Jonny Quest

Original 1964 ? 1965 show

Inspiration

Jonny Quest was designed to evoke both the drama of a dramatic adventure radio serial, and the fantasy of a comic book. Unlike earlier H-B programs, violence was not shied away from, but used to add suspense and impact to the show.

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The show?s most notable inspiration comes from the classic old-time radio serial Jack Armstrong. In fact, Hanna-Barbera had originally intended to produce an animated adaptation of Jack Armstrong,. Hiring noted comic book artist Doug Wildey, H-B began negotiations with Jack Armstrong's copyright owners, and produced a test Jack Armstrong pilot in 1962. Negotiations failed through, and the Jack Armstrong project was retooled into Jonny Quest an original series based on a similar idea. Scenes from the Jack Armstrong test film were incorporated into the Jonny Quest closing credits montage: they are the scenes of the red-haired boy and his father escaping from the African natives using a hovercraft.

Related Topics:
Jack Armstrong - 1962 - African - Hovercraft

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Other notable inspirations for Jonny Quest come from Milton Caniff?s adventure comic strip Terry and the Pirates (which was also a popular radio show), and the James Bond film Dr. No, which had inspired Joseph Barbera to develop an action-adventure program.

Related Topics:
Milton Caniff - Terry and the Pirates - James Bond - Dr. No - Joseph Barbera

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Characters, voice cast, and premise

Jonny Quest is an eleven-year-old boy, the son of Dr. Benton Quest, "one of the three top scientists in the world," and apparently something of a Renaissance man; his scientific and technical know-how spans many fields. Mrs. Quest is dead, the apparent victim of one of the many plots against Dr. Quest, and seldom mentioned. These plots made it necessary for Dr. Quest and his son to be assigned a bodyguard, Roger "Race" Bannon, a former intelligence agent who guards and tutors Jonny and Dr. Quest's adopted second son, an Indian boy named Hadji, who is seldom seen without his jewelled turban and Nehru jacket. The Quests have a compound in the Florida Keys (the particular island is named Palm Key), but their adventures take them all over the world. Jonny's pet is a bulldog puppy named Bandit.

Related Topics:
Scientist - Renaissance man - Bodyguard - Intelligence agent - India - Turban - Nehru jacket - Florida Keys - Bulldog - Bandit

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Dr. Quest travels the globe studying scientific mysteries, which get him into scrapes with foes that range from espionage robots and electrical monsters to Egyptian mummies. Although most menaces were unique to the episode, one occasionally recurring foe is known as Dr. Zin, an Oriental mastermind. There is also Race Bannon's mysterious old flame, Jezebel Jade, who occasionally appears.

Related Topics:
Espionage - Robot - Electrical - Monster - Egypt - Mummies - Oriental

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Tim Matheson performed the voice of Jonny. Mike Road was "Race" Bannon, Danny Bravo was Hadji, and Dr. Benton Quest was voiced by John Stephenson for five episodes, and by Don Messick for the remainder of the shows. Messick also provided Bandit's vocal effects, which were combined with an archived clip of an actual dog's barking. The memorable theme music for the 1960s series, a percussion-heavy big band "spy jazz" piece with no lyrics, was written by Hoyt Curtin. The character Hadji was noted as the first major non-white character to be presented as an equal sympathetic participant in the stories in American television. A Jonny Quest comic book (a retelling of the first TV episode, Mystery of the Lizard Men) was published by Gold Key in 1964. Comico began publication of a Jonny Quest series in 1986, with the first issue featuring Doug Wildey's superb touch. The series ran for 31 issues, with 2 specials and 3 classic issues (wonderfully drawn by Doug Wildey) retelling three of the TV episodes (Shadow of the Condor, Calcutta Adventure, and Werewolf of the Timberland). The series attracted Doug_Wildey for several more covers, as well as Steve Rude and other famous artists. The series also spun-off a 3-issue series named Jezebel Jade which told the story of Jade's relationship (and adventures) with Race Bannon.

Related Topics:
Tim Matheson - Voice - Mike Road - Danny Bravo - John Stephenson - Don Messick - Theme music - Percussion - Big band - Jazz - Hoyt Curtin - Doug Wildey - Doug_Wildey - Steve Rude

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Jonny Quest first aired on September 18, 1964 on the ABC network, and was an almost instant success, both critically and ratings-wise. It was cancelled after only one season, not because of poor ratings, but because of the fact that each episode of the show went over budget with regularity. Notably more realistic and detailed than previous Hanna-Barbera prime time programs such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons, Jonny Quest required an attention to detail that ABC was unable to afford. Since its initial run on ABC, it has been shown in re-runs on NBC and CBS as well as various incarnations on cable.

Related Topics:
September 18 - 1964 - The Flintstones - The Jetsons

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Saturday morning reruns and controversy

Reruns of the show were broadcast on various networks? Saturday morning lineups beginning in 1967. On Saturday morning, Jonny Quest became one of the main targets of parental watchdog groups such as Action for Children's Television (ACT). With its multiple on-screen deaths, murder attempts, uses of firearms and deadly weapons, and tense moments, Jonny Quest was decried as the epitome of what was wrong with Saturday morning cartoons, regardless of that fact that it indeed was not an original Saturday morning cartoon. The reruns were taken off the air in 1972, but returned to Saturday morning, in edited form, periodically afterwards

Related Topics:
Saturday morning - 1967 - 1972

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