Jonny Quest (TV series)


 * This article is about the 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 action-adventure TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera (H-B) for ABC. It ran from 1964 to 1965, airing 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 questionable 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 between 1986 and 1987, airing 13 episodes on The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera programming block in syndicated markets. It was also referred to as The New Adventures of Jonny Quest to distinguish itself from the original '60s series. The new season is a diluted version of the original series where the danger remains the same, but the violence has been toned down. As a result of being made in the 1980s, there was also more focus on the science-fiction and monster elements taking away the original series realism, as believable or non-believable as it was.

In a surprising move, they are joined by--wait for it--a giant living statue could Hardrock. Hardrock never appeared again after this season, although he was parodied in The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest episode "Rock of Rages."

While the 80s Jonny Quest cartoon may have failed to achieve the same popularity, there was also a relatively more successful 80s Jonny Quest comic book series published by Comico, which lasted 31 issues, along with several other limited series and 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 Fred Dekker, Richard Donner, Peyton Reed, Chris Columbus, and Robert Rodriguez. Stay tuned!

The original first season has been released on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The revamped second season has also been released on DVD.

Development
According to Joseph Barbera's interview with Comico, the revival may have been initiated due to the growing trend of action-adventure films taking place in exotic locales, such as Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone, as well as interest from movie studios in turning Jonny Quest into a live-action feature.

In the pre-production phase, the second season was intended to last as long as 39 episodes, with more backstory between Race and Jade, who ended up being dropped altogether, and a larger role for the one-off character, Jessie Bradshaw. One could say the significant reduction in episodes stopped that from happening, while on the other hand, it seems more like a behind-the-scenes issue. Delving into more fleshed-out roles and the larger presence of females seemed to be less important than Hardrock.

Music
The theme song and a lot of the score were composed by Hoyt Curtin, but he did not remain throughout the season, leaving Ted Nichols to take over, although only Curtin is credited. Curtin returned to his role by the second season. Also in the second season, Joanne Miller was the music coordinator.

Cast

 * Tim Mathieson (season one) and Scott Menville (season two) as Jonny Quest
 * Don Messick as Dr. Benton Quest and Bandit
 * Mike Road (season one) and Granville Van Dusen (season two) as Race Bannon
 * Danny Bravo (season one) and Rob Paulsen (season two) as Hadji
 * Jeffrey Tambor as Hardrock

In popular culture

 * The series is parodied in the Mike Tyson Mysteries episode "My Favorite Mystery." Season three occasionally used an opening sequence with scenes from "My Favorite Mystery." Mike Tyson Mysteries was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Adult Swim.