JONNY'S GOLDEN QUEST (1993) / JONNY QUEST VS. THE CYBER-INSECTS (1995) (Warner Archive Blu-ray Review)

JONNY'S GOLDEN QUEST (1993) / JONNY QUEST VS. THE CYBER-INSECTS (1995) 

JONNY'S GOLDEN QUEST (1993)

Label: Warner Archive

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 87 Minutes 28 Seconds 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1) 

Director:  Don Lusk, Paul Sommer

Cast: Don Messick, Granville Van Dusen, Meredith MacRae, JoBeth Williams, Frank Welker, Anndi McAfee, Rob Paulsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Will Estes, B.J. Ward

In Jonny's Golden Quest, Team Quest; scientist Benton Quest, son Jonny (Will Nipper, Mimic 2), bodyguard Race Bannon and Jonny's young friend Hadji are assigned by Intelligence-One to investigate mysterious animal and plant mutations in Peru, and this time we get to meet Benton's biologist wife Rachel (Meredith MacRae, TV's My Three Sons), as well as Race's ex-wife Jade (JoBeth Williams, Poltergeist), who is joined by her young 12-year-old Jessie (Anndi McAfee, Ice Cream Man). Their investigation uncovers the diabolical  Dr. Zin (Jeffrey Tambor, Hellboy 2:The Golden Army) who has been creating mutant "replicants" to do his bidding, his end goal being the cloning of himself. There's a scientist who has perfected synthetic gold named Dr. Victor Devlon (Peter Renaday, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes) who is key to the story, and surprisingly there's a death that hits close to home for the team, and we get some rathe deep father-son melodrama that I thought added a unique dynamic to the flick, with Benton struggling to earn the respect of his son who idolizes Race. This one has plenty of action and I thought the animation was pretty aces. This was the first new animated Quest adventure since the 1986 re-boot, and it brought back the talents of  Don Messick (the original voice of Scooby-doo) as Dr. Benton Quest, Granville Van Dusen as Race Bannon, and Rob Paulsen as Hadji, who all voiced the characters from the 1986 series, Messick having voiced Dr. Benton in the original 60's version as well. 

JONNY QUEST VS. THE CYBER-INSECTS (1995) 

Label: Warner Archive

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 87 Minutes 28 Seconds 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1) 

Director: Mario Piluso

Voice Cast: Don Messick, Granville Van Dusen, Héctor Elizondo, Jeffrey Tambor, Tim Matheson, Kevin Smets, Anndi McAfee, Theresa Saldana, Victor Love, Robert Ito, Olivia White

Two years after Jonny's Golden Quest (1993) we got the final animated Quest film, Jonny Quest vs.The Cyber Insects, featuring the return of the diabolical Dr. Zin, still voiced by a terrific Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) who this time out has genetically modified household pests into giant-sized insects he dubs "assassinoids", while also having a satellite that can control the weather. This flick also features the return of Race's daughter Jessie (voiced again by Anndi McAfee) from the last film in a decently meaty role. Also returning, the original voice of Jonny Quest from the 60's series, Tim Matheson (Animal House), as the voice of Johnny personal robot 4-Dac, while Jonny this time out is voiced by Kevin Smets. We also get Héctor Elizondo (Tortilla Soup) as Orinoquian Chief Atacama who is tasked with putting Jonny through a ritual test of manhood at the start of film. If you liked the first film this is sure to be a pleaser, again, lots of mutant mayhem, plenty of animated sci-fi tinged action-adventure, and I thought the insect-creature designs were pretty cool. 

I grew up watching re-runs of the 60's version and the first-run of the 80's reboot The New Adventures of Jonny Quest (1986–87) these 90's animated telefilms where a bit out of my wheelhouse. When they first aired I wasn't watching a lot of cartoons, then in my early 20's, so catching up to these now was quite a treat. I thought the stories were well-crafted and retained what I loved about the original series, and the animation style was quite fetching. If you're a fan of the original 60's or 80's incarnations, and are still a kid at heart, there's bound to be a lot to love here, and if you're a bit younger and actually grew up watching these when they first aired I can honestly say these will look much better in HD than you have ever seen them before. Watching these has definitely made me want to re-visit the original 60's series, and it might be about time I finally grab that complete series set from WB, which you can pick up for under $30 right HERE! I love that Warner Archive keep digging into the Hanna-Barbera archives to unearth and restore these animated gems, I hope they keep them coming!  

Audio/Video: Both animated films arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Warner Archive, presenting the films in the original broadcast aspect rations of 1.33:1 fullscreen. The source looks great, no blemishes, very clean looking. The animation looks great with bold nicely saturated colors and the line work looks solid throughout. It does look like there's been some grain filtering applied and film grain is quite diminished, which is not ideal, but I still thought both films looked quite sharp in HD. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. The track is clean, the voice cast sounds terrific, the sound effects are boisterous, and the scores come through well. 

There are not extras for this release. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided wrap of artwork. 

Special Features:

- None 

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