Although its first incarnation only lasted for a single season back in 1984, Hanna-Barbera adventure cartoon Jonny Quest continues to interest filmmakers. Now Robert Rodriguez thinks he’s the man to bring the character to the big screen{
Quest, should the name bring on a case of forehead-crumpling 'who-is-that?' syndrome in you, was a cartoon from the Flintstones team that followed the gee-whizz adventures of a lad and his father, Benton C. Quest as they journeyed around the world encountering mummies, monsters and submerged lairs as they thwarted the plans of evildoers. Jonny was usually accompanied by Hadji, his best pal, a bulldog named Bandit and government agent bodyguard Race Bannon.
The series serves as the primary inspiration for US ‘toon series The Venture Bros. (which even includes a psychologically traumatised older version of Jonny as part of its cast). Since the original series, which was cancelled due to the high cost of producing the ambitious animation, revival versions have appeared on TV and in comic books. And after Ted Turner and Warner Bros. bought the rights to the Barbera back catalogue in the 1990s, Richard Donner and Lauren Shuler Donner tried to launch a big screen adaptation. More recently, there was chatter in 2010 with a version that potentially saw Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson as Jonny and Race, with Peter Segal and Andy Fickman considering directing at different times.
Rodriguez doesn’t have a cast in mind yet (or if he does, he hasn’t shared it), but he and Pirates franchise veteran Terry Rossio’s are at work rewriting a script originated by Wrath Of The Titans' Dan Mazeau. Given his propensity for hyper-real family-friendly adventures with the Spy Kids films, we can see Rodriguez going a similar route with Quest.