In the Fall of 1996, the Hanna-Barbera animation studio attemped to revive Jonny Quest, one of their classic cartoon series from the 1960s. A new series, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, was created that ran on the TNT, TBS, and Cartoon Network cable stations. In order to update the character and concept for modern audiences, they added what were believed to be "hip" new teen adventure elements, such as the inclusion of extreme sports and, because the internet was becoming all the rage with kids, virtual reality. The new Jonny was a cool skateboardin' dude who could jack into the 'net and be transported to Questworld, an online virtual computer world whose design was largely recycled from the 1982 Disney film Tron.

The show did not manage to catch on with kids and was cancelled 52 episodes later, in the Spring of 1997. The complete list of episodes can be found on the EpGuides web site.

Because they honestly believed the show would be a big hit, as part of their marketing promotion Hanna-Barbera went to the Galoob toy company to create a tie-in line of action figures and toys. Like the series, the toys also failed to make much of an impression on the marketplace. The line was cancelled in 1997 with a number of announced products left unreleased.

To be honest, I never saw a single episode of the cartoon. I was drawn to the action figure line due to its similarities in size and scale to Hasbro's 3 3/4" G.I. Joe action figures, which I collect. The Quest figures were approximately 3 1/2" tall and had 11 points of articulation, not far removed from the G.I. Joe line. Although slightly shorter in height, JQ figures work very well with G.I. Joes, especially since most of the characters were teenagers, who would naturally be shorter than adult soldiers anyway. Using the two toy lines together brings a sense of believability to the variety of body shapes among the characters. It always kind of bugged me that every single G.I. Joe soldier was the exact same height as every other.

Jonny Quest had a number of interesting adventure vehicles that are perfectly compatible with G.I. Joe figures. Joe soldiers can fit into any of the JQ vehicles without problem. In fact, a few years later the Hasbro toy company bought out Galoob and reissued a couple of the JQ vehicles with new paint jobs as an official part of the G.I. Joe line.

In retrospect, the one aspect of the show and toys that probably disinterested kids the most was the Questworld virtual reality storyline, which was admittedly rather cheesy and derivative. However, I've always been a big fan of Tron so it didn't bother me too much, and I don't mind owning some Tron-like toys at all. Ironically, in 1998 another animated series with a similar world-inside-the-computer theme titled Reboot premiered and was a bigger hit. I think the advantage to Reboot was that it took place entirely inside the electronic world, and didn't ask viewers to suspend their disbelief that normal people in the "real world" could jump back and forth between the two. The concept makes for an uneasy mesh that didn't appeal to many viewers.

Although Jonny Quest toys may never have been much of a success, I believe that they are worthy of collectibilty. This web site has been designed as the definitive reference guide to the 1996 line of Jonny Quest toys. I hope that you find it both informative and enjoyable.

Joshua Zyber
Email: jzyber @ mind spring .com (remove spaces). Please use subject line "Jonny Quest".

Hasbro - Current owners of the Galoob brand

EpGuides - Jonny Quest Cartoon Episode Listing

YoJoe! - G.I. Joe Collector's Guide

SmallJoes - G.I. Joe and Related Toy Sales

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