The Herculoids Assemble on Blu-ray

Somehere in space live The Herculoids. That somewhere happens to be the planet Quasar, a quaint little rock inhabited by civilized cavemen and bizarre creatures. It's not much of a tourist attraction, but it must have immeasurable resources because the only visitors it ever gets either want to conquer the planet, take its resources, bury treasure on it, or enslave the inhabitants.

No wonder The Herculoids are such separatists. You land on Quasar, you get one warning and then you're done.

The group is led by Zandor, a human male, along with his wife Tarra and son Dorno. They were a very progressive family for their time, with Dorno calling both his parents by their first name (although Boy did this in the Tarzan flicks as well). They live together in harmony (when they're not battling invaders) with a motley menagerie of fantastic creatures -- Zok, a flying dragon who fires lasers from his eyes and the tip of his tail; Igoo, an ape made out of rock; Tundro, a ten-legged rhinoceros/triceratops creature who shoots plasma balls from his horn; and Gloop and Gleep, interstellar cousins to Al Capp's Schmoo.

This Blu-ray release collects the entirety of the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon series on three discs, with each episode containing a pair of adventures. There are no two-part stories, although there are a few rare instances of villains making a return appearance. Sometimes the villain you meet has already encountered the Herculoids before, helping to create an unwritten lore that viewers could explore in their imaginations.

The third disc of the set includes a very short bonus feature, "The Herculoids: First Family of Planet Quasar." This brief segment (under five minutes) includes quick comments from Jerry Beck, Tom Sito, Earl Kress, Scott Jeralds, Paul Dini, Doug TenNapel, Mark Evanier, and Eddie Fitzgerald. With that many people contributing, I'd have preferred something longer that would dig deeper into the creation process of this series. Short as this one is, I'd have been less disappointed if it had been left off completely, rather than tacked on with very little to contribute.