The King Kong Show
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The King Kong Show (世界の王者 キングコング大会, later aired as King Kong & 001/7 Tom Thumb Sekai no Ōja Kingu Kongu Taikaiis, lit. King of the World: King Kong) (キングコング・001/7親指トム, is an animated television series co-produced by Toei Animation, Videocraft, and Kingu Kongu 001/ 7 Oyayubitomu)Rankin/Bass Productions that originally aired from September 10, 1966 to August 31, 1969. Each episode consists of two King Kong stories and one Tom of T.H.U.M.B. (an animated spy spoof) story.[1]
Plot
In this series, King Kong befriends the Bond family, with whom he goes on various adventures, saving the world from monsters, robots, aliens, mad scientists, and other threats.
Episodes
- "Under the Volcano" / "The Treasure Trap"
- "The Horror of Mondo Island" / "Dr. Who"
- "Rocket Island" / "The African Bees"
- "The Hunter" / "The Space Men"
- "The Jinx of the Sphinx" / "The Greeneyed Monster"
- "The Top of the World" / "The Golden Temple"
- "The Electric Circle" / "Mirror of Destruction"
- "Tiger Tiger" / "The Vise of Dr. Who"
- "King Kong's House" / "MechaniKong"
- "The Giant Sloths" / "The Legend of Loch Ness"
- "Dr. Bone" / "No Man's Snowman"
- "The Desert Pirates" / "Command Performance"
- "The Sea Surrounds Us" / "Show Biz"
- "The Wizard of Overlord" / "Perilous Porpoise"
- "The Trojan Horse" / "The Man from K.O.N.G."
- "Caribbean Cruise" / "Diver's Dilemma"
- "The Great Sun Spots" / "Kong is Missing"
- "In the Land of the Giant Trees" / "Captain Kong"
- "Statue of Liberty Play" / "Pandora's Box"
- "The Thousand Year Knockout" / "Desert City"
- "Eagle Squadron" / "The Kong of Stone"
- "Murderer's Maze" / "The Great Gold Strike"
- "It Wasn't There Again Today" / "The Mad Whale"
- "The King Kong Diamond" / "Anchors Away"
- "A Friend in Need"
- "The Key to the City"
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Written by Lew Lewis, Bernard Cowan, Ron Levy
- Produced by Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass, William J. Keenan, Larry Roemer
- Character Designs by Jack Davis, Rod Willis
- Animators Sakei Kitamasa, Osamu Kobayashi, Norio Fukumoto, Tsutomu Shibayama, Midori Kusube, Takao Kasai, Yasuo Maeda, Yuji Mori
- Theme Song Performed by Maury Laws, Jules Bass
- Japanese Theme Song Performed by Toshiko Fujita, Honey Nights
- Lyrics and Composing by Asei Kobayashi
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Carl Banas as Professor Bond
- Billie Mae Richards as Bobby Bond
- Susan Conway as Susan Bond
- John Drainie, Alf Scopp, Paul Soles as Additional voices
Japanese dub
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Goro Naya as Professor Bond
- Toshiko Fujita as Bobby Bond
- Junko Hori as Susan Bond
Appearances
Characters
- Professor Bond
- Susan Bond
- Bobby Bond
- Captain Englehorn
- Dr. Who
Monsters
- Disclaimer: As many later episodes of the series never received proper re-airings since their initial broadcasts and the series as a whole has never been fully released to home video, details are scarce. The following list was compiled from external sources, and as such, may be incomplete.
- King Kong
- Pteranodon (from "A Friend In Need")
- Stegosaurus (from "A Friend in Need," "The Electric Circle", and "The Hunter")
- Tyrannosaurus rex (from "A Friend In Need", "The Hunter", and “King Kong’s House”)
- Kraken (from "The Key to the City")
- African Bee swarm (from "The African Bees")
- Carnivorous plants of Mondo Island (from "The African Bees")
- Brontosaurus (from "The Hunter")
- Giant snake (from "The Hunter" and "The Greeneyed Monster")
- Unidentified dinosaur (from "The Hunter")
- Killer Triceratops (from "The Hunter" and "The Electric Circle")
- Space Men (from "The Space Men")
- Robot Sphinx (from "The Jinx of the Sphinx")
- Giant Mondo Island bird (from "The Greeneyed Monster")
- Saber-toothed tigers (from "Tiger Tiger")
- Mechani-Kong (from "MechaniKong")
- Giant sloths (from "The Giant Sloths")
- The Loch Ness Monster (from "The Legend of Loch Ness")
- Abominable Snowman (from "No Man's Snowman")
- Statue of Liberty Robot (from "Statue of Liberty Play")[2][3]
- The Great Gargoyle of Paris (from "The Thousand Year Knockout")
- Giant eagle (from "Eagle Squadron")
- Moby Dick (from "The Mad Whale")
- Cyclops (from "Great Gold Strike")
- Giant electrical angler-fish (Unknown episode appearance)
- Angry sea monster (from a coloring book tie-in)
Other original monsters that are currently unconfirmed as appearing in the show include a giant one-horned dragon; a fire-breathing panther; a giant jellyfish; an orange bipedal dinosaur-like monster, possibly exclusive to a Japanese notebook cover; a green 'insect-lizard,' possibly exclusive to the artwork seen on a Magic Slate border; a subterranean dinosaur, heavily resembling Telesdon from Ultraman, from an unknown Japanese picture book; a burrowing scorpion-like beast, also from a Japanese picture book; a green-colored 'Android Kong,' possibly an off-model Mechani-Kong, from a Japanese children's book; a big-eared, red and yellow colored robot humanoid and a horde of giant ants, both possibly originating from a Japanese spin-off manga.
DVD Releases
Classic Media DVD (Vol. 1)
- Region: 1
- Discs: 1
- Audio: English (2.0 Mono)
- Special Features: None
- Notes: Includes episodes 1-4 and 25.
Classic Media DVD (Vol. 2)
- Region: 1
- Discs: 1
- Audio: English (2.0 Mono)
- Special Features: None
- Notes: Includes episodes 5-8 and 26.
Madman DVD
- Region: 4
- Discs: 2
- Audio: English (2.0 Mono)
- Special Features: None
- Notes: Includes episodes 1-9, 19, and 25-26.
Gallery
Releases
Merchandise
Trivia
- "A Friend in Need" and "The Key to the City" were originally aired as a one-hour pilot episode.
- The King Kong Show was the first anime series produced in Japan for American broadcast (not counting Rankin/Bass' previous Animagic stop-motion specials, also animated in Japan).
- This series was successful enough for Rankin/Bass to extend the Kong franchise to another Japanese company, Toho (which already produced the hit King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962). This resulted in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (originally intended as a Kong film named Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah) and King Kong Escapes, which was based on The King Kong Show. Dr. Who and Mechani-Kong both appeared as villains in the latter film, while Susan Bond's first name was given to one of the film's protagonists, Susan Watson. Kong's home of Mondo Island was carried over into the film as well.
External links
References
This is a list of references for The King Kong Show. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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