Wow, and one Neo-Nazi can attone for the other racist depictions made on the show.
I'm pretty sure this was all addressed in another thread, but it bears repeating: While you're entitled to your opinion, it is deceptive and, in some cases, flat out incorrect. You're also looking at a 40-plus year old TV cartoon show through the eyes of 2007 sensibilities, which doesn't help either. Having said that, though, frankly, the writers of the 1964 series seem amazingly enlightened and liberal compared to some of the things which came up during the 1996 series.
I've seen your previous remarks about Hadji and they never seem to relate to the series I've watched over and over for many years. I can't see how you can fault the series' writers and call them racists when they presented Hadji as being a very intelligent, well-educated (far more so than Jonny) child of color who was so brave and compassionate that he saved the life of a complete stranger---a white foreign stranger, no less---when it could have cost him his own. In fact, Hadji saved Dr. Quest's life (as well as Jonny and Race) on several occasions during the original series. In turn, Dr. Quest fell in love with the little boy and adopted him (which we're told at the end of the sixth episode) and he always treats Hadji as a member of his family. Hadji doesn't go without anything that Jonny has in the series and, in fact, they are treated equally: the same cameras, the same watches, the same medallions around their necks, and, when in foreign settings, they often sleep in the same bed. Jonny refers to Bandit as "our Bandit" while hugging his adopted brother (in Hadji's first scene in the series) and he and his father completely accept Hadji as a Quest. All you hear from Benton is "my boys" this and that, which was carried forward to the 1996 series. All of this in a 1964 series, written at a time when the Quests wouldn't have been welcomed into a majority of hotels and many restaurants in the US with Hadji in tow. So how is this the work of racists?
Secondly, Von Deuffel was NOT a "Neo-Nazi." He was a Nazi. Period. Benton clearly says that he served on the War Crimes Commission following World War II (hardly the work of a racist) and that, while trying to prosecute Nazis for wartime attrocities, Von Deuffel escaped their grasp. Once again, the series points out to us what a decent, caring man Dr. Quest is by giving us this piece of his backstory. He's someone who shows over and over again that he cares about justice for people around the world, not just white Americans. Note the fact that he puts his life on the line in "Turu The Terrible," in part, to free enslaved Indians, is an honored friend of the Raj Guru of Kuhm Jun "Monster In The Monastery," as well as of the Peruvian, Chinese and Indian governments, and he repeatedly shows his respect for the ancient artifacts of native peoples in the countries he visits, which is why those countries trust him to assist them in recovering pieces of their historic past.
As for the aspect of the "villains" of the original series: Yes, you could taint the series with the "yellow peril" brush of the 1930s when you look at a villain such as Dr. Zin or Dr. Ashida, if you take them on face value. We are never given any motive for their vile and greedy actions, but on the part of Zin all we can assume is that it is greed and the hackneyed "world domination" routine which motivates him. (At least in the proposed live-action film, his motivation was the murder of his Japanese fiance' in one of the atomic bomb blasts of 1945, something which at least humanized him). However, Dr. Zin is always presented as an extremely well-educated, intelligent and well-spoken man; he doesn't speak in broken English, nor is he presented in the derrogatory manner of Asian villains of prior decades. If the writers were racists, they would have played Zin completely differently. They could have, but they most certainly didn't.
And there are LOADS of white bad guys in this series: Silkie and Chopper ("Attack Of The Tree People"), Perkins ("Treasure Of The Temple"), Hardin ("The Dreadful Doll"), Von Deuffel ("The Devil's Tower"), Baron Von Freulich ("Shadow Of The Condor"), the anonymous Eastern European baddies of "The Fraudulent Volcano," "Pirates From Below," "The House Of The Seven Gargoyles" and "Arctic Splashdown," plus Korcek from "Double Danger," not to mention the French Canadian lumberjacks of "Werewolf Of The Timberlands" and the old geezer in "Turu The Terrible." That's nearly HALF of the series right there. How much more even-handed did the writers have to be? Would you honestly believe that they'd go to India, Egypt, Nepal or Indonesia and all the villains there would be white as well? Meanwhile, we have numerous heroes within the series who represent people of color in their native countries---people who risk their lives to help our heroes and their own people. The truth is that, particularly for the time in which the series was produced, the writers were exceedingly even-handed in showing both good and bad qualities in people of ALL of the races presented.
[Note: I'm not even getting into the Po-Ho issue---'cause that IS an episode in which the "savages" and "devils" name-calling does get out of line...but you'd likely feel that way if they'd kidnapped your relatives or friends and were holding them to be sacrificed in such a hideous manner].
One last thing: In 1964, there were rarely any appearances of blacks on US television. That was the fact at that time. I was very small then, but I remember adults in my family calling back and forth to friends and relations far and wide whenever there was an appearance by a black entertainer on network TV---it was THAT big of an anomaly! So, unfortunately, the networks would not have been accepting of a black character within the context of this series and no blacks are presented within the stories. The footage at the end of the presumably African tribal members on the attack was left-over test footage from the time period when the series was actually meant to be about "Jack Armstrong, The All-American Boy" of 1930s radio fame, and even that footage does not present a derrogatory image of blacks, flying spears notwithstanding. (Hey, they're allowed to protect their territory, aren't they)? Believe me, I'd be the first to scream my head off if a series truly presented racist images or unflattering characterizations of people of color---believe me, I mouthed off plenty about the "Real Adventures" series wherever it went wrong on such things. But "Jonny Quest" circa 1964...? Nah.
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rogerc210
17 years ago
JQ! Nemesis of the PC Juggernaut!lol!
There's only 1 Yogi Bear. They tried a 2nd time, & they made a Booboo!HeyeyeyhEY!
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