Redartz: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of "Animation Congregation". For today's discussion, we will look at what I consider the greatest animated tv show ever: "Jonny Quest". And I specified 'animated tv show' rather than 'Saturday morning cartoon' for a reason- JQ was first scheduled as a prime time program! It originally aired on Friday nights on ABC, in the 1964-65 season. Of course, we all know it best as a longtime staple of Saturday mornings, running on each of the three American tv networks at one time or other.
The half-hour adventure show told the story of Jonny Quest, the precocious son of Dr. Benton Quest. Dr. Quest, a brilliant scientist (who apparently was well-versed in many areas of science) was frequently called upon by the U.S. government to investigate various trouble spots. Thus agent Roger "Race" Bannon was assigned to them as protection; of course Race soon became part of the family. As did Hadji, a young Indian boy who the Quest team met and adopted during a mission to that Asian nation. The final member of the group was "Bandit", Jonny's pet dog; often the source of humorous sidelights. Incidentally, little was mentioned about Jonny's mother on the show. In 1986 Comico produced a "Jonny Quest" comic series written by William Messner-Loebs; in the second issue it told the tale of Jonny's mother and her fate. I recommend it highly.
"Jonny Quest" truly had everything going for it. Brilliant music by composer Hoyt Curtin, and the coolest intro of any show around:
It also had beautiful visuals; excellent graphics, backgrounds and character design courtesy of creator Doug Wildey. It had drama, humor, loads of action, science fiction, the whole bit. But the big draw was the fantastic array of monsters, villains, and weirdness the team faced. Among them: A mummy, a Pteranodon, a giant spider robot, stone gargoyles, glowing invisible energy creatures, werewolves, Nazi war criminals, temple looters, renegade Chinese generals, and much more. And of course, chief among them all, was Dr. Zin- Benton Quest's arch enemy and frequent interloper into the Quest affairs. Or more accurately, the Quest team frequently interloped into , and foiled, Dr. Zin's evil plans.
Excellent voice acting was another plus for the show, courtesy of:
Tim Matheson (Jonny Quest), John Stephenson (Dr. Benton Quest), Mike Road (Race Bannon), Danny Bravo (Hadji) and Don Messick (Bandit). The show put these actors through their paces, and put them into a world of exotic locales: Egypt, The Java Sea, the Arctic, India, the Andes Mts., and much more. The use of real-world settings, and Wildey's attention to background detail, gave the cartoon an unequaled air of authenticity.
Catching Jonny and the Quest team was always a highlight of my Saturday mornings. It just seemed several steps above all the other adventure cartoons in all areas, in my lowly opinion. All 26 episodes were great viewing, but of course I had a few favorites; among them:
"The Curse of Anubis"- Mummies; how could you not love this one?
"The Robot Spy"- a classic episode with Dr. Zin's giant spider robot, when you think of Jonny Quest, you may well picture this episode.
"Shadow of the Condor"- magnificent episode with Doug Wildey's brilliant WWI planes and Race Bannon's dogfight. And the scene with Bandit snatched by a condor was one of the most terrifying you'll ever see on a Saturday morning show.
"The House of Seven Gargoyles"- great, moody, dramatic episode. With dwarfs, gargoyles and evil henchmen.
Over the years, Hanna Barbera studios have done several Quest updates: a 1986 series, the 1990's "New Adventures", and several tv movies. I watched 'em all, but none could ever match the strength of the original. However, the comics spawned by the series fared pretty well. In 1964, Gold Key released a single issue of "Jonny Quest", which has since become a scarce collector's item. Comico's "Jonny Quest" series in the later 80's was very well done, and featured several covers done by JQ icon Doug Wildey. Wildey also did a three-issue miniseries adapting several of the most popular tv episodes, The covers:
Also in 1986, fanzine "Amazing Heroes" did a cover feature on the show in this issue, chock full of articles, reviews and a long interview with Doug Wildey himself...
Of course, enjoyable as reading the comics alway is, watching the tv show is the best way to experience "Quest". Hanna Barbera was smart enough to release the entire series on DVD several years back. It even features Jonny and Race in a "PF Flyers" shoe commercial (for those of us old enough to recall when tv shows were sponsored and the stars hawked the products). It may be the single most-watched dvd collection on my shelf. You know, I think I'll go put in a couple episodes now. "Dragons of Ashida", maybe?
22 comments:
Oh yeah. Quest is indeed the best. When I was a kid the opening title sequence alone gave me thrills, not to mention the superb stories that followed. The show left an indelible impression. Many years after, when I went to assemble what I considered the top entertainments of my childhood, Jonny Quest was at the top of the list. On my bookshelf directly to my right as I type is my DVD set of the entire first season and it's one of my prized possessions. I love knowing that any time I want I can watch Jonny and the gang and be whisked away to a beautifully designed world of adventure and intrigue.
Every time we talk about favorite television themes in one iteration or another, I think I start stumping for this one by Hoyt Curtin. It is so. Flippin'. Fantastic. NOT a lot of trombone players out there who can handle it in its original key (six sharps, IIRC).
My "memory line" tends to start in flashes at probably around my third birthday, and Jonny Quest being a night-time show is one of those. A LOT of television-watching in our household from pretty much the beginning of my life. The creepy eyeball spider robot is indeed one of the scariest early images for me. Boy, loved that whole show, though. Now it's gonna have to go on my next Christmas list. . .
HB
Yes that giant spider stuck with me as well - wonderfully weird.
By the way (you probably all know this), it is the same Tim Matheson that does Jonny's voice that went on to star as Otter in Animal House and appear in other movies. He also handled the voice work for other classic cartoon characters like Jace on Space Ghost and Sinbad Jr.
I really always thought the backgrounds and character details were very well drawn for the show. I wonder how much more elaborate and time consuming the production was. Just the pictures in this post bring back so many memories. As a kid I loved Bandit and wanted a dog like him.
I bought the DVD set about 8 years ago when my kids were little. We watched them all and the kiddos loved them, even if the show was "old".
The single most amazing thing, however, is how Race Bannon grew up to become our new Vice President!
Yoyo
I have never seen this show, not even sure if it came across the pond.
The 80s comic covers appear stylistically European...channelling just a hint of Tintin?
As a young kid growing up on a poor farm back in the '60s.., Quest was THE coolest show for... imagination. Pure kid-styled imagination. Lots of action, very very minimal cutesy kid or pet fodder (unlike later Saturday morning shows of the 70s.., uggh..).
For the small number of action figures I did have back then, it was cool just to put 'em in one of Mom's plastic drinking cups and pretend for a while it's a Jonny Quest mini-transport or something; or a sleek paper airplane for their slim jet streaking through the air. Your mind just wandered and cultivated coolness out of normal objects when the toy store offerings were too meager and/or expensive to have.
The show had great relationships between the primary cast, the stories were earthy and cool, topped off by a kick-ass jazzy intro/outro theme song. I enjoyed the 80s title quite a bit, a HUGE relief from the increasingly dull and moronic Marvel and DC offerings. It made comics fun and seemingly fresh again, along side other independent offerings like SteelGrip Starkey. HAD to buy the poster as well, need to get that thing matted and hung someday soon.
What the heck kind of dog IS Bandit, anyhow? Is he, like, a pug? He's sort of like a bulldog puppy, except that he never gets bigger. . .
HB
Marti- the show did indeed have a greater cost in both time and money. Apparently Hanna-Barbera wanted to try a more 'realistic' show at the time, up till then they'd been doing Yogi Bear, Flintstones and such. Strangely, the show didn't do well at first in the ratings, hence the single prime-time season. It sure hit it's stride on Saturday mornings, though.
Colin Bray- according to the interview with Doug Wildey in the "Amazing Heroes" issue above, the show was inspired by the radio show "Jack Armstrong", and by Milton Caniff's strip "Terry and the Pirates". But I can certainly see elements of "Tintin" there ( which I discovered courtesy of "Boy's Life" magazine while in Scouts as a youth).
You can find episodes online; give it a look. I think you'll like it...
david_b- you should definitely frame that poster! I bought it too, but mine got shredded and lost over the years (grimly ironic, as I'm a framer by trade).
HB- Bandit is technically a bulldog, from what I've read. A very clever, mischievous one...
Colin, though I did occasionally see Johnny Q as a boy in the 60s I have not seen it since. When I saw the scans above I immediately thought Tintin! Big time Tintin! Anyhow Johnny came on at 11:30 on Saturday morning in Chicago and my parents usually chased me and the siblings out of the house by 9:30 so it was difficult to see this cartoon.
Johnny Quest was smart and just plain cool. Has anyone else checked out the Venture Brothers? It's wonderful.
Thanks Redartz and Charlie. The 80s covers are immensely cool and alongside all the positive reviews have me psyched to check the show out.
Hi Colin, What say you submit Tintin, or more broadly, non-mainstream comics, for discussion next Tuesday for "Follow the Leader?" Tintin, Asterix... lovely works! And what a history regarding Herge and his Tintin work. Or Joe Sacco's works (thanks Edo!)
Hiya,
"The Invisible Monster" episode gave me nightmares when I was a kid. It was one of the first times I 'saw' a character die on screen and it was in an animated show.
Come to think of it, Jonny Quest was my introduction to the world of science fiction and a darned good one too.
Seeya,
pfgavigan
JQ will always be my favorite cartoon! I was allowed to watch it at the age of 3 when it first aired in 1964 and continued to watch it on Saturday mornings whenever it was on!
By 3rd grade, two of my best friends were Indian and we would spend hours talking about JQ and the great friendship between Jonny and Hadji. One of them still uses the JQ theme song as his cell ringtone for my calls. Back in Junior High School, we would noodle around with our trumpets until we could play the theme.
I've introduced lots of nieces and nephews to JQ. In fact, my oldest nephew learned to read at a very young age, just so he could figure out which VHS tape (collection of JQ cartoons from TV) to load into the VCR.
Of course, being the comic collector, I own every version of JQ. I also have two production cels from 1964 - one of Jonny and one of Hadji. I still kick myself for not buying one of Race Bannon, because $17 each was just too much for me to spend as a teenager in the '70s. Sheesh!
One of the greatest JQ artists today is Steve Rude, who provides some of the artwork in the DC series, Future Quest. He is one of the only ones who 'gets' the shape of Jonny's hair that keeps him looking on model from the show.
I don't know who owns the rights to the Comico JQ comic series, but I would love to own a hardbound collection of them. It was a very fun comic.
I never saw any of the comics or the 80s JQ cartoon. But, I loved the original cartoon and bought the "first season" DVD a few years ago. I've watched several of the episodes and they were just as cool as I remembered them.
So basically, that "first" season was the "only" season for a long time and they just kept running them over and over on Saturday mornings in the 60s and 70s, right?
Redartz, is Dragons of Ashida the one where Race was playing hide and seek with the Sumo and yelling things at him like "Over here Fatso!" and "Hey Ugly, you're going the wrong way!"? Loved Race Bannon and all the snappy banter on that show.
Tom
I never watched it when I was young. It was on late in the morning, as Charlie remembers, and it wasn't funny. I wanted funny, or costumed super-heroes. So, if the TV was still on at that time, I wouldn't be tuned in to Jonny Quest. However, many decades later...My wife got the DVD collection about 5 or 6 years ago. It is a show we watched with our young daughter, starting when she would have been around 6 or 7. We all loved it! It is one of those shows that works as a show, and for an early discussion about what makes a cartoon or drawing good.
The Adult Swim show Harvey Birdman did a show about J.Q. Race sues Benton for custody of the kids. It is funny and the voices are amazingly accurate! My favorite bits are Jonny complaining that his dad can't even throw a baseball and a Lizardman taking the stand in court.
Hey Charlie, nice thought but I just don't have the chops to lead that discussion.
Aside from a brief Asterix phase and the inevitable Alan Moore I've been a mainstream American comic fan all my life. Perhaps someone else wants to pick up that particular baton?
Luther Manning- not familiar with "Venture Brothers", but I will have to look into it...
Colin Bray- if you catch a few JQ episodes, let us know what you think!
PFG- "Invisible Monster" was a great episode; the weird 'shrieking' the creature made still gives me the creeps. By the way, that very episode was adapted in an issue of the Comico comic series; very nicely I might add.
Disneymarvel- great stories! Those production cells must be absolutely awesome.
Tom- very well remembered! You're quite right, "Dragons of Ashida" did feature Race vs. a Sumo, who had an affinity for giant lizards.
Johnny Quest was never on here, but I would have loved it as a kid. We DID get Mightor, briefly, which I was crazy for. I'm pretty sure it was only shown here two or three times though. Cartoons would always be bumped here (in Australia) when the cricket was on.
It did turn into one of those Saturday-around-lunchtime shows by the early 70's, didn't it? There were just a few that tended to hold onto that slot, depending on what station you were watching. The Monkees, Aquaman, Jonny Quest, Adventures of Superman--- just thinking about any of those shows summons the flavor-memory (now lost to my tastebuds!)of baloney sandwiches, wavy potato chips, and chocolate milk w/ Hershey's syrup. It makes me hungry for those childhood staples. . . !
HB
I was out all day and missed todays discussion. But real quick, if you're a fan of Johnny Quest and you've never seen this, you owe it to yourself to give it a look. You will not be disappointed.
https://vimeo.com/28278839
As usual I'm late to these shindigs, but let merely say that Quest is best. My all-time favorite cartoon show bar none. Maybe my all-time favorite TV show too. If I only ever got to watch one again, it might be Doug Wildey's Hanna-Barbera masterpiece.
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