Jonny Quest (often referred to as The Adventures of Jonny Quest) is a science fiction/adventure animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and created and designed by comic book artist Doug Wildey, about the adventures of a young boy who accompanies his father on extraordinary adventures. Jonny Quest ran on ABC in prime time for one season in 1964 - 1965. After spending two decades in reruns, new episodes were produced for syndication in 1986. Two telefilms and a spin-off series (The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest) later revived the characters for the 1990s.
Original 1964-1965 show
Inspiration
Jonny Quest was designed to evoke both the drama of a dramatic adventure radio serial, and the fantasy of a comic book. Unlike earlier H-B programs, violence was not avoided, but used to add suspense and impact to the show.
The show’s most notable inspiration comes from the classic old-time radio serial Jack Armstrong. In fact, Hanna-Barbera had originally intended to produce an animated adaptation of Jack Armstrong. Hiring noted comic book artist Doug Wildey, H-B began negotiations with Jack Armstrong's copyright owners, and produced a short (approximately one-minute) Jack Armstrong test animation sequence in 1962. Negotiations fell through, and the Jack Armstrong project retooled into Jonny Quest, an original series based on a similar idea. Scenes from the Jack Armstrong test film were incorporated into the Jonny Quest closing credits montage: they are the scenes of the red-haired boy and his father escaping from the African natives using a hovercraft. The test sequence and a number of drawings and storyboards by Doug Wildey were used to sell the series to ABC and sponsors.
Other acknowledged inspirations for Jonny Quest come from Milton Caniff’s adventure comic strip Terry and the Pirates (which was also a popular radio show), and the James Bond film Dr. No, which had inspired Joseph Barbera to develop an action-adventure program.
Characters, voice cast, and premise
Jonny Quest (or Jonathan T. Quest) is a ten- or eleven-year-old boy (his exact age is never stated in any of the show's episodes, though a 1964 ABC promotional trailer gives Jonny's age as eleven), the son of Dr. Benton Quest.Tim Matheson performed the voice for Jonny.
Dr. Benton Quest, "one of the three top scientists in the world," and apparently something of a Renaissance man; his scientific and technical know-how spans many fields. Dr. Benton Quest was voiced by John Stephenson for five episodes, and by Don Messick for the remainder of the shows.
Roger "Race" Bannon is a special agent / bodyguard / pilot from Intelligence One. Governmental fears that Jonny could "fall into the wrong hands" resulted in the assignment of Bannon to guard and tutor Jonny. Amusingly, whenever Race talks to Benton, he addresses him as "Doctor" or "Sir" in every sentence. Mike Road was the voice for Race Bannon.
Hadji is Dr. Quest's adopted son, an eleven-year-old Indian boy (his age was stated in one of the show's episodes, "Pirates from Below"). Hadji is seldom seen without his bejewelled turban and Nehru jacket. Hadji comes from Calcutta, India and sometimes displays hypnotic or telekinetic powers. Danny Bravo was the voice for Hadji. The character Hadji was noted as the first major non-white character to be presented as an equal, sympathetic participant in the stories in American television.
Bandit is Jonny's anthropomorphic pet bulldog. Bandit often provides comic relief. Although at least once ("Skull and Double Crossbones") he was instrumental in foiling the bad guys. Bandit is a small gray dog with black masklike coloration around the eyes (reminiscent of a raccoon)—hence the name "Bandit." Don Messick provided Bandit's vocal effects, which were combined with an archived clip of an actual dog's barking.
According to Jonny's file (read by government agent Corvin), his mother is dead (first episode, "Mystery of the Lizard Men"). The Quests have a compound in the Florida Keys (on the island of Palm Key), but their adventures take them all over the world. The Quest team travels the globe studying scientific mysteries, which get them into scrapes with foes that range from espionage robots and electrical monsters to Egyptian mummies and pterosaurs. Although most menaces were unique to the episode, one recurring nemesis is known as Dr. Zin, an Asian mastermind. The voices of Dr. Zin and other assorted characters were done by Vic Perrin, who is best remembered as the "Control Voice" for the original The Outer Limits television series. Race Bannon's mysterious old flame, Jezebel Jade, also occasionally appears.
Music
The memorable theme music for the 1960s series, a percussion-heavy big band jazz piece with no lyrics, was written by Hoyt Curtin.
Network run and Saturday morning rerun
Jonny Quest first aired on September 18, 1964 on the ABC network, in prime time, and was an almost instant success, both critically and ratings-wise. It was canceled after one season, not because of poor ratings, but because each episode of the show went over budget. Notably more realistic and detailed than previous Hanna-Barbera prime time programs such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons, Jonny Quest required an attention to detail that ABC was unable to afford. Like the original Star Trek television series, this series would be a big money-maker in syndication but this avenue to profits was unknown when the show was canceled in 1965. Reruns of the show were broadcast on various networks’ Saturday morning lineups beginning in 1967.
The "classic" series was released to DVD as Jonny Quest: The Complete First Season in 2004. It should be noted that the Jonny Quest DVD set contained some minor editing of the episode "Pursuit of the Poho" (Race Bannon taunts a tribe of "Indians" by appearing to them as their water god, "Get a good look at Aquezio, you heathen monkeys."), as well as use of the same set of syndicated credits for all episodes.
Jonny Quest's place on Television
Jonny Quest debuted on Sept. 18, 1964 at 7:30 pm Eastern on ABC. It remained a Friday night favorite until Dec. 31, 1964 when it was moved to Thursdays at 7:30 pm Eastern. The first episode was "The Mystery of the Lizard Men" and television cartoons were changed forever. The last first-run show ("The Sea Haunt") was aired on March 11, 1965 ; the last prime-time rerun (also "The Sea Haunt") was broadcast on Sept. 9, 1965. But, despite its brief one season initial run, Jonny Quest was far from finished!
