Donkey Kong Country (television series)

Donkey Kong Country is a French computer-generated animated television series based upon the video game trilogy of the same name. It first aired in France on September 4, 1996. The show was later aired in North America starting on August 15, 1998, and the original run finished on July 7, 2000. Even later, the show began airing in Australia in December 2009. In the United States the series originally debuted on CBS before later being moved to Fox Family.

Donkey Kong Country ran for two seasons with forty episodes total before ending. Like the Mario-based television series before it, this show generally followed an episodic format. During the run, however, there were some episodes aired out of order from the original airing, such as "Bad Hair Day" being aired as the third episode in its run in the United States despite airing first in France. The second season showed many changes, such as using newer, sleeker styles of computer animation and dropping the use of title screens for the intro to each episode. Also similar to the earlier Mario cartoons, each episode (excluding "Message in a Bottle Show") also features one or two original songs based around events in the episode performed by the cast.

Donkey Kong Country was one of the earliest television series to be entirely computer-animated, matching the artistic style of the video games. The CG animation style of the series was met with critical acclaim in France and Japan, but with mixed reception elsewhere. Despite this, the show has managed to gain a cult following, and even Nintendo itself has acknowledged its existence.

Some elements of the series appeared in later Donkey Kong video games such as Donkey Kong 64, which was released a year after the show had started airing on ABC Family (Fox Family). There was even a commercial for the Game Boy Color port of the original Donkey Kong Country video game that featured Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Rambi the Rhino (despite the fact that no Animal Friends actually appear in the show) fighting General Klump and Krusha over a giant version of the portable gaming system, all depicted with retooled versions of their designs from the show's second season.

Synopsis
The show portrays Donkey Kong, an anthropomorphic ape living in the jungle who happens to stumble upon a magic orb called the Crystal Coconut in the temple of Inka Dinka Doo. After finding the coconut, Donkey Kong is named the future ruler of Kongo Bongo Island. As he and his friends wait for the day when the Crystal Coconut will proclaim him the ruler of the island, they have to keep the relic safe from the clutches of King K. Rool and his minions, who desire the coconut so that their leader may rule the island using its power instead.

Cast
The series features almost all of the Kongs from Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, the exceptions being Swanky Kong and Wrinkly Kong. However, the show also features several characters exclusive to the TV series, such as Eddie the Mean Old Yeti, Kaptain Skurvy and his crew, and Bluster Kong.

North America

 * Richard Yearwood &mdash; Donkey Kong
 * Andrew Sabiston &mdash; Diddy Kong; 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; Eddie the Mean Old Yeti
 * Len Carlson &mdash; Klump; King K. Rool (first episode)
 * Ron Rubin &mdash; Krusha
 * Lawrence Bayne &mdash; Inka Dinka Doo
 * Neil Ross &mdash; Kaptain Skurvy
 * Adrian Truss &mdash; Eddie the Mean Old Yeti
 * John Stocker &mdash; Kutlass
 * Dan Hennessey &mdash; Green Kroc

Japan

 * Kōichi Yamadera — Donkey Kong
 * Megumi Hayashibara — Diddy Kong
 * Mika Kanai — Candy Kong
 * Ryūsei Nakao — Cranky Kong
 * Becky — Dixie Kong
 * Banana Ice — Funky Kong
 * Daiki Nakamura — Bluster Kong
 * Jūrōta Kosugi — King K. Rool
 * Keiichi Sonobe — Klump; Inka Dinka Doo
 * Tomohisa Asô — Krusha
 * Katsuhisa Hōki — Kaptain Skurvy
 * Kenyu Horiuchi — Eddie the Mean Old Yeti

Episodes
Note that the episodes are listed 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"

La planète de Donkey Kong
In addition to the animated series, Donkey Kong hosted on France 2 La planète de Donkey Kong (also know as DKTV and DKTV.cool), which was a mix of children programming and original content featuring part of the Donkey Kong Country TV cast. Shows aired as part of La planète de Donkey Kong include Big Wolf on the Campus, Extreme Ghostbusters and X-Men, among many others.

The original segments featured Donkey, Diddy, Funky and Candy doing musical numbers, parodies of current movies and television shows, and comedic sketches. The show aired from September 4 1996 to September 1st 2000 and won a 1999 7 d'Or for excellence in youth programming, as decided by a public vote

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!

Releases and other merchandise
Four episodes were released in North America on a single VHS cassette titled, Donkey Kong Country: The Legend of the Crystal Coconut. Said episodes were edited together to make them seem like one continuous storyline. However, these episodes were not put together in the proper order; for example, a flashback 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. Advertisements and even the videotape's packaging neglected to mention the actual TV series the episodes originated from, and was instead marketed as a feature-length film all its own (leading to some confusion among newer viewers of certain content, such as Eddie the Mean Old Yeti's brief appearance in Ape-Nesia).

The DVDs Donkey Kong Country Vol.1 (Released in Australia) and Donkey Kong Country - Bad Hair Day (Released in the United Kingdom) feature several episodes. The other two Australian DVDs, Donkey Kong Country: Hooray for Holly Kongo Bongo and Donkey Kong Country: The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights, however, only feature one episode. Three years after the release of the previous DVDs, a new DVD titled I Spy With My Hairy Eye was released in England. There have been over 30 Donkey Kong Country DVDs, but only five have been released in English. As of 2013 however, some DVDs have been released in North America by Kaboom Entertainment.

The show had a large line of merchandise in Japan, including a collectible card game by Nintendo and Ahomaro Games. Some of the cards featured characters that never appeared in the television 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. As with most programs in Japan, the show has received home releases through rental tapes.

Trivia

 * A recurring gag involves Donkey Kong (sometimes with Diddy) constantly crashing into trees.
 * Never once in the show are the villains referred to as Kremlings, only as 'lizards', 'gators' and similar terms.
 * No Animal Friends appear throughout the series, although Rambi the Rhino was present in a commercial for the Game Boy Color remake of Donkey Kong Country that featured the cartoon's incarnations of various characters (see above).
 * In multiple episodes, Donkey Kong admits to being a fan of King Kong; ironic considering that Universal Studios attempted to sue Nintendo for a copyright dispute over the two kongs.