My Top 5 Jonny Quest Wannabe Kid Sidekicks

I'm sure that in the Sixties, when THE ADVENTURES OF JONNY QUEST premiered in prime time (which automatically meant better quality), every boy watching wanted to be Jonny--facing menacing villains alongside his Indian pal Hadji and pet bulldog pup Bandit. More often than not, he won. But some of the kid sidekicks of Cartoonland are at best pale imitations, at worse just plain annoying. Here is my list of the Top Five:

Scott, adopted son of Matt Trakker, M.A.S.K.

I'll be honest--out of all the boys on this list, ten-year-old Scott (voiced by Alan Thicke's son Brennan) is my favorite. For one thing, he's the son of a millionaire (who just happens to be the M.A.S.K. leader); for another, he's a little robotics genius, having created T-Bob, his cowardly, pun-spouting robot sidekick who can convert to "motorcycle mode."

Matt's always taking Scott on trips around the world, and when the enemy V.E.N.O.M. rears its ugly head, Dad takes great pains to keep his son safe, only to inevitably gasp, "And Scott's in there!" Not to worry--he and T-Bob always find a way out of trouble.

Some of Scott's best moments: Accidentally falling into an Australian aboriginal village and being mistaten for a god; using T-Bob's "gook bombs" to fight off VENOM; gettting lost in the catacombs of Rome (with real cats even); getting snatched by VENOM for possessing an emerald arrowhead needed to discover an alien spaceship; and finally, surviving an earthquake in an ice cream shop, seeing T-Bob covered in ice cream and eating the whole thing! Did I tell you Scott Trakker had a cast-iron stomach?

Toulie, a.k.a. Tooly, nephew of Constance, the queen's handmaid, THE THREE MUSKETEERS

THE THREE MUSKETEERS was an animated segment of THE BANANA SPLITS ADVENTURE HOUR chronicling the further adventures of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and, of course, D'artagnan as they protect the Queen of France. And the Queen's handmaiden, Constance, had a young nephew, Tooly, who was the Musketeers' biggest little fan.

Tooly, who owned an old plowhorse he named Lightning (like a little Don Quixote) always found a way to get involved in the Musketeers' missions, getting in trouble every time, whether from the bad guys or a punishment from his elders. My favorite Tooly-centered episode had our four heroes give him a young colt as a gift--leaving poor Lightning behind. But when the villains appear, it's the combination of the boy and both horses who save the day, Tooly even gets to shout the Musketeers' chant, "All for one and one for all!"

Corky, nephew of Jessica Wray, FILMATION'S GHOSTBUSTERS

The Real Ghostbusters had a trio of young fans called The Junior Ghostbusters; but apparently on their paltry budget, their Filmation counterparts could only have one Ghostbuster wannabe: reporter Jessica Wray's pesky young nephew Corky.

Corky can be a real brat sometimes. In his first episode, "Rollerghoster", he paints mustaches on the statues in Ghost Command (offscreen, darn it!). In "The Fourth Ghostbuster", the boy takes it to heart when Jake jokingly calls him that and to "prove" it to a friend, hijacks Ghost Buggy and they fly all the way to Prime Evil's Hauntquarters!

But my favorite Corky-centered episode is "Doggone Werewolf," in which Eddie finds a stray hound dog and Jessica lets the boy keep the dog--only to have Corky let the dog run away and nearly become trapped in Fangster's scheme to build a werewolf army! In the end, Corky learns his lesson and names his new dog Bones.

Corky is also the star of two FILMATION'S GHOSTBUSTERS anti-drug PSAs where he he learns to "just say no" even when his friends say yes.

Matt, son of Agent Nancy Miner, ROBOCOP: ALPHA COMMANDO

This second ROBOCOP cartoon from the Nineties has the "Future of Law Enforcement" being not only a cop in New Detroit City, but an agent of the covert law-enforcement agency Division Alpha in the year 2030. His new female partner, Agent Nancy Miner, has a tendency to complain about "clipping coupons and serving spaghetti," and who can blame her: the single mom has a young son, Matt, at home to worry about.

Matt, who's Ameraisan (father white, mother Asian-American) is seldom seen in the series, but when he is, he only gets involved in the action by accident, as in the episode "Father's Day," where he accidentally learns that his dad Joe is not a boring ol' office supplies salesman but a "deep cover" secret agent assigned to work with RoboCop on the same day he has Matt for the weekend. Only then does Matt learn to appreciate his dad, especially when Joe tells his son he's making the world a safer place for him to grow up in. Awwwww!

Spike, brother of Robin O'Neill, MR. T

Okay, we all know Spike O'Neill, the towel boy for his sister Robin's gymnastics team, can be so annoying when he imitates Mr. T's gruff voice and dresses just like his hero all the time, but the boy has his moments.

And this time, I'm not talking about the episode where Spike learns the hard way not to get into a car with strangers. There's another episode where we learn Spike had another older sister who was lost in a plane crash and whose passing the boy never really accepted. The villains used this fact to lure Spike into a trap by making an hologram-style image of the late sister and had it call him. Spike only realized that she was a fake when she called him by his nickname--which he didn't receive until after the sister's passing. That's when Spike learned to let go at last.

So there they are--my Top 5 Jonny Quest wannabe kid characters. Some are annoying, some are bratty, and some actually contribute to the story. But they will never even come close to Cartoonland's Number One Adventure Boy--Jonny Quest!!