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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 17, 2021 15:36:01 GMT -5
For an adventure lover, I was born at a pretty fateful time period, in the mid-60s, as that was a pretty fertile period for adventure fiction in various media. Some of them I experienced after the fact, as they preceded my birth. Some I experienced in their heyday. There were James Bond movies, with the greatest Bond, Sean Connery. There were all of the spy adventure spin-offs, knock-offs and pure rip-offs that followed the success of Dr No: Matt Helm, Derek Flint, the Eurospy films (James Tont, Agent 077, Kommissar X), The Man From UNCLE, I Spy, Mission Impossible. There were the comics, like Secret Agent Corrigan, Modesty Blaise, the actual Bond strips, Steve Roper & Mike Nomad, Steve Canyon (when he wasn't bogged down in domestic troubles), The Phantom, Prince Valiant, Alley Oop (the dailies). Comics had tons of stuff going on, from the Marvel revolution to DC's Silver Age heroes, to various other publishers dipping their toes in there or carrying on traditions from the past, like Gold Key's Tarzan comics, Turok, Son of Stone, Dagar, Magnus Robot Fighter, Space Family Robinson, Tragg and the Sky Gods, Mighty Samson, etc. Saturday Morning was a cultural experience; but, the adventure material of the 60s led to busybody activists to lobby for reduced violence and more education. So, I started out seeing stuff like The Batman/Superman Hour, where Batman and Robin got to punch and kick the henchmen of the villains turn into the Super Friends, where they couldn't even touch the villains, only lasso them or ensnare them in energy beams or catch them in cages or nets. Adventure took a hit, but never fully disappeared. it tended to get played more for laughs, like Scooby Doo; but, every once in a while, the networks brought back one of those older shows as a rerun, to fill in the slot of a failed show. As such, I could revisit shows from when I was very young or see them for the first time, like Space Ghost, which ended before I was old enough to watch cartoons. There was one show I got to see at multiple stages of childhood, because it was so good and so memorable, it kept getting brought back. It started out on ABC, in prime time, then spent 3 years being run on CBS (where I originally saw it), then got brought back again and shown on NBC and in syndication. That show was The Adventures of Jonny Quest. Jonny Quest debuted in 1964, in prime time, on ABC. It was the brainchild (mainly, though several people were involved in the development) of comic artist and animator Doug Wildey. originally, Wildey was asked to adapt the popular radio series, Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy into a test reel pitch for the networks. The results were a 2-minute piece. However, either the rights were not to be had (or too expensive) or the footage convinced Hanna-Barbera they could create something they would own and Jack Armstrong became Jonny Quest (by way of the name Chip Balloo). The success of Dr No, the year before, convinced H-B to add spy elements and one of the early working titles was Quest File 037, before the name Jonny Quest was chosen. As it was, in the pilot episode, "Mystery of the Lizard men," we see a government agent open a file cabinet and pull out a file, marked File 037, which contains a dossier of Dr Benton Quest, son Jonny and bodyguard Race Bannon. Soon, Jonny gained an adopted brother, in the form of Indian street urchin Hadji Singh, who joined the group and Jonny's dog, bandit, as they travelled the world, exploring mysteries and having adventures. They also got the coolest theme music in television (I'd put it up against Mission Impossible and Hawaii 5-0 any day), from composer Hoyt Curtain.... BEST INTRO, EVER!!!!! You'll note the end credits, where we see two people riding a hovercraft, away from a horde of angry African tribesmen, into a futuristic aircraft. That is all that survives of the Jack Armstrong test reel. If you look closely at the aircrafts tail section, you can see the the Q was imposed over the original J & A logo, for Jack Armstrong. Also, you do not see a blond Jonny, but a red-haired kid and someone with dark hair. Jonny Quest drew inspiration from several sources, starting with Jack Armstrong, himself. The radio series began in 1933 and featured Jack traveling the globe, with his friends Bill and Betty Fairfield, whose Uncle Jim is an industrialist and his yacht serves as their transport to adventure. There was also the hugely popular comic strip, Terry & the Pirates, by Milt Caniff. The strip began in 1934 and caniff continued on it until 1946, when he left in a dispute with the syndicate and created a strip he would own, Steve Canyon. The strip featured a boy adventurer, Terry Lee, who travelled with soldier of fortune Pat Ryan, in Asia, where they ran into various bandits and prates, including a gang led by the mysterious Dragon Lady., a villain who was attracted to Pat and switched sides, on occasion (setting the template for just about every femme fatale in comics, from P-Gell, to Catwoman, to the Iron Maiden, among others). Wildey had worked as a ghost artist for Caniff on Steve Canyon, while he tried to sell his own strips. Other influences include the Tom Swift juvenile adventure books, which spawned the later Tom Swift Jr series. The original Tom Swift series ran from 1910-1941 and then the updated Tom Swift Jr ran from 1954-1971, with all kinds of science fiction and adventure plots. It has been suggested that the Rick Brant series of juvenile adventures might have been a source (published by Grosset & Dunlap, from 1947-1968), as the character lived on on island, off the coast of New Jersey, with his scientist father, who has adventures around the globe. However, Tom Swift predates it and it borrows literary elements from those adventures, but with more realistic science. jack Armstrong shared similar traits as did other adventure series. Given Wildey's age, and inclinations (and interviews) Terry & the Pirates is a very obvious inspiration (cited by Wildey), especially the look of the show, plus Tom Swift was the top juvenile sci-fi series, from which all others sprung. Even so, there had been other "Edisnoades," stories with inventor/scientist heroes, going back to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Rick Brant is a child of these as much as Jonny Quest. Surprisingly, for a series that stayed on tv as long as it did, originally, there was only one comic book adaptation, in the 1960s, from the usual suspect of Gold Key/Western, adapting "The Mystery of the Lizard Men," published in 1964, when the series debuted. There were no subsequent issues, even though Gold Key and Hanna-Barbera maintained a relationship until 1970, when H-B took the bulk of their licenses to Charlton. Wildey actually worked for Gold Key, on their Tarzan comics. Who knows why they didn't try to produce more, as it would seem a no-brainer. Instead, we would have to wait more than 20 years for another Jonny Quest comic book. In 1986, independent comic book publisher Comico obtained the rights to produce a Jonny Quest comic. If that seems odd, given their other big licensed title, at the time, was the hugely popular syndicated animated series Robotech (repurposed from 3 different Japanese anime series), you have to also note that Hanna-Barbera was launching a new version of Jonny Quest, for syndication... Sadly, H-B no longer had guys like Doug Wildey and Alex Toth who could do more realistic, moody art and this version looked like a cheaper, sanitized version, though it was not without its merits. In the 1990s, it was revived again, as The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, mixing 2-D and computer animation, as some of the adventures took place in virtual reality... The New Adv of Jonny Quest introduced a female character, jessie, the daughter of Race Bannon and Jezebel Jade. She would also horn in on the adventures in TRAOJQ. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea, as it gave young girls a character to identify with, though she was not as good a character as she could have been. Let's meet our cast: Dr Benton Quest-scientist and inventor, often called to consult on mysterious events or to defend his work from foreign spies. He is a widower, whose wife's death is only mentioned in the pilot episode, during the briefing scene and is never mentioned again. Dr Quest isn't just an egghead, as he can bust heads and shoot enemy grunts as well as Race, though people tend to forget that part. he was originally voiced by John Stephenson, in 5 episodes, before H-B stalwart Don Messick (voice of Scooby Doo and Bam-Bam Rubble) took over. The change occurred because Stephenson's voice was too similar to Mike Road, who handled Race Bannon. Jonny Quest-son of Benton, who shows his father's knack for science, though he is less disciplined about it, while also loving the outdoors and judo, taught to him by bodyguard/tutor Race Bannon. Jonny is impulsive, but also a quick thinker and pretty fearless, which both gets him into and out of dangerous situations. Jonny was voiced by a 16 year-old Tim Matheson, before he became Delta House Rush Chairman Eric "Otter" Stratton. Matheson had been acting for several years and would also voice Jayce, on Space Ghost. He later voiced a computer on a Jonny Quest direct-to-video adventure, which reunited much of the surviving cast. Jonny was heavily inspired by actor Jackie Cooper, in his child years, as he was a major star of movies, including Treasure Island, with Wallace Beery, as well as The Champ, also with Beery. Their screen relationship influenced much of Race and Jonny, as did that of Terry Lee and Pat Ryan. Race Bannon-bodyyguard for the Quests and tutor for the boys. Race is a government agent placed with the Quests, after the death of Jonny's mother. He is a tough and capable, an expert with firearms, a bullwhip and a highly skilled pilot. he has a past with the mysterious soldier of fortune Jezebell Jade. Race was voiced by Mike Road and was visually inspired by actor Jeff Chandler...  Hadji-Singh-an orphan, living on the streets of Calcutta, until he saves the life of Dr Quest from a knife attack and joins Dr Quest, race and Jonny, as they investigate the poisoning of a village, that leads them to a secret nerve gas laboratory, which race and dr Quest destroy. Hadji is adopted by Dr Quest and becomes Jonny's brother and adventure partner. Hadji was voiced by Danny Bravo, a child actor who had appeared in the films For The Love of Mike and The Magnificent Seven. His visual model was Indian-American actor Sabu, who starred in The Jungle Book and The Thief of Bagdad. Bandit-Jonny's pet bulldog and comic relief, for the series. Doug Wildey originally envisioned a white cheetah and a monkey as pets for the series, especially the monkey, for the story possibilities. The bulldog was pressed upon him by H-B, possibly at the request of a toy company, to market plush animals. Wildey wanted to keep the realism of the series, but bandit was done in the more traditional cartoon style. Wildey did his best to keep the animal's movements as realistic as possible, even if his personality was bit anthropomorphic. Also featured as recurring characters in the series were Jezebel Jade and Dr Zinn. jade is an old flame of Race Bannon and a mercenary adventuress. She was modelled after the Dragon Lady, from terry & the Pirates and was given a 1930s/40s styled hairnet, as a trademark. She was voiced by Cathy Lewis (who handled most of the female characters in the series). Dr Zin was an enemy power who was often in opposition to Dr Quest, a mixture of Fu Manchu and Dr No (who was a Fu clone, to start with). He was voiced by Vic Perrin, best known as the voice of Control, in the opening of The Outer Limits. The Comico series would actually feature the death of Jonny's mother and a connection between Dr Zin and Dr Quest. It even did an issue devoted to bandit, where the story is mostly seen and told through Bandit. Part way into the series, a love interest for Dr Quest was introduced, a social worker who comes to check on the welfare of Jonny and Hadji. Dr Zin and Jade turn up and Jade got her own 3-issue spinoff mini-series. A 3-issue mini also featured adaptations of cartoon episodes, under the title Jonny Quest Classics. Writing was almost entirely from William Messner-Loebs, who would also write The Flash, for DC, as well as write and draw his own series, Journey, for Aardvark-Vanaheim and Fantagraphics. The bulk of the art came from the duo of Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley, though several stories were done by guest artists, including Dave Stevens, Steve Rude, Dan Spiegle and Doug Wildey, himself. Adam Kubert handled the art on the Jezebel Jade mini. The Comico series lasted 31 highly regarded issues, plus 2 specials, the 3 Jonny Quest Classics and the 3-issue Jezebel jade mini-series. It has never been collected, nor has the Gold Key single issue. In 1996, Dark Horse published 12 issues of The real Adv of Jonny Quest, plus 3 Specials. More recently, Jonny has joined other H-B characters in Future Quest, at DC. This thread is about the real Jonny Quest and will focus on the Comico series; though, maybe, I'll take up the dark Horse stuff and Future Quest, if the material doesn't suck. However, we will begin where Jonny did, in comics, at Gold Key/Western. |
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Post by brutalis on Oct 17, 2021 15:58:03 GMT -5
There was 6 MUST SEE on Saturday mornings for cartoon watching. Many others where a watch if I was awake or NOT doing anything else. But I HAD to watch Scooby Doo, Flash Gordon, Star Trek, Return to the Planet of the Apes, Thundarr and JONNY QUEST. while the other 5 were great fun and had a share of hit and miss episodes, JQ was A+ from start to end with EVERY episode. The music, the action, the design, the animation. Simply stunning.
How good is Quest? Even both my brothers would watch. When my grandfather was at our home or I stayed over a weekend he would sit and watch with me. My MOTHER would sit and catch an episode every once in awhile. I consider that incredible, how a "simple" kids cartoon show crossed generational lines.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 17, 2021 16:38:29 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #1 Fairly typical cover for a Gold Key comic, based on a cartoon series. There are no credits on the issue; but, it follows the cel animation fairly closely, though not so much Wildey's model sheets Creative Team: ?? No one is credited, but Wildey created the model sheets for the characters and oversaw the production of the pilot episode, "The Mystery of the Lizard Men," upon which this is based. Synopsis: The story begins in the sargasso Sea area of the Atlantic Ocean, as a freighter moves through the waters, congested with the heavy sargassum seaweed. A lookout spots a bright light swinging toward the vessel and sounds the alarm, when the ship explodes in a blinding flash. The explosion is witnessed by a fishing boat, which radios an SOS, before it is attacked by a group of lizard-like men, who emerge from the waters and kill off the crew.  The fishing boat is destroyed and a amrine rescue plane is dispatched, in response to the SOS. A search turns up nothing, until a srvivor of the fishing boat is spotted floating on wreckage. He is picked up and brought to a hospital, where he feverishly mutters, in Portugese, about "lizard men" attacking them. A man named Corvin receives the intel and remarks that 5 ships have disappeared in the area and asks an agent for File 0-37. They head to Palm Key, the home of Dr Quest and Jonny, in the Florida Keys. Corvin briefs Agent Roberts, about Dr Quest, Jonny and agent Race Bannon, their bodyguard. We cut to the beach, where Jonny is having his lessons, with Race, including a bit of judo, as Race demonstrates how a person's weight and size can be used against them via leverage. he demonstrates on Bandit, flipping him over, with just his finger, then Jonny shows what he has learned, by throwing Race over his shoulder. They are interrupted by a call from Dr Quest to join him and they take the hydrofoil back to the pier at the Quest compound. Dr Quest fills Race and Jonny in about the intel provided by Corvin and he feeds the data into his computer, UNIS, which gives back the response that it suggests a laser weapon. Dr Quest demonstrates a laser for Jonny and Race and hypothesizes that someone has developed a very powerful laser weapon and may be testing it in the Sargasso Sea. The Quests and race head for the Sargasso Sea, via ship and Jonny spots an old wreck, caught in the seaweed beds. He asks to go exploring and Dr Quest agrees, after Race thinks it will be safe. Jonny, Race and Bandit take the hydrofoil over to the wreck and Bandit spots the heads of lizard men, in the water...  We see one of the lizardmen climb up a rope ladder, onto a wreck and enter a secret elevator, which takes him to a submarine, moored below. there, he reports into his superior about the intruders. The leader is wearing a similar scaled wetsuit, which is the source of the lizard appearance. he observes the hydrofoil from a periscope and orders them to be taken prisoner. Jonny and Race go aboard the shipwreck (an old sailing vessel) and haul Bandit up with them. they do not see one of the lizard men cut their mooring line, sending the hydrofoil adrift. They also do not see them sneak aboard. While Jonny and Race poke around, one of the lizard men grabs Bandit and silences him, to prevent an alarm. Jonny goes looking for his missing dog and is attacked by one of the men. Jonny uses his judo skills to throw the man, but gets pinned down by another. Race swings from the rigging to save him.  Unfortunately, Race overshoots and lands in the hold and is knocked unconscious. Jonny is taken prisoner, as is race. When he wakes, they are brought befor the commander, who explains what they are up to...  They are out to sabotage a manned moon mission. They are ordered to be locked up, and Race knocks aside a guard and yells for Jonny to run for it. Bodies go flying as Race and Jonny battle the foreign agents, then dive over the side, into the ocean, where they swim for the adrift hydrofoil. Bandit joins them and they take off, with the lizard men in close pursuit, in a motorboat.  Dr Quest spots the action from their ship and asks the deck gunner to give covering fire; but, the pursuing boat is too close to the hydrofoil. race uses the ship wreckage to confound the pursuers, eventually jumping the hyrdofoil, which lands on the pursuit boat, sinking it. The lizard men swing their laser cannon into position and destroy an abandoned tanker, setting surface oil on fire and blocking the hydrofoil. Race deploys the water foil and they pass through it. The laser is trained on the Quest ship, but Dr Quest has a large mirror positioned and it intercepts and reflects the beam back to its origin, destroying the cannon and the foreign agents. They then see the moon shot flying off in the distance and know it is safe. Thoughts: the story is a nearly shot-for-shot adaptation of the episode, though the art is far cruder than the animation. It is definitely not Doug Wildey or anyone of similar skill. The character models are only vaguely followed and there is variation between panels. Ironically, Wildey struggled with consistency in the series, since H-B's animators were far more used to cartoon animation and were not skilled in doing the moody, realistic style. Character models would vary in some episodes, between shots and some creatures, like the yeti, appeared far more like something that Yogi Bear would meet, than Jonny Quest. Anyone looking for the cool visuals of the animated series would be sadly disappointed, here, which might explain why they didn't do more, though Space Ghost also got only one issue and then a few stories in a combined H-B adventure comic (along with Birdman, the Heculoids and Mightor). The more cartoony shows were a better fit for Gold Key's artists; and some, like Scooby Doo, got better than they deserved (with Dan Spiegle handling that comic, from Gold Key up through it's late 70s Marvel run). This is pretty disappointing, though it captures the episode's story well, if not quite its atmosphere... The Sargasso Sea is an area of legends, 90% of which are pure hukum. Columbus first documented it, as he sailed through the sargassum, but depictions of it have been grossly exaggerated. the sargassum appears in patches and strands, not in dense thickets, choking ships. William Hope Hodgson's "From the Tideless sea," did much to perpetuate the idea of trapped shipwrecks, covered in the seaweed, as did Jules Verne's 20,ooo Leagues Under the Sea. Jonny Quest perpetuated this fallacy, with its images of old sailing vessels and cargo ships forever trapped in the region. If that were true it would have been a massive obstruction to shipping into the Caribbean, as it falls within the arbitrarily assigned region of the Bermuda Triangle, which covers numerous shipping lanes. However, never let reality get in the way of a good yarn. I always liked the idea of the lizard men's hidden base, camouflaged by the wrecks. In the episode, the elevator goes from a locker on a ship to the submarine, via a transparent tube. The pursuit boat emerges from a hidden boathouse, as a piece of a wrecked ship swings up, like a garage door, and they fly out, at high speed. Because of the 2-D stylings, it is never clear if the agents wear scaly wetsuits, to give the idea of sea animals, or just wetsuits, with sargassum hanging off of them. I'm guessing there was a bit of inspiration from the Creature of the Black Lagoon (which is the mascot for the US Navy SEALs). This kind of camouflage appears again, as we see a gargoyle that comes to life, as well as fake yeti and werewolves, in future episodes. Mixed in will be real monsters, like genetically modified komodo dragons, crabs, and even invisible monsters. Next time: we begin the proper exploration of the excellent Comico series, as Doug Wildey is reunited with his creation, along with William Messner-Loebs, Steve Rude, Mike Royer, Mat Wagner, Bill Willingham and Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley. Join us next time for Jonny, Hadji, Race, Dr Quest, Bandit, jezebel Jade and Dr Zin, for two tales of adventure and some excellent pin-ups.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 17, 2021 16:56:06 GMT -5
There was 6 MUST SEE on Saturday mornings for cartoon watching. Many others where a watch if I was awake or NOT doing anything else. But I HAD to watch Scooby Doo, Flash Gordon, Star Trek, Return to the Planet of the Apes, Thundarr and JONNY QUEST. while the other 5 were great fun and had a share of hit and miss episodes, JQ was A+ from start to end with EVERY episode. The music, the action, the design, the animation. Simply stunning. How good is Quest? Even both my brothers would watch. When my grandfather was at our home or I stayed over a weekend he would sit and watch with me. My MOTHER would sit and catch an episode every once in awhile. I consider that incredible, how a "simple" kids cartoon show crossed generational lines. Well, remember, this was done for prime time, for family viewing, and not Saturday Morning. It went to Saturday Morning, after the prime time run. The show was actually quite expensive to produce and H-B was stretched too thin, with their other shows, which is why Jonny and the other adventure series from H-B all ended up on Saturday Morning, with more simplified animation. Return to the Planet of the Apes was also designed by Doug Wildey, for DePatie-Freleng, who until that point had mostly done stuff like the Pink panther cartoons, The Tijuana Toads and The Ant & The Aardvark. It's only problem is that it lacked the voice acting that made H-B so great, in the 60s (aside from Henry Corden, who voiced Urko, when he wasn't doing Fred Flintstone). I loved the series and own it on dvd, but the bland voice acting slows down much of the pace of episodes. Great stories, though. When I was very young, it was Jonny Quest, Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo and Adv of Batman there were "can't miss," though HR Puffnstuff, Lancelot Link and The Monkees were great favorites (and I quite liked Here Come the Double Deckers, a British live-action show). Later, it was Scooby, the Super Friends and Star Trek, then series like The Young Sentinels (retitled The Space Sentinels), Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, the New Adv of Batman, The New Adv of Zorro, Flash Gordon, Thundarr, Tarzan and the Super 7, Blackstarr, and Dyno-Mutt. Other than that, it was re-runs of Space Ghost and the Herculoids, with the later Space Stars as a lesser version that never quite lived up to the orignals. We also watched all of the Krofft shows, to varying degrees (Land of the Lost was by far the best, post-Puffnstuff). Personally, I find the early 70s comedy stuff more palatable than the later 70s, where everything had become a copy of a copy. Even Laffalympics was a pretty dull imitation of Wacky Races and its spin-offs (Dastardly & Muttley and Penelope Pittstop). Filmation stayed pretty even on their adventure series, with technical elements improving (with rotoscoping on Tarzan and Flash Gordon), as they had great stuff in the 60s (the DC cartoons, Fantastic Voyage) and the 70s (already mentioned, plus some of their live action stuff, like Shazam & Isis, Ark II, Space Academy and Jason of Star Command). |
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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 18, 2021 14:26:49 GMT -5
Art firts I thought the guy in charge of the Lizard-Men was Benton Quest (in black hair dye) and figured it was part of the plot.  |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 18, 2021 15:03:44 GMT -5
I'll see if I can pull out my copies of the Comico books.
I was a late-comer to Jonny Quest. I vaguely remember it being on Saturday mornings in re-runs, but my cartoon watching tended to the humor while my reading was adventure oriented. I did buy the Comico series out of quarter boxes somewhat after they were published, but haven't read them in a long-time.
I am a huge fan of The Venture Bros. though.
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Post by mrp on Oct 18, 2021 16:07:06 GMT -5
I just read the run within the last year or so. Will you be doing the Johnn Quest Classics mini and Jezebel Jade minis from Comico and the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest form Dark Horse as well?
-M
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 18, 2021 21:44:43 GMT -5
I just read the run within the last year or so. Will you be doing the Johnn Quest Classics mini and Jezebel Jade minis from Comico and the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest form Dark Horse as well? -M The Comico stuff yeah, including the minis; I need to look at Real Adventures and see how well it was done before I decide to do those or not. I didn't care much for the cartoon (it was okay, but not a patch on the original and the CGI stuff was jarring). I love The Venture Bros! The humor is terrific and I love the warped version of Jonny Quest (including the actual Jonny and Dr Zin) and the fact that their place is like a shrine to Mid-Century/Space Age Modern. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 18, 2021 21:45:51 GMT -5
Art firts I thought the guy in charge of the Lizard-Men was Benton Quest (in black hair dye) and figured it was part of the plot. But he had that vaguely foreign accent............. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 18, 2021 21:53:05 GMT -5
I'll see if I can pull out my copies of the Comico books. I was a late-comer to Jonny Quest. I vaguely remember it being on Saturday mornings in re-runs, but my cartoon watching tended to the humor while my reading was adventure oriented. I did buy the Comico series out of quarter boxes somewhat after they were published, but haven't read them in a long-time. I am a huge fan of The Venture Bros. though. The best Jonny Quest parody is still the toby Danger sequence, from Freakazoid... They got Don Messick to do the voice of Dr Danger, had people going "Aeeeeeeeeeeeee", Dash throws barrels at people, a giant robot had a watch chain and fob, as well as a tie....just great stuff! |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 20, 2021 1:03:35 GMT -5
I was looking at "The Mystery of the Lizard men" and a couple of other JQ episodes, last night (you know I bought the dvd set, when it was released). The comic skips a few key moments, liked Race and Jonny's escape from a locked compartment, on the submarine and some of the violence in the fights. That was probably Gold Ket toning things down for a young audience, though space limitations could have been a factor. I will probably do mini-episode reviews along with the comics, since there were 26 episodes and 31 issues of the comic, though I will discuss the episodes adapted in the comics, with those issues, rather than broadcast sequence. "mystery of the Lizard Men" was the pilot episode and the only one that does not feature Hadji. Since the Quests travel by ship, it also didn't feature their advanced airplane. As I will discuss, it was more prominent in the titles sequence than it was in episodes. It was unofficially called the Dragonfly, by Doug Wildey, though that name was used in the later cartoons, when JQ was revived. it is supposed to be an advanced Supersonic Transport (SST) design, likely based on the Douglas X-3 Stiletto...  The North American X-10...  and, especially, the North American XB-70 Valkyrie...  The XB-70 was intended to be a Mach 3 strategic bomber, that could outrun interceptors; but, the introduction of surface-to-air missiles put the invulnerability of the aircraft in doubt and lower level tests found little advantage of it over the B-52 and the program was scrapped. I saw the aircraft at the Wright-Patterson Air Museum, when I was a kid, at it is impressive. The Venture Brothers would more directly use the Valkyrie design. The JQ Dragonfly had a small wing surface, at the rear of the fuselage, and sat at an uptilt angle, on the ground. As you can see in the end credits, it was intended to have landing skis, rather than wheels, though I don't recall it being shown with the skis in any episode (though my re-watching may disprove that). The Curse of Anubis features the plane as a commercial jet, rather than the Quest's plane, as all are seen in a passenger area, including Race. I think someone got confused. Mystery of the Lizard men does feature a rather odd jetliner, which carries Agents Corvin and Roberts to see the Quests. I don't recall seeing it in any other episode. Mystery of the Lizard Men is one of my favorite episodes, as it sets the tone for the whole series, has some really great visuals and a really engaging mystery, plus plenty of high tech hardware, like the hydrofoil, the submarine and it's shipwreck camouflage, the laser cannon, UNIC, plus things like the Palm Key Quest Compound and the terrific boat chase. Also, the early appearances of the divers in the lizard men wetsuits are pretty damn creepy. One of the things that always made Jonny Quest stand out from cartoons and even live action shows of the period, and updates later, was the atmosphere of the series. It mixed sci-fi, adventure and horror, with doses of comedy and it really gave you exciting stories. It occasionally dabbled in the supernatural, though with a scientific bent to it. In some cases, the supernatural proved phony, like here and in a later voodoo-themed episode. However, Curse of Anubis features an actual mummy stalking the thieves of the statue of Anubis. The Invisible Monster presents a creature that is not easily explained by science, though science proves the key in stopping it. JQ was always about adventures into the unknown and what lay beyond science. Before i forget, this episode also features a sea-rescue plane, that looked like it was the Martin JRM Mars seaplane, though the sound effect is a jet, not a prop...  I thought Wildey might have intended the P6M Seamaster, which was a jet, but had a different silhouette...  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 20, 2021 11:48:58 GMT -5
ps I noticed when Race jumps the hydrofoil to land on top of the lizard men's speed boat, the foil mysteriously disappears, but is back when they are back in the water and need to get above the burning oil.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 20, 2021 16:10:32 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #1 Now, see, Doug is making a mistake there. Race Bannon doesn't need an Uzi; he'd just throw a barrel at them! Chuck Norris fears Race Bannon! Creative Team: First story-Doug Wildey-story & art 2nd story-William Messner-Loebs-writer, Steve Rude-pencils, Mike Royer-inks, Bob Pinaha-letters, Matt Wagner-colors, Diana Schutz-editor Pin-ups by Steve Rude, Marc Hempel & Mark Wheatley, and Bill Willingham & Terry Austin (with colors by Rick Taylor) Already we can see Comico is serious about Jonny Quest: creator Doug Wildey, Steve Rude and Matt Wagner doing color work, when he had his own series going. You know this was a labor of love for everyone involved! On the editorial page, Diana Schutz recounts her own childhood love of Jonny Quest. Synopsis: "The Sands of Khasa Tahid"-Somewhere in the desert, Race Bannon, Jonny Quest and Hadji Singh are travelling to Chandarkin Oasis, where they hope to find evidence that proves Dr Benton Quest's theory that there is an ancient city, buried beneath the sand, nearby. Elsewhere, Dr Quest consults with a man named Omar, as they look over aerial photographs that support Dr Quest's theory. There is a CH-53 Sea Stallion (or Green Giant, in the Army), fueled and ready to take Dr Quest and his equipment to the site. However, a small plane flies overhead and a man tosses a grenade down at the helicopter, destroying it! Dr Quest and omar don't understand the attack, but it has set them back a day, as the helicopter and equipment must be replaced. They can't even radio Race and the boys. Further elsewhere, Jezebel Jade gets a call...  Back in the desert, race comes across a gas station!  They fuel up and move on, after leaving a lot of cash behind! They meet with the chief at the oasis, who says a British team disappeared 2 years ago and beware the Eastern extremes. Of course, that is where they head. A continent away, someone else is getting a report...  Dr Zin! he has been backing the terrorists in the region, hoping to create political unrest to then take control of the area. He wants the Quests neutralized, as they are a threat to his plans. Race and the boys arrive in the area where Dr Quest believes there is a city and Hadji finds a metal cylinder, which Race identifies as an air vent. they find a partially hidden tarpaulin and pull it asside. there are steps leading underground, where they find a network of passageways. Race lays out rope to mark their path, so they don't get lost. They go exploring and find the bones of one of the British team. Jonny finds some writing on the wall and it spells out "gorilla," then they find one! They take it on the run (baby) and Hadji uses a little flash powder to blind the gorilla. They find a door and go through it, but Race drops his flashlight on the way through. they have barricaded the door and Hadji finds a lightswitch and turns it on, revealing a surprise...  ...enough arms and ammunition to equip an army, or terrorists! Race decides they need to get out and warn the government. He grabs an Uzi as proof of what they found. They go back topside and are attacked from the air, by a light plane. Race slaps a magazine into the Uzi and chambers a round, then fires at the plane, hitting the fuel tank. It spins out of control and crashes. The explosion cooks off the ammunition and explosives, setting off a bigger explosion. Race and the boys crawl out from under cover and find the ancient city revealed. However, they have no transport, water, or ammo for the Uzi. All is not lost though, as Jade turns up in a helicopter, to rescue the trio, having been dispatched by Dr Quest, after he deposited her fee in her Swiss bank account. In lieu of a letters page, the comic features an interview with Joe Barbera, who talks about the revival of Jonny Quest, with The New Adventures. They had multiple talks with tv and film producers about live action versions, but turned down the deals. That led them to believe that a revival could sell. "City of Lost Time" Dr Quest and Jonny are at the gas station, where they are preparing to move on to the ruins of the city, right after Reed James ruins Dr Quest's wallet, with his bill. They head out in two helicopters, one piloted by Race and one by Jade. Omar is there, as well. they set up camp near the edge of the city and Dr Quest and Omar debate the age of things. Omar believes it dates back to the second Punic War, which Dr Quest has to explain to Jonny...  They also find Islamic tiles in the same section. The group splits into teams to begin photographing and mapping the city, before they begin excavating. Dr Quest and Omar work togetehr, while Race and Jade go off together. Jonny and Hadji go exploring, with Bandit. They explore an old well and guard tower, then find a startling discovery...  ..a French soldier of Napoleon's army! Jonny informs him he is in 1986 and the man is ecstatic. he believes that the geometry of the city somehow preserves life for long periods of time. He remarks of Roman soldiers who patrol the area, who believe he is a Carthaginian. They go into his tent and an asp slithers inside. Bandit warns them with a growl. Hadji uses his abilities to move a trig and activate the expanding tripod on their camera, which launches the asp away from them, then they beat feet outside. Captain Cardon says he can hear the Romans chasing them, but Jonny hears nothing. He pushes them up stairs, until they emerge and find Race, Jade, Dr Quest and Omar being held prisoner, by men with AK-47s. Race and Jade are tied up and Omar has been shot in the arm. the men work for Dr Zin. The leader talks about using the ruins to hide an army and Captain Cardon loses it and hurls rubble at them. It smashes their radio and the men open fire, cutting him down. race slams into one and Jade scoops up his weapon. The thug then falls dead, an arrow in his back. They treat Omar's wounds and Jonny finds that Captain Cardon is gone and the adults, who didn't see him, think Jonny imagined it, until Dr Quest examines the arrow....  Thoughts: Bang up first issue! What can you say about Doug Wildey's work except that it is spectacular,. He moves right into the groove, recapturing the tone of the series, while filling the pages with lively and expressive art that was way above the standard of the time. Wildey shares that clean style favored by Alex Toth and others of their generation, who had worked in comic strips and animation. They used only the lines necessary to convey the story and characters, but fill the world with rich detail. These are real environments and characters. He also adds surprises, along the way, treading a fine line between science and the supernatural, where adventure lives. Dr Zin using the area as a staging ground for revolution, but there are other forces at work. This plays out in the second story, with Steve Rude doing his best to emulate that same clean style,, while Bill Loebs keeps the supernatural going, with Captain Cardon. Was he a nut, who wandered out of the desert or was he really a time traveler, preserved there for years? Or is the city some kind of nexus of time, where different eras collide, like the inter-dimensional city Cynosure, in Grimjack (First Comics) or the city of Tanelorn, in Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories? Or Steve Gerber's Nexus of All Realities, in Man-Thing? Whatever the truth is, the story is exciting and engaging and Rude is having fun, bringing the same enthusiasm for his work that he demonstrated in his own Nexus series. This issue establishes the formula of the series, as we often got two stories, one with a regular crew (Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley, for the bulk of the series) and one with a guest artist. We also get pin-ups from other fan pros. Jezebel Jade is worked in nicely, establishing that she is a soldier of fortune, but usually sticks to the side of angels, especially if Race is involved. Funny enough, even though they maintain the look of the characters, from the cartoons, they don't look out of place in 1986. The show was very forward-looking and used advanced technology, while keeping the costuming simple. Hadji is the most anachronistic, with the Nehru jacket and turban. I'd buy the turban, if they established him as a Sikh; but, the series just referred to him as a Hindu, though the episode, "The Riddle of Gold," features Hadji saying it was nice to be back in India, but they do not have hamburgers. I think someone forgot that Hindus consider cows to be sacred; that, or it is an example of Hadji being more sophisticated, in Western eyese, because he has adopted their ways and abandoned his "backward" culture. That attitude was still pretty prominent in the 60s, when the series was done and is a troubling aspect of several episodes, especially "Pursuit of the Po-Ho," which got downright racist. The other characters don't seem out of place, as Jonny always wore white pants and a black shirt, with sneakers, which is fairly timeless. Same for Race's attire, though his bib shirt would seem out of place, if it wasn't for the fact that the style came back, in the 80s and could be seen in clubs. 80s fashion was often a mix of decades, as you had the New Romantics, in the UK, wearing Napoleonic and Romantic costumes at clubs, spurred on by pop stars, like Adam Ant, Duran Duran and ABC. 60s narrow ties and slim cut suits stood alongside 1940s double-breasted suit jackets, while 1940s shoulder pads were back, for the women, as were 60s mini-skirts. So, really, 1986 was the perfect time for a Jonny Quest revival, since 60s Nostalgia was well en vogue. Dr Zin turns up to be a mover and shaker, behind the scenes, and his relationship with the Quests will get fleshed out a bit, in this series, moving him beyond a Dr No or Fu Manchu character, though still with him bent on gaining political power. The series kept it more old school, using his schemes to take control by force, rather than move into the 80s idea of gaining power through commerce, with the expansion of multi-national conglomerates. real power was growing within the financial community, as conservative governments lifted restrictions and oversights that favored monopolistic practices. Everything was done in the name of the Market, and yet the "unrestrained market" often proved to reduce competition (and profits) to a very small group. Dr Zin is a bit of a dinosaur, in this world. Why conquer a country, when you can buy it wholesale? Then again, who wants to see Race Bannon dealing in venture capital instead of death and destruction? A hostile take over isn't quite as exciting and a shoot-out with cave-men! Next issue will be very special, as it introduces us to Jonny's mother and makes us care about her and what she meant to Jonny, in just a few pages. It also features the first meeting between the Quests and Race Bannon. Wendy Pini and Joe Staton will be the guest artists. Episode Review: "Arctic Splashdown." Dr Quest is called in to investigate why a missile went off course and came down in the Arctic and why the self-destruct mechanism didn't work. Unknown to Dr Quest, a foreign submarine and crew are headed to the same area to recover the missile and its guidance system, designed by Dr Quest. The Quest team uses a snow cat (called a Snow Goose, in the episode) to cover the ice and snow, plus a "snow skimmer," a sort of aircraft fuselage, on ski, propelled by a pusher propeller, at high speed. Both groups locate the missile and the foreign agents try to sabotage the Quest team, before bing forced to take direct action, after they fail. Dr Quest and Race are taken prisoner, and Hadji & Jonny are soon rounded up. Dr Quest is able to break free, when he is forced to remove the guidance system, and the timely appearance by an orca allows him to escape, asfter he has activated the destruct timer, which explodes, killing the foreign captain and sinking his submarine.  The snow skimmer....  The episode is a nice mystery/adventure, with a race between the Quests and the foreign crew to get to the missile, which is a bit of a swipe of Alistair MacLean's Ice Station Zebra (which was published in 1963, before Jonny Quest began production), though the episode pre-dates the movie version. Hadji is seen, for the first time (apart from the opening titles) though we don't know anything about his background, yet. Bandit gets comical turns, while the boys try to teach him to ski and when he encounters some polar bear cubs. These early episodes feature some animation that goes off model, especially from certain angles, as the B-B crew struggles to do more realistic artwork. Wildey could only do so much, by himself and you get some weird faces. John Stephenson is still voicing Dr Quest and the character gets to be a bit physical and heroic, which was a nice touch. At one point, Jonny asks why his father won't just give them what they want and Race says that he knows why, that he will not aid them, even if it means his life. Too many revisionists like to paint Dr Quest as some effete scientist who needed race to do his fighting; but, aby fan of the series knows that Race and Dr Quest usually fought side-by-side. The Comico series illustrates this wonderfully, in issue #26, titled "Reputation."
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 21, 2021 15:44:38 GMT -5
Finished a re-read of issue number one.
Honestly not a huge amount to add. A rousing adventure, definitely in the vein of the cartoon series. And the art was, of course perfect.
The stories were fun, but there were a few things that niggled at the back of my mind. It wasn't entirely clear in the first story exactly where this was set. It did become clear with the second story that they were in North Africa. I can vaguely buy that Captain Cardon ended up far enough west of Napoleon's army to end up at the lost city, but I have zero idea why Hadji is able to speak to the "village honcho" in his native lingo. Race referred to Jezebel Jade as "Jessie" and as "Jess." As best I can recall that was never the case in the cartoon. And I have no idea what Race was thinking at the end of the first story. He should know enough about wilderness survival to stay put instead of taking off in to the desert with no water, ammo, communications and with two young children. Sure it's possible that the bad guys could show up again, but he knew that Dr. Quest would be heading there sooner, rather than later.
Still, a great first issue.
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Post by Commander Benson on Oct 22, 2021 18:32:11 GMT -5
Too many irons in the fire lately keep me away from all of the fora I frequent, but I had to comment here. I'm so glad to see you post on this topic, codystarbuck---because Jonny Quest was the best action animation series in this history of the medium. That includes anything and everything done since. Sorry, post-baby boomers.
Of course, I'm talking about, and strictly about, the original 1964-5 series, and not those watered-down, sensitive-to-the-times revivals. In its original form, Jonny Quest was a pure adventure concept and, as noted by you, an animated version of its successful radio prototype, Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. Tampering with it only dilutes the formula.
I shudder to think how Jonny Quest would be "improved" by twenty-first-century sensibilities. Let's see . . . Doctor Quest would be brilliant, but absent-minded, usually clueless to what his sons were doing. Race Bannon would be a parody of the male adventure hero---overmuscled, underbrained, but bursting with bravado. Jonny would be a smart-assed kid with no respect, but plenty of wisecracks for the adults. Hadji wouldn't be an orphan adopted by Dr. Quest; his father---no, wait---his mother would be the president of some India-type country, giving the boy political clout. Jezebel Jade would become a regular. Another regular character would be a rival to Dr. Quest in the form of a "frenemy" lady scientist, and the boys would get steady girl friends added to the cast. Because we can't have males doing all the important stuff.
No, thank you. I'll stick with the gal I brung to the dance.
I remember reading about the début of Jonny Quest in 1964, in the "Fall Preview" issue of TV Guide. And when that Friday arrived, I wolfed down dinner (my parents could be indulgent at times) so I could be in front of the television set at 1930, in time to watch "The Mystery of the Lizard Men".
It was exciting, but intelligent excitement. The episode didn't play down to the kids watching. It was just like the Hardy Boys or Tom Swift novels I enjoyed, but on screen.
The next week, when I watched "Arctic Splashdown", I remember seeing Hadji and thinking, "Who's this kid?" because there was nothing in the story that explained his presence. I wasn't experienced enough then to understand that the episodes weren't aired in order of production. Six weeks later, when "Calcutta Adventure" featured a flashback showing how Hadji joined the Quests, I figured it had been written in response to a bunch of folks who'd written in with the same question I had: "Who's this kid?"
Unlike the Saturday-morning cartoons which would come after 1968---the ones had been castrated by ACT and other parental watchdog groups---Jonny Quest didn't pull any punches. Literally. People got socked, clobbered with rifle butts, smacked by boulders. Characters got stabbed, shot, or died in assorted other horrible ways. When a vehicle crashed and/or exploded, there was none of this the-occupants-crawl-out-and-shake-their-fists stuff.
Jonny Quest also managed to do something that the gelding cartoons of the late '60's and the 1970's tried, but never pulled off: Youngsters watching Jonny Quest actually learnt stuff. Whenever a Saturday-morning cartoon of the '70's tried to teach (or preach), it was usually in a separate sequence tacked on after the story proper was done, with one of the characters addressing its young audience directly to deliver some lesson on history or nature. It didn't work, though, because the kids knew what was coming, and that's when they went into the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal.
But Jonny Quest cleverly slipped its educational bits into the adventures themselves, and so slyly that the youngsters watching didn't even know they were learning something. It might come in some stray dialogue while Dr. Quest was explaining how his newest invention worked. Or Race might casually mention a fact about the history of whatever location the family was visiting. Those of us watching remembered those things because they were part of the story---and not an add-on which proclaimed, "Pay attention, kids! We're going to teach you something, now."
The episodes were thrilling, indeed. The ones with the mummy ("The Curse of Annubis") and the spider-like robot ("The Robot Spy") and the invisible monster ("The Invisible Monster") gave me the chills. Whenever Dr. Zin appeared, I knew that the Quests were in for something especially insidious. But it was more than just the complexity and menace of the adventures which elevated the show to something adults could enjoy.
The writers weren't afraid to, at times, leave the kid viewers behind. In "Double Danger", Jezebel Jade kisses an evil double of Race Bannon and immediately knows that he's an impostor. Later, Jonny asks Jade how she knew when nobody else did, she simply replies, "There are some ways a woman cannot be fooled." Not just Jonny, but a lot of youngsters watching at home were left scratching their heads at that.
Jezebel Jade was for the adults who might walk into the room while the show was on. The dads, anyway. Jade was straight out of "Steve Canyon". She had that smouldering presence that could've come from Milt Caniff's pen. In her two appearances, we learnt almost nothing about her background, but you knew it was shady, and your mind went to places that television could not state outright.
If you were a grown-up, that is. And, after all, it was prime-time.
Speaking of grown-ups, there was a most curious thing about Jonny Quest, as far as those of us watching were concerned. I didn't know a single boy who identified with Jonny. I sure didn't. No, we all wanted to be Race Bannon!
Forget James Bond. Forget Napoleon Solo. It was Race Bannon who was the epitome of cool---competent and capable, no matter what the situation. Intelligent enough to tutor Jonny and Hadji in formal education, but skilled and manly enough to teach them practical arts, like judo and scuba-diving and horsemanship. He made a red South-Sea Island shirt look as dashing as a tuxedo. Race might have respectfully addressed Benton Quest as "doctor", but everybody knew that he was the alpha member of the team.
Many times I've considered doing a piece on Jonny Quest for my "Commander Benson's Deck Log", over at the Captain Comics site. After all, it counts as Silver-Age television. But I never thought I could do it justice. Besides, there are already a couple of sites that provide more information on the show than I could. But it's going to be fun to read your take on the episodes, cody, and the show in general. This one thread I'll be sure to follow.
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