Johnny Quest!

[Steve Jordan]

The opening, in a deep, stylish animation style... an insistent drumbeat and dramatic music come up as you are presented with:
Dangerous asps slithering across a dusty floor;
A Pterodactyl on the wing;
Armed men on hovercraft;
A giant condor snatching a dog on the run;
Frogmen in speedboats chasing around the Sargasso Sea;
A mummy stalking his prey;
and Army troops firing howitzers at a strange, spider-looking robot with one eye!

Man, there was nothing like the excitement of the original Johnny Quest! And how could a boy resist watching? I mean, who wouldn't want to travel with his brilliant scientist father, his own personal bodyguard, his dog, and his best friend, on adventures in the far corners of the world?

It always amazed me that Johnny Quest lasted for only 1 season, and that it inspired... pretty much nothing... to follow in its footsteps. We would have been a richer planet with more animated material of that caliber.

 

[Pyan]

Here we go!

Jonny Quest Theme

Classic!

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, that was probably one of the things that caused my downfall.... After watching Johnny Quest when I was a little tyke, is it any wonder that I've been a big fan of Doc Savage, The Shadow, and all the rest of the pulp heroes? High art they ain't... but wonderful, they certainly are......

 

[Laura Stamps]

And how could a boy resist watching? I mean, who wouldn't want to travel with his brilliant scientist father, his own personal bodyguard, his dog, and his best friend, on adventures in the far corners of the world?

It always amazed me that Johnny Quest lasted for only 1 season, and that it inspired... pretty much nothing... to follow in its footsteps. We would have been a richer planet with more animated material of that caliber.

You are kidding, right? I LOVED Johnny Quest!!! And it was only on for one season? Wow, I didn't realize that, but I was only 6-7 at the time, and things last forever when you are a kid. Amazing. Such a great show with such great music surely should have gone on to become a movie or something. Bummer. I think a lot of girls loved that show as much as I did. Or maybe that was because I was a "tomboy" back then.

I also loved the original "Lost in Space." I lived through TV shows when I was a kid, and was always a fan of those with nice families. Yes, that means I loved "The Brady Bunch" and "Family" too (no snickering!). I think you gravitate to the things you don't have, and I have to say sitcoms did a great job of filling that hole in my life when I was a kid.

 

[Steve Jordan]

Here we go!

Jonny Quest Theme

Classic!

Gawd, that felt good! And I actually forgot about the Kimodo Dragons in the opening! And now that Quest is out on video, I have to get around to buying the series.

That opening showcased the program so well, especially the wonderful art style of the series. It's a shame that Doug Wildey, the man behind the design of the show, didn't do any other similar projects for Hanna Barbera (or anyone else, for that matter).

J.D., imagine if Wildey had applied that style to a Doc Savage cartoon!

 

[Steve Jordan]

You are kidding, right? I LOVED Johnny Quest!!! And it was only on for one season?

I was just as surprised when I discovered that fact, too! I think it was because every episode was so different from the others, that it gives the impression of years of material. But yes, there are apparently only 26 episodes, all on the DVD release.

Yeah, I would've loved to see that as a movie. In fact, when I heard that The Wachowskis were working on a Speed Racer live-action remake, my first thought was, "Why? No one's done Johnny Quest yet!"

Can we get some suggestions for actors and actresses to play the live-action Quest characters? I'll start off with a bearded George Clooney as Dr. Quest, and Brad Pitt as Race Bannon!

(Hey, if Brad will do Race, maybe Angelina Jolie will play Jezebel Jade!)

 

[Laura Stamps]

Yeah, I would've loved to see that as a movie. In fact, when I heard that The Wachowskis were working on a Speed Racer live-action remake, my first thought was, "Why? No one's done Johnny Quest yet!"

Speed Racer!!! I forgot all about "Speed Racer." Wow, I loved that one too! And they made a movie of it? Has it come out yet?

 

[j d worthington]

J.D., imagine if Wildey had applied that style to a Doc Savage cartoon!

That would have been great! Oh, they would have had to tone down the stories a bit (some of the stuff in some of them gets pretty brutal -- see The Freckled Shark or The Annihlist, for instance), but what a wonderful adventure series it would have been!!!

And Laura... yep. I knew quite a few girls who were really into Johnny Quest....

 

[Winter Lord]

Do you have an opinion on the updated version of it?

 

[Steve Jordan]

Do you have an opinion on the updated version of it?

From what little I saw, a pale version of the original. The animation was much worse, and the stories were incredibly tame and uninteresting. The whole thing seemed lackluster and watered-down.

About the Speed Racer movie, I think it's due out next summer.

 

[Revelation]

What, are you people living on the moon?

They have a spoof of this show on Adult Swim called Venture Brothers. Summary from IMDB.com reads:

'The warped misadventures of a former boy genius turned washed-up, middle-aged mad scientist Dr. Rusty Venture; his moronic teenage sons; their maniac bodyguard; and the Doctor's arch-nemeses, incompetent super villain The Monarch and his masculine paramour, Dr. Girlfriend.'

Here's the first episode

YouTube - venture bros s1e01

And if that gets taken off here's a search, I think the whole first season is there

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Get with the times people. SHEESH!!

 

[Steve Jordan]

What, are you people living on the moon? They have a spoof of this show on Adult Swim called Venture Brothers.

Seen it. Nothing wrong with Venture Brothers, either. But face it: Good spoofs are only made from good original material. Venture is only good because Johnny Quest was the best!

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

Ah the memories . . . . Thanks Steve for taking us down Memory Lane with this thread! Although Johnny Quest was truly sui generis, one must confess a certain fondness for Brock Samson: everyone's favourite mullet-weilding, testosterone-drenched, psychopathic family henchman.

Back in 2000 I had an opportunity to work on the Johnny Quest action figure line for Playing Mantis Toys. Here's a few images of one of my sculptures:

 

[Steve Jordan]

Very nice! You not only delivered a realistic image, but captured Wildey's style and lines beautifully! Did the toys make it out? (And if you did toys, did anyone make the jet?)

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

Very nice! You not only delivered a realistic image, but captured Wildey's style and lines beautifully! Did the toys make it out? (And if you did toys, did anyone make the jet?)

Thanks Steve! However, I always jokingly refer to this sculpt as "Young George Lucas"!

Unfortunately, the project was cancelled in midstream for some bizarre, arcane reason known only to the company president. The jet - or even Race Bannon and Professor Quest, for that matter - weren't even on the drawing boards at the time of cancellation and I only got as far as sculpting the likenesses for Johnny and his friend, Hadji. One can only wonder at what could have been . . . .

 

[Winter Lord]

Seen it. Nothing wrong with Venture Brothers, either. But face it: Good spoofs are only made from good original material. Venture is only good because Johnny Quest was the best!

Quest even appeared in it, as a middle-aged drug addict who was living in a deliect underwater habitat.