Jonny Quest -- old and new

Back in 1964, one of the coolest prime-time kid shows on TV was Jonny Quest, which was an unusual sci-fi adventure series on ABC. The show featured 11-year-old Jonny Quest, his Indian pal Hadji, government bodyguard Race Bannon, and scientist Dr. Benton Quest, as they travelled the world in a supersonic jet, thwarting evildoers, and otherwise making the world safe for truth, justice, and all that stuff.

Fans will remember that (for its time) the show was surprisingly violent, had people using handguns, all kinds of explosions and dangerous stuff... which as far as I'm concerned, kind of made the show in line with James Bond, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and everything else going on in 1964. Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez -- known for his kid spy spoof Spy Kids -- has announced plans to remake Jonny Quest as a life-action film over the next couple of years. I have mixed feelings on this, but it's possible he might do a terrific job (Sin City notwithstanding), provided he manages to recreate the fun, innocence, and danger of the original show.

BTW, I just stumbled on this 2011 CGI recreation of the Jonny Quest opening title, which is hilarious, clever, and surprisingly faithful to the original:



About the only way I think this version could be improved would be if certain shots were a little darker and had more smoke and diffusion -- it's a little too clear and crisp. But for a fan-made effort, it's pretty damned amazing.

Note this is the rarely-heard long version of Hoyt Curtin's memorable theme song, which I think was one of the most original, hip and happening cartoon themes ever written.

 

I think it looked really cool. And would have no trouble showing this to my kids. I see a few years ago the creator of this stop motion vid tried to do a kickstarter fund going to do one episode like this and needed $65 grand but was only able to raise $15 grand. Bummer huh?!?

 

One of my favorite shows that year. I was 9 and loved Jonny Quest!

 

Big time fan of the original Jonny!

Loved the opening theme music!


A live action movie, eh? Hmmm - maybe.

 

I really liked Jonny Quest. The theme music was fun. The adventures were great for a kid. The actions was top notch for a cartoon. The science was somewhat real and certainly adventurous. For me, Jonny Quest was one of the best cartoons on TV. Certainly one of the best I watched as a kid. Star Blazers was right up there too but it was not Jonny Quest.
It also is the stage for one of those "perspective" moments in life. You know, one where you think things were a certain way only because that is what you knew rather than that is what really happened. I always watched Jonny Quest on my 13" TV in my room because my sisters got to use the big (27"!!) color TV in the living room. Many years later, while I was in the Navy, a friend (Todd C) was watching Jonny Quest in the TV room of the barracks. I walked in and saw what he was watching and sat down to enjoy the show. We were the only two in the room so we started talking about when we first saw Jonny Quest. One of the things I commented on was the fact they had colorized it and, although it looked good, it just did not seem right to me. Todd basically said, what do you mean Jonny Quest has always been in color. Then it hit me, DUH! I had only watched Jonny Quest on my black and white TV. I had never seen Jonny Quest in color until that moment. We laughed about my DUH moment and finished watching the next two episodes.
By the way, I think the CGI intro short is fantastic and fun. Just the way Jonny Quest is supposed to be.

 

Race Bannon. One of the coolest names ever.

 

"Rarely-heard long version"? As opposed to what? This is the version that begins every episode of the series.

 

Vidiot's version of the song clocks in at around 2 minutes. The video from post #4 clocks in at 1:28.

 

The Venture Brothers disturbing take on Race (Action Jonny has some issues too).
I think Rodriguez could do something pretty memorable.

 

I have only seen it in B&W too. It was odd looking at the opening credits above in color!

 

Black & White is how most of us remember it back in 1964:

 

that looks great!

 

It was my favorite show as a kid (1970s).

 

The Johny Quest they didn't want you to see:

 

Loved seeing this back when it was created in 2011. It was very popular amongst the scale modeling/12" scale action figure forums.

 

Yeah, and the music starts at about 10 seconds and ends at 1:40.

The clip in post four is missing the final shot of the JQ logo and the horn blast (which lasts about a second or two).

The point is, the Jonny Quest theme lasts for roughly a minute and a half. The version in the clip Vidiot posted is the standard one that begins every episode of the series.

 

No, no -- this has an extended build-up and fanfare starting at 1:45, so it's longer, extending from the kettledrum roll. This got released about 10-15 years ago on CD when some fan got hold of all the Jonny Quest studio session tracks. Quite a few of them have Hoyt Curtin doing a countoff at the head.

 

The opening/closing theme with and without sound effects can be found here - http://www.classicjonnyquest.com/ along with a bunch of other cool JQ stuff.

 

I loved Jonny Quest as a kid growing up on Saturday morning cartoons. But as a adult, I'm more into The Venture Brothers. I am curious how Rodriguez approach this project as an action movie or wrapped as a kids movie.

 

I used to work with a big-name cartoon producer who spent years at Hanna-Barbera. He said that Joe Barbera still had bad memories about Jonny Quest. The problem was, because it was so well-done (for TV), anytime they did a new show after that, the networks would ask, "why can't this show look as good as Jonny Quest?" And Barbera would snap, "we're not about to lose money hand over first like we did with that show!"

A different Hanna-Barbera producer I know worked on the 1980s retread of Jonny Quest. I asked him about it as the show was starting up, and he asked me, "Marc, did you like the original Jonny Quest?" I told him I had been a big fan as a kid. He grimaced and said, "then don't watch this show. Trust me on this." It proved to be a terrible, cheap series that changed a lot about what made the old show great.

 

This makes me want to go out and buy a pair of PF Flyers, so I can "run faster and jump higher" and throw out my cell phone to use my secret decoder ring!

 

I love the old show. Remember the energy monster? Classic!

 

When I rewatched it a few years back I was surprised to find out that it only lasted one season.

 

This is my favorite cartoon ever. The dvd set is pretty good.

If they remake it please don't make it politically correct.

 

Oo, the energy monster always scared me! One of my favorite episodes.