Updated: August 24, 2025

Original series ( 1964 to 65 )

Jonny Quest, also known as The Adventures of Jonny Quest, is the original American science fiction / adventure animated television series that started the franchise. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Screen Gems. It was created and designed by comic-book artist Doug Wildey. Inspired by radio serials and comics in the action-adventure genre, including Doc Savage, Tom Swift, The Adventures of Tintin and Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, the series featured more realistic art, characters, and stories than Hanna-Barbera's previous cartoon programs. This show closely parallels the juvenile Rick Brant series. It was the first of several Hanna-Barbera action-based adventure shows, which would later include Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, and ran on ABC in primetime on early Friday nights for one season from 1964 to 1965.

Hanna-Barbera released an LP titled Jonny Quest in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1965. It is a 29 minute radio play with Dr. Quest, Race Bannon and Jonny, in a Jules Verne-inspired sea adventure.

After two decades in reruns, during which it appeared on all three major United States television networks of the time, new episodes were produced for syndication in 1986. Subsequently, telefilms, a comic-book series, and a modernized revival series, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, were produced in the 1990s.