, commonly referred to as ''The King Kong Show'', is an anime-influenced series produced by Videocraft International and

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

. ABC ran the series in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on Saturday mornings between September 10, 1966, and August 31, 1969. It is the first anime series produced in Japan for an American company (not counting Rankin/Bass' previous Animagic

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

productions, which were also animated in Japan). This series is an animated adaptation of the famous film monster

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

with character designs by Jack Davis and

Rod Willis Rod, Ror, Ród, Rőd, Rød, Röd, ROD, or R.O.D. may refer to: Devices * Birch rod, made out of twigs from birch or other trees for corporal punishment * Ceremonial rod, used to indicate a position of authority * Connecting rod, main, coupling ...

. In this series, the giant ape befriends the Bond family, with whom he goes on various adventures, fighting monsters, robots, aliens, mad scientists and other threats. Unlike King Kong's destructive roles in his films, the cartoon turned him into a protector of humanity. Included is a parody of spy films of the 1960s called ''Tom of T.H.U.M.B.'', about a secret agent for T.H.U.M.B. (the Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau) named Tom and his Asian "sidekick" Swinging Jack, who are accidentally reduced by a shrinking laser ray gun to tall. The pair are sent out in a variety of miniature vehicles by their bad-tempered boss Chief Homer J. Chief to foil the fiendish plots of M.A.D. (Maladjusted, Anti-social and Darn mean), an evil organization made up of black-hatted and black-cloaked scientists "bent on destroying the world for their own gains". In Japan, the first two episodes were combined into a 56-minute special, titled , and was broadcast on NET (now TV Asahi) on December 31, 1966. The rest of the series, with the inclusion of ''Tom of T.H.U.M.B.'', was broadcast on NET as , and aired from April 5 to October 4, 1967, with a total of 25 episodes. This series was successful enough for Rankin/Bass to extend the Kong franchise to another Japanese company,

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

(which had already produced the hit film '' King Kong vs. Godzilla'' in 1962). This resulted in two films: ''

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is a 1966 Japanese '' kaiju'' film directed by Jun Fukuda and produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. The film stars Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Akihiko Hirata and Eisei Amamoto, and features the fictional monster characters Godzilla, Mo ...

'' (originally intended to be a Kong film) and ''

King Kong Escapes is a 1967 ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film was a Japanese– American co-production between Toho and Rankin/Bass, and stars Rhodes Reason, Linda Miller, Akira Takarada, Mie Hama, Ei ...

'', which was based on ''The King Kong Show''. On November 15, 2005,

Sony Wonder Sony Wonder (founded as Sony Kids’ Music) is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not directl ...

released the first eight episodes (two ''King Kong'' cartoons separated by a ''Tom of T.H.U.M.B.'' cartoon) on two DVD releases titled ''King Kong: The Animated Series Volume 1'' and ''King Kong: The Animated Series Volume 2''. The pilot episode was included, in its two parts for American syndication, between the two DVDs.

Characters

- The title character. The Eighth Wonder of the World, Kong was discovered on Mondo Island (sometimes known as

Skull Island Skull Island is the name most often used to describe a fictional island that first appeared in the 1933 film ''King Kong'' and later appearing in its sequels, the three remakes, and any other King Kong-based media. It is the home of the eponym ...

) by Bobby Bond, whom he saved from being eaten by a ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

''. He has also saved Bobby and his family from other disasters afterward. Ever since he has become the family's mascot and a hero. * Professor Bond - The head/father of the Bond family. * Susan Bond - The teenage daughter. She is always somewhat perplexed by Bobby and Kong's friendship. She is the basis for Susan Watson (Linda Miller) in ''

''. Susan is always the one that knows what Dr. Who is up to and her fear is dreaming about snakes. * Bobby Bond - The young son and Kong's closest companion. Saved by Kong from being eaten by a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', and they have been friends ever since. * Captain Englehorn - A friend to the family and Professor Bond's ship captain. Based on the character from the original ''

'' film. *

Dr. Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

- The popular recurring villain. A bald, big-headed, and bespectacled

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly am ...

who wants to capture Kong and use him for his own evil schemes. He has no relation to the character from the British sci-fi TV series. He is the basis for

Hideyo Amamoto was a prolific Japanese actor from the Wakamatsu ward of Kitakyūshū best known for portraying Dr. Shinigami in the original '' Kamen Rider'' series as well as many other characters in tokusatsu films and the ''Godzilla'' series. Amamoto als ...

's character Dr. Hu in ''

''. *

Mechani-Kong is a remote-controlled robot double of King Kong introduced in the 1966 animated television series ''The King Kong Show'' and featured again in the 1967 film ''King Kong Escapes''. The robot was created by Dr. Who (who is not to be confused with ...

- Kong's robot double, invented by Dr. Who, who operates it via a control room in the robot's head. Neither the Bonds nor Captain Englehorn ever knows (or even figure out) that Dr. Who invented it, however. It appears in two ''King Kong'' segments, "MechaniKong" (the second ''King Kong'' segment from Episode 10) and "Anchors Away" (the second ''King Kong'' segment from Episode 25). Each segment features a different version of the robot. It is also Kong's nemesis in ''

''.

Cast

Billie Mae Richards Billie Mae Richards (née Dinsmore, November 21, 1921 – September 10, 2010) was a Canadian voice actress, who also appeared onstage and on television. She was the voice of Rankin/Bass' version of the character Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer fr ...

- Bobby Bond * Carl Banas - Professor Bond * Susan Conway - Susan Bond *

John Drainie John Robert Roy Drainie (April 1, 1916 – October 30, 1966) was a Canadian actor and television presenter, who was called "the greatest radio actor in the world" by Orson Welles. Drainie was most famous in Canada for two long-running roles: the ...

* Alfie Scopp - Captain Englehorn *

Paul Soles Paul Robert Soles (August 11, 1930 – May 26, 2021) was a Canadian actor and television personality. He led the voice cast in such series as ''The Marvel Super Heroes'' (1966), voiced the title character in '' Spider-Man'' (1967), and portray ...

- Dr. Who

Crew

* Producer - William J. Keenan * Executive Producers -

Arthur Rankin Jr. Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animation ...

Jules Bass Julius Bass (September 16, 1935 – October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft Internat ...

* Associate Producer - Larry Roemer * Music/Lyrics -

Maury Laws Maury Laws (December 6, 1923 – March 28, 2019) was an American television and film composer from Burlington, North Carolina. Biography In his teens, Laws performed in local country, jazz and dance bands as a singer and guitarist in his home st ...

, Jules Bass * Recording Supervisor - Bernard Cowan * Sound/Effects - Bill Giles, Stephen Frohock, Bill Dowding, Frederick Tudor * Animation Production - Toei Studios * Character Designs - Jack Davis,

* Animation Continuity - Don Duga * Story Editor - Cherney Berg

List of episodes

# "King Kong" (December 31, 1966; 56-minute long pilot episode). In American syndication, the episode was split into two parts, which were titled "A Friend in Need" and "The Key to the City".
The following episode list describes the show as it originally aired from April 5 to October 4, 1967, with each episode beginning with a six-minute ''King Kong'' segment, followed by a six-minute ''Tom of T.H.U.M.B.'' segment, then followed by a second six-minute ''King Kong'' segment. # "Under the Volcano"/"For the Last Time, Feller...I'm Not Bait!"/"The Treasure Trap" # "The Horror of Mondo Island"/"Hey, That Was A Close One World!"/"Dr. Who" # "Rocket Island"/"I Was A 9 oz. Weakling 'Till One Day..."/"The African Bees" # "The Hunter"/"I Was A Starling for the USA!"/"The Space Men" # "The Jinx of the Sphinx"/"Cool Nerves and...Steady Hands"/"The Greeneyed Monster" # "The Top of the World"/"All Guys from Outer Space are Creeps"/"The Golden Temple" # "The Electric Circle"/"Mechanical Granma"/"Mirror of Destruction" # "Tiger Tiger"/"The Day We Almost Had It"/"The Vise of Dr. Who" # "King Kong's House"/"Tom Makes History"/"MechaniKong" # "The Giant Sloths"/"Tom Scores Again"/"The Legend of Loch Ness" # "Dr. Bone"/"Blow, Jack, Blow!"/"No Man's Snowman" # "The Desert Pirates"/"Tom and the TV Pirates"/"Command Performance" # "The Sea Surrounds Us"/"The Girl from M.A.D."/"Show Biz" # "The Wizard of Overlord"/"Just One of Those Nights"/"Perilous Porpoise" # "The Trojan Horse"/"Runt of 1,000 Faces"/"The Man from K.O.N.G." # "Caribbean Cruise"/"Hello, Dollies!"/"Diver's Dilemma" # "The Great Sun Spots"/"Pardner"/"Kong is Missing" # "In the Land of the Giant Trees"/"Beans is Beans"/"Captain Kong" # "Statue of Liberty Play"/"What Goes Up..."/"Pandora's Box" # "Thousand Year Knockout"/"Our Man, the Monster"/"Desert City" # "Eagle Squadron"/"Never Trust A Clam"/"The Kong of Stone" # "Murderer's Maze"/"Drop that Ocean, Feller"/"The Great Gold Strike" # "It Wasn't There Again Today"/"Plug that Leak"/"The Mad Whale" # "King Kong Diamond"/"The Scooby"/"Anchors Away"

Music

The theme music for the series was recorded in London, England, in 1965, using primarily British studio musicians. Canadian conductor, vocalist and former Kitchener-Waterloo ''Record'' entertainment columnist Harry Currie provided vocal talent on the recording.

Reception

In the 2007 book ''Comics Gone Ape! The Missing Link to Primates in Comics'', comics historian Michael Eury writes, "The Rankin/Bass ''King Kong'' was an early case of identity theft, where the Kong name was appropriated (fully under license) to describe a new character that, at best, only remotely resembled his namesake. This was Kong done wrong."

References

External links

''The King Kong Show'' overview
��an in-depth Japanese website about the series
''Sekai no Ôja · King Kong Daikai''
in Animemorial (the Japanese name of the pilot episode)
''King Kong · 001 / 7 Oyayubi Tom''
in Animemorial (contains Japanese episode list, cast and staff) * —an in-depth article about the series, featuring rare shots of various merchandise and tie-ins related to the series (French website) * —an in-depth article about the series * * *
allcinema キングコング
{{DEFAULTSORT:King Kong Show, The King Kong (franchise) 1966 anime television series debuts 1966 American television series debuts 1969 American television series endings 1960s American animated television series Action anime and manga American Broadcasting Company original programming American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated science fantasy television series Japanese children's animated action television series Japanese children's animated adventure television series Japanese children's animated science fantasy television series American prequel television series Fantasy anime and manga Animated television shows based on films Rankin/Bass Productions television series Anime-influenced Western animated television series Animated television series about apes