Jonny Quest vs. The Cyber Insects
Jonny Quest versus The Cyber Insects (also known as Jonny's Global Impact) is an animated made-for-television film made by Hanna-Barbera. It premiered on November 19, 1995 on TNT, and was the final iteration of the classic Jonny Quest franchise. The film was a follow-up to the series The New Adventures of Jonny Quest (1986–87), with the same actors voicing Dr. Quest (Don Messick) and Race Bannon (Granville Van Dusen), and was made as part of a "Year of Jonny Quest". This was Don Messick's last time voicing Dr. Quest in the Jonny Quest series. Jonny's original voice actor, Tim Matheson, returned as the voice of 4-DAC. The plot featured "creepy cyberbugs, techno-speak and computer-assisted info wars, all amidst good old-fashioned melodramatic evil." with a teleplay by David Bennett Carren and J. Larry Carroll.
| Jonny Quest vs. The Cyber Insects | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action Adventure Comedy |
| Written by | Story: Mario Piluso Teleplay: David Bennett Carren J. Larry Carroll Characters: Doug Wildey |
| Directed by | Mario Piluso |
| Voices of | Don Messick Granville Van Dusen Héctor Elizondo Jeffrey Tambor Tim Matheson Kevin Smets Anndi McAfee Theresa Saldana Victor Love Robert Ito Olivia White |
| Composers | Thomas Chase Jones Steve Rucker |
| Country of origin | United States Philippines |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | William Hanna Joseph Barbera Buzz Potamkin |
| Producer | Mario Piluso |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Production companies | Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Fil-Cartoons |
| Original release | |
| Network | TNT |
| Release | November 19, 1995 |
In addition to the original character line-up, this story also features Race's daughter Jessie Bannon, introduced in Jonny's Golden Quest (1993) and voiced once again by Anndi McAfee. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution declared Jessie to be "no 'icky girl'...Not only does she save Jonny's life when disturbingly large fire ants attack, but she also teaches him patience." A test screening of Cyber Insects to 30- to 35-year-old males revealed that though some questioned her addition, most "understood that just like the [original] series, [the update] is a reflection of its times." The Hollywood Reporter's critic enjoyed some sparkling moments of dialogue in the teleplay, but criticized the film's pacing and the repetitiveness of the "overwrought emotional atmosphere" created by the threatened destruction of civilization. The reviewer remarked that Héctor Elizondo and Jeffrey Tambor stole the show with "inimitable style" in voice acting, while animation directors Marlene May and Ron Myrick "brilliantly created two visually intense worlds" with "fantastic" animation. The film is dedicated to the memory of Doug Wildey, the creator of Jonny Quest, who died in 1994 (one year after the USA Network premiere of Jonny's Golden Quest).