TV: Jonny Quest, Disc 2

Episode 8: The Robot Spy

This is the quintessential Jonny Quest episode. Anyone who half-remembers the series will recall this episode's titular robot above and beyond everything in the series except maybe Jonny himself. The spy is a terror against conventional arms, though Dr. Quest's experimental para-power ray brings it down.

Pros: The boys are pretty much sidelined throughout the episode.

Cons: Depends on Quest's ignoring the obvious Trojan Horse. Further, Zin's aircraft and voice-controlled spy are cooler inventions than the project he's attempting to steal.



Grade: A

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Episode 9: Double Danger


In an effort to solve the space program's problems with human frailty, Benton heads us off to Thailand to find a rare hallucinogenic vine which could keep a crew alert for up to twenty years! Unfortunately, it could be abused, leading to a worldwide epidemic of manic housecleaning and the collapse of the burgeoning service economy.

Dr. Zin wants to be that abuser. He's acquired the best Race Bannon lookalike evil money could buy. A timely visit from Jade helps expose the plot...
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Anachronisms: An ancient Buddha is destroyed for no reason.

Pros: Jade (her first appearance in the series, though it's not treated as such).

Cons: Highly unconvincing switch of Race for his double; nobody even notices his shirt is different!




Grade: D

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Episode 10: Shadow of the Condor



The Andes, home of condors with distinctly prehistoric squawks. Engine trouble forces the team to land at the mountain hideaway of famed Baron Heinrich von Frohlich, the sausage king of the Andes. Actually, he's an embittered WW1 ace brooding over his lost chance at an even 100 kills. He's spent the last decades shooting at the damnably loud condors and beating his native manservant.

Impressed by Race's ability to set the Q-jet down on the barely-prop-rated airstrip, Frolich contrives a Most Dangerous Game by loaning Race his Spad to fly to civilization for help. Offsetting Race's youthful reflexes by neglecting to arm the Spad's guns, Frolich learns too late that while he's hunting Race, those condors are hunting him.

Chekhov:  Condors, lots of condors.


Pros:  Julio proving the old Eskimo proverb: A man who whips a dog will pull his own sled, someday.

Cons: The Baron's machinations are so transparent, even the characters notice.

Grade: C+


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Episode 11: Skull and Double Crossbones
 
Somewhere in the deep sea, Benton is studying the effects of water pressure on fish.  Really.

Fully ten minutes of the episode pass while the boys frolic with local marine life and teach Bandit to scuba dive before Jonny finally stumbles on the plot: an ancient wreck festooned with gold.   The sight of a spare doubloon calls in wince-worthy latin stereotype and cook Jose's real boss: Jackie Gleason the pirate, who quickly takes everyone hostage.   Naturally. Bandit, outfitted with Chekhov's aqualung, saves the tax-trained killer, the pulp-adventure scientist, and two of the most resourceful ten-year-olds on the planet, all of whom have outwitted more formidable opponents.



Pros: The scuba gear muffles Bandit's yapping.

Cons: Another duplicitous native guide! Who's vetting these guys?


Grade: F


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Episode 12: The Dreadful Doll

Another study of undersea life is interrupted by a voodoo emergency on a nearby island! The natives have turned on the french colonists (subtle!), resorting to drums, blowguns, and the titular dreadful dolls to scare the remaining frogs into leaving their homes.   When Benton intervenes to find an antidote to the "voodoo curse" afflicting the last frenchman's libertine daughter, the witch doctor pays a house call to scare him off.

Is this connected to a submarine base espied by Jonny during a swim?

Pros: Benton as man-of-action, going so far as to threaten the life of the witch doctor:  "I don't believe in voodoo! Especially yours!"  Better, this time the native ally is actually loyal.

Cons: Another Cold War plot in Scooby Doo trappings.  As usual, covert operations are very short on manpower.

Grade: C-


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Episode 13: A Small Matter of Pygmies

This episode asks: Are pygmies warm and friendly people?   Race and the boys ponder the question while hiking from a plane crash in the midst of a remote pygmy-controlled jungle. A tense series of chases and escapes follow, ending with a long hilltop battle.

Pros: Race executes an already-downed "man-killing panther," prompting a Wahl-worthy look of horror from JQ.

Cons: That final hilltop is improbably full of anti-personnel weapons.

Grade: B+

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Episode 14: Dragons of Ashida

On the island he humbly named after himself,  the nakedly Yellow Peril villain (seriously, he looks like a slightly-younger Yellow Claw) named  Dr. Ashida maintains his genetic research: engineering giant lizards that have made him a god to the superstitious natives.

When Ashida's thirst for blood turns Benton's "sensitive western stomach," they decide to leave his hospitality, leading the insulted host to sic his dragons on them.

Chekhov: Yes, the dragons supply the comeuppance, with a little help from the abused manservant...


Pros: Very little Bandit!

Cons:  Besides the ludicrously dated portrayal of Ashida (he titters like Amadeus and has pointy devil ears!) we also see rock-hurling recycled from last week's pygmy showdown...

Grade: C