Jonny Quest
About Jonny Quest
Created and designed by comic book artist Doug Wildey, Jonny Quest was the first animated action-adventure cartoon, with a heavy influence of comic book stylings. The show featured more mature themes, and more realistic art and characters than Hanna-Barbera's previous cartoon programs. The success of the show spawned a host of copies for ABC, including Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.
The series presented 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.
After having worked on Cambria Productions' 1962 animated television series Space Angel, comic book artist Doug Wildey moved over to design work at the Hanna-Barbera studio. He was asked to conceive a new series based on the popular radio drama adventure character Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy.
Wildey wrote and drew a presentation, using such magazines as Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and Science Digest "to project what would be happening 10 years hence", and devising or fancifully updating such devices as a "snowskimmer" and hydrofoils. When Hanna-Barbera could not or would not obtain the rights to the Jack Armstrong character, the studio had Wildey rework the concept in a more original direction. Classic movies, over-the-top comic books and even the James Bond movie Dr. No where all thrown into the mix. Wildey said he "went home and wrote Jonny Quest that night— which was not that tough." Wildey would work on other animation projects, but it was with his work on Jonny Quest that he reached his widest audience, bringing a comic book sense of design and style to television cartoons. Wildey did not design the more cartoonishly drawn, pet bulldog, Bandit, which was designed by animator Dick Bickenbach.
Although they do not appear in any episode, scenes from the Jack Armstrong test film were incorporated into the Jonny Quest closing credits. They are the scenes of Jack Armstrong and Billy Fairfield escaping from African warriors by hovercraft. The test sequence and a number of drawings and storyboards by Wildey were used to sell the series to ABC and sponsors.
The Saturday-morning TV animated series Jonny Quest debuted on ABC on September 18, 1964. As comics historian Daniel Herman wrote:
Wildey's designs on Jonny Quest gave a cartoon a distinctive look, with its heavy blacks [i.e. shading and shadow] and its Caniff-inspired characters... The show was an action/adventure story involving the feature's namesake, an 11-year-old boy. The cast of characters included Jonny's kid sidekick, named Hadji, Jonny's globetrotting scientist dad... and the group's handsome bodyguard, secret agent Race Bannon, who looks as if he stepped out of the pages of [Caniff's comic strip] Steve Canyon... The look of Jonny Quest was unlike any other cartoon television show of the time, with its colorful backgrounds, and its focus on the characters with their jet packs, hydrofoils, and lasers.
Jonny Quest became a target of parental watchdog group Action for Children's Television (ACT) for its multiple onscreen deaths, murder attempts, use of firearms and deadly weapons, depictions of monsters, and tense moments. Reruns were taken off the air in 1972, but returned to Saturday morning, in edited form, sporadically afterward.
Episode guide
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The Mystery Of The Lizard Men
After five ships disappear in the Sargasso Sea, Dr. Benton Quest is called into the investigation. Quest, his son Jonny, his bodyguard Roger "Race" Bannon and pet bulldog Bandit leave immed…
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Arctic Splashdown
Enemy agents succeed in deflecting a missile which lands in The Atlantic. Dr. Quest is assigned to investigate the missile's strange disappearance. Quest, Johnny, Race, Bandit and Hadji Sin…
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The Curse Of Anubis
Ahmed, an unscrupulous chieftain, plans to unite the warring factions of his native Ahab country and become the leader of the new nation. Capitalizing on Dr. Quest's archaeological interest…
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Pursuit Of The Po-Ho
Dr. Quest is called in to rescue fellow scientist Dr. Emil Hartman who has been captured by the Po-Ho natives he was studying. But Dr. Quest ends up being captured himself, and Race and the…
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Riddle Of The Gold
Dr. Zin, Abduhl Cassim, and the Maharajah of Jahilipur, India are involved in a scheme to manufacture gold based on the process developed by the captured Professor Gundersson. Race, Dr. Que…
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Treasure Of The Temple
The Quests explore some Mayan ruins in South America, and run afoul of some bad guys looking for a hidden treasure.
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Calcutta Adventure
In India to demonstrate a new sonic beam device, Dr. Quest is asked to investigate reports of local citizens becoming sick from what appears to be nerve gas poisoning. (This episode details…
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The Robot Spy
At a military base, where Dr. Quest is perfecting his para-power gun, a strange craft lands nearby, carrying an inert black sphere, which they take back to the lab for a further look. Unbek…
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Double Danger
The Quests travel to Thailand as part of Dr. Quest's studies on a drug to help astronauts endure long periods of isolation in space, where Dr. Zin captures Race and replaces him with a doub…
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Shadow Of The Condor
Forced to make an emergency landing in the Andes, the Quest party encounters Baron Heinrich Von Froelich, a former World War I flying ace. The Baron offers Race one of his vintage fighting…
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Skull And Double Crossbones
When Jonny finds a gold coin near an old shipwreck, pirates move in an attempt to force the Quests to help them retrieve the rest of the treasure they feel sure is nearby.
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The Dreadful Doll
Dr. Quest is called in to check out a little girl on a Caribbean island who seems to have been influenced by voodoo, and runs into a group of bad guys building a secret submarine base.
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A Small Matter Of Pygmies
Race develops plane trouble while flying to meet Dr. Quest and is forced to land with the boys in the middle of pygmy territory.
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Dragons Of Ashida
The Quests go to visit Dr. Ashida, a former colleague of Dr. Quest, who is experimenting with creating a species of enlarged Komodo dragons, and wind up being held prisoner on his island.
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Turu The Terrible
The Quest party is sent on an expedition to find Trinanuxite, a metal essential to the space program. Natives lead them into the Land of Turu, a hidden spot guarded by a giant pterodactyl.…
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The Fraudulent Volcano
After Dr. Quest snuffs out an oil fire with a new invention, the citizens of an island called Bahiti call him in to do the same to their recently erupting volcano. However, the volcano ends…
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Werewolf Of The Timberland
The Quest family is in Quebec conducting a survey. In the hinterlands, the Quests run into loggers who are using hollowed-out logs for smuggling gold, and a mysterious Native American with…
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Pirates From Below
Dr. Quest is working on a new submarine device, which is also desired by some foreign bad guys. When the prober is commandeered with Race, Jonny and Bandit on board, Dr. Quest and Hadji pur…
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Attack Of The Tree People
After a boat fire off the African coast, Jonny and Hadji get separated from Race and Dr. Quest and are adopted by a bunch of anthropoid apes, while a pair of gunrunners who hear about the m…
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The Invisible Monster
Dr. Quest receives a distress call from colleague Dr. Isaiah Norman, who is experimenting with molecular energy on a remote island. When the Quests arrive, they find Dr. Norman's lab totall…
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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 h…
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The Quetong Missile Mystery
Dr. Quest and Race investigate the cause of some natives getting sick after eating fish caught in the local lakes, and wind up having to penetrate a hidden missile base to rescue the boys w…
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The House Of Seven Gargoyles
Professor Erikson has invented an anti-gravity device that some bad guys want to steal. While the Quests are visiting Erikson, the bad guys take some drastic actions to obtain the secret.
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Terror Island
Dr. Quest is kidnapped by Dr. Chu Sing Ling, who wants help solving some problems he is having with his experiments altering the growth cycle of some common animals. Race enlists the help o…
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Monster In The Monastery
The Quests pay a visit to Dr. Quest's friend, the Raj Guru, who is worried that the Yeti (abominable snowmen) have come down from the mountains to terrorize his village. In reality, it is a…
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The Sea Haunt
A treasure, a deep sea monster and a Chinese galley cook found hiding (and nearly frozen) in a freezer lie in wait when the Quests investigate an abandoned ocean freighter.
