Great episode with a body count for a cartoon 😂😂 and see the mysterious Jade in action! And to see last of the original 1960s episodes of JQ I love the cartoon artist details of the characters drawn as well as the location of the travel of our adventures as they move around the world, the newer JQ could not match the original ones and a child of the 60s I could never imagine an other cartoon like JQ and with the Hoyt Curtain soundtrack making the series more interesting and entertaining, I believe without the original soundtrack the series just loses that elements with the weak remake not being able to survive.
3 Reviews
Giant bugs run amuck
bensonmum212 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Jonny, Hadji, and Race are desperate to find Dr. Quest after he's been kidnapped. Dr. Quest has been taken to the secret lab of Dr. Chu Sing Ling – a scientist working on a secret formula that turns insects into giants. Dr. Ling wants Quest's assistance. Naturally, Dr. Quest refuses and faces the prospect of being fed to one of Dr. Ling's creations. Will the rest of the gang arrive in time to save Dr. Quest?
While Terror Island is reasonably fun and feels something like an homage to the 1950s era giant bug movies I love so much, for whatever reason, I don't care for this episode as much as some others. Sure, I enjoyed the rampaging giant bug action, but I have a couple of problems with Terror Island. First, this may sound silly when talking about Jonny Quest, but Terror Island lacks the "real" feeling I enjoy in other episodes. This one is sci-fi all the way - with an emphasis on the fi part. I can go along with all the spy stuff, the robots, and even the prehistoric creatures you usually find in Jonny Quest, but this episode pushes credibility too far. (Please remember, when I use words like "real" or "credibility", I'm using them in the context of the Jonny Quest world – not the world you and I live in.)
My second problem is with Dr. Ling's rather sketchy plan. I'm not sure he ever says why he's trying to create an army of giant insects – he just is. Even the most deranged of the Jonny Quest baddies has some sort of explanation for what they're up to. Again, it takes away from the realism (relatively speaking once again).
In the end, despite the problems I have with the episode, this is still Jonny Quest and its still fun. I'll give Terror Island a 6/10.
While Terror Island is reasonably fun and feels something like an homage to the 1950s era giant bug movies I love so much, for whatever reason, I don't care for this episode as much as some others. Sure, I enjoyed the rampaging giant bug action, but I have a couple of problems with Terror Island. First, this may sound silly when talking about Jonny Quest, but Terror Island lacks the "real" feeling I enjoy in other episodes. This one is sci-fi all the way - with an emphasis on the fi part. I can go along with all the spy stuff, the robots, and even the prehistoric creatures you usually find in Jonny Quest, but this episode pushes credibility too far. (Please remember, when I use words like "real" or "credibility", I'm using them in the context of the Jonny Quest world – not the world you and I live in.)
My second problem is with Dr. Ling's rather sketchy plan. I'm not sure he ever says why he's trying to create an army of giant insects – he just is. Even the most deranged of the Jonny Quest baddies has some sort of explanation for what they're up to. Again, it takes away from the realism (relatively speaking once again).
In the end, despite the problems I have with the episode, this is still Jonny Quest and its still fun. I'll give Terror Island a 6/10.
weakest of the original Jonny Quest episodes
CineMage11 May 2015
Warning: Spoilers
After reading the insights of the other IMDb reviewer, I decided to rewatch this episode a couple of times in an effort to discern what makes it the weakest of the original Jonny Quest episodes.
There is a joylessness and a by-the-numbers inertia to every part of this episode that doesn't involve Jezebel Jade. Her appearance is really the only reason this episode is worth remembering.
The comedic moments in a Jonny Quest episode almost always serve some purpose: sometimes they contribute to the plot itself, sometimes they help leaven the mood and provide variety, and sometimes they deepen characterization or a sense of the setting. But in this episode, the poorly handled "comedic moments" in this episode do none of these. Jonny's "hi-jinks" running into the water and Bandit's "hi-jinks" with the Chinese New Year firecrackers are joyless non sequiturs, coming across as strictly formula, and could easily have been cut out without any loss to the episode. They are too generic even to contribute to the exotic feel that the Hong Kong setting might have provided for a 1960s audience.
To understand where "Terror Island" stumbles, it is helpful to compare it with the other major Jonny Quest episodes involving monsters, in particular "Dragons of Ashida", "Turu the Terrible", "The Invisible Monster", and "Sea Haunt".
In both "Dragons of Ashida" and "Turu the Terrible", there is a certain elegance and verve to the designs of the monsters. Their visual appeal is strong enough that versions of them appear in the credit sequence. Furthermore, the characters have a sense of personality to them. Ashida's dragons are relatively realistic, with clear resemblances to the real world crocodile and komodo monitor. Though Turu has only nominal similarities to pteranodons, this monster is given genuine character moments, such as his clear affection for his mad monster-wrangler Deen, so that as a small child I actually felt sorry for him when he died at episode's end.
In "The Invisible Monster" and "Sea Haunt", mystery and a horrific, eerie atmosphere replace elegance and verve in monster design. The monsters themselves are somewhat cartoonish in appearance, but the ambiance conveys a potency that compensates for any flaws in their appearance.
However, the monsters in "Terror Island" are uninspired, cartoonish, and paraded before the audience almost immediately without any real build up of dread or mystery. They have no personality to them, nor any modus operandi. Ashida's dragons were intentionally bred to be angry at all times, Turu clearly loved his human companion, and the sea hunter is never depicted as evil so much as a wild animal lost, bewildered, and striking out. In contrast, there is no sense that the monsters in "Terror Island" do what they do for any reason other than plot and spectacle. They don't even seem to be under Chu's control, so their attacks seem to have no believable purpose behind them.
Another difference is the villain of the episode. There's a certain charm to Dr. Ashida's madness, heightened by the fact that he had been a friend of Dr. Quest long ago so that, for the first half of the episode, Dr. Quest struggles with his horror over how far his long-ago friend has now fallen. Dr. Ashida openly revels in his archetypal embodiment of hubris yet seems at times desperate for Dr. Quest's admiration and approval of his genius. Although Deen has little interaction with our heroes, he has moments of characterization in his relationship with Turu, and both Dr. Quest and Race try to prevent his death when they suddenly realize that Deen is racing suicidally to rescue his monstrous pet. Both villains are visually well-designed and have excellent voice acting that fits their appearances and storyline functions.
In contrast, Chu does almost nothing in "Terror Island" except brag in a particularly expository fashion, threaten Dr. Quest, then threaten Dr. Quest again, then threaten Dr. Quest in almost the same way as he has already twice threatened Dr. Quest (and threaten Race Bannon while he's at it), and then die in one of the most egregiously deus ex machina deaths to occur in the series, with nothing in characterization or storyline that might help us suspend disbelief. When he runs away from the final monster, his flight seems to be nothing more than spectacle and a by-the-numbers villain death.
Chu's visual design is just as boring as his characterization. The voice acting is flat, something that Jonny Quest episodes usually avoid. There is really nothing memorable about him, his monsters, or whatever unrevealed plot or unrevealed ambition may have motivated him.
The one saving grace of "Terror Island" is the appearance of Jezebel Jade. The episode tries a little too hard to merge Jade with the Dragon Lady from the Terry and the Pirates adventure comic strips, but otherwise, she remains the memorable and admirable Jezebel Jade.
Were it not for Jade's second and final appearance in this episode, this would be an episode most Jonny Quest fans would be happy to forget.
There is a joylessness and a by-the-numbers inertia to every part of this episode that doesn't involve Jezebel Jade. Her appearance is really the only reason this episode is worth remembering.
The comedic moments in a Jonny Quest episode almost always serve some purpose: sometimes they contribute to the plot itself, sometimes they help leaven the mood and provide variety, and sometimes they deepen characterization or a sense of the setting. But in this episode, the poorly handled "comedic moments" in this episode do none of these. Jonny's "hi-jinks" running into the water and Bandit's "hi-jinks" with the Chinese New Year firecrackers are joyless non sequiturs, coming across as strictly formula, and could easily have been cut out without any loss to the episode. They are too generic even to contribute to the exotic feel that the Hong Kong setting might have provided for a 1960s audience.
To understand where "Terror Island" stumbles, it is helpful to compare it with the other major Jonny Quest episodes involving monsters, in particular "Dragons of Ashida", "Turu the Terrible", "The Invisible Monster", and "Sea Haunt".
In both "Dragons of Ashida" and "Turu the Terrible", there is a certain elegance and verve to the designs of the monsters. Their visual appeal is strong enough that versions of them appear in the credit sequence. Furthermore, the characters have a sense of personality to them. Ashida's dragons are relatively realistic, with clear resemblances to the real world crocodile and komodo monitor. Though Turu has only nominal similarities to pteranodons, this monster is given genuine character moments, such as his clear affection for his mad monster-wrangler Deen, so that as a small child I actually felt sorry for him when he died at episode's end.
In "The Invisible Monster" and "Sea Haunt", mystery and a horrific, eerie atmosphere replace elegance and verve in monster design. The monsters themselves are somewhat cartoonish in appearance, but the ambiance conveys a potency that compensates for any flaws in their appearance.
However, the monsters in "Terror Island" are uninspired, cartoonish, and paraded before the audience almost immediately without any real build up of dread or mystery. They have no personality to them, nor any modus operandi. Ashida's dragons were intentionally bred to be angry at all times, Turu clearly loved his human companion, and the sea hunter is never depicted as evil so much as a wild animal lost, bewildered, and striking out. In contrast, there is no sense that the monsters in "Terror Island" do what they do for any reason other than plot and spectacle. They don't even seem to be under Chu's control, so their attacks seem to have no believable purpose behind them.
Another difference is the villain of the episode. There's a certain charm to Dr. Ashida's madness, heightened by the fact that he had been a friend of Dr. Quest long ago so that, for the first half of the episode, Dr. Quest struggles with his horror over how far his long-ago friend has now fallen. Dr. Ashida openly revels in his archetypal embodiment of hubris yet seems at times desperate for Dr. Quest's admiration and approval of his genius. Although Deen has little interaction with our heroes, he has moments of characterization in his relationship with Turu, and both Dr. Quest and Race try to prevent his death when they suddenly realize that Deen is racing suicidally to rescue his monstrous pet. Both villains are visually well-designed and have excellent voice acting that fits their appearances and storyline functions.
In contrast, Chu does almost nothing in "Terror Island" except brag in a particularly expository fashion, threaten Dr. Quest, then threaten Dr. Quest again, then threaten Dr. Quest in almost the same way as he has already twice threatened Dr. Quest (and threaten Race Bannon while he's at it), and then die in one of the most egregiously deus ex machina deaths to occur in the series, with nothing in characterization or storyline that might help us suspend disbelief. When he runs away from the final monster, his flight seems to be nothing more than spectacle and a by-the-numbers villain death.
Chu's visual design is just as boring as his characterization. The voice acting is flat, something that Jonny Quest episodes usually avoid. There is really nothing memorable about him, his monsters, or whatever unrevealed plot or unrevealed ambition may have motivated him.
The one saving grace of "Terror Island" is the appearance of Jezebel Jade. The episode tries a little too hard to merge Jade with the Dragon Lady from the Terry and the Pirates adventure comic strips, but otherwise, she remains the memorable and admirable Jezebel Jade.
Were it not for Jade's second and final appearance in this episode, this would be an episode most Jonny Quest fans would be happy to forget.
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