The 1998 "Godzilla" is a travesty on too many levels to speak of, but perhaps what it fails at most is getting Godzilla right. In trying to make the radioactive, atomic breath-shooting dinosaur more realistic, director Roland Emmerich — who was never a fan of the franchise, to begin with — took away the character's key defining aspects, stripping him down to a more generic movie monster that felt more accurate to Ray Harryhausen's "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" than Godzilla. Toho even took jabs at the Western version, eventually taking back the rights, renaming the monster Zilla and having the real Godzilla demolish the inferior creation (rendered in purposely bad-looking CGI) in literal seconds for the 2004 film "Godzilla: Final Wars."
But before the satisfying slaughter, Sony found a way to somewhat redeem themselves with "Godzilla: The Series." The animated series follows the events of the 1998 film, as Dr. Nick Tatopoulos (voiced by "Sharknado" star Ian Ziering) and the Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team unite with Godzilla's last surviving offspring to do battle with a horde of monsters that appear throughout the world.
The series only lasted two seasons, but it remains a favorite among fans to this day, not only containing fast-paced storytelling and solid characters but also properly depicting Godzilla as an indestructible, atomic ray-breathing monster-fighter. Thankfully, an accurate American Godzilla would finally hit the big screen with 2014's "Godzilla" and the ongoing Monsterverse franchise.
