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Jonny Quest
Jonathan "Jonny" Quest
Voiced by: Tim Matheson
The titular protagonist. An 11 year old boy who accompanies his scientist father on various globe-trotting adventures.
- The All-American Boy: Fits the blond and precocious archetype of the trope.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: He believes in ghosts. Just not female ones.
- Book Dumb: He hates school work, and does not know the definitions of big words used by Hadji or his father. He is however, quick on his feet in a fight and can come up with clever plans, such as his suggestion to use paint to see the invisible monster.
- Best Friend/Only Friend: To Hadji. Who is also his adoptive brother.
- Brains and Brawn: Brawn to Hadji's brains.
- Canine Companion: Has a dog named Bandit, who he is very protective of.
- Distressed Dude: Is kidnapped at least every third episode.
- Deadpan Snarker: Can be this. Especially towards Hadji, or during a fight sequence. For example, quipping; "Here comes the
Oriental Express" dryly as an Asian henchman falls out of a window to his death. - Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Foolish to Hadji's responsible. Jonny has a tendency to impulsively throw himself head first into a situation. Where as Hadji is more inclined to think things through or listen to the adults.
- Girls Have Cooties: Was grossed out when a little girl, Denise, kissed him on the cheek in the episode "Dangerous Dolls". When she offers to let him and Hadji kiss her, they run away.
- In "The House of the Seven Gargoyles", Jonny asks Hadji if he thinks the house will be haunted. Hadji says they should leave ghosts alone unless they're "pretty and girls", which Jonny dismisses as stupid.
- His reaction to Race kissing Jade as a "down payment".
Jonny: "That's a lesson for us Hadji. When we grow up, everything's gonna be strictly cash." - Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "Gosh" might as well be his catch-phrase.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He's blond, and is also a kindhearted and well-meaning kid.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: Will often insert himself into dangerous situations, even when told to stay behind, simply because he hates missing out on the action.
- Kung-Fu Kid: He can judo flip a man twice his size, over his head, without breaking a sweat.
- Kid Hero: Helped popularize the "boy adventurer" archetype.
- Missing Mom: His mother died just before the start of the series.
- Tag Along Kid: Jonny will often get himself mixed into whatever danger is present in the episode but is often only tangentially involved in the action.
Dr. Benton Quest
Voiced by: John Stephenson (episodes 1-5), Don Messick (episodes 6-26)
A world-renowned scientist and Jonny's father.
- Action Dad: He's no Race Bannon, but he's no slouch in a fight either.
- This can first be seen in “Arctic Splashdown” where his response to being held at gunpoint by the villains is to just punch them out and escape before the whole area explodes (due to Benton setting it to self destruct.)
- Agent Scully: Did not believe in werewolves or yetis, which exist in his world. Along with mummies, sea monsters and other supernatural creatures.
- He explicitly tells Korbai in “The Dreadful Doll” that he doesn’t believe in voodoo. Justified in that Benton had already determined the trance Korbai put his victims in was just a drug that Benton could reverse with his own medicine.
- Badass Bookworm: While Race is clearly the most physically capable of the team, Benton’s prowess as a fighter is far more advanced than one would expect from an ordinary scientist. Often, it’s up to Benton and Race to take down the villain of the episode and Benton more than handles himself.
- In “The Treasure of the Temple”, Race even notes after the fight with the goons in the secret treasury that Benton can really fight in a pinch.
- Big Good: Wants to use science to benefit mankind. Many of the show's villains are introduced as old colleagues of Benton's.
- Brains and Brawn: The brains to Race's brawn.
- Distressed Dude: Is kidnapped a lot, usually by villains who want to use his scientific knowledge for evil.
- For Science!: Even he admits most of his inventions could be used for evil if they fall into the wrong hands. The Para-Power Ray in “The Robot Spy” is a prime example and why Benton is so desperate to stop the drone from giving Dr. Zin intel on the ray.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Has invented video communicators and other gadgets used by Team Quest.
- Genius Bruiser: A genius in multiple fields with a pretty hefty right cross.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Race Bannon.
- Insistent Terminology:
- He’s not a guy Jonny, he’s a scientist.
- The energy monster doesn’t eat people, Jonny, it consumes them.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Is an expert in everything from robotics to biology. Basically, he knows anything a given story needs him to know.
- Papa Wolf: Fiercely defensive of Jonny, Hadji and even Bandit.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Is a rather stylish man, fond of pink shirts, pleated pants and ascots.
- Rich Genius: Owns a massive property in Palm Key, a plane, helicopter, boats, and anything else he could ever need.
- Science Hero: Self-explanatory.
- Seen It All: Nothing from living cave men to invisible monsters can surprise him. He takes it all in stride, always having a calm and scientific explanation for whatever crazy thing they come across.
- Standard '50s Father: Upstanding, stylish, polite, patriotic and emotionally distant.
Race Bannon
Roger T. "Race" Bannon
Voiced by: Mike Road
Jonny's tutor and bodyguard. He is a highly trained special agent of Intelligence One.
- The Ace: If it’s considered manly, Race can do it and likely better than anyone on the world to the point that he defeats Sumi— a undefeated sumo champion— in an exhibition bout with relative ease.
- Action Hero: If a problem needs to be solved with a little badassery, Race is your man.
- Brains and Brawn: Brawn to Benton's brains.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Race was modeled after actor Jeff Chandler, whose hair had similarly lost its colour prematurely.
- Cool Teacher: Is Jonny's tutor, and also taught the boy judo. Jonny see's him as a father figure and generally looks up to him.
- Dating Catwoman: His girlfriend, Jade. Though she's not as morally ambiguous as she likes to pretend.
- Heterosexual Life-Partner: To Dr. Quest.
- Meaningful Name: The surname "Bannon" means "White" and Race is a man with prematurely white hair.
- Mighty Whitey: The infamous scene from "Pursuit of the Po-Ho" in which Race dresses up as a tribal God and calls the natives “heathen monkeys”, among other things… This was censored on the DVD release, then restored for the Blu-ray.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Nobody ever calls him Roger.
- Parental Substitute: To Jonny and Hadji.
- Team Mom: Despite being more masculine than Benton, he's also more outwardly affectionate towards the boys.
- In the 90's, Cartoon Network ran a "Best Cartoon Mom" poll and Race Bannon not only placed, but he topped the list.
- Younger Than They Look: Has white hair, but is only in his early thirties.
Hadji Singh
Voiced by: Danny Bravo
An orphan the Quests meet in Calcutta, and eventually adopt.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: It's doubtful that you'll find a real person with the name Hadji Singh. "Hadji" itself is a title, not a name (it refers to a Muslim who has completed Hajj). Of course, taking actors like King Baggot and Judge Reinhold into account, theoretically one could find a person with such a name, though like the latter it would likely be a nickname.
- Bollywood Nerd: He doesn't fit into more modern nerd-characteristics, but he loves to learn and takes pride in his education.
- Badass Bookworm: Hadji is much more attentive to his studies than Jonny. He also isn’t afraid to Judo throw Soviet sailors if given the chance.
- Best Friend/Only Friend: To Jonny.
- Distressed Dude: He actually doesn't get kidnapped quite as frequently as Jonny, though not by much.
- Ethnic Magician: Is Indian and possesses magical abilities. These include snake charming, hypnotism, levitation and teleportation.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Responsible to Jonny's foolish. He's usually the voice of reason when Jonny wants to throw himself head-on into danger. He is also more educated, and actually does his school work. Where as Jonny always tries to find an excuse not to.
- Genius Bruiser: Can hold his own in a fight. Mainly by using his magical abilities or his environment to his advantage.
- Girls Have Cooties: After being kissed on the cheek by a girl;Denise: Oh, you are both so, so brave.Hadji: Oh no. I think it is not good to be brave.
- Guile Hero: When the team has been captured and held by the villains, expect Hadji to pull some kind of mind games or magical trickery to subdue the guard and facilitate their escape.
- Happily Adopted: By Dr. Quest.
- Heroic Bystander: How he met the Quests. He saved Benton from a random attacker.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: If you see him as Jonny’s sidekick. He tends to be a lot more resourceful in action sequences than Jonny due to his intellect and magical trickery.
- Kid Hero: Like Jonny.
- Sarcasm Mode: Does this a lot, mainly towards Jonny.
- Street Urchin: When the Quest's first met him.
- Snake Charmer: One of his abilities.
- Tag Along Kid: Often gets dragged along into the action by Jonny.
- Token Minority: The only non-white regular in the cast.
Bandit
The Quests' bulldog.
- Action Pet: Subverted. He is part of an action team, but is usually a Lovable Coward.
- Attention Whore: He loves being the center of attention and is hostile to any animal that might steal his spotlight.
- Canine Companion: To the whole family, but mainly Jonny.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Will often growl at people who turn out to be evil later on. The Quests don't pick up on this though, and usually just tell him to be quiet or question why he's growling. Often, they’ll tell the villain that Bandit just takes a while to get used to someone.
- Averted in “Double Trouble” when he can’t tell Race has been replaced with an imposter and even sits in the imposter’s lap.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Hates being upstaged by other animals.
- Heroic Dog: Has saved the day on several occasions. Usually by being able to sneak off for help like in “Skull and Double Crossbones”.
- The Load: Depending on the episode. Sometimes he's useful, sometimes he does little more than get carried around by Race. Other times, he outright causes problems.
- In “Pirates From Below,” he ruins Race and Jonny’s escape attempt by falling in the water.
- In “The Invisible Monster,” he runs out of the bungalow and exposes himself to the monster, forcing Jonny to endanger himself to run out to save Bandit.
- Team Pet: To the Quest family.
Jezebel Jade
Voiced by: Cathy Lewis
A mysterious globe-trotting adventuress. She is in love with Race Bannon, and always demands payment for her good deeds.
- Action Girl: Extremely competent, saving Race in both her appearances.
- Dating Catwoman: She’s a morally ambiguous adventuress in a casual relationship with the straight laced Race Bannon. In “Terror Island”, he considers the possibility she’d assist in the kidnapping of Dr. Quest and states he doesn’t really trust her but she assists in the rescue and they share a kiss at the end of the episode.
- Dragon Lady: A good variant on this trope.
- Femme Fatale: Definitely has shades of this.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She portrays herself as aloof and money-oriented, but she genuinely loves and cares about Race. This also extends to caring about Jonny and Hadji as she’s introduced in the series while saving them from a jungle cat.
- Meaningful Name: The name Jezebel is associated with loose morals and sexual promiscuity. Jade is also a symbol of luck in China, something this Jade certainly has in abundance.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Race notes in “Terror Island” she could be involved in Benton’s kidnapping because she’s Only in It for the Money but we never actually see her engage in criminal activity outside of threatening petty criminals for information. Race states nothing happens in Hong Kong that she likely doesn’t know about but we never see how she actually makes her money or how she knows as much as Race says she does.
- Spot the Imposter: She’s the one able to definitively determine Race has been replaced with an imposter by the way he kisses her.
- Trickster Girlfriend: Presents herself as an amoral Femme Fatale but, when push comes to shove, she’ll side with Race and the Quests every time.
Dr. Zin
Voiced by: Vic Perrin
An evil scientist, and the only reoccurring villain in the original series.
- Arch-Enemy: To Dr. Quest, and by extension to the entire Quest family.
- Bald of Evil: Is bald with a Fu Manchu moustache.
- Call-Back: In “The Robot Spy”, Benton uses an energy beam to down a drone aircraft operated by Dr. Zin. Later, Zin returns the favor by shooting down the Quests’ plane with Benton and Race inside using his own energy beam in “The Fraudulent Volcano.”
- Mad Scientist: His personal inventions include a nigh-indestructible spider-like drone and an energy beam capable of downing planes.
- Would Hurt a Child: Has no problem trying to kill Hadji and Jonny.
- Villainous Breakdown: In his last appearance in the classic show, “The Fraudulent Volcano”, he has a brief meltdown when told the Quests are investigating his volcano. It’s very clear he’s very much tired of the Quests interfering with his plans.
- Yellow Peril: A very straightforward example, yet at the same time more subdued compared to other examples, including ones from this series.
