"You're a rip-off"

Says the monster that was trying to become a Godzilla clone...

"This looks like a job for Superman."
(Goes in a room to change)
"Um, sir, this is the lady's room..."
"I know."

Gosh darn that animation from 1942 is amazing!

Those Superman shorts are still really good, and nostalgic for me. My grandpa loves them and we’d watch them every time we’d go for a visit.

Oh man. I remember seeing this short as a kid on DVD. What a blast from the past!

When I was a VERY young kid, I remember seeing that scene where the artic giant destroys the bridge on TV and didn't see any footage after, and for years I had no idea where it was from. That scene captivated me because of how well it was animated. It wasn't until I rented a DVD copy of those Fleisher Superman cartoons during my preteens that I discovered it was from this cartoon!

I highly recommend checking out the rest of the Fleisher Superman cartoons. I am a huge superhero fan and those cartoons were SO influential to modern superhero cartoons. We wouldn't have the best Batman on TV without the Fleisher Superman cartoons!

It's most likely a coincidence.
The Arctic Giant is probably based on classic western dragons, and Godzilla is based on different dinosaurs and partially eastern dragons.

The cool thing is that ALL of these shorts have been restored in 4K by WB and are being released onto Blu Ray in May! They are going to look leaps and bounds better than any of the public domain VHS, DVD or HD upscales that have been spread around Youtube and elsewhere.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms was a year before Godzilla first came out. Maybe that was the main inspiration

Just look how awesome the animation is  for a cartoon made in 1940s

Headcanon: All the monsters in this series can break the fourth wall but Orga gets transported between series’ randomly, hints why he’s confused when Megalon can’t see MIB’s hand or the camera in episode 100.

This was actually the only Superman thing I had to watch as a kid. It was on a 3 pack at Big Lots or something with the 1925 Lost World and The Giant Gila Monster. Some of my favorite movies as a kid

Wow this is really neat! I never heard of this before! I do think the similarities between the two might just be coincidence- Godzilla does take a lot of inspiration from their likes of King Kong and Rhedosaurus! Though there is still a chance that at least 1 person working on Godzilla had seen this cartoon and used it as inspiration!

Hey everyone - I know this video didn't end on a definitive stance on if the big G is a "rip-off" of any sort. I can share my personal thoughts here because I find the conversation fascinating, but my caveat is that my thoughts on the subject (and yours too) don't really matter... I'll get to that...

Often times, bootleggers who get sued by Godzilla's lawyers use what’s called the “the dinosaur defense”. They argue that their ripoff isn’t Godzilla but a regular T-Rex. Toho’s lawyers scoff at that defense, saying “a T-Rex doesn’t stand upright, have long arms, breathe atomic breath, have dorsal plates running down its back, and (most important) destroy cities”. This statement is on record multiple times. This is THEIR legal stance on when a dinosaur becomes a Godzilla imposter.

The T-Rex in this cartoon literally does all of those things except breathe atomic breath. I can say with high confidence that if this design came out today, Toho's lawyers would come knocking. You've seen in my Lawsuit video that they've acted on less (ex. Subway). And if Arctic Giant came out today, I don't think any of us would blame Toho for going after it. It's not parody; it's a high profile Superhero fighting a Tyrannosaurus who's sized like Godzilla, looks like Godzilla, and attacks a city like Godzilla. The military can't hurt it. It walks through bridges. My guess is that the lawyers would use all of these points to argue that this T-Rex is too close to Godzilla.

But Arctic Giant didn't come out second. It came out first. So to me, it stands to reason that BY THEIR OWN STANDARDS, Godzilla is the knock-off. Now, the worst fear Toho's lawyers have is the design of Godzilla falling victim to genericization. It's a legitimate fear, in my opinion. But I find that the argument can be made that this has already happened, and it started before the first Godzilla movie even dropped (between this, Yamir, rhedosaurus, and countless early depictions of the T-Rex).

However, like I said at the beginning, my opinion doesn't matter. This case would need to be argued in front of a judge for a precedent to be set. It's a case I'd love to see out of my own interest and curiosity (I'm not rooting for either side here). But we likely won't see this case because rarely do Godzilla imposters take Toho's lawyers to court. They usually back off quickly because, let's face it, Godzilla's team's got deep pockets. However as you saw in my Lawsuit video, there was a case where Toho lost in the early 1980s. It could happen again. It could happen a lot! But it doesn't because a judge rarely gets to hear these arguments.

So is Godzilla a rip-off? I mean, as some of you pointed out, everything's a rip-off and inspiration and blah blah. But LEGALLY, by the standards of their own lawyers, I think you can argue he is. Also, I know it's on record that Godzilla was inspired by Kong and Fathoms, etc., but I'm not aware of any acknowledgement of this cartoon. It could be a coincidence (which, again, is a point for the genericization of this design)! But coincidence or not, by the standards of Toho's lawyers, Fleischer might've had a good case to sue!

This is the role Godzilla had to do before he made it big.

Out of all the Fleischer Superman cartoons, this one is my favorite!

As a kid, my dad got me this episode on DVD! As a fan of Godzilla and super heros, this was right up my alley! I got excited as it appeared to have Godzilla and Superman on the cover! I thought it was pretty cool! Superman Vs Monsters and Villains was the name of the DVD!

A giant monster in a zoo…HOLY CRAP, THIS SHORT PREDICTED GORGO!

Damn, I didn´t know I missed Gabara until they showed up here. Nice to see another Orga review!

Great to see Orga again. I've been wondering if we were going to get another episode