| “ | The entire Universe will bend to the power of Moltar! | „ |
| ~ Moltar in Space Ghost |
Moltar is one of the main antagonists of the Space Ghost franchise. He was one of Space Ghost's greatest villains. He later became one of his co-hosts on his talk show, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. Moltar was also briefly the host of Toonami, before he handed the role over to his friend TOM.
He was voiced by the late Ted Cassidy in the 60s series and by the also late C. Martin Croker in Coast to Coast who also voiced Zorak.
Space Ghost
In the original series, Moltar was a brilliant scientist who made a base on the uninhabited molten planet Moltor. There, he created powerful "Magma Men" who were giant and could easily destroy entire armies on their own. He planned to conquer the galaxy with them, but was thrawted by Space Ghost. Space Ghost destroyed his planet, but Moltar escaped.
Moltar later joined the Council of Doom and aided in the attempted assassination of Space Ghost and his teenage sidekicks. He was almost successful, briefly banishing Space Ghost to another planet while he prepared to execute the twins. But Space Ghost managed to escape with the help of the Herculoids and returned to defeat Moltar.
Moltar was one of the villains present when Space Ghost and his friends assaulted the Council of Doom's headquarters and was left for dead when the HQ collapsed. However, it is likely he and his cohorts survived, merely dispersing until they could rebuild their forces and attack Space Ghost once again.
In his first appearance, he wears a yellow suit with white gloves, boots, and a belt. In his later appearances, his color scheme is changed to the more recognizable one.
Coast to Coast
In Coast to Coast, Moltar is still evil, but apparently far more subdued and relaxed. He and Zorak and held prisoner by Space Ghost and forced to help him produce his talk show. While Zorak despises his position and attempts to sabotage the show, Moltar takes his job very seriously and works very had to keep the show together, using his console to handle all the cameras, effects and gadgets the studio relies so heavily on.
While Moltar is far more domesticated than Zorak, he still enjoys destructive and villanious behaviour, joining with Zorak to destroy things and cause chaos and threatening to fight guests with knives. However, he still takes his job very seriously and even gets mad at Space Ghost himself when he acts foolishly and harms the show.
Moltar enjoys heading to the break room with Zorak and enjoying a coffee with him while engaging in casual conversation. It is during one of these chats that he reveals to Zorak that he has a wife and children. His wife wears a yellow and white suit similar to his original outfit and it's implied she's a fellow supervillain. Moltar explains that his children think he's a professional wrestler and he's afraid of the day they find out what his actual profession is.
Toonami
Moltar, appearing as a CGI character, was briefly the host of Toonami. He celebrated villainy and reviewed video games while presenting action cartoons with the help of a friendly scouting robot named Clyde 49. When Moltar retired, he handed the show over to a robot named TOM, who apparently has been a friend of Moltar's for a long time.
After the death of Martin Crocker, Toonami put out a short tribute sketch where Moltar sends a garbled transmission to TOM saying that he's returning to his home planet of Moltor and won't be coming back (despite the fact that he hasn't been a Toonami host in nearly a decade anyway). Moltar finishes his letter by saying that he always thought he was a better host than TOM and bidding him farewell. TOM takes this in stride and wishes his friend luck in the future.
As this sketch was made as a tribute to Moltar's VA, it is unlikely that has any canon bearing on Moltar's fate.
Gallery
Trivia
- Moltar's original VA, Ted Cassidy, is best known for his role as Lurch on the Adam's Family.
- Adult Swim's Toonami block still airs some of Moltar's sketches from his run as host.
- Moltar's favorite villain (besides himself) is Prince Lotor from Voltron. Moltar openly calls him a "whimp" but claims he has "personality."
- Moltar often mocks or ignores most of the guests who appear on the show, but was star struck when Erik Estrada appeared. Moltar expressed his love for the series "Chips" and barked at the crew to get him anything he wanted.