Jonny Quest 01x13

   

Jonny Quest is one of my favorite cartoons but I've never seen all the episodes. Here I'll just be looking at the original series. I'm going to be sharing thoughts as I go. 

So this time we start off with a human sacrifice. Some pygmies are sacrificing one of their own- apparently to a black panther- and then we're treated to Race and the boys flying over the jungle en route to Dr. Quest's laboratory. Exactly how many remote labs does he have, anyways? Naturally they develop engine trouble and have to go down. Ooh, there's that black panther again. Clearly he's going to be a problem. Or... not? Race shoots the panther before it can gobble up the sacrifice dude. You know, I'm not sure how much of this would fly today. Race shoots the panther, which looks clearly dead, but then shoots it again to make sure. I bet that wouldn't be in a kid's cartoon in today's environment. 

The pygmy thing is questionable too, I imagine. Anyway, the pygmies don't take kindly to Race freeing their prisoner, and decide to take Race and the boys captive instead. And... we find out we're in Brazil when Dr. Quest consults a map regarding the search. Race and the boys, meanwhile, are cooling their heels until sacrifice time. Hadji uses his levitation trick, which we've seen in prior episodes, on the headman of the tribe and they almost escape but Jonny screws it up. But, hey, all is not lost, as the pygmy they rescued in the beginning shows up and frees them. See, one good turn? 

The chase is on! They take to the river and soon find a place where they can make a stand. They're being tracked, of course, and pretty soon have to fight. I had to laugh when Race rolls a boulder down of them from atop a hill and scatters a bunch of 'em. This cartoon, as I've noted before, wasn't shy about violence. More rocks follow. Also, thankfully there are an unlimited supply of rocks. Anyway, things are looking grim (I mean, these guys are determined) but thankfully the cavalry arrives in the form of search-and-rescue helicopters.    

Holy crap, did they just scatter a bunch of pygmies literally with their helicopter? Man, this would not fly today. And the portrayal of the pygmies as basically savages- same deal. This was the 60's, though. Anyway, to make matters worse, Dr. Quest after rescuing them gets a letter requesting his presence on a panel- -debating the friendliness of pgymies! Yeah, definitely problematical. It was kind of fun seeing the jungle battle, but I'm not really sure what the point of this one was.      

I give this one 2 of 5 stars.