Kevin Scott Collier

When I was 12 years old, the only appointment television I knew was on Saturday mornings when JONNY QUEST came on. This animated show about the adventures of young Jonny, his adopted brother, Hadji, along with his father, Dr. Benton Quest, and government agent, Race Bannon was like nothing else on TV. A carton that wasn’t silly, or centered around talking animals, but about a kid who traveled the world, visited exotic locations, got into trouble, battled villains, and encountered some really cool monsters (the Yeti from “Monsters in the Monastery” is a favorite) was a must see, if for no other reason than it didn’t patronize us kids, it treated us like real people instead. Even the animation, which went for a sense of realism, was like no other show. Yes, it was violent (though not as violent as the video games to which a later generation of kids would become addicted), and its depiction of Third World and primitive cultures were mostly less than positive (although it was the rare show to have an Asian character as a regular, and not be comedy relief). Blue noses and “concerned” parents considered it a bad influence, which only made us love the show more.

So being a huge JONNY QUEST fan, I bought myself JONNY, SINBAD JR. & ME, a slim volume of recollections by Tim Matheson, the young man who voiced Jonny, and other cartoon characters, and who went on to have a long acting career, most remember him as Otter in ANIMAL HOUSE. In this book, Matheson talks about his early days as a child actor, and his days at the Hanna-Barbera studios doing old school voice work after he got the Jonny Quest gig. Since the show was going for a sense of realism, they hired a real 16 year old to voice Jonny. The book, written by Kevin Scott Collier, makes a point to credit the many writers, illustrators and animators who worked on the show, and gives special attention to Doug Wildey, the former comic book artist who created the series for William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Their company was a cartoon factory, churning out an incredible amount of shows, and though the pace was frantic, we get the sense from Matheson that it was a great experience, and that he was very fortunate, as many of his child acting contemporaries did not fare so well in the long run. And amazingly, Matheson reaped little to no publicity for being in JONNY QUEST. After that show was not renewed for another season due to ratings not being high enough to justify a second season, Matheson stuck around at Hanna-Barbera to voice two more of their teen heroes in SINBAD JR & HIS MAGIC BELT and YOUNG SAMSON AND GOLIATH; both shows were built around a plucky young boy, who through the use of a magical object, becomes a muscle bound hero (shades of Shazam?). YOUNG SAMSON was clearly an inspiration for HE-MAN. Hanna-Barbera had a whole slew of adventure and scifi shows back in the day – SPACE GHOST, THE HERCULOIDS, FRANKENSTEIN JR – some of which, along with JONNY QUEST, were briefly revived in a DC comic book a few years back. Through SINBAD JR, Matheson met Mel Blanc, the legendary voice and comic actor, who was Bugs Bunny, among many, many others, and who brought joy to many a child, and adult as well. One of Matheson’s best anecdotes is the surprise he got in the mail, when as a struggling and nearly broke, young actor, a residual check arrived out of the blue.

This book has some mistakes in the text: the actor who originally voiced Fred Flintstone was Alan Reed, not Alan Freed, who was the famous disc jockey. But my main complaint with this book is its very short length. I really want to know more, especially the history of Hanna-Barbera. Maybe it’s time for someone to write a full blown history of Saturday morning cartoons. Also, this book makes one long for an autobiography from Tim Matheson himself, the man has had an interesting career, and surely he must have a lot more stories to tell.… (more)

Little Kid Reaction: Review pending.

Big Kid Reaction: I love that Wally whispers! What a great message for kids - and reminder to parents - that speaking softly is powerful. While I understood (after I read it) what Torrie was doing, I felt that this section moved forward awkwardly ... you don't have any sense of time (does this happen in one day, five days?) Kids probably won't notice that.

Pros: Brightly colored illustrations complement this story about remembering that we are each unique.

To read our full review, go to The Reading Tub®.… (more)