The King Kong Show

The King Kong Show
General Information
Created by	?
Produced by	Arthur Rankin, Jr. Jules Bass William J. Keenan Larry Roemer
Production Information
Distributed by	Toei AnimationJP Rankin/BassUS
Genre	Animated
Airdate	September 10, 1966 – August 31, 1969*, April 5, 1967 - October 4, 1967*
Channel	ABCUS, NETJP
Episode count	50*

The King Kong Show (世界の王者　キングコング大会,   Sekai no Ōja Kingu Kongu Taikaiis^?, lit. King of the World: King Kong), later aired as King Kong & 001/7 Tom Thumb (キングコング・001/7親指トム,   Kingu Kongu 001/ 7 Oyayubitomu^?) is an animated television series co-produced by Toei Animation, Videocraft, and Rankin/Bass that originally aired from September 10, 1966 to August 31, 1969. It also aired with the inclusion of Tom of T.H.U.M.B. from April 5, 1967 to October 4, 1967.

Plot

In this series, King Kong befriends the Bond Family, with whom he goes on various adventures, saving the world from monsters, robots, aliens, mad scientists and other threats.

Episodes

1. A Friend in Need
2. The Key to the City
3. Under the Volcano
4. The Treasure Trap
5. The Horror of Mondo Island
6. Dr. Who
7. Rocket Island
8. The African Bees
9. The Hunter
10. The Space Men
11. The Jinx of the Sphinx
12. The Greeneyed Monster
13. The Top of the World
14. The Golden Temple
15. The Electric Circle
16. Mirror of Destruction
17. Tiger Tiger
18. The Vise of Dr. Who
19. King Kong's House
20. Mechani-Kong
21. The Giant Sloths
22. The Legend of Loch Ness
23. Dr. Bone
24. No Man's Snowman
25. The Desert Pirates
26. Command Performance
27. The Sea Surrounds Us
28. Show Biz
29. The Wizard of Overlord
30. Perilous Porpoise
31. The Trojan Horse
32. The Man from K.O.N.G.
33. Caribbean Cruise
34. Diver's Dilemma
35. The Great Sun Spots
36. Kong is Missing
37. In the Land of the Giant Trees
38. Captain Kong
39. Statue of Liberty Play
40. Pandora's Box
41. The Thousand Year Knockout
42. Desert City
43. Eagle Squadron
44. The Kong of Stone
45. Murderer's Maze
46. The Great Gold Strike
47. It Wasn't There Again Today
48. The Mad Whale
49. The King Kong Diamond
50. Anchors Away

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

• Produced by Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass, William J. Keenan, and Larry Roemer
• Character Designs by Jack Davis and Rod Willis

Character and Monster Appearances

Details surrounding this series are sketchy at best, as many latter episodes have never received proper re-airings since their initial broadcasts. And the series as a whole has never been fully released to home video, with some episodes even being feared lost. The following list was created from the best sources that could be found on the subject, however little there currently is.

• King Kong
• Professor Bond
• Susan Bond
• Bobby Bond
• Captain Englehorn
• Dr. Who
• Mechani-Kong
• Tyrannosaurus rex (from A Friend In Need)
• Kraken (from The Key to the City)
• African Bee Swarm (from The African Bees)
• Carnivorous Plants of Mondo Island (from The African Bees)
• Giant Snake (from The Greeneyed Monster)
• Giant Mondo Island Bird (from The Greeneyed Monster)
• Robot Sphinx (from The Jinx of the Sphinx)
• Killer Triceratops (from The Electric Circle)
• Stegosaurus (from The Electric Circle, and The Hunter)
• Brontosaurus (from The Hunter)
• Saber-Toothed Tigers (from Tiger Tiger)
• Giant Sloths (from The Giant Sloths)
• The Loch Ness Monster (from The Legend of Loch Ness)
• Abominable Snowman (from No Man's Snowman)
• Statue of Liberty Robot (from Statue of Liberty Play)
• The Great Gargoyle of Paris (from The Thousand Year Knockout)
• Giant Eagle (from Eagle Squadron)
• The Mad Whale / Giant White Whale (from The Mad Whale)
• Cyclops / One-Eyed Giant (Unknown Episode Appearance)
• Giant Electrical Angler-Fish (Unknown Episode Appearance)
• Angry Sea Monster (from a coloring book tie-in)

Other original monsters that are currently unconfirmed includes a giant one-horned dragon; a fire-breathing panther; a giant jellyfish (a misidentified Giant Electrical Angler-Fish?); an orange bipedal dinosaur-like monster (possibly exclusive to a Japanese notebook cover); a green 'insect-lizard' (possibly exclusive to the artwork seen on a Magic Slate border); a subterranean dinosaur, heavily resembling Telesdon from Ultraman (from an unknown Japanese picture book); a burrowing scorpion-like beast (also from a Japanese picture book); a green-colored 'Android Kong' (could be an off-model Mechani-Kong, from a Japanese children's book); a big-eared, red and yellow colored robot humanoid; and a horde of giant ants (those last two possibly originated from a Japanese spin-off manga).

Gallery

Releases

Video Releases

The King Kong Show Volume 1 DVD Cover

Merchandise

Giant Sabertooth Tigers

Trivia

• The pilot episode was originally 1-hour long, but was split up in to 2 shorter episodes, A Friend in Need and The Key to the City.
• The character Susan Bond in this show was the basis for Susan Watson in King Kong Escapes.
• This series was the first American-produced cartoon to be animated in Japan(not counting Rankin/Bass' previous Animagic stop motion specials, also animated in there).
• This series was successful enough for Rankin/Bass to extend the Kong franchise to another Japanese company, Toho (which already produced the hit King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962). This resulted in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (originally intended as a Kong film named Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah) and King Kong Escapes, which was loosely based on The King Kong Show.