The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

From Freepedia

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (also known as Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures) was an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons from 1996 to 1997, and aired on all three major Turner Broadcasting networks (Cartoon Network, TBS Superstation, and TNT). The program is a spin-off of Hanna-Barbera's classic series Jonny Quest, and features slightly older versions of the same characters and a similar format.

Eleven-year old boy hero Jonny Quest is now an adventurous fourteen year old, and more determined to be more active in the adventures his father, noted phenomenologist Dr. Benton Quest, and the family bodyguard, Roger "Race" Bannon, often find themselves involved in. Joining them are Jonny's adopted brother Hadji and Race’s daughter Jessie. As in the original series, the Quest team travels across the globe, encountering strange and unusual adventures, villains, and creatures.

About the show

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest had a notably troubled development process. The program began production in 1992, but faced many setbacks and spent three years in "development hell". The original production team was therefore fired, and two new teams of producers were brought in. John Eng and Cosmo Anzilotti worked with the leftover models from the previous team, which featured an edgier inspiration, so as to get the show on the air by 1996. Meanwhile, Davis Doi and Larry Houston decided to redesign the characters closer to the 1964 Jonny Quest originals. The two versions of the series were originally meant to have been launched separately, but, after the Time Warner-Tuner merger, the Doi/Houston episodes were broadcast as the second season of The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest instead of on their own.

The Eng/Anzilotti version of the show (the one present in all merchandising related to the show) is referred to as the "Season One" version, while the Doi/Houston episodes are referred to as the "Season Two" version. However, all fifty-two episodes (twenty-six of each version) were all aired during the 1996-1997 television season, and, while most of the Season One episodes aired first, episodes from the two versions were intermixed as the show went on.

An added element in the "Season One" episodes was the concept of cyberspace. Dr. Quest developed a virtual reality system called "Questworld", which was depicted using three-dimensional computer animation. The rest of the program was created using traditional animation.

Recurring villains in the "Season One" episodes include quadriplegic hacker Jeremiah Surd and prophetic madman Ezekiel Rage. In keeping with the original 1964 feel, the main recurring villains in the "Season Two" episodes are Dr. Zin, the Quest team’s traditional archenemy, and his two daughters.

Fifty-two episodes of The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest were eventually produced, and the show is currently in syndication.