The King Kong Show (1966-1967)

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The King Kong Show
The King Kong Show
Air date September 6, 1966 (pilot episode)US,[1]
September 10, 1966 - March 4, 1967US,[1]
December 31, 1966 (pilot episode)JP,[2]
April 5, 1967 - October 4, 1967JP[2]
Producer(s) Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass,
William J. Keenan, Larry Roemer
Distributor Toei AnimationJP,
Rankin/BassUS
Channel(s) ABCUS, NETJP
Genre(s) Animated
Episodes 26 (broadcasts), 50 (overall)
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King Kong, commonly referred to as The King Kong Show, is an animated television series co-produced by Toei Animation of Japan and Videocraft International of America. A 56-minute pilot episode premiered on ABC on September 6, 1966 and subsequently began airing on September 10 alongside the animated spy spoof series Tom of T.H.U.M.B.; each episode consisted of one Tom story bookended by two King Kong stories. The show concluded its initial run on March 4, 1967, with its pilot being split in half and aired as the series' 25th and 26th episodes. Reruns continued to be shown on ABC until August 31 of 1969.[1]

In Japan, the series' pilot premiered on NET (presently TV Asahi) as King of the World: The King Kong Show (世界の王者 キングコング大会,   Sekai no Ōja Kingu Kongu Taikai) on December 31, 1966. Like in America, the show was packaged with Tom of T.H.U.M.B., and aired from April 5 to October 4 of 1967 under the title of simply King Kong (キングコング,   Kingu Kongu). Rebroadcasts followed into the early 1970s.[2]

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

United States

Episode no. Title(s) Air date[1]
A part B part
0 "King Kong" 1966/09/06
1 "Under the Volcano" "The Treasure Trap" 1966/09/10
2 "The Horror of Mondo Island" "Dr. Who" 1966/09/17
3 "Rocket Island" "The African Bees" 1966/09/24
4 "The Hunter" "The Space Men" 1966/10/01
5 "The Jinx of the Sphinx" "The Greeneyed Monster" 1966/10/08
6 "The Top of the World" "The Golden Temple" 1966/10/15
7 "The Electric Circle" "Mirror of Destruction" 1966/10/22
8 "Tiger Tiger" "The Vise of Dr. Who" 1966/10/29
9 "King Kong's House" "MechaniKong" 1966/11/05
10 "The Giant Sloths" "The Legend of Loch Ness" 1966/11/12
11 "Dr. Bone" "No Man's Snowman" 1966/11/19
12 "The Desert Pirates" "Command Performance" 1966/11/26
13 "The Sea Surrounds Us" "Show Biz" 1966/12/03
14 "The Wizard of Overlord" "Perilous Porpoise" 1966/12/10
15 "The Trojan Horse" "The Man from K.O.N.G." 1966/12/17
16 "Caribbean Cruise" "Diver's Dilemma" 1966/12/24
17 "The Great Sun Spots" "Kong is Missing" 1966/12/31
18 "In the Land of the Giant Trees" "Captain Kong" 1967/01/07
19 "Statue of Liberty Play" "Pandora's Box" 1967/01/14
20 "Thousand Year Knockout" "Desert City" 1967/01/21
21 "Eagle Squadron" "Kong of Stone" 1967/01/28
22 "Murderer's Maze" "Great Gold Strike" 1967/02/04
23 "It Wasn't There Again Today" "Mad Whale" 1967/02/11
24 "King Kong Diamond" "Anchors Away" 1967/02/18
25 "A Friend in Need" 1967/02/25
26 "The Key to the City" 1967/03/04

Japan

Episode no. Title(s) Air date[2]
A part B part
0 "King of the World: The King Kong Show"
(世界の王者 キングコング大会)
1966/12/31
1 "Attack of the African Bees"
(アフリカ蜂の襲来)
"King Kong Captured"
(さらわれたキングコング)
1967/04/05
2 "The Rocket Island Conspiracy"
(ロケット島の陰謀)
"The Mysterious Volcano Empire"
(謎の火山帝国)
1967/04/19
3 "Undersea Expedition"
(海底探検)
"Crisis on Mondo Island"
(モンド島の危機)
1967/04/26
4 "Terror of the Laser Gun"
(レーザー銃の恐怖)
"A Flying Saucer Appears"
(空飛ぶ円盤現わる)
1967/05/03
5 "Terror of the Sphinx"
(スフィンクスの恐怖)
"Bobby's Mistake"
(ボビーのあやまち)
1967/05/10
6 "Robot Kong"
(ロボット・コング)
"Mirror of Terror"
(恐怖の反射鏡)
1967/05/17
7 "Mystery of the Flood"
(大洪水の謎)
"The Golden Temple"
(黄金の神殿)
1967/05/24
8 "The Atomic Wave Trap"
(原子電波の罠)
"Dr. Who's Scheme"
(ドクター・フーの陰謀)
1967/05/31
9 "The Terrible Journey"
(恐怖の探検旅行)
"The Resurrected Tigers"
(よみがえった虎)
1967/06/07
10 "The Giant Sloths"
(巨大なナマケモノ)
"The Desert Pirates"
(砂漠の盗賊)
1967/06/14
11 "Kaijin Dr. Skull"
(怪人どくろ博士)
"Mystery of the Snowman"
(雪男の謎)
1967/06/21
12 "The Loch Ness Monster"
(ネス湖の怪物)
"Kong's Recital"
(コングの音楽会)
1967/06/28
13 "Rescue the Submarine"
(潜水艦を救助せよ)
"Kong the Actor"
(大根役者のコング)
1967/07/05
14 "The Magic Emperor's Trap"
(魔術大王の罠)
"Perilous Porpoise"
(危険なイルカ)
1967/07/12
15 "The Trojan Horse"
(トロイの木馬)
"Professor Bond Disappeared"
(消えたボンド教授)
1967/07/19
16 "The Carribean Rebellion"
(カリブ海の叛乱)
"Search for the Undersea Missile"
(海底のミサイルを探せ)
1967/07/26
17 "The Mysterious Sunspots"
(謎の太陽黒点)
"Maiko of the Jungle"
(ジャングルのまい子)
1967/08/02
18 "The Titan From the Dream"
(夢に見た巨人)
"Captain Kong"
(キャプテン・コング)
1967/08/09
19 "The Amazonian Statue of Liberty"
(アマゾンの自由の女神)
"Pandora's Box"
(パンドラの箱)
1967/08/16
20 "Delay the Parisian Monster"
(大怪物パリを遅う)
"The Golden City in the Desert"
(砂漠の黄金都市)
1967/08/23
21 "King Kong vs. the Giant Eagle"
(キングコング対大鷲)
"The Southern Conspiracy"
(南国の陰謀)
1967/08/30
22 "The Maze of Death"
(死を呼ぶ迷路)
"The One-Eyed Giant"
(一つ目の巨人)
1967/09/06
23 "Turtle in the Fog"
(霧の中の海亀)
"The White Whale"
(白い巨鯨)
1967/09/13
24 "King Kong Diamond"
(キングコングのダイヤモンド)
"The Anchor is a Weapon"
(武器は錨だ)
1967/09/20
25 "Our King Kong"
(僕らのキングコング)
1967/09/27
26 "King Kong in New York"
(ニューヨークのキングコング)
1967/10/04

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

The Bond family

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")[3][4]
  • 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 (from "Anchors Away")
  • 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]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Aiken, Keith (20 December 2008). "KING KONG Cartoon Series Guide". SciFi Japan.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "King Kong (キングコング)". ja.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  3. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AD%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0#%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81
  4. https://twitter.com/crazieorcus/status/845473200905502720

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