The Devil's Tower

Johnny, Hadji, Dr. Quest, Race and Bandit fly atop a two-mile-high plateau in Africa for Dr. Quest's missing weather balloon. There, they encounter Von Duffle, an insane Nazi war criminal hiding in the mountains, who has been stranded since World War II. He uses the local Neanderthal-like cavemen as slaves to mine for diamonds. Von Duffle has gained control over the cavemen, and has taught them to speak German! Von Duffle holds the Quest family hostage so that he can escape with the diamonds in their airplane, leaving the Quest party stranded there. The Nazi throws grenades at the Quests from the plane as he takes off, and Dr. Quest is just about killed when a swinging bridge collapses beneath him.

Roger T. "Race" Bannon, Jonny Quest, Dr. Benton C. Quest, Bandit, Sergeant, Hadji, Klaus, Von Duffel, Sleeping Caveman, Simon 3, Simon 11

Jonny Quest is one of the longest running Saturday morning cartoon shows of all time, alongside such mainstays as Scooby-Doo and Fat Albert. Unlike Scoob and Al, however, only a mere 26 episodes were produced of the original Jonny Quest.

The show was an adventure series about pre-teen Jonny Quest, who, along with mystical Indian friend Hadji, pet dog Bandit, Jonny's super-scientist father Dr. Benton Quest, and government intelligence agent/bodyguard/pilot Race Bannon, investigated strange goings-on all over the world. Episodes of Jonny Quest blended mystery, adventure, action, intrigue, scientific marvels, and humor as the group traveled everywhere from the Sargasso Sea to equatorial Africa.

Jonny Quest originally ran in primetime on ABC during the 1964-65 season, but much like Hanna-Barbera predecessor The Jetsons, the program didn't find success until it moved to Saturday morning. When it hit, it hit big. Jonny Quest ran on CBS from 1967-1970, then back to ABC through 1972. In 1978, the program became part of The Godzilla Power Hour, and in 1979, Jonny Quest moved to NBC, where it stayed until 1981. All that milage on twenty-six original episodes- pretty impressive.

Hanna-Barbera rebooted the character in 1986 in The New Jonny Quest, a segment on The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera. This lasted thirteen episodes.

In 1996, the Turner Company released an updated, all-new series entitled Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures. This new series featured an additional character in Jessie Bannon, the daughter of Race, and made extensive use of computer animation.