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Jonny Quest Season 1 - The Quetong Missile Mystery
© 1998-2005, Lyle P. Blosser, Craig Fuqua
Z-26, , 2/11/65
Later re-titled for the re-run:
The "Q" Missile Mystery
9/9/65
Thanks to Nelson for the "Quetong" version of the title
card.
Flubs:
- In the scene where Dr. Quest and Race are in a helicopter chasing Lt. Singh in his
car, Dr. Quest points downward and says, "I see him!" but it's Race's voice, not
Dr. Quest's, that we hear.
- Race chokes the guard at post number 5, who falls into the swamp (splash is heard).
Later, during the escape attempt, the radio at post 5 awakens a sleeping guard still
high and dry on his platform. (Reported by Ian Allan)
- When Sing and his men kidnap the boys, Sing is seen closing the door to the hotel
room. But later when the scene is reviewed by Race and Dr. Quest on the tape, Sing
does not close the door. (Reported by John Boyd)
- When Sing is lying on the ground being questioned by Dr. Quest, the marks on his
clothes disappear then reappear. (Reported by John
Boyd)
- There is a scene near the beginning of the episode in which the loudspeakers on
the blockhouse roof face toward the sides of the building. Later, the building is
shown with the speakers facing the front and back of the structure. And when Race
crawls across the roof, there are no speakers to be seen at all (though only part
of the roof is shown). Maybe General Fong has a rotor in his office that can turn
the loudspeakers around? (Reported by John Boyd)
-
When the Quest team arrive at police headquaters, the city map on the wall behind
the police chief is spelled QUETUNG...with a U instead of QUETONG.
(Reported by Joe in the forum)
Trivia and items of interest:
- An interesting note is that "tape", presumably meaning "videotape", is mentioned.
This technology, in its infancy in 1964, would later prove to be a popular mediumfor
preserving memories of the show by fans! (Reported
by John Boyd)
- Tim Smith writes concerning
the use of Chinese languages in this and other episodes. : " I speak
and read a little Mandarin. I got a look at some signs in the Quetong Missile Mystery.
There is a scene in which Race is creeping through a hallway in the blockhouse.
First he passes a sign, half of which is visible, which says something about an
exit. Next he opens a doorway that reveals two slumped-over soldiers at a table,
with a locker in the background. The sign outside this room reads "nan zi xiu xi
shi" which translates literally as "Men's Rest Room" - this actually means "Men's
Waiting Room" or "Men's Lounge" ("rest room" does not mean "bathroom" in Mandarin),
so this sign was accurate!
In the same episode, all of the uniformed guards (and General Fong) wear a symbol
that looks like an uppercase "T" with a second, narrower horizontal stroke. This
is not exactly a Chinese character, but very close to one. If you exchange the two
horizontal strokes so that the TOP one is a little narrower than the lower one,
you have the character "gan", which has two meanings: (1) "shield", and (2) "empty",
as in the traditional toast "gan bei!" ("empty cup!"). "Shield" might make sense,
maybe the artists took a bit of liberty with the character."
Another interpretation of the symbol has surfaced: Alex Toth, one of the artists
for the show, liked to create symbols based on a character's name, especially if
the first and last name started with the same letter. In this case, we don't know
for sure what General Fong's first name was, but the symbol could be a construction
of a backward-facing and forward-facing capital letter "F" (for Fong). This is further
borne out by Alex's model sheet for
General Fong.
-
Joe in the forum writes:Dr. Quest also uses
a wireless cell phone in this episode. No wonder J.Q. still surpasses any cartoon
that I've ever seen. John in FL continues:Good
catch! And yes, the wireless phone was even further ahead of its time than videotape.
However, it wouldn't technically be a cell phone, as there were no cellular towers
constructed at the time. Nor were communications satellites capable of relaying
such signals in 1964. The Quests' devices would have to have operated under their
own transmitter power, which makes them even more futuristic!
Link to the
restored end credits
for the episode.
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