Classic Jonny Quest List: Women Characters

The Women of Classic Jonny Quest

The following list was suggested by Bud Lyons; he also provided much of the text used on this page. His information was formatted and augmented with images to fit the format of the rest of the JQ "List" pages.

Introduction

The women characters shown in Jonny Quest are relatively few in number, but when they are present they often are depicted in key roles. A few are especially memorable, and one ("Jezebel" Jade) has been considered a key part of the cast from the beginning of the show. Look through the list below, and see if you aren't surprised at how many females appeared in this ground-breaking show.

Note: Only those characters who interacted in some way with our heros or who were key in some way to the episode plot are listed here; there were a number of background female characters seen, but we are not counting those in this list.

If we counted all females seen in the shows (including the background characters), there are 17. In comparison, there were about 195 male characters (see Bud's description on how the count was obtained). So the females make up just under 9 percent of the characters seen in the show. This is not a large percentage, especially when compared to today’s standards. But it was a pretty good percentage for TV in the late sixties, when most women were portrayed as housewives, mothers, schoolteachers and nurses, roles which were typically outside the realm of Jonny Quest storylines. At least the makers of the show did not generally restrict the roles for females to damsels in distress or femme fatales, which could be considered typical for the action genre at the time.

Name	Episode(s)	Comments
Jonny's mother	Mystery of the Lizard Men	The first episode is the only time that Jonny's mom is even mentioned. She is not shown, no name is given, nor is it explained how she died, but it is important to note that she is established as deceased. It is also her death (presumed to be as a result of some sort of foul play, but see our FAQ for more on this topic) that establishes the key relationships for the rest of the cast. Without her premature demise, would Race have been assigned to his role as bodyguard and tutor? Would Jonny have traveled the world with his father?
Drena Hartman	Pursuit of the Po-Ho	Red-haired Drena Hartman of Oterante Station Number One appears throughout the episode. She is the wife and scientific partner of Emil Hartman, an old friend of Dr. Quest. Drena is a fully-contributing member of the Oterante team; she understands the Po-Ho drums and translates what they are saying for the Quest Team.
airport tower announcer	Riddle of the Gold	Heard over the airport announcement system saying: "Your attention please, your attention please! Will the owner of the dog answering to the name of Bandit please report to the Information Desk?"
airport information desk attendant	Riddle of the Gold	This person got to witness some sleight-of-hand from Hadji up close and personal! Although she says nothing, her face showed surprise and amazement - after all, a dog doesn't disappear into thin air every day.
airline attendant	Riddle of the Gold	Another surprised airline employee, this time courtesy of Bandit. The attendant had just served Jonny his meal, and had turned away to deliver Hadji his tray, when Bandit snagged Jonny's steak and dashed off. "Goodness!", said the attendant. "Did you finish that steak already?" To which Jonny could only reply with a shrug and a sheepish smile, "Uh...well, I'm just a growing boy!"
Did anyone else notice that all the women in Riddle of the Gold have red hair?
Denise Lor	The Dreadful Doll	A young girl (another "redhead"!) approximately the same age as Jonny and Hadji, Denise is the daughter of Philipe Lor, a plantation owner on the island of Tobago. Denise is the victim of a "voodoo" attack, which Dr. Quest discovers is actually drug-induced. Dr. Quest creates an antidote and saves Denise. At the end of the show, she praises Jonny and Hadji for rescuing Race, saying the two are "so, so brave." She then rewards each one with a kiss on the cheek, and Hadji says, "it is not good to be brave." Then Denise says she’ll let the boys each kiss her and gets upset when the lads run away. Dr. Quest jokes that Denise may have to wait ten years for the boys to have that kind of courage.
"Jezebel" Jade	Double Danger	Billed in early promotional materials for the show as a "woman of mystery", Jade certainly carries an aura of mystique and intrigue about her. Her raven-haired good looks provide a striking counterpart to the typical female character seen in the show. The first appearance of Jezebel Jade is in Double Danger; she arrives in the jungle on "business with Race, naturally", and just in time to save the boys from a night-stalking leopard. Soon, she identifies Race’s double as a fake with a single kiss. Later, when the boys ask how she knew the man in camp was not Race, she answers, "There are some ways a woman cannot be fooled." Finally, she saves Race, herself, and the boys (with a timely assist from her helicopter pilot), and says she will charge Race 5000 pound sterling for the escape. At the end of the show, she kisses the real Race and remarks, "There’s only one Race Bannon!"
"Jezebel" Jade	Terror Island	The only female character seen in more than one episode, Jade shows a little more of her character and background in Terror Island. When Race comes to her for help, he meets her on what is thought to be her boat anchored in Hong Kong harbor. When Race lets slip that he suspects Jade may know something about Dr. Quest's disappearance, she replies "I almost never kidnap my friends...for money, that is." She agrees to take on the case, and is seen travelling around Hong Kong searching for answers, getting tough when the situation calls for it. When Race gets impatient and heads off to find Dr. Quest on his own, it turns out that Jade will salvage a bad situation, saving Race, Dr. Quest and the boys. She angrily retorts "I'm disappointed in you, Race; I left you a note saying I'd handle this!" followed by "Wait til you get my bill!" But in the end, her fondness for Race shows through when she willingly accepts his "down payment", although the scene prompts Jonny to say "That's a good lession for us, Hadji. When we grow up everything's going to be strictly cash!"
Khaloom	Terror Island	Jade's maidservant. In her concern for Jade, she tells Race where Jade (and Dr. Quest) can be found.
Photo Girl	Terror Island	Taking a photo of the Quests at a restaurant under the pretext of giving them a souvenir, she uses the photo to identify Dr. Quest to a couple of thugs apparently hired by Chu Sing Ling.

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Note: On the science of counting characters, Bud Lyons said:
"All in all, we see nine women largely featured and four-plus shown in crowd scenes [I estimated 8 - 3 in Riddle of the Gold, and 5 in Terror Island (crowd scene watching dragon) - LPB]. Of the nine featured women, three (Drena Hartman, Jezebel Jade, and Denise Lor) are of major importance to the storyline. Now, in all fairness to the creators of the show, let us count up the men featured in the episodes and see what kind of percentage the women have to the men. I didn’t count purely background guys or count groups such as goons and henchmen or soldiers and savages. But if someone had something important to do in a scene or had a line to speak or even stood at the forefront of a crowd scene, I would count them along with the men who had major roles."

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