Finally! Johnny Quest is on DVD!
If you’re of the right age, you know without me even telling you that Johnny Quest used to be the coolest thing going on Saturday morning–by far!
In case you aren’t lucky enough to remember Johnny Quest, the series was a thirty minute action/adventure cartoon that started airing back in 1964. It instantly became a classic, and it has remained famous for the last forty years. The main cast includes:
- Dr. Benton Quest–a SCIENTIST (not specializing in any particular kind of
science, just whatever the episode was about that week) who globetrots, solving
mysteries for the U.S. intelligence community.
- Johnny Quest–his intelligent, irrepressible son who is drawn into the
adventures by his father’s globetrotting.
- Roger "Race" Bannon–a government agent assigned to protect Johnny to keep
him from being kidnapped and used to blackmail his father.
- Hadji–Johnny’s best friend, an orphaned boy from India, and
- Bandit–Johnny’s irrepressible, comic-relief dog.
Man, Johnny Quest was cool! The series was drawn on a limited, 1964 TV animation budget, so it used limited animation techniques in order to avoid breaking the budget, but it used the animation in creative and striking ways that make it far more interesting to look at than typical TV animation. It features the intriguing, stylistic designs of animator Alex Toth (who also designed Space Ghost and other classic animation series of the period) and detailed backgrounds that are covered with detail. The series’ premise takes the characters to exotic locations around the globe and confronts them with powerful, sometimes supernatural threats–further adding to the visual dynamism of the series.
Also outstanding is the writing. The scripts are intelligent and (despite the fantastic premise of the series) far more realistic than most animated series. Some of the stuff in the scripts would never make it onto Saturday morning TV today. Consider:
In one episode, Johnny, Hadji, and Race are in a South American jungle when they counter a panther who is about to kill a native man. Race has only a second to act, so to save the man he SHOOTS THE PANTHER. Notice that I didn’t say “stuns the panther with a sonic disruptor pistol.” He SHOOTS IT WITH A RIFLE. Then, rather than letting the boys approach the native, who has the panther laying at his feet, Race tells them to stay where they are and then he SHOOTS THE PANTHER AGAIN to make SURE it’s dead. (Remember: There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal.)
Yes! That’s what you’re SUPPOSED to do in that situation! Save human life and keep it safe, even if it means killing an animal–a valuable lesson in life (one that everybody used to learn) that you’d NEVER see on a modern, politically correct, eco-friendly, Captain Planet-y cartoon.
What a breath of fresh air a show like Johnny Quest is after years of agenda-driven pablum in animated form. It’s striking, intelligent, focused–and even delightfully scary at times for a boy of a certain age. It stresses virtues like loyalty, determination, inventiveness, and facing one’s fears–and it does so without preaching at the audience. The heroes display these virtues naturally while the series stays focused on the STORY instead of wallowing in introspection and self-doubt before finally summoning up the courage to do the right thing.
The current DVD set includes ALL the original Johnny Quest episodes (despite the misleading “Complete First Season” label; the manufacturer apparently is treating a 1986 sequel series as the “second season”), so when you buy this you’ll be getting all the favorite episodes you remember from childhood.
Whether you want to revive memories of Johnny Quest from your own childhood, want to share it with your own, appropriately-aged children, or appreciate it for the first time, hop on board the hovercraft and watch Johnny and the gang face a truckload of evil scientists, enemy agents, and wicked cool monsters.
Man, Jimmy, you get cooler and cooler. First the B5 references, then the Stargate references and now this. I think you’d fit in just fine with my local geek-buddies. We go to this little Irish pub and talk religion, politics and history. Actually we do that no matter where we are. Those are the mandatory topics it seems.
Isn’t Amazon.com great?
Geek buddies??????????? Well yeah I guess I been called worse. Site is cool
Jonny Quest was the best. I loved the hover craft. Why isn’t a similar craft available commercially yet? I want one, now! 🙂
Was the teen version of JQ from ’86?
I thought it was more recent, but anyway, that was pretty good to.
Good taste, all around, on this blog.
There was another remake of the series in the 1990s as well. That’s the teen version, if I am not mistaken.
Personally, I never liked “Johnny Quest”. I didn’t like how they portrayed Hadji. Come to think of it, a lot of the cartoons from that generation were pretty offensive…
-Hong Kong Fooey
-Charlie Chan
-Scooby Doo (Mandarin character)
I’ll stick my 80s cartoons… Transformers, Thundercats, and Voltron rocked! 🙂
I missed Johnny Quest, when did it air? I grow up watching the Transformers, Thunder Cats and my absoulutely favorite cartoon GI Joe: The American Hero (GI Joe is their)
I missed Johnny Quest, when did it air? I grow up watching the Transformers, Thunder Cats and my absoulutely favorite cartoon GI Joe: The American Hero (GI Joe is there)
I missed Johnny Quest, when did it air? I grow up watching the Transformers, Thunder Cats and my absoulutely favorite cartoon GI Joe: The American Hero (GI Joe is there. Yo joe!
Well… Maybe geek buddies was too strong a word, but what else do you call a bunch of 30 something computer guys (mostly) who go to bars to talk politics, history and why Kerry shouldn’t be allowed to receive communion? I proudly wear the label of History-Politics-Religion Geek! 🙂
See, I knew this is why you’re my favorite apologist. I wonder if Karl Keating ever gets as geeky as this? 😛
See, I knew this is why you’re my favorite apologist. I wonder if Karl Keating ever gets as geeky as this? 😛
Love your site, grew up with Johnny, and can not figure out what kids see in some of the cartoons these days. The Johnny Quest cartoon came up in a discussion the other day and I decided to google Johnny, was pleasantly surprised and happy he has not been forgotten!
Great Site!
Sheila
Those of a certain age remember when JQ was on originally, in primetime, much cooler than Saturday morning.
I too am old enough to remember when Johnny Quest was on at 7:30 in the evening. Primetime started earlier then. Not only that but we had a color TV and this show was in color too! The Flinstones was one of the first if not the first cartoon to air in Primetime. Johnny Quest and one of the super-marionettes series – I think it was “Supercar”. You may also remember that the MARVEL comics series also ran at night with each night dedicated to a different Marvel superhero. Let’s see it was Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk and IronMan.
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