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Doug Widley 1964 animated series "Jonny Quest," animated by Hanna-Barbera, only lasted 26 episodes, but for Gen-Xers, it may seem like a lot more. Thanks to a series of sweet, sweet syndication deals, along with the clever remixing and repackaging of the company's 1960s and 1970s shows, Hanna-Barbera cartoons remained in reruns for decades, allowing new generations to grow up watching "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?," "The Flintstones," and, uh, "Jabberjaw." For kids of the 1980s, not a Saturday slipped past without several Hanna-Barbera shows making their way into our eyeballs, often entirely by accident.

"Jonny Quest" always seemed to make its way into my generation's cartoon rotation, and many viewers my age became very fond of the show's chintzy, stilted animation, thick-lines drawing style, and stock "laser" sound effects. The premise was the stuff of boy's adventure novels: Jonny Quest (Tim Matheson) was an 11-year-old wunderkind who was skilled in martial arts,...

Beginning in the 1950s, Hanna-Barbera emerged as one of the greatest creators of Saturday-morning cartoons of the 20th century, thanks to properties like Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones and The Jetsons. As the company continued to produce excellent and popular shows, it built up a strong, nostalgic reputation that has endured well into the 21st century, despite the company being defunct. Along the way, the best characters and shows of the company have been given some fun comic books.

Hanna-Barbera's properties come from two visionary creators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, whose unique style of animation dominated TV for close to two decades. From their legendary crossover shows to reinventions of their own characters, the company's IP continues to prosper today, through games, film, animation and comics - the latter of which are responsible for a slew of brilliant stories, especially in tandem with its sister company, DC Comics.

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest...

Quick Links Jonny Quest and John Carpenter's The Thing? The Thing Comes Alive Through Animation The Shock Value in Jonny Quest Comes Across for All Ages

It qualifies only as instant junk. This is what Vincent Canby said in his review of 1982s The Thing. Director John Carpenters sixth feature film (which mixed the genres of science fiction and horror) told the tale of deadly extraterrestrials in Antarctica through the use of extreme visuals and constant paranoia. While both of these trademarks found in this novella adaptation were initially torn apart by many critics upon release, the Kurt Russell starring movie later found immense success through these same two attributes when it was later released on home video and syndicated on television.

Considering the fact that The Thing was later re-evaluated and regarded as one of the best horror and science fiction films of all time, its no surprise...

True to its portmanteau name, Toonami has brought a wave of Japanese animation to America in the 25 years since it started as a daytime segment of the Cartoon Network schedule. Toonami launched on March 17, 1997, with episodes of Thundercats, Cartoon Roulette, Voltron, and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. Before long, however, anime started taking over the lineup, getting U.S. audiences hooked on shows like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. Cartoon Network took Toonami off the air in 2008, but Adult Swim resurrected the brand in 2012, and it’s been going strong on Saturday nights ever since. Here are some highlights from the past two and a half decades of Toonami programming. Attack on Titan In this series, the human hero Eren Jaeger joins the elite Survey Corps to fight the Titans after one of the titular giants attacks his hometown and kills his mother, the war between the species ending a century of peace.

Robert Patrick was the latest guest on Michael Imperioli and Steven Schirripa’s “Talking Sopranos” podcast (via Uproxx), and he told a memorable story of performing a beatdown scene with the late James Gandolfini during his three-episode arc as Davey Scatino in the show’s second season. Patrick’s character was a gambling addict and childhood friend of Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano.

“I had never met Mr. Gandolfini,” Patrick said. “I am out front on a bench smoking a cigarette with Jimmy after we’d just done this read through. And we’re trying to get to know each other a little bit because we’re supposed to be high school buddies. As the conversation was winding up, I said to him, ‘You know the scene where you come to get your money, you better bring your fucking A-game.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘Oh, I’ll bring my fucking A-game.

Chick Vennera, a voice actor in numerous Warner Bros. animated projects like “Animaniacs” and “Batman: the Animated Series,” and actor in “Thank God It’s Friday” and “The Golden Girls,” died Wednesday in Burbank, Calif. He was 74.

His daughter Nicky Vennera told several media outlets he died of lung cancer.

Former castmate John Mariano posted the news on Facebook, writing, “We worked together on ‘Steven Spielberg’s Animaniacs.’ We were ”The Goodfeathers.’ He’s an amazing talent, but more so, an amazing person. I can go on, but I think you all get what I’m trying to say. Gentle rest grant unto thee, Chick.”

Following a series of small roles on television, Vennera landed the part of Marv Gomez in 1978’s “Thank God It’s Friday” where he performed a now iconic scene in which he danced atop cars outside a disco. He went on to work in over 50 films, including “Milagro Beanfield War” and “Yanks.

Chick Vennera, a prolific voice actor perhaps most recognizable for his scene-stealing disco dance performance atop a parked car in the 1978 hit comedy Thank God It’s Friday, died from cancer yesterday at his home in Burbank.

Vennera, who voiced characters for Animaniacs and Batman Beyond, among many other series, and appeared during the late 1980s in the recurring role of Enrique on the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, was 74. His death was confirmed by his daughter Nicky Vennera.

Born Francis Vennera in Herkimer, New York, the actor known professionally as Chick Vennera moved to California after high school, studying at the Pasadena Playhouse where he would later teach acting. After a stint in the Army, Vennera returned to the West Coast to perform musically in nightclubs and, for two years, as a singer and dancer in the Disney on Parade tour. He also toured in the national company of Grease...

Chick Vennera, who portrayed a bean farmer for Robert Redford in The Milagro Beanfield War and danced atop parked cars outside an L.A. discotheque while wearing leather from head to toe in Thank God It’s Friday, has died. He was 74.

Vennera died Wednesday at his home in Burbank after a battle with lung cancer, his daughter, Nicky Vennera, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Vennera also was a busy voice actor who worked on such animated shows as Animaniacs — he created the characters of Pesto and The God Pigeon — Foofur, Capitol Critters, Darkwing Duck, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Cow and Chicken and Batman Beyond.

Famed casting ...

Chick Vennera, who portrayed a bean farmer for Robert Redford in The Milagro Beanfield War and danced atop parked cars outside an L.A. discotheque while wearing leather from head to toe in Thank God It’s Friday, has died. He was 74.

Vennera died Wednesday at his home in Burbank after a battle with lung cancer, his daughter, Nicky Vennera, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Vennera also was a busy voice actor who worked on such animated shows as Animaniacs — he created the characters of Pesto and The God Pigeon — Foofur, Capitol Critters, Darkwing Duck, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Cow and Chicken and Batman Beyond.

Famed casting ...

Disney Xd has ordered a third season of the Emmy-nominated animated series Marvel’s Spider-Man with a Spring 2020 premiere, according to Marc Buhaj, senior vice president, programming and general manager, Disney Xd. In the third season, titled Marvel’s Spider-Man: Maximum Venom, Peter Parker’s alter ego is pushed to his breaking point when the always-volatile Venom summons a global threat from its alien home world.

“This is the most epic conflict in the history of Marvel Animation,” said Cort Lane, senior vice president, Marvel Animation & Family Entertainment. “We planted the seeds in two seasons of Marvel’s Spider-Man and three seasons of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but you don’t need to have watched them to be blown away by this colossal confrontation. While a ton of guest heroes will be on hand, Peter Parker’s special link to Venom makes him the only hero who can...

The live-action Jonny Quest movie has new life. Warner Bros. has officially tapped The Lego Batman Movie director Chris McKay to tackle the adaptation. Dating back to the early 1960s, Jonny Quest has been a recognizable and popular figure in pop culture, but has never made the trip to the big screen. That looks like it's finally set to change, as a promising filmmaker is now in the captain's chair.

According to a new report, Dan Lin, Jonathan Eirich and Adrian Askarieh are set to produce the Jonny Quest movie, with Chris McKay at the helm. Daniel Alter is also on board to executive produce. Previously, Robert Rodriguez, known for the Spy Kids franchise, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin CIty and the upcoming Alita: Battle Angel, among other things, had been attached, initially boarding the project in 2015. Development unfortunately stalled out under his watch.

Jonny Quest initially debuted as an...

Cartoon Network has announced via their Twitter account that they will be reviving the hugely popular Toonami animation block on May 26th after a four-year absence. Originally launched in 1997, the anime action block aired such hit shows as ThunderCats, Voltron, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Robotech, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, ReBoot (our personal favorite), The Powerpuff Girls and many many more.

Click to see larger image.

Ironically, Cartoon Network received a huge fan response after they pulled an April Fools’ Day prank that aired snippets of Toonami segments. Following the response, Adult Swim asked fans if they would interested in having the block return and to tweet their answer with the #BringBackToonami hashtag.

Surprise, surprise, Adult Swim…the fans have spoken!

via [Adult Swim Twitter]...

To me, Jonny Quest was one of the best animated series a kid could grow up on in the 1960s. The prime time show had nice designs, great storytelling and you could imagine yourself getting mixed up into adventures with Race Bannon and Hadji. It was relatable and fun and exceedingly well done.

By the 1990s, though, Indiana Jones and his brethren raised the stakes for action/adventure in live action as well as animation. The Cartoon Network recognized this and commissioned an updated version known as The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest which aired from August 26, 1996 to April 16, 1997. To make the concept contemporary, they added Jessie Bannon as the duo became a trio while Dr. Benton Quest and Race Bannon went looking into the unexplained. Given the fondness for CGI at the time, some of the stories also meant visits to the three-dimensional QuestWorld (hoping to tap into the...

Do you remember that short period in the mid-90s in children’s animated television, where the utter hokey-ness of programs like Captain Planet and G.I. Joe had not yet left us, but the interest in all things digital and internet related that was to dominate the next decade hadn’t yet taken hold? If you don’t, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: The Complete First Season sure does. Even if the show’s attempts at updating the original Hanna Barbera program are unsuccessful, it serves as an interesting time capsule from the days before we really understood where the internet was going, as well as what powerful executives thought kids liked back in 1996.

The central premise is markedly unchanged from the original show: Dr. Quest (George Segal) is a scientist who works for the government investigating strange phenomena with his son Jonny Quest (J.D. Roth). They are...