Shark Bytes

The original show was magnificent-- great storylines, great action, great animation! Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the more recent stuff. The producers just lost sight of what made the show a classic.

The original Johnny Quest kicked ass, and will continue to do so forever. The animation was awesome. The plots were X-File-ish and way ahead of their time. And bad guys DIED. There was none of this peaceful resolution crap that's force-fed down the throats of today's youth.

I do have one obsevation though. Is it just me or does it seem like Race Bannon was the real brains behind that operation? He was always (or usually) the guy recueing everyone else.

My favorite cartoon of all time! The characters, the cool jazz music beds, the subject matter and yes, even the violence. Aw man, what a classic!

Omg!!! What can I say...I am almost 26 yrs old, and I just started getting into this series (thanks to Boomerang). I LOVE it!!! The music, the action....I just saw the house of 7 Gargoyles and even at my age it creeped me out and scared the crap outta me. So I know it must have been very frightening for a 5-10 yr. old. And don't get me started on the way it was drawn...work of art. Cartoons nowadays will NEVER even come close to being the same caliber as this show. And btw I'm I a woman, and I hope girls enjoyed the show back then like I love it now.

Jonny Quest was the coolest show I watched when I was a kid in the 70's.

The original Johnny Quest show was very deceptive - it was an action adventure show that just happened to be animated. It was not simply a cartoon. It was one of the first attempts - by American anyway, to add a little substance to animated shows. I could easily see most of these episodes done in a live action show. I never saw the new episodes where they had to add a ball-breaking little girl to tag along with Quest and the others. Glad I never did. It's stupid how every show has to feel that they have to add an emasculating shrew to every show that feature guys on some adventure. Feminist - there is nothing wrong with letting men (or boys) enjoy shows were the primary characters are intelligent, resourceful men.

i love the political incorrectness of the characters and the show..especially the bad guys getting blown up or shot..but i would like to know if the part in the closing credits where they are escaping from the zulu type warriors, whether thats an actual episode that has been removed..i've yet to see it.. the only thing i hated was that stupid dog.What a pain in the anubis!

...I don't know about you, but I always wanted to hear Jonny say something like,
"Gee Dad, where the hell is Mom? And while we're on the subject, why do I look so much like Race?"

Or have Hadji say something like,
"I'm just frikken little Indian kid who likes to screw around with cobras. How did I get here?"
I'd have enjoyed that!

This show was at its best during the mid sixties.

It is truly a classic.

This cartoon took itself waaay tooo serious. And am I the only one who thinks Dr. Quest and Race were boyfriend and boyfriend?

I liked Hong Kong Phooey much better.

Ive got only one thing to say..."well son it was a terrible way to die...but he deserved it"

The Classic Quest episodes are nothing short of brilliant. In addition to the strong story lines, state-of-the-art inventions, and Cold War villians, this was the only cartoon where a manly lead character was nailing a hot informant. When I was a little kid, I remember watching an episode where Jonny and Hadji were concerned that something was "a little off" with Race. So what do these enterprising lads do? Why, they contact Race's occasional "girlfriend," Jade, to get to the bottom of their concerns. Jade shows up, greets Race with a kiss, then afterward tells the boys something to the effect, "I don't know who this guy is, but I can tell you who it isn't." Even as a kid, I knew this was hot stuff. Unfortunately, some moron had to screw with the finest cartoon ever to grace a television screen. In a subsequent incarnation, some idiot thought it was a good idea to give Race a Southern accent while spouting Dr. Phil-isms. Please, Mike Road's vocal interpretation was the yardstick by which all others should be measured. Turning Race Bannon into Lil' Abner totally sucked the manhood out of the character.

This show was absolutely, unequivocally the best cartoon of all time. Coolest characters, best villains, coolest music. I walked in a bar about a year ago and a group of guys were talking about old shows and which had the best music. There were votes for Magnum, P.I., MASH, Rockford Files, etc. I walked up to the bar, ordered a 22 oz. mug of Samuel Adams, turned to them and said "No the closing music on Jonny Quest was actually better than all of them" They agreed and invited me to join the conversation. Race was the coolest cartoon character ever. The fact they were uncensored and anti-PC as other posters have noted made them great. They also still hold up well today, unlike most of the bullshit I grew up watching at the same time like Lidsville and Sigmund and the Seamonsters, Land of the Lost, etc. I dont understand why it didnt last longer. The remakes were crap in comparison. This is one cartoon that would probably make a great movie. Casting Race would be a problem, dont know that anybody would be up to the task. I'm afraid they would cast some ass-clown like Tobey McGuire or Leonardo di Caprio and totally screw the pooch. Anyway, fantastic show.

"Jonny Quest"- there's no other cartoon quite like it. Did anyone jump sharks? You bet they did- and alligators, panthers, snakes and 500-pound sumo wrestlers! I was a few years too young for this in the '60s but just went through the DVDs with all the original episodes. Terrific and vivid animation/art work, solid and mature voice work, and great story lines that captured the best of old-school adventure/sci-fi comics. How cool was Jonny? Very. Here's a 10-year-old, clean-cut kid who lived on a private island off Miami Beach, didn't go to school, had an exotic buddy from India who could do neat magic tricks, traveled the world with his super-scientist dad (Dr. Quest was a rocket scientist, archeologist, zoologist, oceanographer, geologist, historian, you name it!) and a classic action/agent partner ("Race Bannon" is one of the greatest cartoon character names ever)- not to mention a little bulldog puppy who looked like Yakky Doodle's buddy but could hold his own against lions, tigers and bears (oh my!). Hanna-Barbera got a gem when they found Doug Wildey as main artist- he was right up there with the master, Milton Caniff. Exotic animals, classic villains, great sci-fi touches ("Invisible Monster" could have come out of "The Twilight Zone"), nifty transport (mini-hovercraft! Rocket backpacks!), and locales from the North Pole to the South African veldt- if it blew me away 40 years on, imagine how "JQ" must have dazzled kids in the '60s! If there hadn't been a "Jonny Quest", you might not have gotten to enjoy stuff like "Iron Giant", "The Incredibles" and "Spy Kids". Any updated versions had to be pale copies. And don't forget Hoyt Curtin's powerhouse, Afro-Cuban jazz opening theme. Cartoon music? No way! Put that behind the man-eating pterodactyl and Dr. Zin's eight-legged robot spider, and it probably scared the daylights out of this sensitive 7-year-old back then! (Note for voice-over fans: the late Don Messick was never better using his deep, natural voice for Dr. Quest- and his mischievous dog effects for Bandit!) And, of course, "JQ" did not stint on violent endings. As Dr. Quest notes in all seriousness when that weird "Devil's Tower" mountain in South Africa explodes with the demented ex-Nazi commandant inside: "That's not the most pleasant way to go...but he deserved it." Priceless. "Jonny Quest"- dare we say it was the animated 007?

I never liked the 60s show. It was before my time, and I just didn't like the animation style. My first foray into the world of Jonny Quest was through the movie, and that was pretty decent. The first season of TRA was also good. I'm a girl, and I liked Jessie. Hadji was cool, and I hate animals on cartoon shows--so when Bandit went missing for a while, I cried no tears. However, the second season was so "girly" that I wanted to gag. All the stories seemed to circulate around romance. Again, I'm a chick, but I want a little action too. I'd rather watch them trudging through the wilderness, searching for the Jersey Devil rather than see Jonny and Jessie play out the most over-done posession story ever. Why the hell was Jessie in pink, and what happened to the animation? The CG was terrible, but the copied animation (from the 60s, only with no excuse because of the better technology) was horrid. For shame, for shame.