat to the summit of Grand Central Station, destroying chunks of the building as it attempts to kill the oversized rodent. However, the lights of a military helicopter distract Godzilla long enough to allow the rat to escape once again.
  • Hank, Dale, and Bill head to Godzilla’s location and fire a bazooka at the monster as he continues to chase the rat. The shot misses, and hits the crane supporting the new cap for the nearby Chrysler Building, causing the tip to collide with a parked car below. (NOTE: The Chrysler Building was famously destroyed in the military’s first attack on Godzilla in the 1998 film. It appears that the owners of this landmark skyscraper just can’t catch a break.)
  • Godzilla loses the trail of the rat when it ducks into a nearby subway tunnel. Its query gone, Godzilla departs the city and dives back into the Hudson River.
  • In the wake of Godzilla’s appearance, the military convene. Meyer Ebert angrily confronts Hicks about the monster’s destructive visit to the city. The decision is made to evacuate the city yet again and mobilize an airstrike to eliminate the monster. Nick tells Hicks that Godzilla is merely defending his territory, and that if the giant rats are taken care of, Godzilla will leave. The H.E.A.T. Team is given two hours to enact their solution before the airstrike begins. Audrey and Animal, intent on following the story, tag along with the team.
  • The group encounter Dale, Hank, and Bill underground. The appearance of a giant rat catches everyone off guard, but Monique is able to sedate the animal with a shot fired from a specially modified crossbow. As the two groups bicker over who will claim the body, a large number of additional rats appear and surround them. In addition to the hairy, sabre toothed variant sedated by Monique, a larger, hairless variant of the mutated species is also present. (NOTE: Just what factors contributed to different physical mutations appearing in different rats is unknown.)
  • The rats attack, and Nick, Dale, Bill, and Hank are carried off. After a prolonged chase, Elsie and Craven are trapped in an overturned van, and Monique is also taken away by one of the rats.
  • Above ground, Godzilla has returned to the city to continue his hunt of the rats. As a military helicopter surveys his behavior, Godzilla burrows into a subway tunnel. Seconds later, the beast emerges from a nearby building, his hide covered in attacking rats. Hicks attempts to contact Nick to warn him of the impending airstrike. (NOTE: The scenes in which Godzilla’s hide is covered by the rats are reminiscent of similar scenes in Toho’s 1995 Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (then the most recent Japanese film in the franchise) and Deiei’s Gamera 2: Attack of Legion from 1996. The similarity is likely a coincidence, but given the admitted kaiju fandom of many key players behind the scenes of Godzilla: The Series, an homage is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility.)
  • In the tunnels, Audrey, Animal, and Randy refuse to evacuate, and venture deeper underground to find Nick.
  • Nick, Monique, and the poachers awaken in a subterranean nest. Nick fears that the voracious appetites of the rats – combined with the diseases they are likely carrying – will result in serious trouble for the people of New York. Above ground, Godzilla continues his fight against the rats, bringing ground zero for the airstrike right to the group’s location. Nick finds N.I.G.E.L.’s remains and sends a signal for the rest of the team to track.
  • Unable to reach Nick, Hicks has no choice but to allow the airstrike to commence.
  • Nick guides the team out of the rats’ lair using a bright flare, which causes the subterranean rodents to recoil. However, their path is blocked by the largest rat yet. (NOTE: This is the rat that attacked the homeless man at the beginning of the episode, entitled “Cat & Mouse”. This same rat will later take part in the three-part “Monster Wars” story later in the series.)
  • Godzilla burrows underground to avoid the military’s airstrike. The beast arrives in the rat’s lair and unleashes blast after blast of his atomic ray, sealing the exits and tunnels to trap the rats in the lair. Nick, Monique, and the poachers escape seconds before the tunnel they’re in collapses behind them. Godzilla bursts through the earth and into the river, flooding the tunnel and the lair behind him. The rats, trapped and with nowhere to run, are drowned in seconds.
  • Hicks is finally contacted by H.E.A.T., and he quickly arrives in the tunnels to aid the team in their search for Nick. After blasting through the floor of the destroyed subway tunnel, Hicks and the team find and rescue Nick, Monique, and the poachers.
  • Above ground, the poachers are apprehended when Meyer Ebert connects the trio’s missile launcher to the destruction of the Chrysler Building. (NOTE: In one final piece of trivia, the names of the poachers – Hank, Dale, and Bill – are references to characters from the long running adult animated sitcom, King of the Hill.)
  • Immediately following the eradication of the rats, Nick and H.E.A.T. depart New York on the Heat Seeker and head to Manilla to investigate reports of giant lobsters. (NOTE: This mission – and, by extension, the giant lobsters – are never seen in any episode of the series. The mission is mentioned in the closing moments of the series’ sixth episode, “Cat & Mouse”, but no further details have ever been expounded upon.)
  • A transmission comprised of Tachyons (high density, electromagnetic particles capable of faster than light travel) are detected by the preeminent xenobiologist Dr. Alexander Preloran, who assembles a team to investigate. After arriving at the source of the signals – the Hazard Abyss in the South Pacific Ocean – he and his team prepare to descend into the depths to locate the source. He tells the ship’s captain and the crew not to follow them under any circumstances, and together with Dr. Hans Sopler and Dr. Ted Hoffman, pilots a submersible to the bottom of the sea. The source is discovered to be a massive craft of unknown origin. After docking their sub to the gigantic vehicle, Preloran, Sopler and Hoffman begin to explore its interior. Preloran performs a carbon dating test, determining the craft – which appears to still be in working condition with functioning lights and life support systems – to be over 10 million years old. Following this revelation, the trio of scientists are attacked by strange, orange tentacles that drag them away into the bowels of the ship. (NOTE: This ship is, of course, the same Leviathan craft that crashed into the ocean during the Late Cretaceous Period, making its actual age roughly 65 million years old. Drs. Sopler and Hoffman’s first names are revealed in promotional material released by Sony for the series.)
  • The trio are met by the race of bizarre, bio-mechanical beings that inhabit the ship. The alien creatures explain the history of their time on Earth, and of their intentions to claim the planet as their own. Preloran, fascinated by the possibilities of allying himself with the technologically superior species, agrees to aid them in their quest for knowledge about the human race. Sopler and Hoffman resist, and are captured by the aliens, their minds telekinetically linked to the great machine that controls the ship as their knowledge and memories are systematically downloaded. (NOTE: This scene does not appear in any episode, but is referenced as happening by Dr. Preloran in the Godzilla: The Series episode entitled “Leviathan”. Preloran later admits to Dr. Craven that he believes an alliance with the aliens will usher in a new chapter for mankind, creating a world without pollution or war, and the promise of exploration and expansion into the cosmos. How very wrong he was…)
  • Three days later, the H.E.A.T. Team begin tracking the same Tachyon transmissions from the bottom of the ocean floor. Following the signal – discovered by Craven – to Preloran’s ship, the team board the research vessel to gain answers. The captain reveals Preloran’s wish that no rescue party be sent after him and his team should they fail to return. As the discussion continues, the crew of the ship rush to the railing after spotting a pod of whales breaching nearby. Godzilla emerges from the waves, scattering the whales as he heads toward the ship. After a brief pause, Godzilla submerges, and Nick rushes to the ship’s bridge to follow the monster’s path via sonar. At 30,000 fathoms, Godzilla’s signal is lost, and Nick postulates that Godzilla has also detected the Tachyon signal. When the ship’s captain refuses H.E.A.T. the use of the second sub, Monique shows him her gun. Unaware that the “weapon” is actually a flare gun, the captain allows them access to the sub and 72 hours before they are left on their own.
  • The sub begins its more than 5 hour decent into the depths. Halfway down, Randy’s claustrophobia begins to act up, and Monique is forced to calm him down. Seconds later, and the sub is rocked by an unknown force. The team are shocked to discover a giant, long-necked creature gliding on four immense flippers through the depths. Elsie identifies the monster as a Cryptocleidus, a species of plesiosaur extinct since the Cretaceous Period. As the creature reverses and attempts to crush the sub in its powerful jaws, Godzilla arrives and engages it in a titanic battle. Nick blows the air tanks in the sub and quickens their decent. (NOTE: Cryptocleidus never grew to the proportions seen in the show, likely making them the subjects of ancient Leviathan genetic engineering. During the decent, Craven reveals that their two hour and thirty-five minute journey is, at that point, “halfway there”, making the total length of the trip roughly five hours and ten minutes.)
  • The team arrive at the submerged ship, and quickly discover a way to dock their submarine. After entering the ship, N.I.G.E.L. is deployed to scan the environment, quickly determining that the atmosphere within the ship is being altered to suit the needs of its human visitors. Nick suspects that the system is automated, but Monique fears that the team is being watched.
  • As the team navigates the flesh-like halls of the craft, they are attacked by orange tentacles. A few moments later, two reptilian creatures resembling guard dogs emerge from the shadows and pursue the team. They escape when a hole opens in a nearby wall, sealing again once the team has passed through it.
  • The team finds itself in a large room within the ship, where they find Dr. Preloran. The scientist accuses the team of intruding upon a delicate first-contact situation, telling them to leave immediately. He reveals that the ship crashed into the ocean 65 million years earlier, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, and that human technology has only just become capable of detecting their distress beacon: the Tachyon signal discovered by Craven. Nick insists upon a meeting with their alien hosts, but Preloran refuses, exiting through an opening in the wall that seals behind him. N.I.G.E.L. scans the control panel and opens a second slit that the team exits through. Reprogramed to home in on the Tachyon broadcast, N.I.G.E.L. leads the team onward.
  • The team discover Dr. Sopler and Dr. Hoffman floating in a strange, blue light that appears to be downloading information on humanity directly from their brains. Hovering near them is one of the craft’s extraterrestrial occupants, and seconds later, the strange being floats down to meet the team, revealing their species’ alliance with Dr. Preloran and their intention to “assimilate” humanity, while also laying claim to the infrastructure and machinery of the planet. The alien attacks a petulant Monique with a telekinetic strike that sends her flying backwards against a wall, and then captures her, Nick, Elsie, and Randy in a glowing ring of energy that lifts them into the air. The creature, sensing the conflict in Craven (due to his devotion to Dr. Preloran) offers the scientist a chance to join his idol. To the horror of his teammates, Craven accepts, and watches with Preloran as the minds of his friends are forcefully downloaded. (NOTE: It’s unknown exactly what the Leviathan aliens mean when they say they wish to “assimilate” humanity, but given the eventual fates of Drs. Sopler and Hoffman, it’s likely they’re referring to a literal physical assimilation.)
  • Craven’s plan is revealed when he programs N.I.G.E.L. to deliver massive electric shocks to the various control panels located around the massive room. The shocks destroy multiple control stations, forcing their alien occupants to flee. One explosion frees Nick from his levitating prison, and he begins to smash machinery along with N.I.G.E.L. As the remaining team members are freed, a ripple of light traveling through the hull of the ship rejuvenates the injured aliens, and they begin to converge on Nick. As they grow closer, N.I.G.E.L. quickly races past them, causing a distraction as he gains speed and nosedives into the large machine in the center of the room. The machine explodes in a massive ball of fire and smoke, and the alien creatures begin to fall from the sky, the light in their eyes extinguished. As the fire dies down, N.I.G.E.L.’s decapitated head flies out of the epicenter and collides with the ground. (NOTE: Just what the relationship between this machine, the glowing lights in the ship, and the lives of the Leviathan aliens might be is unknown. It does appear, however, that their lives are linked to their technology in a profound – and, in this case, deadly – way.)
  • Preloran flees the room as Craven gives chase. The explosion destabilizes the hull of the ship, and water begins to flood the tunnels, sweeping Preloran and Craven away. Preloran manages to open a hole in a nearly wall, allowing the two scientists to escape the flood. They are soon joined by the remainder of the team, and Randy presents Craven with N.I.G.E.L.’s head. With Drs. Sopler and Hoffman in tow, the team follow Preloran to a room filled with egg-like escape pods designed to accommodate whatever lifeforms enter them. Preloran stays behind to launch the pod, and enters an opening in a wall filled with green light as the ship is flooded behind him.
  • Miles above, the escape pod is attacked by two Cryptocleidus as it ascends toward the surface. Godzilla arrives to fend off the ancient monsters, ultimately crushing one under the rocky remains of an underwater cliff and sending the second fleeing back into the depths. Godzilla then turns its attention to the escape pod, and Dr. Sopler enables Nick’s voice to be heard outside the pod’s walls. Calmed by Nick, Godzilla swims off.
  • The pod reaches the surface, and Randy calms a grieving Craven by telling him that if anyone was capable of surviving the calamity below them, it was the brilliant Dr. Preloran. Elsie suggests calling in Hicks to launch a salvage operation of the submerged alien craft, but Monique and Nick shut her down, claiming that humanity will only remain safe if the aliens and their technology remain submerged forever. Behind them, the eyes of Dr. Sopler and Dr. Hoffman begin to glow an alien red. (NOTE: Although Randy seems confidant that Preloran could have survived, and we do see him enter a mysterious green light within the ship, his ultimate fate remains unknown. Just what this light could have been is a mystery; perhaps it teleported him somewhere else, or put him into the same stasis as the aliens prior to their awakening. Whatever the case may be, whether he survived or perished in the Leviathan spacecraft remains up for debate.)

• August

  • In the early hours of the morning, an apartment complex in Manhattan is attacked and severely damaged by a gigantic creature with strange electrical powers. H.E.A.T. is called in to investigate, and is allowed access to the crumbling building. N.I.G.E.L. scans the interior, detecting residual atmospheric ionization at 23.7% higher than normal levels. Craven postulates that the creature could have originated from inside the building itself.
  • Monique calls Nick, alerting him to the creature’s presence at the MTA Bus Yards. Nick orders Elsie and Randy to remain behind to continue their computer scans, and Craven joins Nick as he departs.
  • The giant monster trashes the structures at the bus yard. Craven uses N.I.G.E.L. to scan the beast while Nick and Monique rush inside the terminal to rescue trapped workers. N.I.G.E.L. detects atmospheric ionization levels 97.6% above normal, with the electrical discharge emitted by the creature extending into the theta frequency range. A fiery blast created by the monster’s destruction of several rows of parked busses consumes and destroys N.I.G.E.L.
  • At the destroyed apartment building, Elsie and Randy fail to discover any explainable cause for the accident. The two bicker over who is in charge of the team in Nick’s absence, and shortly thereafter locate a nearly – and suspiciously – intact room within the complex. The landlord reveals its occupant to be a man named Sidney Walker, and that he hasn’t been seen in days.
  • Craven informs Nick and Monique that the bizarre monster is, according to his readings, comprised of pure electromagnetic energy. Godzilla arrives on the scene to confront the creature, but is overpowered when the beast withstands a blast of his atomic breath, absorbs the energy, and channels it into a powerful punch that knocks Godzilla over. Upon recovery, Godzilla pounces at the creature, but when the smoke clears, the monster has completely and inexplicably disappeared. Craven’s readings drop to zero, and Godzilla leaves the area confused and shaken.
  • Elsie and Randy – still bickering over leadership – learn that Sidney Walker works for the MTA at the bus yard, and Elsie informs Nick of the revelation. Nick interrogates the workers at the bus yard, and learns that Walker has been absent from work for a week. He is also informed that Walker worked primarily on fueling a new fleet of electric busses, and that he routinely received multiple electric shocks during the process.
  • The H.E.A.T. Team reconvenes at their headquarters to compare evidence. Randy postulates that Walker is, himself, the creature (dubbed the “Crackler” by Craven), and that his work with electricity has allowed him to mutate into a massive monster capable of exacting revenge on both his noisy neighbors and his coworkers at the bus yard. Craven shoots the theory down, stating that the Crackler isn’t even alive, and therefore couldn’t be a human mutation. Elsie reveals that Walker’s calendar contained confirmation of an appointment at the Manhattan Neural Research Center for a week earlier, and she and Randy depart to track him down. Monique, Nick, and Craven begin tracking the residual ionization within the city, hoping to find the Crackler before it attacks again. (NOTE: This episode, called “What Dreams May Come”, contains the first instance of the H.E.A.T. Team actually naming a monster themselves onscreen. This is a tradition that will continue throughout the series, with Randy often coining names for the mutations in the future.)
  • Elsie and Randy arrive at the Manhattan Neural Research Institute, and Randy places two micro-speakers into a garbage can outside the building. When the receptionist denies the presence of Sidney Walker in the institute, Randy broadcasts the sound of an explosion from the speakers, sending the receptionist and two security guards running to the source of the sound. Randy locates Walker in Room 208 within Lab 13, and he and Elsie head for the institute’s restricted area. There, they find Walker hooked to a strange machine and under the care of two doctors. They reveal that Walker initially checked into the institute seeking a cure for his insomnia, and that in order to induce sleep, they amplified his brain’s theta waves. This process created massive electrical discharges, which the doctors assumed were dissipating into the atmosphere. After a week, no stimulus they tried could wake him, with only temporary spikes in brain activity occurring as a result. It is soon determined that these spikes in theta activity coincided with the Crackler’s appearances, and that the monster is being manifested and controlled subconsciously by Walker’s brain. With early psych tests revealing a large amount of suppressed rage in the normally quiet man, it is postulated that Walker’s underlying anger is causing the monster to lash out at the people and places in his life that are causing his stress.
  • A new theta wake spike occurs, accompanying the appearance of the Crackler. Randy attempts to disconnect Walker from the amplification device, but is given a massive electric shock from the still sleeping man.
  • As the second half of the H.E.A.T. Team approach the Crackler’s location in downtown Queens, Craven prepares two electric weapons modified to fire at the monster’s theta frequency, based on his theory that the identical charges will repel one another. As the Crackler nears Shea Stadium – home of the Mets baseball team – the weapons are fired, temporarily stunning the creature. Seconds later, and the monster retaliates, firing an electric charge that fries the team’s car.
  • At the institute, Elsie dons an insulated suit and succeeds in disconnecting the amplification device from its power source. However, this only causes the Crackler – now free of Walker’s control – to grow more violent and attack everything in sight. At the beast rampages, Godzilla emerges from the nearby river and engages it in battle.
  • Walker awakens at the institute, but the Crackler doesn’t vanish. Nick, Monique, and Craven focus their electric weapons upon a nearby flagpole, building up a powerful charge that soon jumps to the Crackler’s identically charged body. The force of the blast blows the Crackler off of Godzilla, who quickly burrows underground. The monster emerges a few seconds later, grabbing one of the Crackler’s legs in his mouth and dragging the beast under the street. Their battle soon returns to the surface, trashing the remains of Shea Stadium in the process.
  • Despite being conscious for the first time in a week, Walker’s brain is still producing enough theta waves to keep the Crackler manifested in the city. When Randy begins to rile Walker, Nick reports that the Crackler appears to be phasing in and out of existence. Randy continues to aggravate Walker, raising his voice and bringing his repressed anger to the surface. Finally, the young man reaches the breaking point, his rage exploding as he screams and cries in his bed. Weakened by the transfer of Walker’s anger from his subconscious to his conscious mind and unable to fight back, a fiery blast from Godzilla finally succeeds in disintegrating the Crackler once and for all.
  • After reconvening at H.E.A.T. HQ, Nick finally settles Randy and Elsie’s dispute over the team’s second-in-command position by announcing that, when he’s not around, Craven will be in charge.
  • The island of Santa Marta – home to a luxury resort – is evacuated when a nearby volcano violently erupts. The guests and staff flee the island’s apparent destruction, abandoning the hotel to the encroaching lava.
  • Three men come to the island to steal valuables left behind in the hotel, and are attacked by giant vines in the jungle.  The trio barely escape with their lives. (NOTE: One of these men is called Charlie by his comrade, but the other two men’s names are unknown.)
  • After being contacted by the frightened looters, H.E.A.T. is offered monetary compensation by the resort company to head an expedition to the island and survey the area.
  • An underwater geyser damages H.E.A.T.’s raft off the coast of Santa Marta, and the team splits up to focus on collecting data and repairing the boat. While Randy remains with Nick to continue repairs, Monique accompanies Craven, Elsie, and N.I.G.E.L. into the jungle. The team is baffled at the absence of ash, and the presence of overgrown vegetation, leading Elsie to postulate that something in the ash acted as an accelerated fertilizer to the island’s flora. She decides to remain behind to continue gathering samples while Craven and Monique continue on.
  • Randy and Nick finish repairing the boat. As the volcano begins to rumble in the distance, Nick attempts to contact Elsie to warn her to retreat. Their communication is cut short by radio interference, and Elsie is surrounded by mutated vines.
  • Monique and Craven arrive at the intact hotel, and are attacked by the vines. N.I.G.E.L. is quickly pulled into a hole in the ground and incapacitated, while Monique fends off the vines and leads Craven to safety.
  • Nick and Randy enter the jungle to locate the team, and are also attacked by vines. Godzilla arrives – having tailed Nick from Manhattan – and saves them.  The vines then turn their attention to the gargantuan reptile, and Nick and Randy scramble to help cut him loose before he is strangled to death. In the ensuing struggle, Randy is coated in a gooey sap that explodes from a cut vine.
  • Craven and Monique discover a massive pool of honey within the hotel, and are subsequently besieged by four gigantic bees that fire their stingers at the fleeing humans. After a hard landing, Monique breaks her right ankle, and she and Craven hide in a wall to avoid the bees.
  • Nick and Randy modify the laser sight on their handheld scanner to produce a low intensity burn, and begin to slice the vines from Godzilla’s body. However, a Mutant Bee appears and carries Randy away, attracted by the sap that covers his body.  Nick pursues the insect, discovering Elsie trapped within a tangle of vines. After freeing her, Nick continues to the hotel, where he and Elsie discover more mutated vines and bees. Elsie postulates that the underground nuclear testing conducted on the island in the 1950’s irradiated the lava, which has now begun to mutate the ecosystem of the island. Fertilized by the radioactive ash, the vines provide food for the bee population, which, in turn, pollenates more vines, continuing the cycle of mutation.
  • Craven and Monique discover an incapacitated N.I.G.E.L. and an unconscious Randy within the upper floor of the hotel, which has become part of the bees’ hive. As Monique moves to save him, a gigantic Queen Bee emerges from within the building to attack her. She and Randy escape when Craven – much to their surprise – grabs a fire hose and begins to blast the encroaching bees away. The trio discover that the Queen Bee is controlling the smaller drones, and that she has called in reinforcements.
  • Nick and Elsie hide in a Texxon gas station, and voice their fears that the bees could spread to other continents, spreading mutated pollen wherever they go. As the bees close in, they make a break for the hotel. (NOTE: “Texxon” is an obvious contraction of the real-world companies “Texaco” and “Exxon”.)
  • Craven bravely rewires the remains of N.I.G.E.L., sending the bot careening through the hive, spraying a thick smoke in the face of the Queen Bee. Disoriented, the Queen loses control of the drones. However, two drone bees are successful in flying away with N.I.G.E.L., pulling him apart and destroying him for good. Godzilla arives on the scene and begins to brutally attack the disoriented Queen, biting her and flinging her body to the ground. The immense insect quickly regains its composure, ordering the drones to attack her new opponent. As Godzilla battles the bees, the volcano begins to erupt again, and both Godzilla – his body covered in stingers – and the Queen Bee fall into a massive canyon that opens beneath them. Nick and Elsie meet up with Randy, Craven, and Monique as they flee the hotel, and the team quickly make their way to the beach.
  • Deep in the canyon, Godzilla continues his battle with the Queen Bee amidst rising pools of lava. Nearly falling into the molten rock, Godzilla succeeds in causing a cave-in that seemingly crushes the Queen under tons of rock. (NOTE: The Queen Bee is, of course, not down for the count just yet, as she will return in the “Monster Wars” story arc.)
  • As lava floods the island, Craven aids an injured Monique in reaching the beach. The team boards their boat and flees the burning landmass, narrowly dodging massive rocks as the island tears itself apart behind them. Godzilla breaches next to their boat, and the team celebrate the survival of the “Lizard King”.

• September

  • In the Yucatan, ornithologist Dr. Lawrence Cohen investigates a mysterious temple buried in the jungle. After activating a secret door, the scientist discovers a monolith depicting the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl, and upon touching it triggers an earthquake within the temple. Lava begins to erupt from the cavern below, and Cohen flees the temple as a massive, flying form rises above him. (NOTE: As an homage/in-joke, Lawrence Cohen is named after the writer/director of the 1982 cult classic creature feature, Q: The Winged Serpent, which tells the tale of a bloodthirsty Quetzalcoatl attacking mankind and nesting in New York City.)
  • Maria Fares reports live from Southern Mexico, reporting on a series of strange attacks on several villages in the area. The government blames volcanic activity, but the locals insist that they witnessed a predator attacking from the sky.
  • Lawrence contacts Elsie, his former fiancé, about his sighting of the winged beast, requesting that H.E.A.T. come to Mexico to investigate.
  • Upon arrival in Mexico, H.E.A.T. are met with silence from the villagers. Lawrence arives and takes the team – including an uncomfortable Elsie – to the temple where he first encountered the creature. Nick discovers hydrogen sulfide emanating from underground, and postulates that the recurring earthquakes in the region might have opened pockets of the gas.
  • At the entrance of the temple, Randy discovers a gigantic red feather. Seconds later, the screech of the monster is heard as a massive silhouette rises from the smoking volcano. Quetzalcoatl reveals itself and attacks the team, nearly crushing Lawrence before being fended off by Monique’s laser fire. A shot fired into the ground triggers an explosion of underground gas that finally repels Q for good, and the monster retreats back into the smoky sky above the volcano.
  • As night falls, the team sets up camp and begin studying the situation. Randy discovers that the village attacks resulted in structural damage but no loss of life. Meanwhile, Elsie analyzes the recovered feather and concludes that the object is not a feather at all, but a reptilian scale. She also discovers the chemical makeup of the object is similar to asbestos, meaning that the entirety of the monster’s body is covered by a strong silicate barrier capable of protecting the beast from temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit – the temperature of lava.
  • The following day, the team journeys into the jungle to locate Q. Upon finding it, they hit the beast with five powerful tranquilizers – each capable of putting a rhinoceros to sleep for a week. The drugs have no effect, and the monster flies off once again.
  • The team constructs a bullet containing a powerful neurotoxin harvested from the stinger of a local Black Scorpion, hoping to deliver the poison into the bloodstream of Q and kill it. Lawrence opposes the idea of destroying the beast, believing to be the missing evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs that he has spent ten years of his life trying to find.
  • Q attacks the village of Rio Laguardos, interrupting a tense dinner at H.E.A.T.’s camp. The team arrives and begins aiding the local populace in escaping, and attempt to tranquilize the creature yet again. After saving a toddler abandoned in the street, Elsie is caught in a claw-full of rubble and lifted into the air by Q as it carries the debris away. The team watch helplessly as she is flown out of the village and back to the volcano. Lawrence panics, citing the switch from material gathering to live victims as possible proof that Q is nesting. Nick agrees, believing the creature’s violent behavior towards them to be a sign of Q protecting something, likely offspring. Lawrence believes that three or more babies could be waiting to make Elsie their first meal.
  • Elsie awakens in a large nest made from the material Q has gathered during its village attacks, and finds herself next to three eggs. One of the massive orbs hatches, and a featherless Baby Q emerges. The infant gives chase, pursuing Elsie to the lip of the nest, which overlooks the interior of the volcano that birthed the adult Q.
  • H.E.A.T. arrives at the volcano, and Craven deploys N.I.G.E.L. to the nest to locate Elsie. The bot deploys an optical cable and relays video of Elsie fending off the Baby Q to the rest of the team. Nick orders Craven to call for Godzilla, and N.I.G.E.L. begins broadcasting the recording made of the original Godzilla during its first attack in New York. However, after only several seconds of broadcasting, Q lands on the lip of the volcano, crushing N.I.G.E.L. and sending his head flying down to the team’s position. (NOTE: Save for its use as a lure in the first episode of the series, this episode marks the first time H.E.A.T. uses the “Godzilla Call” to attract the monster to their location. The same trick would continue to be used for the remainder of the series. In addition, the ability to call Godzilla to aid the team from anywhere in the world is similar to the method used in the first animated Godzilla series (the 1978 Hanna-Barbera Godzilla), indicating a possible homage.)
  • Godzilla arrives and engages in battle with Q, distracting the beast and giving Lawrence enough time to repel down the side of the nest – using crushed components from N.I.G.E.L. – and rescue Elsie. Nick, Randy, Monique, and Craven throw ropes down into the nest, and both Lawrence and Elsie are lifted away from the ravenous jaws of the three hatchlings.
  • The cries of the hungry chicks draws Q away from the battle with Godzilla, and the flying creature lands at the mouth of the volcano, cornering the team. However, Godzilla arrives and bashes the beast off the cliff and into its nest. Shielding its human allies from Q’s fiery blasts, Godzilla retaliates with its Atomic Ray. The resulting explosion destroys the nest, forcing Q to gather its babies and take to the skies. Before it can get fare, falling rubble pins the beast, and both Q and its offspring tumble into the lava below. Godzilla fires its ray again, sealing the volcano under tons of rock and rubble.
  • The H.E.A.T. Team begins to pack up their camp, and Lawrence mourns the loss of his long-sought evidence. As he attempts to once again woo Elsie, he is distracted by the sighting of a Peruvian Finch in a nearby tree. Elsie laments that some things never do change.
  • A drilling team from Commoil begin preparations to drill at a site in the Antarctic. They report to the company’s board that the sight is far richer in oil reserves than previously thought, and that drilling is scheduled to begin the following week. However, strange trails begin to form in the snow, loosening and melting it into a hot slush that destroys the camp and causes the team members to sink and disappear.
  • At H.E.A.T. HQ, the team watch a report on Godzilla’s recent attack on a local fishery, and Monique again voices her concern that the monster is out of control.  Following the report, the team watch a live interview between Audrey and Commoil representative Chad Gordon, who announces an expedition is being formed to recover the lost drilling team. Monique bets that Randy can’t go a day without sugary food, and Randy takes the bet, despite not understanding his penalty for losing, which Monique delivers in French.
  • Audrey receives the honor of covering the Commoil expedition, and reveals to Nick that she will be filming the story herself, as Animal has been forbidden to leave his home by Lucy during his mother-in-law’s visit. Nick, fearing for Audrey’s safety and jealous of her relationship with the slick Chad Gordon, orders that the team head to the South Pole to begin their own investigation.
  • Nick and the team receive permission from Commoil’s CEO to supervise the expedition, and arrive at the airport to join Gordon and Audrey.  Nick tags along with the duo, intent on keeping Gordon’s attention away from his girlfriend.
  • The two teams land, and Gordon announces that the destruction was caused by glacial movement opening chasms beneath the snow. Elsie discovers rubble in the snow bearing distinct claw marks, and Craven programs N.I.G.E.L. to study the geological integrity of the area. The teams set up camp, and Nick crashes Audrey’s interview with Gordon.
  • N.I.G.E.L. begins recording temperature increases, reading the surrounding snow as 94 degrees Celsius. Seconds later, the bot begins to sink into the snow. The team board snowmobiles and head for the plateau, a trio of melting slush paths quickly following them. Randy falls from his mobile, and begins to sink into the snow. Nick pulls him to safety, revealing a tiny, hairy creature attached to Randy’s leg. The team quickly remove the creature and place a crate over its wriggling body. Randy’s bruised leg is patched up, and Nick again confronts Gordon, who is sticking to his fault line explanation for the disappearance of the men.
  • Elsie identifies the creature as an Ice Borer, a hybrid species related to the arctic mole. The creature has an incredibly high metabolic rate, which equates to a high body temperature, enabling it to bore through the ice at quick speeds. Nick theorizes that the large trails that followed them through the snow were packs of the small animals, and that their high metabolic rates led to them quickly depleting the local wildlife as a food source. In addition, Elsie reveals that the creature’s radioactivity levels are off the chart. (NOTE: The reason for the Ice Borer’s high internal radiation levels is never mentioned, but it’s likely that the creatures – like Godzilla – were mutations caused by nuclear testing.)
  • Nick and Elsie find that the Ice Borer has been let out of its cage, and Nick angrily barges in on Gordon, accusing him of releasing the creature. Gordon denies the allegation, citing his presence with Audrey during their interview as evidence. Nick, however, believes that Gordon is hiding something. He and Monique return to the plane to gather supplies, including liquid nitrogen and the recovered remains of N.I.G.E.L.
  • During their return journey, Nick and Monique are halted by the appearance of four gigantic Ice Borers, confirming the previously captured specimen to be a baby. Godzilla emerges from the ice to battle the creatures, which swarm across his body and begin to pull him into the ice. Eventually, the Ice Borers succeed in sending Godzilla into the depths, and proceed to trap the team on their plateau. Gordon leaves to radio Hicks, and Elsie continues her study of the samples taken from the infant Ice Borer (named “Cuddles” by Randy). She determines that the monsters generate heat on a molecular level, and that their cells have to maintain a certain thermal energy rate to survive. The decision is made to use the recovered liquid nitrogen to cool the monsters’ body temperatures, hopefully slowing their metabolism and destroying them.
  • Craven rigs a firing mechanism to five canisters of liquid nitrogen, allowing for a concentrated blast of vapor to be fired. However, as the firing mechanisms weren’t designed to withstand the extreme temperatures, he informs the team that they will freeze up after several seconds of use. Gordon appears to inform the team that the radio is broken, and that no contact with Hicks could be made. Nick remains suspicious.
  • Elsie confiscates Randy’s heat pads to lure the Ice Borers to the edge of the plateau, attaching them to N.I.G.E.L.’s outstretched arm. However, the bot is crushed before they can be used a second time. While searching for more heat packs, Monique discovers that the radio was sabotaged on purpose, and confronts Gordon. Holding him over the edge of the plateau, Gordon finally confesses to covering up any potential problems that might lead to Commoil losing the site and ultimately going out of business due to plummeting stock in the company.
  • The Ice Borers dig under the plateau and emerge to trap the team. Godzilla bursts through the ice and resumes his battle with the monsters as H.E.A.T. fire their liquid nitrogen guns. Randy subdues the first Borer, but Monique’s gun shatters before she can halt the third. Nick subdues another with Godzilla’s help, and Randy takes out the final creature, rewarding himself with a chocolate bar without realizing that his 24 hours hasn’t ended yet. A team member locates the missing men and their dog beneath the ice, suffering from hypothermia but still alive. Nick apologizes to Audrey for his jealousy, and Audrey forgives him.
  • Back in New York, Randy arrives at Monique’s apartment, where he discovers his punishment for losing the bet: cooking Monique a full-course dinner and doing all the clean-up.

[MORE COMING SOON!]

 

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