The King Kong Show facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The King Kong Show
Title card
Voices of	Carl Banas Susan Conway John Drainie Billie Mae Richards Alf Scopp Paul Soles Bernard Cowan
Theme music composer	Maury Laws
Country of origin	United States Canada Japan
Original language(s)	English Japanese
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer(s)	Arthur Rankin Jr. Jules Bass
Producer(s)	William J. Keenan Larry Roemer
Running time	30 minutes (regular episodes) 56 minutes (special episode)
Production company(s)	Videocraft International Toei Animation
Release
Original network	ABC (United States) NET (Japan)
Picture format	Color
Audio format	Mono
Original release	September 10, 1966 (1966-09-10) – August 31, 1969 (1969-08-31)

The King Kong Show was an exciting animated TV series. It was made by companies from Canada, America, and Japan. The show first aired in the United States on ABC from September 10, 1966, to August 31, 1969. This was a special show because it was the first anime series made in Japan for an American company.

The series brought the famous giant ape, King Kong, to life in a new way. Instead of being a destructive monster, this cartoon version of Kong was a hero! He became friends with the Bond family and joined them on many thrilling adventures. Together, they battled all sorts of dangers. These included scary monsters, tricky robots, aliens from outer space, and even crazy scientists.

The show also included a fun mini-series called Tom of T.H.U.M.B.. This part was a funny take on the spy movies popular in the 1960s. It was about a secret agent named Tom. He worked for T.H.U.M.B., which stood for the Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau. Tom and his friend, Swinging Jack, accidentally got shrunk to just three inches tall! Their grumpy boss, Chief Homer J. Chief, sent them on missions in tiny vehicles. Their goal was to stop the evil plans of M.A.D. This stood for Maladjusted, Anti-social and Darn mean. M.A.D. was a group of bad scientists who wanted to cause trouble for the world.

In Japan, the first two episodes of The King Kong Show were combined into a special. It was 56 minutes long and called King of the World: The King Kong Show. Later, the rest of the series, including Tom of T.H.U.M.B., aired as King Kong & 001/7 Tom Thumb. This version had 25 episodes.

The TV show was very popular. Because of its success, the King Kong story continued in two movies. These films were Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and King Kong Escapes. King Kong Escapes was even based on The King Kong Show!

You can still watch some of these classic adventures. On November 15, 2005, the first eight episodes were released on DVD. These DVDs were called King Kong: The Animated Series Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Meet the Characters

Title card for the King Kong part of the show

Get to know the main characters who made The King Kong Show so exciting!

Kong and His Friends

• King Kong - He's the star of the show! Kong is known as the Eighth Wonder of the World. A young boy named Bobby Bond discovered him on Mondo Island. Kong saved Bobby from a T-rex. After that, Kong became the Bond family's loyal friend and a true hero.
• Professor Bond - He is the smart father and leader of the Bond family.
• Susan Bond - She is the teenage daughter of the Bond family. Susan often wonders about the strange friendship between Bobby and Kong. She is very observant and often figures out what the villain, Dr. Who, is planning.
• Bobby Bond - He is the young son and Kong's best friend. Kong saved Bobby from a dinosaur, and they have been inseparable ever since.
• Captain Englehorn - He is a good friend of the Bond family. He is also Professor Bond's ship captain. This character was inspired by a character from the original King Kong movie.

Kong's Foes

• Dr. Who - This bald, big-headed, and glasses-wearing mad scientist is the main villain. He always wants to capture Kong. He plans to use Kong for his own evil schemes. He has no connection to the character from the British TV series Doctor Who.
• Mechani-Kong - This is a giant robot version of Kong. Dr. Who invented it to fight the real King Kong. Dr. Who controls Mechani-Kong from inside its head. The Bond family never realizes that Dr. Who is behind this robot. Mechani-Kong appears in two episodes and is always destroyed by Kong.

Cast and Crew

Here are some of the talented people who brought The King Kong Show to life.

Voice Actors

• Billie Mae Richards - The voice of Bobby Bond.
• Carl Banas - The voice of Professor Bond.
• Susan Conway - The voice of Susan Bond.
• John Drainie
• Alfie Scopp
• Paul Soles

Production Team

• Producer - William J. Keenan
• Executive Producers - Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass
• Associate Producer - Larry Roemer
• Music/Lyrics - Maury Laws, Jules Bass
• Animation Production - Toei Studios
• Character Designs - Jack Davis, Rod Willis

Episode Guide

Title card for the Tom of T.H.U.M.B. part of the show

The show had a special pilot episode and then many regular episodes. Each regular episode usually had two King Kong stories and one Tom of T.H.U.M.B. story in between.

• "King Kong" (December 31, 1966) - This was the 56-minute pilot episode. In America, it was split into two parts: "A Friend in Need" and "The Key to the City".

Here are some of the other exciting episodes:

• "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 91⁄2 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"
• "The 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"
• "The King Kong Diamond"/"The Scooby"/"Anchors Away"