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(More customer reviews)The 1966 animated series King Kong, may be most remembered for its fun theme song, which states that Kong is `ten times as big as a man'. The production was a joint venture between Japan's Tohei Animation, and Videocraft based in the USA. The project had permission to use the character King Kong, from RKO Radio Studios, the producers of the 1933 King Kong feature film.
King Kong: The Animated Series - Volume One, contains the first four, of the 24 half hour episodes that were produced. Also included, is part one of the series pilot episode. The series originally debuted in an hour long program. This pilot would later be separated into two episodes, for broadcast in syndication. Compared to the 'regular' episodes that would follow, the animation is much more vivid and rich in the pilot, and the characters are drawn a little differently as well.
The first part of the pilot, entitled 'A Friend In Need', is included and tells the story of how Kong, became a friend to the Bond family. Professor Bond (voiced by Carl Banas), an archeologist, arrives on Mondo Island to do conduct some studies. Along with him are his young son Bobby (voiced by Billie Richards), and teenage daughter Susan (voiced by Susan Conway). According to local legend, Mondo Island is home to a mysterious creature named Kong. Bobbie wanders away, and has an encounter with a hungry dinosaur, but fortunately the giant ape Kong, comes to his rescue, and befriends him. Bobbie introduces his astonished family to his new simian friend, and it is not long before the big guy saves them from a tidal wave (tsunami). It is the beginning of a grand adventure, as the Bonds and their friend Captain Englehorn, the skipper of the ship Java Queen, take the great ape out to sea, afloat on a raft. The conclusion of the pilot, The Key To The City, appears on the King Kong: The Animated Series - Volume Two DVD.
A typical episode of King Kong, consisted of two King Kong adventures, with an episode of Tom of T.H.U.M.B. sandwiched in between. Each cartoon averaged about six minutes, and the stories generally moved pretty quickly. Kong was always portrayed as being extremely gentle and non-aggressive, never getting out of control, and only resorting to violence to protect the Bonds. The stories incorporated elements like science, crime, aliens, monsters, adventure, and danger from a number of weird sources. The adventures are generally entertaining and fun, but the short length of the cartoon, often resulted in simple or underdeveloped plots, with abrupt resolutions. The quality of the animation is not bad, although the colors do appear rather washed out. The voice talent is very good as well.
You get a nice mix of stories in this collection. In `The African Bees', Mondo island is in the path of a swarm of African killer bees, and the Bonds and Kong, make preparations to avoid the bees. Unexpected visitors stumble into harm's way, but fortunately Kong has intimate knowledge of the island's vegetation. 'Dr. Who' introduces the series' most notorious reoccurring villain, who wants to use Kong for his own evil purposes. 'The Hunter' features a brilliant, but twisted big game hunter, who wants Kong for a trophy.
1966 was near the height of the James Bond inspired 60's spy craze, and Tom of T.H.U.M.B. was a spoof of secret agents, and the alphabet soup of agencies that employed them. Tom was actually a janitor, who along with his Asian partner Swinging Jack, was accidentally miniaturized down to three inches in height. The agency they work for, T.H.U.M.B. (Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau) is usually pitted against their rival, M.A.D. (Maladjusted, Antisocial, and darn Mean), in a series of ridiculous, over the top, adventures. The episode `I Was a Starling for the USA!', is probably the funniest of the four episodes in this collection, as M.A.D. is recruiting birds, and training them to attack airplanes. Tom and Swinging Jack, go undercover disguised as starlings (chirp), and bring this bird-brained scheme to an end. With almost no ties to reality, this extremely silly cartoon, very much of its time, with some racially sensitive issues, may have a limited appeal today.
In a nice touch, the original promo and bridge clips, featuring Bobby, Sue, and Kong, are also included. The episodes have chapter stops, and the DVD has a pretty nice menu where individual cartoons can be selected. Subtitles are not available. The two volumes that have been released cover 8 of the 24 episodes that were produced. At this rate, it would take four more volumes to complete the series. Obviously a better effort could have been made, but as no further volumes have been released thus far, it appears that demand has not been high enough. So unless the entire series is repackaged as a single release, fans of King Kong may be out of luck. Which would be unfortunate, as the series has a certain charm, and nostalgia value for those who have seen it before.
A listing of the titles contained on Volume One is below. The first and last titles in an episode are for King Kong adventures, with the middle title being a Tom of T.H.U.M.B. mission.
Episode 1:
Under The Volcano/For The Last Time, Feller I'm Not Bait/The Treasure Trap
Episode 2:
The Horror of Mondo Island/Hey That Was a Close One World/Dr. Who
Episode 3:
Rocket Island/I Was a 9-1/2 oz Weakling Till One Day . . ./The African Bees
Episode 4:
The Hunter/I Was a Starling for the USA!/The Space Men
Pilot Episode (Part One): A Friend In Need
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KING KONG ANIMATED SERIES VOL 1 - DVD Movie
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