In 1964, when I was in First Grade, I had a very simple Friday (later Thursday) night routine. Just before 7:30, after finishing any homework and my dinner, I’d walk from our rowhouse to our next-door neighbors, the Mutschlers, and knock on the door. Mr. and Mrs. Mutschler would let me in, I would say “hello,” and I’d settle down on their living room sofa so that I could watch the latest episode of my favorite show, The Adventures of Jonny Quest, on their color TV. Then, at 8:00, I would say “thank you” and make the 20-foot trek back home (not caring to stay for The Farmer’s Daughter or The Donna Reed Show).
Looking back now as the Hanna-Barbera animated adventure series celebrates the 60th anniversary of its debut on ABC, I propose that being six years old in ’64 was the prefect time to experience Jonny Quest (let’s drop “The Adventures of” the same way the show eventually did). It may be hard for later generations–inundated with superhero cartoons and live-action films as well as endless anime dramas, all available at the click of a button–to believe, but at the time there was nothing like this on the air. The closest things we Baby Boomers got were the more lighthearted Clutch Cargo (you know, the cartoon with the creepy live-action lips) and, in some places, the classic Max Fleischer Superman shorts. But here, from the same studio that gave us The Flintstones, Top Cat, and The Jetsons in prime time, came realistically drawn characters encountering living mummies, giant lizards, a long-legged “spider robot,” and an invisible energy monster. Not to mention, the show had what is objectively one of the five or six coolest theme songs/intros ever, courtesy of composers Hoyt Curtin and Ted Nichols (click below): 
My, they weren’t shy about using guns back then, were they?
Animation magnates Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera had originally planned to turn the popular 1940s radio show Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy into a cartoon adventure series and hired comic book artist Doug Wildey to develop the show’s look and characters. When H-B failed to land the rights, Wildey worked out an original concept that borrowed from that show as well as Milton Caniff’s comic strip “Terry and the Pirates” and the nascent James Bond films.
The main protagonists were Jonny, a precocious and fearless 11-year-old; his super-scientist father, Dr. Benton Quest (Jonny’s mother was said to have been “lost” in the first episode); Roger “Race” Bannon, a tough-as-nails, white-haired (his looks were inspired by ’50s film hero Jeff Chandler) government agent who served as the boy’s bodyguard/tutor; Hadji Singh, an Indian orphan who the Quests took in and who became Jonny’s best friend; and Jonny’s pet dog, Bandit. The show’s only recurring foe was Dr. Zin, an Asian criminal genius in the Fu Manchu/Dr. No mold (even with the inclusion of Hadji, the series wasn’t always what one nowadays would call “culturally sensitive”), while appearing in two episodes was female mercenary Jezebel Jade, a mysterious “acquaintance” of Race’s. (Fun Fact: In a 1993 Cartoon Network Mother’s Day poll, Race beat out Wilma Flintstone and Jane Jetson for the title of “Best Cartoon Mom.”)
Each week the Quest team travelled around the world in peril-filled missions with a seemingly endless assortment of adversaries that included modern-day pirates, gold smugglers disguised as werewolves, an angry tribe of Pygmies, a WWI flying ace itching for one last dogfight, and a wheelchair-bound villain with a pet Pteranodon. While the show was never excessively violent despite a lot of weaponry and gunplay, a good number of those foes wound up meeting decidedly final fates. And along the way there were plenty of scientific and geographic facts tossed around to arouse a kid’s curiosity (I recall using encyclopedias to look up such series-related topics as laser beams, jetpacks, the Sargasso Sea, Komodo dragons, and gargoyles).
Although Jonny Quest was considered a ratings success (despite airing opposite Rawhide on Fridays and Daniel Boone and The Munsters after a move to Thursdays), ABC cancelled it after a single season. The show’s popularity in Saturday morning and syndicated airings led Hanna-Barbera put to out a pair of revival series, 1986’s The New Adventures of Jonny Quest and Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures in 1996-97, along with two mid-’90s feature-length tales, Jonny’s Golden Quest and Jonny Quest vs. the Cyber-Insects. In the years since, the characters have made cameo appearances in other animated projects such as Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and most famously served as the inspiration for Cartoon Network’s satirical send-up The Venture Bros.
To say I was a fan of the original show would be putting it mildly. I still have the Gold Key comic book that came out at the same time as the show’s premiere and depicted its first episode, “The Mystery of the Lizard Men,” as well as the Milton Bradley card game, which I was lucky enough to get signed by the original voice of Jonny, Animal House actor Tim Matheson (who said he’d never seen one before and took photos of it). There’s also a new Jonny Quest comic book series, with the latest issue coming out this week. And the original episodes can currently be seen on the fantastic MeTV Toons channel. I watch them, of course, but somehow it’s not quite the same as seeing them while sitting on the Mutschlers’ sofa.
By the way, if you asked me what my three favorite JQ stories were, I’d probably go with “The Mystery of the Lizard Men,” “The Robot Spy,” and “The Invisible Monster.” Feel free to share your top three episodes and other remembrances below.