It's strange that hadji is a title given to Muslim pilgrimages (males at least) how make the trip to Mecca yet I think Hadji in the show is clearly an Indian (from India) and therefore most likely a Hindu.
I suspect neither Hanna nor Barbera were too concerned with such details when they made the cartoon back in the mid-60s. They were just looking for an exotic sounding name.
I wished I could have done that magic levitating rope trick he did when I was a kid.
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Maybe he's a Sikh.
share[deleted]
Actually he says he's from Calcutta in Monster in the Monastery. He may say he's from Bombay in a different episode. As someone mentioned, I don't think the creators of the series were all that concerned about the specifics of Hadji's background.
sharehadji of course, converted to christianity to keep racist bannon from beating him senseless.
shareActually, we KNOW that Hadji is a Hindu---we're told this in the 1964 series. While Benton and Race are being held captive in the temple of Anubis, Jonny and Hadji are stalked by renegade Egyptians who refer to Hadji as "the Hindu boy." In the 1980s series, Hadji returns to India and his Hindu master, the person from whom he'd learned many of his magic spells. For some reason, the 1996 series decided to avoid the issue of his religious training by word but not by deed, leaving some fans to guess that he might be a Sikh (since there's really no reason given for the turban in the orginal series and, as a Hindu child, there's not really a tradition which dictates that he wear one). Either way, the series bible does describe him as both a Sikh and a mystic but also indicates that he's studying to be a yogi, none of which makes any sense.
Additionally, Hadji continually speaks of reincarnation in the first series---that he was previously incarnated as a bird and that the elephant is his brother, further proof that he's a Hindu, since Sikhs do not believe in reincarnation and do not accept animal deity icons, if I recall correctly. I'm guessing that someone at H-B was trying to come up with an excuse to keep him in a turban for indentity's sake, but they obviously didn't do their homework.
The sole reason that Hadji sported a turban in the 1964 series, at least as far as I can tell, is to make sure that a worldwide audience did not mistake him for being African-American (minus any dialog to tell them otherwise). Blacks couldn't be depicted in TV shows sold to South Africa or shown in certain areas of the US at that time, most particularly not in heroic roles, so this was actually important to the survival of the series, as sick as that sounds by today's standards. Similarly, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who were preparing their soon-to-be popular series "Thunderbirds" at that time were told by their backers, ITC, to remove a black character who appears in the pilot episode ("Trapped In The Sky") from any future episodes because it would jeopardize the series being sold to certain television markets around the world. It all sounds bizarre now, but this was the reality of that time.
"The sole reason that Hadji sported a turban in the 1964 series, at least as far as I can tell, is to make sure that a worldwide audience did not mistake him for being African-American (minus any dialog to tell them otherwise). Blacks couldn't be depicted in TV shows sold to South Africa or shown in certain areas of the US at that time, most particularly not in heroic roles, so this was actually important to the survival of the series, as sick as that sounds by today's standards. Similarly, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who were preparing their soon-to-be popular series "Thunderbirds" at that time were told by their backers, ITC, to remove a black character who appears in the pilot episode ("Trapped In The Sky") from any future episodes because it would jeopardize the series being sold to certain television markets around the world. It all sounds bizarre now, but this was the reality of that time."
interesting.. and to think that people complain about "Political Correctness" now.. it was nothing compared to Jim Crow..
"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"
Stan Lee, 1962
interesting.. and to think that people complain about "Political Correctness" now.. it was nothing compared to Jim Crow..
A couple of corrections here.
Additionally, Hadji continually speaks of reincarnation in the first series---that he was previously incarnated as a bird and that the elephant is his brother, further proof that he's a Hindu, since Sikhs do not believe in reincarnation and do not accept animal deity icons, if I recall correctly.
The sole reason that Hadji sported a turban in the 1964 series, at least as far as I can tell, is to make sure that a worldwide audience did not mistake him for being African-American (minus any dialog to tell them otherwise). Blacks couldn't be depicted in TV shows sold to South Africa or shown in certain areas of the US at that time, most particularly not in heroic roles, so this was actually important to the survival of the series, as sick as that sounds by today's standards. Similarly, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who were preparing their soon-to-be popular series "Thunderbirds" at that time were told by their backers, ITC, to remove a black character who appears in the pilot episode ("Trapped In The Sky") from any future episodes because it would jeopardize the series being sold to certain television markets around the world. It all sounds bizarre now, but this was the reality of that time.
Think more basic and practical. Doug Wildey used unique color combinations between the hair and the clothes to make the characters read against the backgrounds and easier for the audience to locate and recognize the characters in long shots. Hence Race Bannon with his white hair crew cut and red flap shirt, Jonny with his Stock of Blond yellow hair and black turtle neck shirts, and Dr.Quest with his red hair and light blue shirts. But in Hadji's case, the black hair and his skin color would have made harder to identify in the long shots and separate him from all the natives, orientals and such that populate the original series as secondary and minor characters. So to make Hadji easier to recognize in the long shots, easier to read against the backgrounds and to make him stand out from the exotic characters, on went the turban with the Ruby and the light yellow coat. (Sorry, I don't know the name of the type of coat he wears.)
In your reasoning, you forgot that Hadji is the seventh son of a seventh son. That is supposed to have mystical connotations, hence the magic that was not his slight of hand tricks.
last part first:
In your reasoning, you forgot that Hadji is the seventh son of a seventh son. That is supposed to have mystical connotations, hence the magic that was not his slight of hand tricks.
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Not forgotten at all; just not sure what it has to do with anything prior to this. Hadji, of course, had mystical abilities, was extremely intelligent AND was well-versed in slight-of-hand tricks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_son_of_a_seventh_son
The seventh son of a seventh son is a concept from folklore regarding special powers given to, or held by, such a son. The seventh son must come from an unbroken line with no female children born between, and be, in turn, born to such a seventh son.[1] The number seven has a long history of mystical and religious associations: seven sleepers, seven-league boots, seven ages of man, seven hills of Rome, seven lucky gods of Japanese mythology, the Seven Sages, seven sisters, seven stars, seven wonders of the world, and so on. In this case, it refers to a man who is the seventh son of a man who is himself a seventh son.
In some beliefs, the special powers are inborn, inherited simply by virtue of his birth order; in others the powers are granted to him by God or gods because of his birth order.
Cite a source, pleaseIn "The Adventures in Animation" video on the disc set, they talk about Doug Wildey using the color combinations on the characters for that purpose. even though they deal mainly with Race and Jonny, you can extend it to Hadji too. A perfect example of it is in "The Curse of Anubis", there is long shot of Jonny and Hadji sitting on top of a truck. it is so far back that there is no detail on the characters except for the colors of there shirts or coats, skin colors and the colors on the top of their heads. How do we recognized them before the next shot if it wasn't for those color combinations? Get it? When animators and comic illustrators design a character, they design it to gain as much practical usage out of it when draw it (readability, distinctiveness, ease [the more lines and colors on a character, the harder to draw or animate and more exspenvie to animate]), recognizabilty and others). It doesn't what you say isn't true. It just means that there is a practical working side to this that has been overlooked in the conversion.
This allows Hadji to be connected to the mysticism of India without saying who taught him religion in the original series (except for the marine teaching Hadji English and about America and Pasha teaching Hadji other "worldly" things).
Get it? When animators and comic illustrators design a character, they design it to gain as much practical usage out of it when draw it (readability, distinctiveness, ease [the more lines and colors on a character, the harder to draw or animate and more exspenvie to animate]), recognizabilty and others). It doesn't what you say isn't true. It just means that there is a practical working side to this that has been overlooked in the conversion.
Plus there is the fact that Hadji wears a very large ruby on his turban. So as we see Hadji as the Quests first meet him in "Calcutta Adventure" what does a street beggar doing with a very expensive Turban on his head? It doesn't make sense, does it?
Also, I agree that Dr Quest wears coats other than blue but it is mostly blue. Also take a closer look at the lab coats. They are not exactly white but an off white that is tinted with a touch of blue. Sometimes the lab coats are tinted a slight tan shade as in "The Curse Of Anubis." But everytime they used the brown coats on him, they had a problem with continuity because they changed colors.
First off I sorry if had offended you. I didn't mean it. I just get angry when people go for the high lofty concepts explanations and forget the basic mechanics the animators had to go through to get the characters to work on the screen. I not that what you had said wasn't true or not. When Jonny Quest first aired, James Bond Dr No just came out, the old Tarzan and Charlie Chan movies were still rerunning on local channels, westerns were still being made, Tonto was still riding with the Lone Ranger, and the Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordan serials were still running on local channels. There was a lot of thirst for the adventure shows with exotic locales for kids. But it had it's form of racism too. I just look at the turban and sees what it does and not what it symbolises.
Hang on there is more. I had hit the post button by accident. I'm typing more.
Here Comes Harry!
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
ANd it did set him apart from the more exotic characters and some of the dark backgrounds. In "The Dreadful Doll" he swims with out the turban and the jacket and he becomes hard to see because they painted the underwater background and the filtered light to dark and he was hard to see. but then in "Skull and Double Cross Bones" they went to silly by having him swim with the turban on in an underwater background that was light enough to easily make him out. Hadji happens to be my favorite character of the show BTW.
BTW it is a ruby on his turban because Race asks Hadji for his ruby to signal the Helicopters in " A Small Matter of Pygmies." Hadji also mentions it is a ruby too in that exchange of dialogue.
I'm not say that all the characters had to outlandishly dressed, but the main characters had to be distinguishable enough from the backgrounds and the minor characters for the eye to fine them when the animator or director wants the audience to find them. Yes, I know that in some story lines, the characters have to hide in the shadows and scenery as Gaston, beast, Lumiere and Cogsworth comes out of the shadows and the scenery in the introductions in "Beauty And The Beast". I find it odd that you had mentioned Fat Albert the Fat Albert Gang because I had always thought that group was the most outrageously dress group of all. You can literately pick out who is who by the clothes.
Hadji's religion is not really set in stone in the original series because his saying a bedtime "God Bless" type prayer with Jonny in "Shadow Of The Condor."
Thank you for telling me about the fact that Hadji could be from northern India because that night before I was trying to guess the style of his turban which I guessed it was the Rajasthani turban from province of Rajasthan in northwest India. But I discarded it because always I thought Hadji was from Calcutta. You see I love the original series and i tried to watch the on in the Eighties but turned away in disgust. I didn't know about the ones in the nineties or this decade until recently. I rarely, if ever, saw the comic books. (I really need to catch up.) which in the end means that I don't know where the series took it after the initial series left off. Since you guys are talking about Hadji's origins, based on what I could see of the turban, Hadji could be a Marwari, Jat or Rajput.
Here Comes Harry!
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
First off I sorry if had offended you. I didn't mean it. I just get angry when people go for the high lofty concepts explanations and forget the basic mechanics the animators had to go through to get the characters to work on the screen.
When Jonny Quest first aired, James Bond Dr No just came out, the old Tarzan and Charlie Chan movies were still rerunning on local channels, westerns were still being made, Tonto was still riding with the Lone Ranger, and the Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordan serials were still running on local channels. There was a lot of thirst for the adventure shows with exotic locales for kids.
BTW it is a ruby on his turban because Race asks Hadji for his ruby to signal the Helicopters in " A Small Matter of Pygmies." Hadji also mentions it is a ruby too in that exchange of dialogue.
Hadji's religion is not really set in stone in the original series because his saying a bedtime "God Bless" type prayer with Jonny in "Shadow Of The Condor."
Thank you for telling me about the fact that Hadji could be from northern India because that night before I was trying to guess the style of his turban which I guessed it was the Rajasthani turban from province of Rajasthan in northwest India. But I discarded it because always I thought Hadji was from Calcutta. Since you guys are talking about Hadji's origins, based on what I could see of the turban, Hadji could be a Marwari, Jat or Rajput.
Hadji is a Hindu from India.
I have read this discussion and I want to comment on it.
I think because of the detailed backgrounds it would be difficult to find people so it makes sense to have them with different colours. It explains why everybody wears the different clothing than each other but they themselves usually wear the same thing over and over again. with Fat Albert the backgrounds aren't quite as detailed but they still have different colours of clothing, hats, and even body shapes as well as posture. They can be fat, slim, muscular, or even have different shaped heads. And they wear the clothing differently. The villain in The Fat Albert Halloween Special had his shirt rolled up, also he had a very broad chin. It is important that the characters are different shapes because an animation technique often used is to show them running but only black blobs are visible. Sometimes, their shadows or silhouettes are the only things animated when they are walking or running.
And yes, I think that it is important for Hadji to wear a turban to look slightly different from any other similar skin colour character if there are many characters in the background. As for Jonny and Hadji underwater, there are no other background characters so of course it is easy to identify Hadji even if he wasn't wearing his turban. But if Jonny and Hadji were both wearing wet suits, then you couldn't see which is which unless Hadji wore a turban underwater.
I never understood why Jonny's hair is blonde and Dr. Quest has red hair. It makes them easier to find if their hair colour is different and every main character has a different hair colour. And looking at them in the plane next to each other, even their skin colours are different from each other. Race is tanned. Hadji is the darkest while Jonny is the lightest. Dr. Quest is a tiny amount darker compared to Jonny.
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light yellow coat. (Sorry, I don't know the name of the type of coat he wears.)
As for the coat: it looks a lot like what we called a Nehru jacket back then...