Since one of my all-time favorite TV shows is the pulpy old Hanna-Barbera cartoon Jonny Quest, I'm naturally disgusted by the fact that some Hollywood producer wants to turn this into a movie.
Suckage is guaranteed here. While I've often imagined how cool it would be to have a generously-budgeted Quest feature directed by Brad Bird (a huge fan, as The Incredibles proves) or Bruce Timm, the bad news regarding the new Quest is that it will be live action.
Which pretty much dooms it right there.
What everyone remembers about Jonny Quest--aside from its awesomely cool Hoyt Curtin theme music--is its distinctive look, courtesy of comic book artist Doug Wildey. The character designs were simple yet effectively stylized, moving through a moody landscape of deep oranges and brilliant greens. The animation was limited, but it sure looked good.
There's no way to pull off that level of stylization in live action. Well, you could, but not in a potential kiddie franchise feature. The studio won't be hiring some auteur to bring a "vision" to the screen--they'll hire a hack to knock it out quickly and efficiently.
More than that, they'll get the tone wrong. Jonny Quest was a weird combination of Doc Savage pulp adventures and James Bond-styled spy thrillers, full of sneering Asian villains (Dr. Zin!) and hostile but easily frightened "natives" (whether South American or African) whose main purpose was to shriek "AAIIEE!" Obviously, you can't do this kind of old-school adventure anymore (even Bond himself dwells in the real world these days, and I shudder to think about the new Indiana Jones movie), so whatever this new movie will be (I'm thinking somewhere between Spy Kids and Agent Cody Banks), it won't be Jonny Quest.
