Kong: The Animated Series (TV c. 2001–2002)
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Kong: The Animated Series is a German–French animated television series created by Romain van Liemt and Nadia Nardonnet. Produced by BKN International, M6, and Ellipse Animation, it was animated by BKN Studios and overseas by PASI.[3][4] Fourty episodes were prepared for first-run syndication in the United States beginning September 2000[5] on the Bulldog TV block;[6] however, the block was shut down in October,[7] and it is unknown if the show made it to air. It first definitively premiered in France on M6's "M6 Kid" block on May 2, 2001, and ran until April 24, 2002.[8][9] Fox Kids purchased the series in the U.S. and premiered it on June 2, 2001.[10] It was bought again by Disney–ABC in 2005 and put on Toon Disney's and ABC Family's Jetix blocks, beginning September 19 and 24, respectively.[11]
The series follows young Jason Jenkins, whose grandmother Dr. Lorna Jenkins created a clone of the monster King Kong following his death after falling from the Empire State Building using a combination of the DNA of both Kong himself and Jason. Jason and his friend Eric Tannenbaum IV travel to Kong Island, where Lorna has taken up residence with the Kong clone. When the evil Dr. Ramone De La Porta steals the technology of the Cyber-Link and attempts to exploit the powerful Primal Stones located on the island, Jason, Eric, Lorna, and the native girl Lua must work with Kong to stop him.
The series received two tie-in films, Kong: King of Atlantis and Kong: Return to the Jungle, which were released direct-to-video in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Plot
With King Kong perishing after falling from the Empire State Building, a scientist named Dr. Lorna Jenkins took DNA samples from Kong and combined it with the DNA of her grandson Jason to create a clone of Kong. One day, a group of bandits appear at her lab and demand that she tell them the location of the Primal Stones. After Kong and Jason hear their grandmother's cries for help, they arrive and defeated the bandits. One of the bandits attempts to reach for a gun, but accidentally dips his hand in acid and causes a chemical fire. Jason, Kong and Dr. Jenkins escape, while the bandit vanishes in the fire. Dr. Jenkins realizes that Kong isn't safe anymore and takes him to Kong Island. Years later, Dr. Jenkins sends an email to Jason inviting him to Kong Island.
Jason decides to bring his friend Eric "Tan" Tannenbaum with him. Their university professor, Ramone De La Porta, asks to come along, and Jason sends an email to his grandmother to ask her if it is okay. De La Porta intercepts his message and tampers with the email, inviting himself to the island with Jason and Tan without anyone's knowledge. After crash-landing, the three are chased by a Tyrannosaurus rex and split up. The T-Rex continues to pursue them, eventually running into Kong, who fights the T-Rex and forces it to flee. They meet Lua, a girl native to the island, who takes them to Dr. Jenkins' lab. Upon arrival, Kong is aggressive towards Ramone for unknown reasons. Kong eventually leaves and Jason and Tan chase after him. Ramone then reveals to Dr. Jenkins that he was one of the bandits that attacked her lab years ago.
After learning about this, she sends a message to Jason and Kong without his knowledge. After De La Porta takes the Cyber-Link and a couple of samples, Lua returns and orders Chondor to attack him. De La Porta then uses the Cyber-Link to merge with Chondor and become a sabre-toothed cat-like beast. After a short scuffle, Jason merges with Kong and becomes Mega-Kong, successfully defeating De La Porta. De La Porta later kidnaps Dr. Jenkins and forces her to tell him the location of the Primal Stones. After learning of her disappearance, Jason, Lua and Tan go and look for her. They help Dr. Jenkins escape, but Ramone merges with a bear and attacks them. Kong arrives to help Dr. Jenkins and fights De La Porta at the top of a waterfall. During the battle, De La Porta is seemingly knocked over the waterfall to his death.
However, De La Porta survives the fall and finds the location of the Primal Stones. Upon taking them, he triggers multiple disasters on the island. After Kong regains the memories of the original Kong, he finds the location of the Primal Stones, where he fights a giant snake before De La Porta merges with it. After a short scuffle, part of the temple collapses, burying Kong and De La Porta in rubble. De La Porta escapes and hops into the plane Jason and Tan used to get to the island. Jason jumps onto the plane and fights De La Porta. Before getting knocked out of the plane, Jason grabs some of the Primal Stones and is then caught by Kong. They learn that the Primal Stones not only contain individual powers, but were also used as seals to keep the demon Chiros from escaping the island.
By using the Cyber-Link, Jason now has to merge with Kong and work alongside his friends and his grandmother to reclaim the Primal Stones from De La Porta and his followers while fighting Chiros' forces.
Episodes
In addition to the directors below (credited in the episode openings as "director" or "directors"), the end credits of all 40 episodes include a "directed by" credit to Stéphane Roux.
| No.[refs 1] | Title | Directed by | Storyboarded by | Written by | Air date ( )[12]
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TV | DVD | OTT | |||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | "The Return: Part 1" | Chuck Patton, Joe Pearson |
Christophe Huthwohl, Philippe Saunier |
Sean Catherine Derek, Romain van Liemt |
May 2, 2001 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | "The Return: Part 2" | Philippe Saunier, Paul Beneteau |
Sean Catherine Derek, Larry DiTillio, Romain van Liemt |
May 9, 2001 | |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | "Primal Power" | Marc Boréal | Rémy Brenot, Patrick Lambert, Sébastien Mainette |
Richard Mueller, Romain van Liemt |
May 16, 2001 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | "Dark Forces Rising" | Philippe Deschaux, Régis Parenteau |
Sean Catherine Derek, Romain van Liemt |
May 23, 2001 | |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | "The Giant Claw Robberies" | Chuck Patton, Joe Pearson |
Paul Beneteau, Christophe Pouchot |
John J. Semper Jr., Romain van Liemt |
May 30, 2001 |
| 6 | 6 | 6 | "Dragon Fire" | Marc Boréal | José-Luis Marco Gracia, Franck Bonnet |
Richard Mueller, Romain van Liemt |
June 6, 2001 |
| 7 | 7 | 7 | "Mistress of the Game" | Christophe Pittet, Olivier Poirette |
Sean Catherine Derek, Jean-Christophe Derrien |
June 13, 2001 | |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | "Reborn" | Rémy Brenot, Patrick Lambert |
Randy Littlejohn, Christy Marx, Romain van Liemt |
June 20, 2001 | |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | "The Infinity Stone" | Véronique Madelenat, Gilbert Weppe, Bruno Bligoux |
Katherine Lawrence, Romain van Liemt |
June 27, 2001 | |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | "Night of the Talons" | Véronique Madelenat, Philippe Prunet |
Glenn Leopold, Romain van Liemt |
September 4, 2001 | |
| 11 | 11 | 11 | "Howling Jack" | Studio 352 | Lein Wein, Romain van Liemt |
September 5, 2001 | |
| 12 | 12 | 12 | "The Hidden Fears" | José-Luis Marco Gracia, Franck Bonnet |
Sean Catherine Derek, Romain van Liemt |
September 12, 2001 | |
| 13 | 13 | 13 | "The Sleeping City" | Francis Politzer, Didier Degano |
Larry DiTillio, Romain van Liemt |
September 19, 2001 | |
| 14 | 15 | 15 | "Master of Souls" | Studio 352 | Eric Rondeaux | September 26, 2001 | |
| 15 | 16 | 16 | "Billy" | Philippe Saunier, Paul Beneteau |
Stéphane Piera | October 3, 2001 | |
| 16 | 17 | 17 | "Enlil's Wrath" | Rémy Brenot, Patrick Lambert |
Dominique Latil | October 10, 2001 | |
| 17 | 18 | 18 | "Indian Summer" | Tridente Animation, Véronique Madelenat |
Jean-Christophe Derrien | October 17, 2001 | |
| 18 | 19 | 19 | "Welcome to Ramone's" | Francis Politzer, Patrick George |
Edouard Blanchot, Philippe Valériola |
October 24, 2001 | |
| 19 | 20 | 20 | "DNA Land" | Philippe Deschaux, Régis Parenteau |
Jean-Christophe Derrien | November 7, 2001 | |
| 20 | 14 | 14 | "Top of the World" | Dominique Etchecopar, Bruno Bligoux |
Edouard Blanchot, Philippe Valériola |
November 21, 2001 | |
| 21 | 21 | 21 | "Curse of the Dragon" | Franck Bonnet, José-Luis Marco Gracia |
Francis Nief | November 28, 2001 | |
| 22 | 22 | 22 | "Blue Star" | Laurent Salou, Olivier Poirette |
Edouard Blanchot, Philippe Valériola |
December 5, 2001 | |
| 23 | 23 | 23 | "Renewal" | Chuck Patton, Joe Pearson |
Philippe Saunier, Paul Beneteau |
Jean-Christophe Derrien | December 12, 2001 |
| 24 | 24 | 24 | "Chiros' Child" | Marc Boréal | Studio 352, Sébastien Mainette |
Stéphane Piera | December 19, 2001 |
| 25 | 25 | 25 | "The Aquanauts" | Chuck Patton, Joe Pearson |
Dominique Etchecopar, Patrick Lambert, Bruno Bligoux |
Jean-David Morvan | January 9, 2002 |
| 26 | 26 | 26 | "Cobra God" | Tridente Animation, Stéphane Sichère |
Savin Yeatman-Eiffel | January 16, 2002 | |
| 27 | 27 | 27 | "Windingo" | Marc Boréal | Francis Politzer, Dominique Etchecopar, Franck Bonnet |
Olivier Sicard | January 23, 2002 |
| 28 | 28 | 28 | "Dangerous Melody" | Bruno Bligoux, Christophe Pittet, Patrick Lambert |
Marc Chomont | January 30, 2002 | |
| 29 | 29 | 29 | "Green Fear" | Philippe Deschaux, José-Luis Marco Gracia |
Claude Scasso | February 6, 2002 | |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | "Twilight of the Gods" | Franck Bonnet, Bruno Bligoux, Christophe Pittet |
Philippe Daniau, François Gaschet |
February 13, 2002 | |
| 31 | 31 | 31 | "Framed" | Paul Beneteau, Philippe Saunier |
Dominique Latil | February 20, 2002 | |
| 32 | 32 | 32 | "The Invisible Threat" | Studio 352, Régis Parenteau, Stéphane Sichère |
Francis Nief | February 27, 2002 | |
| 33 | 33 | 33 | "Sir James Alex Legacy" | Chuck Patton, Joe Pearson |
Francis Politzer, Dominique Etchecopar, Olivier Poirette |
Stéphane Piera, Eric Rondeaux |
March 6, 2002 |
| 34 | 36 | 36 | "Sacred Songs" | Marc Boréal | Paul Beneteau, Philippe Saunier |
Joel Bassaget, Olivier Vannelle |
March 13, 2002 |
| 35 | 37 | 38 | "Quetzalcoatl" | Bruno Bligoux, Christophe Pittet, Patrick Lambert |
Olivier Sicard | March 20, 2002 | |
| 36 | 34 | 35 | "Return to the Redwoods" | Philippe Deschaux, José-Luis Marco Gracia |
Eric Rondeaux | March 27, 2002 | |
| 37 | 35 | 39 | "The 13th Stone" | Francis Politzer, Dominique Etchecopar, Olivier Poirette |
April 3, 2002 | ||
| 38 | 38 | 40 | "Interview with a Monkey" | Régis Parenteau, Stéphane Sichère |
Jean-Christophe Derrien | April 10, 2002 | |
| 39 | 39 | 34 | "Lies" | Studio 352, Régis Parenteau, Olivier Poirette |
Annabelle Perrichon | April 24, 2002 | |
| 40 | 40 | 37 | "Apocalypse" | Laurent Salou, Tridente Animation, Franck Bonnet | |||
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Chuck Patton, Joe Pearson, Marc Boréal, Stéphane Roux
- Animation director Arvin Ramos
- Voice director Susan Blu
- Storyboard supervisor Christophe Huthwohl
- Storyboarded by Christophe Huthwohl, Philippe Saunier, Paul Beneteau, Rémy Brenot, Patrick Lambert, Sébastien Mainette, Philippe Deschaux, Régis Parenteau, Christophe Pouchot, José-Luis Marco Gracia, Franck Bonnet, Christophe Pittet, Olivier Poirette, Véronique Madelenat, Gilbert Weppe, Bruno Bligoux, Philippe Prunet, Studio 352, Francis Politzer, Didier Degano, Tridente Animation, Patrick George, Dominique Etchecopar, Laurent Salou, Stéphane Sichère
- Created by Romain van Liemt, Nadia Nardonnet
- Story editors Romain van Liemt, Sean Catherine Derek
- Written by Sean Catherine Derek, Romain van Liemt, Larry DiTillio, Richard Mueller, John J. Semper Jr., Jean-Christophe Derrien, Randy Littlejohn, Christy Marx, Katherine Lawrence, Glenn Leopold, Lein Wein, Eric Rondeaux, Stéphane Piera, Dominique Latil, Edouard Blanchot, Philippe Valériola, Francis Nief, Jean-David Morvan, Savin Yeatman-Eiffel, Olivier Sicard, Marc Chomont, Claude Scasso, Philippe Daniau, François Gaschet, Joel Bassaget, Olivier Vannelle, Annabelle Perrichon
- Executive producers Allen Bohbot, Nadia Nardonnet, Robert Réa, Marie-Pierre Moulinjeune, Denis de Vallance
- Supervising producers Marc Boréal, Patrick Archibald
- Creative producers Nadia Nardonnet, Romain van Liemt, Chuck Patton, Joe Pearson
- Line producer Virginie Jallot
- Music by Allen Bohbot
- Compositing supervisors Laurent Donnay, Florence Lesven
- Design supervisor Patrick Tandiang
- Timing supervisor Hélène Aimelet
- Animation supervisor Raymond Nacionales
- Layout supervisor Raymond Romero
- Background supervisor Lito de Lara
- Clean-up supervisor Man Pinza
- Directors of post-production Dennis Graham, Christine Muhlbach, Hélène Mises
- Post-production supervisor Fifun Amini
- Online editors Mark Beutel, Josh Harman
- Avid editor Susan Medaglia Murphy
- Assistant directors Christophe Huthwohl, Annick Biaudet
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Scott McNeil as King Kong / Eric "Tann" Tannenbaum IV / Omar / Wu-Chan
- Kirby Morrow as Jason Jenkins / Frazetti / Rakhir
- Daphne Goldrick as Dr. Lorna Jenkins
- Kathy Morse as Dr. Lorna Jenkins
- Saffron Henderson as Lua
- David Kaye as Professor Ramone De La Porta
- Nicole Oliver as Tiger Lucy
- Paul Dobson as Chiros
- Pauline Newstone as Harpy
- Ron Halder as Andre
Appearances
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Characters and monsters
- King Kong
- Kong clone
- Original Kong (photograph and flashbacks)
- Tyrannosaurus rex
- Pteranodon
- Soarah
- Stegosaurus
- Jason Jenkins
- Eric Tannenbaum IV
- Dr. Lorna Jenkins
- Lua
- Chondar
- Ramone De La Porta
- Chiros
- Rakhir
- Andre
- "Howling Jack" Crockett
- Alternate Universe Onimous / Red Onimous ("The Renewal")
- Ancient Atlantean Kong ("The Thirteenth Stone")
- Apatosaurs / Brontosaurs ("The Return, Part 1")
- Badkat ("The Return, Part 1")
- The Beast that Battered Bakersfield ("Howling Jack")
- Berserk Plant Life ("Green Fear")
- Billy ("Billy")
- Cyber-Link Mutants
- Cat Burglar / Cyber-Cat ("The Giant Claw Robberies")
- Cave Snake / Cyber-Snake ("Primal Power")
- Cyber-Ant Eater ("Master of Souls")
- Cyber-Coyotes ("Sir James Alexander’s Legacy")
- Cyber-Cockatoo ("Green Fear")
- Cyber-Crocodile ("The Sleeping City")
- Cyber-Dog ("Cobra God")
- Cyber-Eagle ("DNA Land")
- Cyber-Fennec Fox ("DNA Land")
- Cyber-German Shepherd ("Interview with a Monkey")
- Cyber-Hyena ("Enlil’s Wrath")
- Cyber-Mandrill ("Framed")
- Cyber-Polar Bear ("Blue Star")
- Cyber-Pteranodon ("The Renewal")
- Cyber-Rat 1 ("The Giant Claw Robberies")
- Cyber-Rat 2 ("Billy")
- Cyber-Saber Tooth ("Howling Jack")
- Cyber-Spider Monkey ("The Invisible Threat")
- Cyber-Stegosaurus ("Lies")
- Cyber-Tarantula ("Dangerous Melody")
- Cyber-Thorny Devil ("Sacred Songs")
- Cyber-Triceratops 1 ("Howling Jack")
- Cyber-Triceratops 2 ("The Renewal")
- Cyber-Tyrannosaurus 1 ("Howling Jack")
- Cyber-Tyrannosaurus 2 ("Hidden Fears")
- Cyber-Wild Boar ("The Infinity Stone")
- Evil Kong ("The Renewal")
- Giant Kong Island alligator ("Dark Forces Rising")
- Giant one-eyed creature from Saturn ("Interview with a Monkey")
- Great Dragon ("Curse of the Dragon")
- Gryffin ("Night of the Talons")
- Ice Giant ("Twilight of the Gods")
- Jaguar God ("Master of Souls")
- Lava Men ("Chiros Child")
- Living Rock Monster ("Indian Summer")
- Locust Guardian / Swarm ("Indian Summer")
- Manticore ("The Infinity Stone")
- Mechanical Monster Suit ("Howling Jack")
- Mindcrawler ("Hidden Fears")
- Minotaur ("Welcome To Ramone's")
- Naga the Great Fire Cobra ("Cobra God")
- Nyssa/ Cyber-Nessie ("The Aquanauts")
- Oversized fly ("Hidden Fears")
- Pachycephalosaurus ("The Return, Part 2")
- Plesiosaur ("The Thirteenth Stone")
- Quetzalcoatl (Quetzalcoatl)
- Renaldo the Komodo Dragon / Cyber-Dragon ("Dragon Fire")
- Sea monster ("Dragon Fire")
- Servants of Set ("The Sleeping City")
- Set ("The Sleeping City")
- Slothbear / Cyber-Slothbear ("The Return, Part 2")
- Styracosaurus("The Return: Part 1")
- Velociraptors ("Reborn")
- Venus Flytrap ("Green Fear")
- Windigo ("Windingo")
- Woolly mammoth
- Yeti / Cyber-Yeti ("Top of the World")
Films
Two direct-to-DVD animated films were made after this series ended, Kong: King of Atlantis in 2005 and Kong: Return to the Jungle in 2006. While the releases of these films coincide with the release of Universal Pictures' 2005 version of King Kong, Variety reported that a direct-to-video film was planned for the series as far back as 2000.[14]
Video games
Two tie-in video games were created for the series, both for the Game Boy Advance. The first one, simply titled Kong: The Animated Series was released in 2002, while the second, Kong: King of Atlantis, was released in 2005 to tie in with the direct-to-DVD animated film of the same name.
Gallery
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The original title card -
The second title card introduced in "The Infinity Stone" -
A poster advertising the series
Videos
- Main article: Kong: The Animated Series/Videos.
Trivia
- Kong: The Animated Series was created mainly to compete with the other popular contemporary giant monster cartoon at the time, Godzilla: The Series, and managed to stay on the air for the same number of episodes. Both series were ultimately cancelled due to their inability to compete with popular children's anime series such as Pokémon and Digimon.[citation needed] However, Kong: The Animated Series did have reruns aired on Fox Kids long after its cancellation.
- Kong: The Animated Series is one of three animated series based on the character King Kong released so far, preceded by The King Kong Show from 1966 to 1969 and succeeded by Kong: King of the Apes from 2016 to 2018. The latter shares some connections with Kong: The Animated Series, due to its production company, 41 Entertainment, splitting off from BKN International. The show's opening theme is actually a remix of the opening from Kong: The Animated Series, and its lead writer, Sean Catherine Derek, wrote for the previous series. Both series also feature protagonists who have known Kong since childhood and frequently refer to him as their "bro." All three series feature similar premises, with a family befriending Kong and helping him fight other gigantic creatures as well as a villainous mad scientist.
- While Kong: The Animated Series is set within its own continuity unconnected to any previous media featuring Kong, it does allude to the original Kong's death in New York City. However, this version of the event seems to be a combination of the endings of the original 1933 film and its 1976 remake. Like in the original film, Kong died after falling from the Empire State Building, but like in the remake, he was killed by helicopters rather than airplanes as in the original.
Notes
References
This is a list of references for Kong: The Animated Series. 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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