User blog:TheIkranRider/Real Adventures of Jonny Quest Retrospective

Ever since I began to look for Season 2's voice actor that would portray the Hero of Time best, Quinton Flynn, I couldn't resist the nostalgia... Finally, I get to talk about this since it's often never mentioned; not even on YT, nor the Nostalgia Critic's review of Toonami. Although I kinda find it odd that it's "real" since most episodes focus on urban legends and far-out scenarios.

Alright, so, let's start with the humble beginnings, shall we? It all started back in 1997, when I was just a decade old, and I kept hearing about it on Toonami via sneak peeks, and eventually Super Chunk, while I just got into the ThunderCats; this was when they had this Re-Quest segment, airing two episodes back to back, before the release of their flagship anime, DBZ.

Anyway, the earliest episodes I'd heard of were Mummies of Malenque as well as Besieged in Paradise. But it was the latter episode that caught my eye; I was like, this looks pretty cool, I would like to watch that. The strangest thing was, I never knew who JQ was, unlike the majority of audiences, so this was indeed a first impression for me. And unlike the common complainers on how they rant it's not like the original, I'd always prefer the latter over the former, even over the movie, JQ and the Cyber Insects.

So, from there, it started to become a big fascination for me. And much like the works I am into, my mind just went into overdrive; back then I owned an enormous plethora of plushies, especially when I became obsessed in collecting Beanie Babies. Plus, I was really into animals, including rhinos and foxes. So, a short time after, I came up with many OCs known as the Animal Buddies. That was an inspiration from all those plushies, as well as works such as the Donkey Kong Country series and even Ace Ventura.

From reptiles, ungulates, rodents, the works! I was pulling those critters out of my butt, and I even came up w/ an OC for myself named Julie Thompson. Like her, she has an affinity with animals, and she wishes to work w/ them someday. And lemme tell ya, she was a hell of a lot better than Jonny's so-called cousin which I portrayed as that protagonist from Crystalis... LAME! Speaking of naivetes, I also wanted to add in the Rugrats since I was addicted to them, too; mostly for Season 1, all of the babies excepting Angelica for obvious reasons, including the mini PB plushie from Babe 2, the Reptar wagon and also "the Reptar machine" based on the large dinosaur plushie. But, I still think the Animal Buddies were the best idea.

Eventually, I saw the show as a sort of Carmen Sandiego series, with all the globe trotting and dealing with numerous mysteries/villains, but the cream of the crop was its digital domain, Questworld. Just about every episode that took part in it became an instant favorite, excepting Future Rage and An Alien in Washington. Because I loved it so much, and since it reminded me a little of Pixar's Toy Story and VR Troopers which got canned a year prior, I eventually developed this origin for the Animal Buddies; as a sort of way when Benton was introducing animals for Julie's fun as well as prototypes while creating it. They actually became the defenders of the system, especially when it's "free again" from Jeremiah Surd. They were actually anthropomorphics and for some reason...they'd actually leave the system and function as such with the team... Yeah, awkward, but still intriguing.

The roster just kept getting larger and larger, until some were enlisted for each episode; this method also helped me know each episode by heart as well as their order of appearance: For instance, Alligators and the Okeechobee Vikings, I'd have alligators; Mummies in Malenque, a bobcat; Rock of Rages, a couple crabs; but only the Season 2 episodes had ABC animals, up till the pilot, The Darkest Fathoms, ending with a zebra. And the rest were just random from there.

So too, since I was in choir a lot, and heard so much from the school band, I began to add songs after each episode as well, even a couple numbers from Barney and a few stupid parodies; I can barely recall what most of the words were in those... I'll try and make a list if I can.

Several of my most fondest memories was when I came up with a rebuttal to Hadji's statement that Jonny's mind is "far too little;" I simply said, "Even a giraffe has the smallest mind" since I had a book, Do You Know, that summarized a giraffe's mind's as the size of a walnut. Or, when I was deeply infatuated with...a drum fetish during In the Realm of the Condor; I also grew obsessed with condors, as well as bats considering I'd use the Beanie Baby, Batty, as well as his assistant and condor-in-disguise, Gobbles. Or, when Assault on Questworld was literally a full-scale war against Surd using the animals, led by Quinn Quail and Verry Vulture... Or, when I grew weary of Race's similes in Season 1, and eventually I came up w/ "My humor can be as dry as summer at the Sahara Desert!" Or even attempting to make a few original episodes of my very own, like a scenario for Season 2 based on a dream I had when families were imprisoned in a barbed wire fence, or another when Jonny was being brainwashed by Surd via ruby; I'm not sure if I want to make fanfics of them, or not... Or, simply when the animals cause mayhem, such as the monkeys wrecking Surd and his agents when the dads transformed into them, or when Ryder Rhino wreaks havoc on "their worst nightmares".

Hadji: What you're not seeing isn't real. We are all alive. Surd is manipulating your emotions; you must master them! Ben: An illusion... I must try...to remember it's...not real. Ryder: Of course it's not real..! It's a rampage!! WAAARRMPH!

Also, when my mom passed a couple years later, and since I discovered that Jonny's mom died as well, it helped me cope with it. Though it was Pokémon later on that kind of did it justice. And there were some slight tidbits w/ the series as well. For example, Rage's Burning Wheel should've switched places w/ his origin story even though the series suffered from development hell, or I can only go w/ Toonami's order of events rather than any other way, or I was completely fumed when Ben, Race, and Jade slipped under Osiris EVEN AFTER THEIR HOME WAS BURNT TO THE GROUND BY ZIN AND HIS ROBOTS! Just recently, I came up with an idea that after their betrayal, Julie threw in the towel and left; she can be quite sensitive just like me.

I've had a lot of favorite episodes, but for some strange reason, I always loved Season 2 over the original one. Perhaps it's the improvements on the animation, or the more stellar voice cast, or maybe the episodes/villains were more engaging. Or just all the above; even to this day, I'd still consider it! But sadly...it never received a proper finale, just a cancellation, much like VR Troopers and GP Legend. The last segment, More Than Zero, was anticlimactic as a whole, even if it'd take place after The Robot Spies; needless to say, my brain was racking for a sense of finality, even involving with the Questworld short of the widespread of insects. I always thought Questworld was rapidly changing with the larger rosters as well. However, I never made it into fruition... Overtime, my preferences have changed drastically, especially when I got into ReBoot and Pokémon. Thus, the journey ended there. By the time ThunderCats was no more, so was Quest, I thought of a farewell song during the fall of 98/99 to one of the places the team never visited, Kokomo!

And that's really it, fellow travelers. Thus this concludes my retrospective, and I hope there's a fanfic out there that can actually conclude the series like it should have over 2 decades ago. Heck, do the next generation while you're at it, if possible, corrupt Cartoon Network!!

List of Animal Buddies, Beanie Babies from TY are in bold:

Alexander/Alexandra the Alligator (former was a long plastic toy, while latter was from a Tik Tok plushie; latter is Alex's daughter)

Bobby the Bobcat (ironically was a bipedal tiger plushie)

Crater/Claude the Crab (orange prize crab/Beanie Baby; latter is Crater's son)

Danny Duck/Quackers/Quax (plushie wearing cap/Beanie I got for Xmas 1997/other beanie; they function as a clan of sorts)

Ellie Elephant/Elegant (former is Elegant's daughter, and a plushie with a circus cart I received for Xmas 1991; latter was a prize)

Furball/Sly/Hairball Fox (plushie made with real hair/Beanie Baby I got for Xmas 1996; Furball's son/puppy I got for Xmas 1997; Furball's youngest son)

Gus/Twigs Giraffe (former was prize/Beanie Baby I got for Xmas 1997 and Gus' son)

Hippy Hippo

Tolstoy/Iggy Iguana (beanie lizard/Beanie Baby as Tolstoy's son)

Jackie Jackal (ironically it was a Zoe plushie)

Korey/Joey Kangaroo (Korey's a plushie/Joey was a small figurine and Korey's son)

Leap Leopard and Cozy Cat (all three animals were known as the Jumping Trio; former was a cat beanie while latter's a white cat)

Kingly Koala

Leo Lion/Kiara/Kovu (Lion King II; Leo was a prize that could turn into a small winter cap when turned inside out/Kiara and Kovu were received on Xmas 1998. No relation)

Mac Monkey/Abu (Aladdin)/other monkeys (no relation)

Nippy Nightingale (looked like Toucan Sam)

Oliver Otter/Seamore Seal (prize/mini Beanie Baby as Oliver's son)

Peggy Penguin/Tux/Chilly (received Xmas 1997/beanie as Peggy's wife/son)

Quinton/Quinn/Quincy Quail (ironically was a Road Runner prize/Zazu plushie received Xmas 1998 as his nephew/flamingo prize as Quinn's chick)

Ricky/Roger Raccoon (prize as Roger's father)

Ryder/Spike/Hornz Rhino (Received Xmas 1996/received Xmas 1996 as Ryder's son/McDonald Animal Pal as youngest son)

Slither/Slimy/Swirly Snail (since there weren't many snails, I had to use the Simba/Nala kissable plushies as mom and dad/Beanie received on Xmas 1999 as daughter)

Trickster/Trickster Jr. Tiger (prize/souvenir from zoo field trip as Trickster's son)

Myrtle/Murtle/Speedy Turtle (green turtle prize/purple tortoise prize/2 mini Beanie Babies; all male, but Speedys were the youngest)

Mystic/Ursula Unicorn (Beanie Baby/ironically was a Pegasus plushie to make them semi-relatable)

Vinnie/Verry/Varry Vulture (beanie vulture I'd found at toy store; eldest vulture/son of Varry; Iiago plushie received for Xmas 1998/flamingo plushie; father of Verry)

Webster/Willie Whale (prize; father of Willie/found a classroom store; son of Webster)

Beluga (grey dolphin plushie found at classroom store; best friend to Willie)

Xarry/Xerry Xerus/Nuts Squirrel (since there weren't a lot of squirrels, I had to improvise w/ lion plushies; two lion plushies, though latter had cut hair, twins/Beanie Baby as their surrogate son)

Yakkity Yak (McDonald Animal Pal)/Snort and Tabasco Bull (mini Beanie Babies; twin bulls that're surrogate sons to Yakkity)

Zippity Zebra (found at classroom store)

Goldie Goldfish (mini Beanie Baby)

Chops Lamb (mini Beanie Baby)

Goatee Goat (received at Xmas 1999)

Crunch the Shark (Beanie Baby)

Batty/Bartok Bat (Anastasia; former is Bartok's older brother and Beanie Baby)

Cuddly Cub (a Brown Bear)

Dotty Dalmatian (Beanie Baby)

Calico Cat (mini Beanie Baby)

Scoop Pelican (Beanie Baby)

Nanook Wolf (twin mini Beanie Babies)

Charlie the Grey Fox (beanie fox found at toy store, Sly's love interest)

Flops the Bunny (found at toy store)

Smooch Frog (mini Beanie Baby)

Patty Platypus (mini Beanie Baby)

Gobbles Turkey (Beanie Baby)

Bruno the Dog (Beanie Baby)

Stinky Skunk (Beanie Baby)

Inky Octopus (Beanie Baby)

Tank Armadillo (I always thought he was a close relative to Army Armadillo from DKC; Beanie Baby)

Doodle/Strut Rooster (Beanie Babies/latter was mini)

Bucky Beaver (twin beavers, formerly Norbert and Dagget, received on Xmas 1997)

Beavis Beaver (a keychain with that name)