Johnny Quest. One of the best cartoons to ever come from the 60's...way ahead of its time...what is so cool is the soundtrack to this...those dudes were jamming....
This is the kind of red-blooded American cartoon that I remember. For young boys and even older boys, this was the best cartoon. The story lines were awesome.
@@brianroberts2402 I was born in 86 and there was a couple episodes where the Indian natives were friendly and helped the Quest team and a couple episodes where they were hostile
@@marcustrice3246 0:09 and 0:25 I used to love Jonny Quest and I still enjoy it (Big Bowl in Lincolnshire/10,000 years of Monsters/Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed).
@@marcustrice3246 I was born in ;62. I don't remember any episodes where the bad guys were Indian, but that doesn't matter. There were bad guys and good guys in this series that were assorted races. It wasn't about race, it was about right and wrong, and it was terrific.
That's old school animation where each movement was layered on vellum or acitate to get the transition. Today a starting point midway point and end point are only needed then the transition is predictably rendered. It saves time and production cost. Unfortunately the artists talent is replaced with cgi work.
Family counsels of the day also caused them to end the show. They complained the show was way too violent and showed people dying on every episode. People loved it though. My favorite cartoon as a kid.
@@rayflaherty3441 I read that years ago. The show was top notch and had great ratings but family advocacy groups monitoring tv shows complained it was way too violent for children and argued it should not be a part of the Saturday children cartoon rotation. They lobbied the studios to cancel the show or air it during a nighttime slot. Hanna Barbera cancelled it, but the show went on to be hugely popular in syndication. The article was written in the 1990s or early 2000s when the Cartoon Network broadcasted the original show again and as usual was a big hit and lead to a remaking of the cartoon series.
Did not know that. It was my favorite adventure show as a kid till Star Trek came a long the following year. Johnny Quest was the animated cartoon show to have a non-White cast member in Hadji.
Notice how crazy the trombones play in this theme? The composer made the sheet music for the instrument *ridiculous* (almost impossible to play right) after his Trombone section was giving him shit about writing music that was too easy to play.
It is awesome but best ever…hmmmm….lots of great opening “superCool” titles came out of this era….mission Impossible and Hawaii Five-O, just to name two. The fact this was composed for a “saturday kids’ show” though was extraordinary.
Probably a hell of a lot. They quit making it because it was *very* expensive to produce given the ratings it had. There's an hour documentary about that.
As a kid I thought this show was SO COOL. The music is uncredited (although Hoyt Curtin is listed as Music Director). The the music was written and scored by Ted Nichols. In my college years at CSU Los Angeles (where he had been director of bands from 60-63), I had the pleasure of taking a course in film scoring from him. We got to examine the cues he wrote for the show, including the opening and closing theme music. Definite big band jazz influenced by Stan Kenton and other modernists. The short trombone solos were played by Frank Rosolino.
Nichols scored this? Well hang me. All these years it was commonly believed that Curtin wrote all the music for Quest. Come to think, the animation experts interviewed on this topic never said the composer's name in the JQ DVD docummentary. That's interesting. As far as I know Nichols was Curtin's alumnee at this time in H-B, but soon he was promoted to musical director, following Curtin's temporary departure in 1965. Nichols composed every cartoon soundtrack between 65-72 including Space Ghost, Secret Squirrel, Herculoids, Shazzan, Birdman & Galaxy trio, Wacky Races, Penelope Pitstop and of course his most memorable/famous work, Scooby-Doo. Someone should do a full interview with him right now and ask him these questions
I lived for the show every Sat morning. Still think it's the best cartoon opening ever. Only Cowboy Bebop can rival it, but then that's an anime so they're in diff categories.
Two boys travelling the world. Going to foreign countries, exotic locations Being involved in dangerous (but exciting) adventures. With adult males providing positive roll models in courage. And how to "be a man". For me as a boy back then, that was the message this show conveyed. And to millions of other boys that were the show's target audience. The message? Boys were to be brave, resourceful, adventurous, show leadership and initiative.
I was born in 2002, this wasn’t a show of my generation, but my dad introduced it to me when I was little nonetheless. He had watched it as a kid and figured I’d enjoy it. I did! Loved it. I have great memories of watching it with him. They don’t make them like this anymore.
Glad your Dad showed you this marvelous cartoon from 50 years ago . The show was canceled after one season due to high costs . One cool gadget was a ring you would get if you bought a pair of PF Flyers sneakers.
I remember killing this on Boomerang with my dad and little bro on Sunday afternoons back when Boomerang was worth a damn! It was Jonny Quest, Shazam, Scooby Doo, Super Friends, Magilla Gorilla, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones and The Jetsons that would fill up the whole afternoon lol.
On Saturday morning I didn't go outside to play until I watched Johnny Quest and don't forget Fat Albert and the Cosby kid's. Best 70's cartoons ever. Most of the cartoons today are senseless.
Tony Beazley • I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s me and my brother and cousin used to watch Johnny quest every Saturday morning too we would watch scooby doo and the groovey ghoulies bugs bunny ISIS and shazam and a few more we had the best cartoons that were ever made. In the 60s and 70s.
Robert Kelly • I did too you got that right we had the very best cartoons that were ever made in the 1970s all the cartoons from the 1980s until now are junk and scenesless
This show had everything that young boys loved -- kids that traveled all over the world -- jungles, mountains, the bottom of the sea -- fighting, shooting, robot spiders, giant Komodo dragons, giant spiders, pirates, judo, secret agents, lost cities, invisible monsters, mummies, man-eating crocodiles, ray guns! Did I mention fighting and shooting? And super cool Music! Everything! Jonny Quest was the greatest show ever made -- for ten-year old boys. Which I was, when it first came out.
And young girls…this was my favorite show growing up, and I dressed like Johnny Quest as often as I was allowed in the 60’s and early 70’s… I am 63 and it is still my favorite look for me…black shirt, blue jeans, perfect white sneakers…still love the science, the forward thinking, the fact that Hadji was an equal. Bring this back!!!!!
Um, I LOVED this show. But I was/am a girl. I don't care what you said about the show being for boys because I thought all of the episodes were so very cool, too. The artwork, the music, the stories -- all cool!
The excellent RU-vid documentary on the Making of Jonny Quest says that the studio musicians responsible for performing the intro were goofing around, slacking off, figuring that since they'd been asked for "cartoon" music it would be an easy day's pay -- UNTIL Hoyt Curtin presented them with the actual score. He had those pros puffing and sweating until they were exhausted, trying to keep up with the complicated arrangement and fast tempo. A very wearing day for them, but classic results.
The trombonists had been bitching about how they so little to do, and most of it was simple stuff. This shut them up. NEVER get your composer mad at you!
Jonny Quest is memorable for many reasons, not the least of which is that awesome theme song. As a child in the 60s, I can honestly say this was the very first cartoon that didn’t treat us like babies! I never understood why they haven’t tried a big screen, live action adaptation .
I'm 50 years old, and my high school freshman English teacher said she learned what a "gargoyle" was from that show. Most of us in the class had as well.
what is fascinating to me is how many of the innovations that were introduced on Jonny Quest ultimately did come to pass--cell phones/harrier jump jets/hovercraft/rocket packs etc-the show's creator Doug Wiley spent long hours reviewing science magazines to come up with the ideas/inspiration for all of these things
@David Graham for the most part of my 60 years I have noticed how the government always takes things from our old cartoons and not giving credit to any of the first engineers to actually design those wild machines, but watching them work on some things from Divergent and far out recent sci-fi movies are getting scary. Ai is seriously moving fast.
@@TommygunNG I didn't mean for my comment to invalidate anything you said, Lee. It's just a creative liberty that the show took. An actual gargoyle usually sticks out from a structure and always acts as a decorative gutter spout.
Wow, what memories. I was six and my brother was seven when this show came out. We never missed an episode, ha-ha. It had everything a kid could ask for - two tough guys, Bandit, Hadjii, dinosaurs, mummies, mecha-monsters, jungles and headhunter natives, clandestine para-military groups, and international adventures. The creators must have polled dozens of kids to see what fascinated us back in 1964. Thanks for sharing!
@@simoncondron6056 In the 12-part documentary here on RU-vid, they do an entire ep. on the music, and point out that there's one part where the trombone slide moves so fast that 9 out of 10 musicians _cant_ play it properly. Amazing!
Hanna Barbera (William Hanna and Joe Barbera) are well known for cartoons like The Jetsons, Flinstones, Yogi Bear and, of course, Scooby Doo. But surprisingly few people know about the gem called Jonny Quest. The original show ran in 1964-65 and was as incredible for Americans as The Thunderbirds was for British audiences. I wasn't old enough to watch it when it first aired, but saw the reruns beginning in 1970 on my local broadcast stations (this was pre-cable.) I was fascinated. Unlike every other show on Saturday morning, this one was amazing and dead serious. I remember being frightened by the energy monster (that bone-chilling howl it had) and the sense of dread of the alien spider robot. No other show could illicit such emotions from me. To this day I think of Jonny Quest as being one of the best shows I ever watched as a kid.
The 60's and 70's were the best time in the world for film and tv. I'm 25 and I'm not into modern media at all. But all of this old stuff is my jam, it was created with such energy and skill. Just getting into Johnny Quest, am now a child in 1964 sitting in front of the television watching this awesome intro.
@@fhhfgj Great Response! I still think Johnny Quest is best theme song of all time. However I had completely forgotten about the ones you listed. Well done.
When I was a young land my parents bought me the complete first season and I watched it over at least 100 times. It was glorious in every possible way!
This was THE cartoon that I looked forward to on Saturday mornings. The animation, the great musical soundtrack, would keep me glued to the 19" black & white t.v. What a great cartoon!
Best Cartoon I remember this cartoon was different from the others, a level above, change my mind and my brothers, I wanted to have a Bandit puppy. Cheers from Monterrey México
A great Saturday morning cartoon show. "Johnnie Quest" was my 2nd favorite cartoon show behind "Underdog." Greatings from Charleston, West Virginia, USA
Now THIS was a cartoon, not the crap of today. I was a kid when this came on and I never missed an episode. Yeah, I'm 55 but I still love a good cartoon to this day. For those that don't know, this is the cartoon "The Venture Brothers" is based on. With a little bit of "The Hardy boys" thrown in, but mainly Jonny Quest.
MThrow me too I'm 56 and I loved these cartoons. I have built a video library of all the classic cartoons I grew up with so my future grandchildren can enjoy.
Race Bannon! A US special forces veteran, 3rd degree black belt, licensed to drive a motorcycle, a car, a truck, a tractor trailer, a boat, a small plane, a jet plane, and a helicopter! Race wasn't just Dr Quest's bodyguard, he was also MISTER ALL-DRIVER MAN!
Did I just have one helluva flashback to my youth!! LOVED Johnny Quest! I would stop everything I was doing to watch this show. Coolest thing I ever saw as a kid.
Love your name! You have knowledge of "mothman"? I was in WV for a bit for work. I asked two old ladies about Mothman. They had nothing to say. Curious.
This was my favorite Saturday morning cartoon. I didn't like getting up in the morning, but I would jump out of bed early on Saturday for all the great cartoons!
Nine o'clock Saturday morning I was glued to the T.V. at 11 yrs. old for some Johnny Quest! My favorite episode was the invisible monster! The sound of it was chilling as a kid! The soundtrack of every episode had us at the edge of our seats! I guess being about Johnnys age made it highly relatable to me! Absolutely loved "Johnny Quest"!!!!!
Love Jonny Quest! Such an amazing classic! Use to watch it all the time with my dad as a kid and teenager! I still have the entire series on DVD at home. I’m a fan of old cartoons.
THAT'S Entertainment,the Intro!! Alone prepares you for something EPIC about to Happen.The good Ole days weren't Always good, But this and all the Hanna-Barbera stable kept us on the straight and narrow. Thanks for the Memories.
The Boomerang channel was the shit back in the 90s. I am a 90s kid. Johnny Quest, The Jetsons & Speed Racer was everything. The new generation born now will never know about Saturdays cartoons. Or just great TV shows alone.
I'm great full to have grown up in the seventies. Johnny Quest, banana split show, speed racer Saturday morning cartoons , my apple jacks and some chocolate milk . Great childhood memories.
That is some of the best music I have ever heard, not just for cartoon but for any show. The trombones are awesome. Terrific horn play all around. The trumpets play complex rhythms. I can go on and on. When I watch the show, I see a button come up on my screen that says "Skip Intro". And I think to myself, "Are you kidding me?"
I saw every episode of every series of Jonny Quest from the originals to the series released in the 80's where Dr. Quest had a full beard and the last series The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest where they dealt with a new enemy worse than Dr. Zin and how they went into the virtual world and I even saw the 2 cartoon movies they did Jonny's Golden Quest where we were introduced to Jonny's mother for the very first time and Race's daughter that he didn't even know he had and the other one I can't remember what it was called but I remember it had something to do with Prehistoric insects that Dr. Zin wanted because he thought the scientists who were working on reviving them was gonna use them as bioweapons even though said scientists wanted to use them for medical purposes.
Loved that theme song!! Jazzy and exciting!! Science was the basic premise of this action packed cartoon, I was five years old when it debuted in 1964!!!
I'd grew up in the '70s and this cartoon right here, was ahead of it's tine! The music, suspense, mystery, humor, sci-fi, horror, a lil' romance but the best thing was....somebody always get killed. Think about how they let all this in an cartoon show for kids and adults to enjoy; of the '60s era. It still holds up to today's standards, even better than some! Thanks man, for the nostalgia!
I guess it was the mid 70s when I first started watching JQ. Yes these are fond child hood memories and that little bandit I would have cloned him. Thanks for the memories!!
My parents grew up with this show and got the series on DVD when I was young so my siblings and I pretty much grew up on it as well. I STILL love it as I enter adulthood
