{"product_id":"0014764234120","title":"Jonny Quest: The Complete First Season [4 Discs]","description":"\"Back in the 1960s, Jonny Quest was the first prime-time network cartoon show that was \"\"cool\"\" to watch -- that is, boys of ages 8 to 11, striving to achieve social acceptance among boys 12 to 13 didn't have to cover up the fact that they watched it, because the show also appealed to 12-, 13-, and 14-year-olds (and even older kids and adults could tolerate it, with its science fiction elements, heavy violence, and use of weapons). In point of fact, it was a \"\"serious\"\" animated series generated by Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera for prime-time network showing. In contrast to the deliberately cartoonish and comical series such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons, Jonny Quest was drawn in a calculatedly realistic style, so much so that it almost looks like it's rotoscoped, \u003ci\u003e? la\u003c\/i\u003e the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons. An action-adventure series told from the point-of-view of a boy, Jonny Quest, who was the son of renowned scientist Dr. Benton Quest, the series was pitched at a more serious level than preceding cartoons, involving spies, saboteurs, malevolent would-be world-conquering villains, and lots of gunplay, fights, and chases. Characters could be killed off on Jonny Quest, as at least a trio of bystanders are in the first episode, \"\"The Mystery of the Lizard Men\"\"; not that there wasn't some comic relief, provided mostly by Jonny's pet bulldog, Bandit. Influenced as much by James Bond (Jonny Quest's pilot episode was the first cartoon show to make use of lasers as a plot device, much as Goldfinger introduced lasers to movies) as by such distant predecessors as the serial Junior G-Men, the series took on a slightly offbeat, distinctly '60s international quality with the presence in the cast of Jonny's friend, Hadji. In fact, Hadji was the first serious nonwhite character to co-star in an American television cartoon series; his introduction to the Quest family is covered in the flashback episode \"\"Calcutta Adventure\"\" (and it's a sign of just how sophisticated the show was that it could even have a flashback episode).   The DVD is amazing in its visual quality and cleverness of design -- the four discs containing the series' original 26 episodes are programmed with menus in the form of the cool-looking control panel on the Quest family jet (a supersonic job with hovering ability as well). In addition to offering access to the individual shows, there's a \"\"play all\"\" function in the menu of each disc. The first three discs offer seven episodes, while the last offers five, plus all of the bonus features. The latter include the debut episode, \"\"Double Danger,\"\" with a pop-up trivia function that's delightfully lighthearted yet informative -- reminiscent of the 1990s incarnation of the Cartoon Channel -- and which makes the episode (one of the best of the series) well worth watching a second time in one sitting. The other major bonus feature is a series of full-motion montage\/video dossiers on all of the characters in the series (including occasional guests), accessible from an easy-to-use onscreen menu, and also the equipment used by the Quest family and the various adventure locales of the program. There's also an original 1964 vintage PF Flyers sneaker commercial starring Jonny and his friend\/teacher\/protector Race Bannon (which today would have to be surrounded on both sides by announcements that it was a commercial), plus plugs for other classic cartoon-show releases by Warner Bros.   Above all, though, the virtue of this set is the quality of the transfers -- they're full-screen (1.33:1) but very bright and crisp. The animation on the original show was limited, but the producers spent a lot of time getting the color tones of the settings -- from jungles and deserts to the wastes of the arctic -- looking extraordinarily rich, and that's all restored here, perhaps in even better shape than it was in the original broadcasts, and far better than on the laserdisc issues from the series. Additionally, the audio is mastered at a reasonably high volume. There's also a choice of English, French, and Spanish subtitles. Each episode gets a single chapter, which isn't a real problem with the bite-sized 25-minute plots, which tend to move forward in reasonably linear fashion (apart from a few moments of comic relief, usually associated with the dog or some other cute animal). It should also be noted that there's very little presence of females on this show, and they all tend to be of the highly operational type, able to move the plot along. There are no helpless girls or women to slow the action; indeed, a highlight of \"\"Double Danger\"\" is the presence of the adventurer\/agent Jade, who knows Race Bannon well enough to identify an imposter who has fooled everyone else -- the producers obviously guessed that boys older than 11 would be watching this cartoon show.\"","brand":"WARNER HOME VIDEO","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47086815183088,"sku":"0014764234120","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/0014764234120_p0.jpg?v=1763766813","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/0014764234120","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}