TV: Jonny Quest, Disc 1

JQ is an old favorite, obviously.  It always seemed to hold up better than much of its 60s Hanna-Barbara brethren, and since it's been the requisite five years since I watched the DVDs, I thought it'd be a good breather series between one-hour shows.

Given its age,  you have to be prepared to accept the cold-war morality of the series, and endure heaping helpings of annoying comedy relief in the form of Jonny's dog, Bandit. 

At thirty minutes per episode, there're few plot points to "unpack," particularly when many episodes are regrettable variations on the Scooby Doo formula, so I'll be keeping these brief.



Episode 1: Mystery of the Lizard Men

Five ships have been destroyed over the last month, in the desolate Sargasso sea by a combination of frog-lizard-men and a searing laser. This of course is a job for File 037 (Quest File 037 might have been the title of the series) Dr. Benton Quest, and so most of our principals are introduced:

To protect Quest's ten-year-old son,  (the eponymous Jonny; future legitimate b-list actor Tim Matheson) -- and, thus, Benton's "value to science," as an investigating officer euphemises --the CIA has embedded Roger "Race" Bannon  as bodyguard/tutor. Mike Road, one of the true greats of heroic cartoons, supplies Race's voice.  Road isn't as versatile as many in the 60s HB stable -- his variations begin and end with "ESL Race" --  but he makes up for that with  authority to burn.

Doctor Quest, voiced (usually) by the equally storied Don Messick is the odd-man out of our cast, often though not always reduced to the roles of hostage, parent-in-danger, or science exposition farm.  Consider that by the end of the series, Messick logged roughly three times as much dialogue supplying the yapping barks of Bandit.

Suspicious, Quest feeds the facts of the Sargasso attacks to  UNICE, his Unitized Neutronic Information CEnter.  It confirms the Doctor's suspicions (they're frequently confirmed and announced at the same time) that a "focused atomic radiation" beam is the likely ship-killer.   After a brief explanation of this exotic technology for the folks in TV-land, the Quest team leaves at once for the Sargasso.

When we transition, our heroes have been combing the Sargasso for five days without incident.   Jonny asks to explore one of the wrecks which just so happens to be the bad guys' base.  The villains' true motive is to shoot down the "man to the moon" rocket, presumably launching from Florida.   Dr. Quest's foresight to bring a large mirror on the trip foils the evil scheme.

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Anachronisms: All that "atomic" jazz, and UNICE's 5-letter display!

Chekhov:  Race teaches Jonny judo throws.

Pros: Coincidences aside, it's a fairly solid pilot episode, introducing the principals (except Hadji), and doesn't lean too heavy on Bandit.

Cons: It does blaze a trail HB would widen to a super-highway with Scooby Doo's elaborate-means-to-frighten-the-unwanted-meddlers shtick.

Grade: B

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Episode 2: Arctic Splashdown

American missile crashes in the arctic via nefarious foreign plot.   The Quests rush to recover the missile before the non-specific communist nation.  Two attack jets and a submarine full of goons are no match for Dr. Quest's brain (and brawn!)

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Chekhov:  Race teaches Jonny how to drive the snow skimmer, who trains Hadji -- but this time Hadji can't escape.

Pros:  In another subversion of the series' tropes, Dr. Quest muscles two of the goons himself while Race is locked up!

 Cons: "What do you suppose that explosion could have been, Doctor?!"  Once again, Bandit is key to the mission's success.

Grade: C

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Episode 3: The Curse of Anubis

Somewhere in the fluid-bordered middle east,  a mummy stirs.  An old friend of Benton, Ahmed Karim, summons the team to his trap.  Having stolen the ancient statue of Anubis, he means to pin the crime on the infidels.  When the world learns of Dr. Quest's treachery, the arab nations will be united, and Anubis the mummy will bless them like some animation-safe representation of their faith.


Pros: Villain independent of Cold War mentalities, could be timely in present-day setting.  Also, a smaller Bandit quotient.

Cons:Mummy-ex-tomb ending.

Grade: B

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Episode 4: Pursuit of the Po-ho

Another of Quest's old friends, in the midst of deep anthropological  fieldwork has been captured by the primitive Po Ho tribe. Since Quest is the only other person in the world who speaks the Po Ho language, the team rushes to the rescue.

Anachronisms: Race and Benton both doing the "God" act for the natives -- the sort of thing that barely worked on Gilligan's Island. "Look at how these savages are reacting!"

Anachronism: Besides the obvious mistreatment of the primitive natives (so egregious the dvd release cuts some of Race's, erm, race-baiting), Emil's wife is good for nothing but babysitting and calling for help.

Chekhov: Studying is good!

Pros:  Race's god ruse not wholly without drawbacks...

Cons: Bandit gets his ass kicked by a crab.

Grade:  B

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Episode 5: Riddle of the Gold

Humble Palace of Doom! The thought-dead Professor Gundersen is making alchemical gold for an eeevil maharaja, who in turn is allied with Quest's arch-foe, Dr. Zin.


Chekhov: Cheetah chained the wall.  As in Disney films, the villains are often hoist upon their own petards, when not falling from cliffs.



Anachronisms: Steak is served on a flight to India? Really?

Pros:  Dr. Zin!  "I've only one thing to say, and you can quote me: Good Dog!"
Cons: Highly circuitous plan for both investigating and thwarting same.  And they're saved by Bandit again...


Grade: C

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Episode 6: Treasure of the Temple

We join the team en route to the "lost city," somewhere in the South American jungle.  Maybe where Forrestal cashed in.   Sadly, it's another pith-helmeted Scooby Doo villain, trying to scare the impetuous while he seeks an ancient treasure.  Which Jonny finds in five seconds, of course.

Chekhov: "Gosh, I'd sure hate to have [a stalagtite] fall on me!"

Anachronisms: More superstitious primitives.

Pros:  Benton's  "Don't look back, boys.  There's nothing we can do," as the aussie villain is ripped to pieces by crocodiles offscreen.

Cons: Race, who successfully wrestles giant crocodile, is waylaid by a spider web.

Grade: B-

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Episode 7: Calcutta Adventure

Finally, the Hadji origin episode. The boy was just another loincloth-and-turban-clad snake charmer sitting on the street outside prestigious Calcutta University.  But then one day he thwarted an assassination attempt on an American scientist, who quickly bought him lunch, a swanky Nehru jacket, and then adopted him!

There's also some jazz about secret chemical plants, sheep-herders, and sonic weapons.

Anachronisms:  Pasha Peddler's swinging hepcat jive.

Pros:  Another episode whose villains could easily be updated to a modern era.

Cons: Upon spying the assassin in a nearby window, Jonny and Hadji go to investigate without a word of protest from Benton and Race!


Grade: B+