Jonny Quest "Double Danger" #1.9 (1964) (TV)

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

Jonny Quest "The Robot Spy" #1.8 (1964) (TV)

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

Jonny Quest "Calcutta Adventure" #1.7 (1964) (TV)

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 Quest "Treasure of the Temple" #1.6 (1964) (TV)

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

Cave Dwellers (1984)

- Ator l'invincibile 2
I never knew Miles O'Keeffe was from Tennessee?, 5 December 2008

Another in the long line of Conan wannabes that tired to cash in on that movie's success, this Italian monstrosity is about as bad as they came. You know it's a bad sign when your heroes fight invisible enemies because the movie was made so cheaply there wasn't money for either adequate special effects or to hire real people. I won't even bother going into the plot as I defy anyone to follow it and make sense of the storyline. Maybe it's the television cut I watched, but I can't imagine any version being that much better. It all seems so random to me. Evil sorcerers, cavemen, giant snakes, medieval castles, grenades, and hang gliding – none of it fits together. It's as if director Joe D'Amato had an epileptic fit while making Cave Dwellers (or any of the other half-dozen names the movie goes by) and threw everything he could think of onto the screen regardless of how unrelated it was or how it fit into the film's already puzzling plot. The acting is sufficiently bad. Miles O'Keeffe could never act his way out of a wet paper bag and he proves that once again in this movie. The rest of the cast is equally atrocious. Then there's the . . . well, you get the idea. It's late, I'm tired, and I've already wasted more than enough time writing about this piece of garbage. Take my word for it – avoid Cave Dwellers (or whatever you want to call it) at all costs.

2/10

Jonny Quest "The Riddle of the Gold" #1.5 (1964) (TV)

The introduction of Dr. Zin, 4 December 2008

In "The Riddle of the Gold", the Quest gang heads to India to check out a mine that has suddenly started producing a large quantity of gold. The problem, as Dr. Quest has discovered, is that it's not real. Who's behind this attempt at passing-off a worthless mineral as gold? And what dangers lay ahead for Dr. Quest, Race, Jonny, Hadji, and Bandit in India?

The single best thing "The Riddle of the Gold" has going for it is the introduction of Quest nemesis Dr. Zin. When I was younger, Dr. Zin represented the ultimate in bad guys – seemingly unlimited resources, grand evil plans, and a desire to do harm to anyone standing in his path. Other than that, there's really not a lot to get overly excited about in this episode. The tiger hunt, one of the episode's main set pieces, never really worked for me.

One thing about this episode that I find odd is seeing Dr. Quest and family on a commercial airline. Why not take the private jet they always flew in? I suppose the writers did it to pad the script and create a few comedic moments with Bandit on the airplane. There's really no other good explanation.

6/10

Project Moon Base (1953)

"Anymore guff out of you and I'll turn you over my knee and spank you.", 4 December 2008

The plot of Project Moon Base is fairly simple – Colonel Briteis is selected to pilot a rocket on a lunar orbit in preparation of an upcoming lunar landing. It's simple enough until it is discovered that an enemy agent is on board with intentions of sabotaging the mission. So whether their superiors like it or not, Colonel Briteis and Major Moore aren't going to be able to complete their mission. They're going to have to try to land on the moon.

Many of the comments you'll see on Project Moon Base focus a lot of attention on the movie's treatment or portrayal of women. Is the movie sexist? Those who argue against it mention Colonel Briteis' (Briteis is a female) position on the space voyage or the fact that the President is a woman. Well so what? Project Moon Base is as sexist as they come. I pointed out some of the sexist comments in Rocketship X-M and that movie's got nothing on Project Moon Base. From the intentional mispronunciation of Colonel Briteis name (Bright Eyes – yeah, right) to General Greene's threat to give Briteis a spanking to Briteis' incapability of fixing the radio after several hours of trying when Major Moore is able to do it in mere seconds – it's about as sexist as I've seen. Sure, it was made in a different time, so don't take my comments as a slam. I'm just pointing out the facts as I see them.

Two things I'm glad to have discovered about Project Moon Base. First, the movie was originally meant to be a television serial. That goes a long way to explaining some of the disjointed scenes and fragmented story lines. Second, many of the props and costumes were also used in Cat Women of the Moon. I thought they seemed awfully familiar. Glad to know I'm not going crazy. Overall, Project Moon Base is a fairly dull programmer with little to hold the attention of the viewer. There aren't any real action scenes and any suspense or drama never materializes. Even by 1953 standards, the special effects had to feel weak and not awfully convincing. Finally, much of the plot is handled rather awkwardly. The notion of an enemy agent infiltration the space program might have been interesting, but here it comes off as just too stupid for words.

As is the case with many of the films I watch, there is another hand. So, on the other hand, Project Moon Base is too enjoyable despite the numerous flaws for me to rate it as a stinker. Donna Martell gives Colonel Briteis an infectious nature that's hard not to enjoy. She's a pleasure to watch. Some of the goofy sight gags are almost charming in their naïveté. Take the scenes on the space station where people walk on the ceiling or the chairs on the wall. Stupid, sure – but fun nonetheless. Finally, there's a real innocence to most everything in Project Moon Base that's often sorely missing from today's movies that I can appreciate. Take the ending of the film where Colonel Briteis is forced to marry Major Bill Moore so people won't talk. And, even though the attitudes of the filmmakers may have been chauvinistic, most of it is harmless enough. Maybe I'm living in the past, but I sort of enjoyed Project Moon Base.

5/10