Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures – Season One, Volume One (Warner DVD)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: C- Episodes: C-
Some characters seem to be almost impossible to update and
it becomes tougher and tougher to update them the older they get. Hanna-Barbera’s Jonny Quest was a big hit from the 1960s and was invented by the
company when they could not secure the rights to Jack Armstrong, a popular boy
adventurer from radio and movie serials that was eventually eclipsed by the
character. Decades later, the company
tried two revival attempts.
One was
an all-CG animated disaster that wanted to be cutting edge, but was boring on
arrival, while Jonny Quest: The Real
Adventures returned to hand-drawn work and the results were almost as
soulless, colorless, boring and unmemorable.
Hadji is now psychic, Jonny has a female interest (the show had them a
bit older, though homophobia may be an issue) and Dr. Quest, Race Bannon and
even Bandit the Dog are all alive and well.
Unfortunately,
the idea that these are “real” adventures and the classic series was not is a
real slap in the face and when they all turn out to be so bad; it becomes a set
up for pretension and failure, which is exactly what it was. It seems to be arriving on DVD for the most
die-hard fans and because a live-action Quest feature may be on the way. Can it be worse than this? If it is the next Speed Racer, it will be.
There are
13 episodes over two DVDs and I forgot just how formulaic, overly loud and
generally thin these really are. The art
style is weak and lame, color scheme unreal to a point of being a joke and not
very involving. The voicing also seems
bad and never convincing. This is a dud
all around.
The 1.33
X 1 image has aliasing errors all over the place and was likely finished on
analog video, plus there may even be some lite digital work. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo seems a
generation down, sometimes harsh and awkward.
The only extra is a featurette on how they tried to update the show.
- Nicholas Sheffo
