The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

I always enjoyed Hanna Barbera cartoons when I was young. They gave so many great cartoons.

Along with SWAT Kats, this was another great show from them in 1990s. I didn't care for First Season with the exception of few good episodes with Ezekiel Rage in it (written by Glenn Leopold who later became Story editor/writer of second season). I love the second season. Most of Second Season crew of this show came from SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron. There are wonderful second season episodes like More than Zero, Ghost Quest, General Winter, and many others. My favorite episodes are Undersea Urgency, Village of the Doomed, Other Space, and The Dark Mountain.

Glenn Leopold and Lance Falk are brilliant writers. They also wrote many episodes of SWAT Kats.

One of the things I love about Jonny Quest Real Adventures Second Season is the limitations of the characters just like in SWAT Kats. Dr. Quest is an excellent scientist. But he doesn't have fighting skills and military experience of Race Bannon. Race Bannon doesn't have the scientific skills of Dr. Quest although he is an excellent fighter and has great deal of military experience. Jessie Bannon follows the footsteps of Dr. Quest in Science and has great deal of knowledge in Music. Hadji has great deal of philosophical knowledge. He also knows a lot about the field of technology especially with the computer and follows the footsteps of Dr. Quest in the field of technology.

With Jonny Quest, he is a central character to the show due to the fact that he learns a little bit of everything from everybody around him. Although he can be impetuous, still his inquisitive mind and clever decisions often solve the problems. That is what I loved about the Second Season of Jonny Quest Real Adventures.

As I had watched a few episodes of the original Jonny Quest cartoon and had liked them, I decided to give this new series a try. I was completely blown away by the quality of "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest". The stories were intelligent and interesting, while the characters were totally believable and likeable. This is one of the few shows that does not adhere to any tired cliches commonly found in other children's toons and does not "dumb down" to viewers. I disagree with some fans of the original series who dislike newer characters like Jessie Bannon. Jessie is an excellent role model for young girls because she is strong, assertive, intelligent, and Jonny and Hadji's equal instead of the stereotypical female "airhead" sidekick or "damsel in distress".

This cartoon ranks up there with other smartly-written children's cartoons like WB's Batman, Batman Beyond, and Superman animated series, The Tick, Power Puff Girls, and Transformers: Beast Machines. It's too bad that something like "Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" would not survive in today's TV market.

Don't get me wrong, the show had some excellent episodes and overall was reasonably good. There were only 2 nails in the coffin that eventually killed it and then 1 small one.

The smallest nail would be the fact that, in the credits, there are 2 people listed for each of the major roles. When you get right down to the continuity of it that is not good for a show, especially when it is syndicated.

By far the largest problem of the show was Jeremiah Sird. He was an interesting character at first but then he came back and he came back again. I have not seen a character overused that much after this show until Scott Wallace on The Practice. I mean honestly, how much of a threat can a guy with the physical abilities of Steven Hawking really be? The overuse of the character destroyed the reasons why he was so interesting to begin with.

And in about half of the episodes with Ezekial Rage, there were major plausibility issues. The most egregious and offensive one was the episode with time travel where he ended up fossilized after melting the polar icecaps. Again, an interesting character who ended up being used too much.

Overall though, it was a reasonably good series. They managed to capture the essence of the older Jonny Quest without the homoerotic overtones of the first series.

TBS in the nineties aired some pretty cheesy shows like "Captain Planet" but in 1996 it reinvented itself with this outstanding television show. Like the title says it, this were the REAL adventures because in the original Dr. Quest and Race Bannon seemed to be doing all the work. While in this show Jonny and Hadji were the stars. This was also a much superior show with outstanding plots and characters! Too bad the show was canceled so soon.

When I first saw "The Matrix," I was immediately reminded of the opening graphics of this high-quality cartoon show. This show never disappointed me with its smart writing, very good animation, and its storyline. . .it has a more or less continuous plot, at least towards the end. My favorite two episodes were "Less than Zero," where the team seeks after ghosts in a huge Venetian island mansion (kind of a fusion between "Ghostbusters" and "The Shining") and an episode where the team lands on an island that has, again, a haunted house. Johnny and Jesse become possessed by two dead lovers, and in a very cute scene, find themselves kissing as the spirits leave their bodies. It's a shame that the lowgrade animation and lowest common denominator catchphrase spewing humor of shows such as Powerpuff girls and Dexter's Laboratory are what we get these days. P.S. It may be sacrilage, but I daresay that "Real adventures" was BETTER than the original Johnny Quest.