The Quests in Thailand, 11 December 2008
Dr. Quest is in Thailand doing research with some plants that may prove beneficial to future spaceflights. While there, Race takes the opportunity to visit a giant Buddah deep in the jungle for some pictures. But when Race comes back, something's different. It takes Jonny and Hadji a while to figure it out, but there's definitely something odd going on. Race's old flame, Jade, shows up and quickly confirms the boys' suspicions - that's not Race Bannon!
Double Danger is a good, solid episode. The whole idea of a double for Race may be a bit hokey (even I realized how problematic it was as a kid back in the 60s), but it presents an unusual, "fun" situation. I've always found it funny that the highly trained double would blow his cover about five seconds after meeting up with the boys. What an idiot! And calling the monkey "Bandit" is a little to obvious a mistake. Finally, the addition of a woman to the cast like Jade was a very nice, inspired decision. I only wish she could have appeared more often.
A few episodes back, I wrote that it's kind of weird that the series was called Jonny Quest when Jonny so often had little to do in each episode. Double Danger is an exception to this comment. It's Jonny's (and Hadji's) detective work in this episode that saves the day.
7/10
One of the best, 11 December 2008
Desiring to learn the secrets of Dr. Quest's latest invention, the para-power ray gun, Dr. Zin sends a robot spy to check it out. Dr. Zin's unmanned ship lands near the Quest compound. Upon investigation, Dr. Quest and Race find a mysterious orb. They place it in a storage building for latter examination and go about their usual nightly routine. But, as they will soon discover, the mysterious orb is far from routine.
Even if you are only familiar with Jonny Quest on the most casual of levels, I'm confident that The Robot Spy would likely be the episode that most people would recognize. The image of the giant, indestructible, spider-legged mechanical creature is an iconic memory for many of us who grew up in the 60s. It's even prominently featured in the opening credits. Beyond the images, The Robot Spy's status as one of the best Jonny Quest episodes is well deserved. There's plenty of action, mystery, and suspense - what more could you ask for? The first time the robot hits a guard with one of the tentacles - wow! How cool was that? I enjoyed this episode as a child and still find it entertaining. I'm not sure at this point whether it's my favorite episode or not, I'll have to get through the other 18 or so episodes to make that call. But I have no doubt that it will end up in my top five.
9/10
Hadji's story and Jesse White, 8 December 2008
Through a flashback, "Calcutta Adventure" tells the story of how Hadji came to live with the Quest family. In this episode, Dr. Quest is in India lecturing at a local university. However, he has another, more dangerous purpose for being in India. He's looking for a secret nerve gas factory. When a young Indian named Hadji saves Dr. Quest's life, the Quests ask Hadji if he'll be their guide. The group heads for the mountains as the attempts on Dr. Quest's life continue. He's eventually taken prisoner in the secret nerve gas factory and, in exciting fashion, must be rescued by Race – with some help from an enterprising man named Pasha Peddler.
Overall, this is a solid episode. But then again, any episode that includes Hadji's back-story and how he came to live with the Quests is going to be worth watching. "Calcutta Adventure" features a lot of good action and creepy bad guys. The underground lair is also a nice touch. As for Pasha Peddler, he's easily one of the best ancillary characters in the first seven episodes. He's kind of like the Mr. Haney of India. It doesn't hurt that he was voiced by legendary character actor Jesse White. That voice is unmistakable – regardless of how un-Indian it might sound.
7/10
Jonny finds a fortune in treasure, 8 December 2008
At the request of a Central/South American government (I'm just guessing because I don't remember the actual country being named), the Quest Gang travel to do some scientific research at an ancient Mayan city. But they're not alone. An explorer named Perkins is already there looking for a rumored treasure. When Jonny accidentally finds a secret room, it looks like certain death for our heroes.
"Treasure of the Temple" may not be the best episode, but it's certainly entertaining enough. There's a certain amount of intrigue that goes into the mysterious occurrences surrounding the Quests' trip to the archaeological dig. And there's certainly no shortage of dangers – from spiked traps to alligators to underwater rivers to pyramids to natives to hidden rooms to a fortune in treasure, there's something interesting around every corner. Also, and a real change-of-pace to a lot of the first few episodes of Johnny Quest, "Treasure of the Temple" doesn't feature an Asian or Middle-Eastern bad guy. It's nice to see the writers could turn a white, Anglo Saxon into a killer.
Unfortunately for "Treasure of the Temple", there's nothing "big" to make it stand out from many of the other episodes. There's nothing like the mummy Anubis, for example, to make this episode especially memorable. It's good – just not great.
6/10
