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Danger Island (TV series)

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This article is about the 1968–69 TV show. For the 2018 TV season, see Archer: Danger Island. For other uses, see Danger Island (disambiguation).
Danger Island
Danger Island title card
Title card
GenreAdventure
Directed byRichard Donner
StarringFrank Aletter
Jan-Michael Vincent
Ronne Troup
Rockne Tarkington
Kim Kahana
Victor Eberg
Narrated byFrank Aletter
Theme music composerNelson B. Winkless Jr.
Ritchie Adams
Mark Barkan
Opening theme"Danger Island Main Theme"
Composers
Country of originUnited States
Mexico
Original languagesEnglish
Nahuatl
No. of episodes36
Production
Executive producersJoseph Barbera
William Hanna
ProducerEdward J. Rosen
Production locationsAcapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
Running time10 minutes (per episode)
Production companyHanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 7, 1968 (1968-09-07) –
January 11, 1969 (1969-01-11)
Related
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour
Mystery Island

Danger Island is an American live-action adventure serial produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast on NBC during the 1968–69 season, as a segment of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.[1] It was filmed in Mexico, directed by future Superman, The Goonies and Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner, and featured Jan-Michael Vincent as Lincoln 'Link' Simmons.[2]

The series comprises a six-hour adventure yarn broken down into 36 short chapters. Each chapter is roughly ten minutes long and includes a suspenseful cliffhanger ending that is resolved in the next installment. The live-action segment was created to cut production costs on the mostly-animated hour-long show.[3]

Plot

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Inspired by the 1964 series Jonny Quest (also produced by Hanna-Barbera),[4] Danger Island depicted the adventures of a trio of explorers in an unnamed tropical island group: Prof. Irwin Hayden, an archaeologist; Lincoln "Link" Simmons, the professor's youthful assistant; and Leslie, the professor's daughter, who serves as both a love interest for Link and the series' token damsel in distress.

Several years earlier, the professor's brother (also an archaeologist) disappeared in the same island chain while searching for the mythical lost city of Tobanya. They are joined on their quest by Elihu Morgan, a shipwrecked merchant mariner, and his sidekick Chongo, who speaks only in a series of monkey-like chatters and birdcalls. They are pursued by a group of bumbling, but heavily armed, modern-day pirates led by the murderous Captain Mu-Tan, and by three tribes of cannibal natives known as "the Headhunters", "the Skeleton Men" and "the Ash Men". The show spawned a popular[5] catchphrase, "Uh-oh, Chongo!", among children of that time.

Characters

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Main characters

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Villains

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  • Captain Mu-Tan – Victor Eberg
  • Chu – Rodrigo Arrendondo

Home media

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The first episode was released on the DVDs Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970s Vol. 2 & Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s-1980s Collection.

References

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  1. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 109–111. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. ^ "Cinematic Lost Civilizations" (PDF). Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  3. ^ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part I: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. p. 34. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  4. ^ The history of Danger Island
  5. ^ TV Tropes:Banana Splits
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