Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A QUEST GALLERY

I have found some wonderful little tidbits posted all about the net, all of them Quest related, and I am happy to share them here with you. They make wonderful desktops, if not, at least terrific additions to your Quest art collection.

(Remember that all the pictures and graphics on this blog can be double-clicked for a much larger version of the file. If your computer works like my wonderful Mac does, you simply double-click the image and when the larger version appears, drag it onto your desktop)

For instance, this first panorama above, is an original background and of course Bandit, Hadji and Jonny, from the episode "Riddle of the Gold." The title of the episode has been added - and in the exact fontfrom the actual "art card title" of the episode.
Another terrific desktop, this is the first page of the score of the Main Title from Jonny Quest. Note that the creator of this page, left composer Hoyt Curtin's name on the sheet music but removed Joe Barbera and William Hanna's, which were listed with him.

Bill and Joe listed themselves as lyricists and so, co-creators, of all Hoyt's music for the entire Hanna -Barbera empire of the 60s. But, near as we can tell, the music to Jonny Quest, (over two hours of this dramatic and effective action/jazz score) had no lyrics whatsoever.

So why would Bill and Joe still take credit for Hoyt's music on Quest? A friend in the music industry suggested it was a way for Bill and Joe to retain the publication rights for the music, (and residuals for its reuse) that rightfully should have gone to Hoyt alone.



A panorama of Dr. Quest's Lab created for the Quest documentary that was the reason I started this blog. I was treated to a lot of the artwork created for that show, much of it never used.

This piece above, married an additional wall with photos and schematics added to this existing shot of the Quest lab from "Mystery of the Lizard Men," though as the creators of the doc are quick to point out, even the additions on the walls are all created from original 1963 artwork from the series.

A novelty item: Hanna-Barbera artist and sadly, recently passed on, Iwao Takamoto did these renditions of the Quest party. It is unclear whether Iwao was part of the Jonny Quest team back in the early 60's. Anyone know?


Some of you have asked me for the Hover Craft panorama that is the signature banner for this blog. Here it is in its largest size for desktop purposes.

Of course this is a shot from the Main Title of Jonny Quest, and, as is true for many of the shots in the opening sequence, this seems to be a handsomely reworked shot from an early episode.

In this case, the episode is "The Fraudulent Volcano". For this main title shot, the villians in the crafts have been redrawn to "graphic novel standards" and their uniforms changed to a deep red, while the stalagmite rock formations the crafts fly past are not from any known Quest episode.


A long panorama of the Quest jet on it's way to Isaiah Norman's island in "The Invisible Monster."


Here is a wonderful piece of Quest art, though we might not be able to call it that precisely. This is Doug Wildey's design for the angry natives used in the end title of the Quest show.

Which would mean these angry fellows were actually drawn and animated for the two minute test film JACK ARMSTRONG: The All American Boy. The clips of the natives and the hover crafts flying over the desert and into a jet, were all from the test film that later was abandoned for the series idea that became Jonny Quest.


This shot of Jonny looking skyward in terror, was part of the publicity art that was created to advertise the show, mainly in TV Guide. There is another variation of this sketch, that included Race standing next to Jonny as they stared up and the shadow of Turu the Terrible flew over them. The Doug Wildey signature here, did not appear in the original ad.


Shortly before his passing, Quest creator Doug Wildey was designing (and I am sure with great encouragement from many) a series of drawings or sericells as they are sometimes called, of his first, and most famous animated program.

Above, is a rare look at one that never saw the light of day. Race and Jonny on a boat checking out their surroundings.


Jonny and Bandit in another sketch done as part of a large body of publicity art that Doug Wildey did as the premiere of the show neared. Again, this is actual Wildey artwork, but the original did not include Doug's signature. In many cases here, Doug's signature was added to his artwork for the purposes of the documentary, though many of these pieces did not end up being used in the show.


A great example of how great the Quest show looked when the right artist was assigned to the right character. Benton never looked better or more serious. No one is certain who the artist is here, whether it is Wildey, or the enormously talented Alex Toth, or any of the other comic book legends that sometime did work for the show.


A snap shot taken of the Quest party, in the episode "Terror Island", though if you compare this snapshot to the one in the actual episode, you will again find that the heads of the quest Party, each one of them actually, have been changed - in order to make the snapshot more handsome and again, more appropriate for the documentary. Apparently since all the artwork for the show was taken from actual episodes, the creators often chose to replace heads with better rendered ones, when the shot had artwork that was clearly below Doug Wildey's standards.

As the doc points out, Wildey's chief complaint was that Hanna-Barbera didn't have the caliber of artist to create the Quest show, the way they intended and in the style Doug was hired to create.


Last but not least, here is a massive and very colorful desktop of Hanna-Barbera artwork. The actual sericel is very large and very expensive but here is a smaller version (though not much) that someone sent me to adorn my desktop.

The Quests were clearly invited to sit for this massive group portrait, except for poor Hadji. Let's hope he had good reason not to be there.

Enjoy fellow Quest fans,

Chris

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Bits of Quest here and there

Someone did us the great pleasure of posting the entire sixth season of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER on line just recently. (Transfers from TVLand Broadcasts) Why is this good news for fans of the original JONNY QUEST?

Because in Season 6, back in 1963, fresh from doing the voice of Jonny Quest for all twenty-six episodes, young Tim Matheson went on to appear as Beaver's buddy, Mike Hanson, on two episodes of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER.

Here is a short clip of young Tim on a Beaver episode, sounding more like Jonny than we've ever heard him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei6JR4vwqic

After all the great feedback from posting the Quest documentary, and kind of catching the Jonny Quest bug again, hearing from all of you about your like-minded love affair with the Quest party from the 60's, it made me toy with an idea I have been scratching my head about for a long time.

I have read fan fiction for Jonny Quest, and while some of it is great, I wish it had that great, Doug Wildey artwork to go with it. And someone told me I should write my own Jonny Quest fan fiction and then illustrate it.

Problem is, I am no artist. And I'm not sure even anyone today could deliver Jonny Quest in the style those original episodes had, combining the talents of greats like Wildey, Alex Toth and others.

Then I thought, what if I used the original artwork from the episodes to illustrate my own story? With the use of Photoshop, I started a very meticulous process of seeing what that might look like.

It is SO time consuming, I don't know when I would have time to create an actual comic book this way -- but I did experiment with one panel. I share it here with my fellow Quest fans:

If more time opens up and I can get a whole story up and running I will post the panels in this blog. It is not only finding the right artwork from the original episodes, but finding original backgrounds for the character artwork to go on top of, is the added challenge to an already huge one.

Telling a story with someone else's pictures is a challenge indeed -- but one of my faults (or strengths) is that I do love a challenge.

I am not going to talk much about the Jonny Quest movie that Warner Bros. may or may not be mounting.

Friends I have in the motion picture industry tell me, that with the failure of the uber expensive SPEED RACER movie and some other recent TV Cartoon and Comic Book incarnations, like WATCHMEN becoming titanic, economic disasters on the big screen, the Quest flick rumored to be starring Zack Efron (too old for the orignal twelve year old Jonny Quest) and The Rock as Race Bannon (Race was more than a body. And not a bodybuilder either)

This misguided Quest movie, making the crucial error of paying no attention whatsoever to the babyboomers who would actually go see it -- us, seems to have been derailed for the time being.

In limbo, my movie friend told me, like so many other projects in what has become the tailspin the movie industry is experiencing right now with the financial collapse of so many industries worldwide.
Since the original idea of the 1963 Quest series was being abandoned for this new feature film, it didn't really hold much interest for me, or, dare I say, fans of the true classic Jonny Quest.

Maybe when next it comes up on studio slates, it will be something we can all get excited about.

Be well,

From the sands of the beaches at Palm Key,

Chris

Friday, June 5, 2009

The unforgettable INVISIBLE MONSTER


So much discussion and fond remembering of the INVISIBLE MONSTER episode keep coming to me via the Quest Documentary.

Even though I am not the creator of the doc, the fact that I had the bright idea to post it on YouTube means I get all the great little comments and memories from what has to be one of the biggest and most loyal fanbases of any TV animation series ever.

I am starting to call them Questies. And count myself among them.

And the comments on YouTube regarding the Top 5 Quest episodes as voted on by fans at the great website www.classicjq.com, keep pointing out over and over again, The Invisible Monster episode really scared us as kids and stuck in the memory.

I was reading FilmFax this week (one of my favorite magazines devoted to films past and present) and almost jumped out of my socks while reading their article on 3D Movies of the past.

If you love reading about Hollywood films past and present, in meticulous detail from the people who lived the life back then, and worked in those films, pick up a copy of FilmFax, it is truly a one-of-a-kind publication. Here is this month's cover:


The one 3d film the article talked about that really sent me to memories of Jonny Quest, was Jack Arnold's film from Universal in 1953, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE.


Jack Arnold was a talented director, delegated to what back then was thought of as the "B" movie. But for many Quest fans, his films, that include THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, were anything but "B".

Jack Arnold worked for Universal back when 3D had been developed as a way of revitalizing the movie box office which was dwindling as audiences more and more were staying in at night and watching this new thing called "television".

Cinemascope and other platforms made to make movies even more spectacular, to offer movie audiences what TV could not, included what
we can call the 3D era of moviemaking.

Jack Arnold created two memorable 3D films, starting with IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE and followed that up with the timeless CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. The sequel to LAGOON, REVENGE OF THE CREATURE was also shot in 3D but only exhibited that way in limited engagements, as 3D was fading away.

Too many headaches and goofy sunglasses maybe.


This article in FilmFax that covered IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, also had a rare still of the creature that we finally see at the end of the film. This malevolent invader from space.

Now, we all remember the Quest's invisible monster -- Professor Isaiah Norman, experimenting with "energy and mass" to quote Dr. Quest, created something aptly titled "The Invisible Monster".


Quest fans write me and tell me they remember that horrible sound it made and that jelly-like ball with the one evil eye it sports after Jonny has an idea to "paint it" to make it visible.


Lost of discussion among Questies about where this visual of the one-eyed monster came from. Lots of talk about it being based on perhaps the Id Monster from the spectacular FORBIDDEN PLANET.


But I think this article from FilmFax, which featured the fully revealed creature at the end of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, removes all possible doubt, where the Quest designers at Hanna-Barbera got their idea for the painted invisible monster.

Here is a cell from the episode, moments after the monster is no longer invisible:


And here is the still of the creature in IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE:


Pretty incredible the similarities. I think it's great that the Quest episodes borrowed from all our favorite movies of the time.

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE would be about ten years before the Quest clan was created by Doug Wildey and the episodes would start being designed by Doug, Alex Toth and some other talented comic book artists of the time.


Whether this is the true origin of our favorite invisible monster, the sound it made and that great piece of pounding music (also used for the Mummy's steps if I recall) that accompanied its footprints in the earth, make it one of those things about Jonny Quest you just never forgot.



Be well and I hope that the parts of the doc are downloading okay. I haven't heard about any problems yet (not that I would be able to solve them necessarily)

I will post little tidbits like this as I come across them. Click on any of the pictures in this blog for a larger version.

Over and out from Palm Key.


(I'm in the small cabana behind the main complex. You really can't see it from this high angle but it's between the warehouse with the Para Power Ray Gun and the Underwater Sea Prober)

Chris


Friday, May 15, 2009

The Great Jonny Quest Documentary

Hey everybody. First out, due to much demand from my YouTube page, here are the 108 files on Rapidshare that will join together to create in two parts, the complete Jonny Quest Documentary in hi-rez and stereo.

The doc is split in two parts of about an hour and ten minutes a pieces so you can burn the show onto DVDs (2 DVDs) if you so desire.

You can join the files together with any kind of "file joining program". I use a program called ROSETTA because I find it works great on my Mac. If you use an IBM, I'm not sure what you'd use but I am sure there are many.

The original creators of the documentary have given me permission to share this unique documentary but ask once again that if you do download it and decide to copy it or share it, please do not sell it or in any way create profit with it.

This was their sole requirement for posting it on YouTube and now here on
this blog. If you don't know how to download and joins parts posted on Rapidshare, please go to their website and read about it.

I won't be able to answer your technical questions because I am not a technical person and rarely find time to check in.

I subscribe to Rapidshare for a very small amount of money and you might want to think about it as well, because downloading all 108 parts of the Quest doc for free will take a while.

A long, long, while.

The good news is, is that even the missing chapters you can now see in one long movie file.


Enjoy!

Chris

You can download them here:

http://www.sinlesslinks.com/Movies/johnny-quest-how-worlds-most-ambitious-animated-series-came-to-television/

Or you can download them directly:


DISC ONE/PART ONE


http://rapidshare.com/files/233422154/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.jpg

http://rapidshare.com/files/232976365/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.001

http://rapidshare.com/files/232976368/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.002

http://rapidshare.com/files/232990644/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.003

http://rapidshare.com/files/232990647/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.004

http://rapidshare.com/files/233004173/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.005

http://rapidshare.com/files/233004182/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.006

http://rapidshare.com/files/233023217/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.007

http://rapidshare.com/files/233023221/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.008

http://rapidshare.com/files/233037262/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.009

http://rapidshare.com/files/233037265/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.010

http://rapidshare.com/files/233050306/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.011

http://rapidshare.com/files/233050310/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.012

http://rapidshare.com/files/233063005/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.013

http://rapidshare.com/files/233063006/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.014

http://rapidshare.com/files/233073650/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.015

http://rapidshare.com/files/233073651/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.016

http://rapidshare.com/files/233082443/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.017

http://rapidshare.com/files/233082445/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.018

http://rapidshare.com/files/233091036/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.019

http://rapidshare.com/files/233091041/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.020

http://rapidshare.com/files/233101651/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.021

http://rapidshare.com/files/233101654/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.022

http://rapidshare.com/files/233112224/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.023

http://rapidshare.com/files/233112227/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.024

http://rapidshare.com/files/233119935/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.025

http://rapidshare.com/files/233119937/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.026

http://rapidshare.com/files/233128310/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.027

http://rapidshare.com/files/233128312/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.028

http://rapidshare.com/files/233140970/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.029

http://rapidshare.com/files/233140974/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.030

http://rapidshare.com/files/233151093/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.031

http://rapidshare.com/files/233151096/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.032

http://rapidshare.com/files/233163181/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.033

http://rapidshare.com/files/233163182/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.034

http://rapidshare.com/files/233174472/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.035

http://rapidshare.com/files/233174475/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.036

http://rapidshare.com/files/233198574/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.037

http://rapidshare.com/files/233198577/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.038

http://rapidshare.com/files/233232075/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.039

http://rapidshare.com/files/233232076/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.040

http://rapidshare.com/files/233247686/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.041

http://rapidshare.com/files/233247690/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.042

http://rapidshare.com/files/233261990/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.043

http://rapidshare.com/files/233261992/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.044

http://rapidshare.com/files/233282960/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.045

http://rapidshare.com/files/233282962/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.046

http://rapidshare.com/files/233312083/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.047

http://rapidshare.com/files/233312087/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.048

http://rapidshare.com/files/233330314/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.049

http://rapidshare.com/files/233330316/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.050

http://rapidshare.com/files/233384159/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.051

http://rapidshare.com/files/233384168/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.052

http://rapidshare.com/files/233397256/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.053

http://rapidshare.com/files/233397260/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.054

http://rapidshare.com/files/233420907/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.055

http://rapidshare.com/files/233420910/QuestFIRSTHOURFinalH264.mov.056

DISC TWO/PART TWO



(These are rar files. Combine them all into a new
rar file (make sure the file name ends with .rar
-- and then expand the new file)

http://rapidshare.com/files/239382077/Quest2NDHOUR.jpg

http://rapidshare.com/files/239232141/QuestPart2.rar.001

http://rapidshare.com/files/239232145/QuestPart2.rar.002

http://rapidshare.com/files/239246038/QuestPart2.rar.003

http://rapidshare.com/files/239246039/QuestPart2.rar.004

http://rapidshare.com/files/239264345/QuestPart2.rar.005

http://rapidshare.com/files/239264350/QuestPart2.rar.006

http://rapidshare.com/files/239278209/QuestPart2.rar.007

http://rapidshare.com/files/239278213/QuestPart2.rar.008

http://rapidshare.com/files/239290526/QuestPart2.rar.009

http://rapidshare.com/files/239290530/QuestPart2.rar.010

http://rapidshare.com/files/239312388/QuestPart2.rar.011

http://rapidshare.com/files/239312391/QuestPart2.rar.012

http://rapidshare.com/files/239326813/QuestPart2.rar.013

http://rapidshare.com/files/239326815/QuestPart2.rar.014

http://rapidshare.com/files/239339717/QuestPart2.rar.015

http://rapidshare.com/files/239339720/QuestPart2.rar.016

http://rapidshare.com/files/239353755/QuestPart2.rar.017

http://rapidshare.com/files/239353761/QuestPart2.rar.018

http://rapidshare.com/files/239368905/QuestPart2.rar.019

http://rapidshare.com/files/239368909/QuestPart2.rar.020

http://rapidshare.com/files/239381847/QuestPart2.rar.021

http://rapidshare.com/files/239381849/QuestPart2.rar.022

http://rapidshare.com/files/239040215/QuestPart2.rar.023

http://rapidshare.com/files/239045970/QuestPart2.rar.024

http://rapidshare.com/files/239055733/QuestPart2.rar.025

http://rapidshare.com/files/239055736/QuestPart2.rar.026

http://rapidshare.com/files/239065114/QuestPart2.rar.027

http://rapidshare.com/files/239065116/QuestPart2.rar.028

http://rapidshare.com/files/239074206/QuestPart2.rar.029

http://rapidshare.com/files/239074207/QuestPart2.rar.030

http://rapidshare.com/files/239086170/QuestPart2.rar.031

http://rapidshare.com/files/239086173/QuestPart2.rar.032

http://rapidshare.com/files/239094515/QuestPart2.rar.033

http://rapidshare.com/files/239094516/QuestPart2.rar.034

http://rapidshare.com/files/239101823/QuestPart2.rar.035

http://rapidshare.com/files/239101825/QuestPart2.rar.036

http://rapidshare.com/files/239108097/QuestPart2.rar.037

http://rapidshare.com/files/239108099/QuestPart2.rar.038

http://rapidshare.com/files/239114677/QuestPart2.rar.039

http://rapidshare.com/files/239114679/QuestPart2.rar.040

http://rapidshare.com/files/239126325/QuestPart2.rar.041

http://rapidshare.com/files/239126328/QuestPart2.rar.042

http://rapidshare.com/files/239134682/QuestPart2.rar.043

http://rapidshare.com/files/239134686/QuestPart2.rar.044

http://rapidshare.com/files/239146941/QuestPart2.rar.045

http://rapidshare.com/files/239146943/QuestPart2.rar.046

http://rapidshare.com/files/239158144/QuestPart2.rar.047

http://rapidshare.com/files/239158145/QuestPart2.rar.048

http://rapidshare.com/files/239169280/QuestPart2.rar.049

http://rapidshare.com/files/239169283/QuestPart2.rar.050

http://rapidshare.com/files/239185326/QuestPart2.rar.051

http://rapidshare.com/files/239185327/QuestPart2.rar.052

Enjoy!

Chris