Donkey Kong Country (television series)

Donkey Kong Country is a Canadian 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 for a short time before FOX got the exclusive rights to air it on Fox Family and for a short time on Fox Kids.

Donkey Kong Country ran for two seasons with forty episodes total. 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 (mostly ironic) 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
 * Sterling Jarvis &mdash; Donkey Kong (singing voice)
 * Andrew Sabiston &mdash; Diddy Kong
 * Joy Tanner &mdash; Candy Kong; Baby Kong; Candy Clone
 * Aaron Tager &mdash; Cranky Kong
 * Ben Campbell &mdash; King K. Rool
 * Adrian Truss &mdash; General Klump
 * Louise Vallace &mdash; Dixie Kong
 * Donald Burda &mdash; Bluster Kong
 * Len Carlson &mdash; Krusha; Green Kroc; Kong Fu
 * Damon D'Oliveira &mdash; Funky Kong; Eddie the Mean Old Yeti
 * Lawrence Bayne &mdash; Inka Dinka Doo
 * Rick Jones &mdash; Polly Roger; Klaptrap
 * Rob Rubin &mdash; Kaptain Skurvy
 * John Stocker &mdash; Kutlass

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 production order, which differs from that of the original North American air dates.
 * Season 1:
 * 1) "Bad Hair Day"
 * 2) "Ape Foo Young"
 * 3) "Booty and the Beast"
 * 4) "Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel"
 * 5) "Kong for a Day"
 * 6) "Raiders of the Lost Banana"
 * 7) "From Zero to Hero"
 * 8) "Buried Treasure"
 * 9) "Cranky's Tickle Tonic"
 * 10) "Get a Life, Don't Save One"
 * 11) "Orangutango"
 * 12) "Double Date Trouble"
 * 13) "The Curse of Kongo Bongo"
 * 14) "Speed"
 * 15) "Klump's Lumps"
 * 16) "Bluster's Sale Ape-Stravaganza"
 * 17) "Legend of the Crystal Coconut"
 * 18) "Kong Fu"
 * 19) "I Spy with My Hairy Eye"
 * 20) "Bug a Boogie"
 * 21) "Watch the Skies"
 * 22) "Baby Kong Blues"
 * 23) "Ape-Nesia"
 * 24) "The Big Chill Out"
 * 25) "To the Moon Baboon"
 * 26) "A Thin Line Between Love & Ape"


 * Season 2:
 * 1) "Hooray for Holly-Kongo Bongo"
 * 2) "The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights"
 * 3) "Speak No Evil, Dude"
 * 4) "The Day the Island Stood Still"
 * 5) "Monkey Seer, Monkey Do"
 * 6) "Four Weddings and a Coconut"
 * 7) "Follow That Coconut"
 * 8) "Vote of Kong-Fidence"
 * 9) "The Big Switch-A-Roo"
 * 10) "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Bluster"
 * 11) "Best of Enemies"
 * 12) "It's a Wonderful Life"
 * 13) "Just Kidding"
 * 14) "Message in a Bottle Show"

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. The original segments featured Donkey, Diddy, Funky and Candy doing musical numbers, parodies of current movies and television shows, and comedic sketches.

Long version
Hoo! Hah! Hoo, hah! Donkey Kong! Heeeeyyyyyy, oh! Look out down below! Here he comes, banana slamma'! Donkey Kong! Hoo! Hah! Hoo, hah! Donkey Kong! Hoo! Hah! Hoo, hah! Donkey Kong! Heeeeyyyyyy, oh! Look out down below! Here he comes, banana slamma'! Kongo Bongo's hero! Heeeeyyyyyy, oh! Donkey Kong, let's go, let's go! Here he comes, banana slamma'! Hooooo, HAH!''

Short version
Hoo! Hah! Hoo, hah! Donkey Kong! Heeeeyyyyyy, oh! Look out down below! Here he comes, banana slamma'! Donkey Kong! Heeeeyyyyyy, oh! Donkey Kong, let's go, let's go! Here he comes, banana slamma'! Hooooo, HAH!

Production
Donkey Kong Country was the first CG television series to be animated using motion capture, using Medialab's proprietary technology which allowed the animators to see the performance play out in real time. This caused controversy when the show was rejected for an Emmy Award nomination, the reasoning being that the TV academy did not consider the then-new motion capture technique to be a form of animation.

According to a post on a fan page by Nelvana writer Erika Strobel, Medialab had originally obtained the rights to create an animated series from Nintendo. After thirteen episodes were written, Medialab asked Nelvana for assistance after firing the original writers (who, according to Strobel, had produced scripts "with racist/sexist jokes and just sooo bad for a kiddie show"). As storyboards had already been produced for ten of the original scripts, Nelvana decided to write new stories around these storyboards to save money. The songs, however, were included at the request of Medialab; all of the show's songs, as well as the title theme, were written by Pure West Music. Nelvana purchased the rights to the show after Medialab's license lapsed. .

Staff
Donkey Kong Country was produced by Nelvana, and co-produced with Medialab for its first season, and Hong Guang Animation for the second season. The first season was animated by Medialab and the second by an uncredited CGCG Inc. . The soundtrack of the series was composed by the music production company Pure West.

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 DVD releases. Starting in 2013, Phase 4 Films began releasing the show on DVD in North America. On May 12, 2015, the company released the first season of 26 episodes in a 3-disc set. Nelvana currently has the entire series available for free streaming on its official YouTube channel.

The show had a large line of merchandise in Japan, including a collectible card game by Nintendo and Ahomaro Games. A subsequent release of the card series featured characters and gimmicks 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.

References in later media

 * Super Mario-Kun: One volume features appearances by Bluster Kong and the show's version of Candy Kong.
 * Donkey Kong 64: Cranky Kong's mad scientist antics and the Crystal Coconut item are nods to the show.
 * Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D: For the game's marketing campaign, Nintendo UK's facebook page posted an image titled "What is your Donkey Kong name?". Two of the names listed are "Bluster" and "Eddie", in a clear reference to the show.

Trivia

 * A running gag throughout the show, involves Donkey Kong (sometimes with Diddy Kong) constantly crashing into trees.
 * The villains in the show are never 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.