After much travel and misadventure, “The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest” Season 1 finally lands on my desk. It’s a 2 disc set holding 13 episodes of the first season. I watched the show in my youth, but for those who weren’t there let's go back in time to the 60’s. Out of the head of Doug Widley (comic books) emerges a character called Jonny quest who travels with his father, a famous scientist, Benton Quest, and his bodyguard, Race Bannon. Jonny also has a pitbull named Bandit. They travel around the world following his father's, the scientist, findings and adventure. The original Jonny Quest only aired for one season (64'-65' by Hanna Barbera) and it wasn’t until 1986 (this is where I come in) that it even had a 'second season'. It was actually a spin off called the New adventures of Jonny Quest. This also lasted only a season then vanished again.
Ok, onto the Real Adventures of Jonny Quest which aired 96'-97'. For all intensive purposes I will call it 'season three', even though it was another spinoff of the original where Jonny, Hadji Singh, Jessica, and Bandit were all grown up in search of adventure and helping out humanity, looking into the unknown and having there own virtual world, finding out about the paranormal. They moved their compound to ' Lobster Coast ' Maine . It does have a 90’s touch with the 3-D and the laser opening credits. Unfortunately, this too went the way of the Dingo and then vanished again.
The Good:
Jonny Quest seems more realistic. I give 'em credit for Quest World, which is a neat concept with 3-D animation. Hadji has some realistic powers and has been trained in the yoga art. He can fight too. He doesn’t say that gay ass “Sim, Sim, Salabim” and doesn’t have that jewel/Hindu dot in the middle of his forehead either. There is blood and some decent violence, that kind of caught me off guard though. They trek to cool places and it does bring back some memories. They of course bring back some of the old bad guys too. I like the extras like the history and the explanation of Jonny Quest and how Hanna Barbera made Saturday morning cartoons happen. It’s just an updated look to the old JQ.
The Bad:
It's still that corny 1960's let's-save-the-day/I’m not sure if I’m old enough to like girls yet. I know we try to keep to the old school, but this is a little much. It looks like old cartoon episodes with some virtual reality and some new world tracker. The detail of the characters themselves are from the 60’s. It’s still the same old cliché of a cartoon. Race still has those one liners that don’t really fit in and the dialogue is still that of an after-school special. Let’s save the rainforest and keep the animals safe! The environment is the most important thing…feel to it.
The End:
Jonny Quest was tried with a few age groups and in different decades. They have tried everything with this poor boy and he is just not going to catch on. It was great in the 60’s, good in the 80’s and alright in the 90’s. There also was a film in the 90’s that no one has heard of called “Jonny's Golden Quest”. The series is a cult favorite for those who can get into it. I made it through seven episodes and then got the whole concept of the show forever. I liked Jonny Quest - it will be a fond memory and that's how it’s going to stay.
I give it a 3 for nostalgic purposes.