When I was nine years old, an animated prime time series called “Jonny Quest” was my favorite show. In the series, 10-year-old Jonny went on secret agent/science fiction adventures with his scientist father, Dr. Benton Quest, his adopted brother, Hadji, Dr. Quest’s bodyguard, Race Bannon and their dog, Bandit.. The name of the government agency behind these missions was never disclosed to my knowledge. The show was cancelled after only one season because it was too expensive to produce, not because of poor ratings.
The reason I bring this up is because some of the boats used in the show were really cool. When I saw UK designer Robert McCall’s prototype of his new SS18 superyacht, I thought, hey, that boat could have been on “Jonny Quest.” McCall, whose specialty is high-performance sports boats, is managing director of Glider Yachts. The unusual design is such that the model can travel faster, further and in worse seas than conventional superyachts, according to McCall.
Is it possible that some day offshore crewboats for the oil and gas or wind energy industry might look something like his design? Why not?
By the way, Tim Matheson lent his vocal talents to the show as the headliner. He was Jonny Quest. Matheson was also Eric “Otter” Stratton in the movie “Animal House.” There’s a career right there. And a live action version of “Jonny Quest” is in its early stages for Warner Bros.
