Donkey Kong Country (television series)

Donkey Kong Country was a short-lived French computer-generated television show starring Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Candy Kong, and King K. Rool. It first aired in France on September 4, 1996, and was originally titled La Planète Donkey Kong ("Planet Donkey Kong"). It premiered late in North America on August 15, 1998, and the original run finished on July 7, 2000; the show is currently airing in Australia as of December 2009. Strangely, many of the episodes were aired out of order, confusing many fans. Regardless of this, Donkey Kong Country won a publicly-voted award at 7 d'Or in 1999, for "Best Animation and Youth Program" ("Meilleure émission d'animation et de jeunesse").

The show featured all of the Kongs from Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, except for Swanky Kong and Wrinkly Kong. There were also featured characters exclusive to the show, such as Eddie the Mean Old Yeti, Kaptain Skurvy, Baby Kong and Bluster Kong.

In the USA the series originally debuted on Fox Kids. However, due to the airing of the impeachment trials of then-President Bill Clinton, the show was moved to Fox Family.

Plot
The show portrays Donkey Kong, an anthropomorphic ape in the jungle who happens to stumble upon a magic orb called the Crystal Coconut in the temple of Inka Dinka Doo that names him the future ruler of the island Kongo Bongo. As he and his friends wait for the day when the Crystal Coconut will proclaim him the ruler of Kongo Bongo, they have to keep the mystical and powerful relic safe from the clutches of enemies such as King K. Rool and Kaptain Skurvy, who wish to possess the Crystal Coconut for themselves. It is kept in Cranky's Cabin, where Donkey Kong guards it.

The show lasted two seasons with forty episodes before ending. The episodes were all very episodic and it was rare that any episode connected to an earlier one. The second season showed many changes, like using new, sleeker styles of computer animation and dropping the use of title screens. Each episode, excluding Message in a Bottle Show, features one or two songs performed by cast members.

Cast

 * Richard Yearwood &mdash; Donkey Kong
 * Andrew Sabiston &mdash; Diddy Kong; Junior the Giant Klaptrap
 * Joy Tanner &mdash; Candy Kong; Baby Kong; Candy Clone
 * Aron Tager &mdash; Cranky Kong
 * Ben Campbell &mdash; King K. Rool
 * Louise Vallace &mdash; Dixie Kong
 * Donald Burda &mdash; Bluster Kong
 * Damon D'Oliveira &mdash; Funky Kong
 * Len Carlson &mdash; Klump (season 1); King K. Rool (first episode)
 * Ron Rubin &mdash; Krusha (season 1)
 * Frank Welker &mdash; Krusha (season 2)
 * Lawrence Bayne &mdash; Kritter
 * Charles Adler &mdash; Polly Roger
 * Rick Jones &mdash; Inka Dinka Doo
 * Adrian Truss &mdash; Eddie the Mean Old Yeti
 * Neil Ross &mdash; Kaptain Skurvy; Klump (season 2)
 * John Stocker &mdash; Kutlass
 * Dan Hennessey &mdash; Green Kroc

Episodes
Note that the following episodes are in the order of the original North American air dates.
 * Season 1:
 * 1) I Spy with My Hairy Eye
 * 2) The Big Chill Out
 * 3) Bad Hair Day
 * 4) Raiders of the Lost Banana
 * 5) Ape Foo Young
 * 6) Booty and the Beast
 * 7) Kong for a Day
 * 8) From Zero to Hero
 * 9) Buried Treasure
 * 10) Cranky's Tickle Tonic
 * 11) Get a Life, Don't Save One
 * 12) The Curse of Kongo Bongo
 * 13) Orangutango
 * 14) Speed
 * 15) Klump's Lumps
 * 16) Bluster's Sale Ape-Stravaganza
 * 17) Kong Fu
 * 18) Bug a Boogie
 * 19) Watch the Skies
 * 20) Baby Kong Blues
 * 21) To the Moon Baboon
 * 22) Double Date Trouble
 * 23) Ape-Nesia
 * 24) A Thin Line Between Love & Ape
 * 25) Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel
 * 26) Legend of the Crystal Coconut
 * Season 2:
 * 1) The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights
 * 2) Hooray for Holly-Kongo Bongo
 * 3) Speak No Evil, Dude
 * 4) The Day the Island Stood Still
 * 5) Message in a Bottle Show
 * 6) Monkey Seer, Monkey Do
 * 7) Four Weddings and a Coconut
 * 8) Vote of Kong-Fidence
 * 9) Follow That Coconut
 * 10) The Big Switch-A-Roo
 * 11) Hunka Hunka Burnin' Bluster
 * 12) Best of Enemies
 * 13) It's a Wonderful Life
 * 14) Just Kidding

Long Version
Ooh, aah! Ooh aah! Donkey Kong! Hey yo, look out down below! Here he comes, banana slamma! Donkey Kong! Ooh, aah! Ooh aah! Donkey Kong! Ooh, aah! Ooh aah! Donkey Kong! Hey yo, look out down below! Here he comes, banana slamma! Kongo Bongo's hero! Hey yo, Donkey Kong, let's go let's go! Here he comes, banana slamma! Ooh, aah!''

Short Version
Ooh, aah! Ooh aah! Donkey Kong! Hey yo, look out down below! Here he comes, banana slamma! Donkey Kong! Hey yo, Donkey Kong, let's go let's go! Here he comes, banana slamma! Ooh, aah!

Media
Four episodes were released in North America on a single VHS cassette titled, Donkey Kong Country: The Legend of the Crystal Coconut and was marketed as a feature length film. But these episodes were recorded in poor chronological order, when a flash back shown in the third episode actually happened in the fourth episode of the tape. The American version of the tape was distributed by Paramount Pictures, Nintendo, and Nelvana.

In the DVDs Donkey Kong Country Vol.1 (Released in Australia) and Donkey Kong Country - Bad Hair Day (Released in the United Kingdom) they also put a few episodes. The other two DVDs, Donkey Kong Country: Hooray for Holly Kongo Bongo and Donkey Kong Country: The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights (Both were released in Australia) only held one episode. After over three years of there being no new DKC products in English, the UK realeased a new DVD called I Spy With My Hairy Eye. There have been over 30 DKC DVD's but with only five being in English.

Donkey Kong Country was one of the earlier television series to be computer-animated to match the artistic style of the Rare video game series, and garnered critical acclaim in France and Japan but only marginal success in the West. Several elements of the series appeared in later Donkey Kong Country video games such as Donkey Kong 64, which was released a year after the show had started airing on ABC Family (Fox Family).

The show had a large line of merchandise in Japan including a collectible card game, featuring drawings of characters some that never appeared in the series. The card game was later adapted to be based on Donkey Kong 64. The television series took over the TV Tokyo 6:30 P.M. timeslot from Gokudo, and was later replaced with Hamtaro.

Trivia

 * During the second song (The Coconut is Cursed) of "Just Kidding" while DK sings "It's much worse than I thought! It's the curse that you've got!", when he's dressed like a doctor, it is the only time on the show that Donkey Kong is seen without his necktie.
 * A recurring gag is that Donkey Kong (sometimes with Diddy) constantly keeps on crashing into a tree.
 * Never once in the show are the villains referred to as Kremlings, only as 'lizards', 'gators' and similar terms.