Jonny Quest (TV series)


 * This article is about the 1964 TV series. For the character, see Jonny Quest (character). For other uses, see Jonny Quest.

Jonny Quest, also known as The Adventures of Jonny Quest, is an American animated sci fi-action-adventure TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera (H-B) for ABC. It ran from 1964-1965, for 26 episodes.

In the series, Jonny's widowed father, Dr. Benton Quest, is a renowned scientist from Florida called on by the fictional U.S. government Intelligence One to investigate paranormal phenomena from a scientific perspective. Due to the danger that comes with Dr. Quest's missions, the aforementioned government assigns Race Bannon to act as Jonny's bodyguard (and for some reason tutor), as the son tags along, although Race tends to spend more time acting as a sidekick to Dr. Quest. Suffice to say, it's more of a Dr. Quest show than a Jonny Quest show, but kids aren't going to relate to a bearded guy in his 40s. Other characters include Hadji, an Indian child who was adopted by Dr. Quest, and Jonny's yappy, pint-sized dog, Bandit.

The series was canceled due to the high production costs, but given another shot in 1985, with the same title (although has also been referred to as The New Adventures of Jonny Quest to distinguish itself from the original), although this did not do well and lasted only thirteen episodes. Relatively more successful at the same time of the new series, Comico also published an ongoing comic book series which lasted 31 issues, along with several other specials.

In the 1990s, there were several other animated revival attempts, including two televised films, and a 52-episode long TV series called The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, yes, this time the adventures are REAL. The length of episodes was not due to a high viewership, but because of a contracted order that was to coincide with a multi-million dollar merchandising scheme that was expected to take kids by storm, but unfortunately failed to succeed, half the reason being was due to an extremely troubled production from the beginning, requiring a complete overhaul in the middle of the series with a new set of hands. But more on that on the page itself.

Since the 1990s, a live-action film has been in demand, but not enough for an official greenlight and has simply languished in development hell, despite having writers and directors tapped such as Richard Donner and Robert Rodriguez. Stay tuned!

Music
The music is composed by Hoyt Curtin and Ted Nichols, with the theme song composed by the former.

Cast

 * Tim Mathieson as Jonny Quest
 * Don Messick as Dr. Benton Quest and Bandit
 * Mike Road as Race Bannon
 * Danny Bravo as Hadji

In popular culture

 * The opening theme of Mike Tyson Mysteries, a Warner Bros. Animation/Adult Swim series, evokes Jonny Quest.