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?
