Donkey Kong Country (television series): Difference between revisions

'''''Donkey Kong Country''''' is a computer-animated musical television series based on the [[Donkey Kong Country (series)|video game trilogy of the same name]]. The program first debuted in France on September 4, 1996, on France 2, and then premiered in Canada on Télétoon on September 8, 1997 as a launch program. The English version made its worldwide debut in Canada on Télétoon's English counterpart Teletoon on October 17, 1997, once again as a launch program. The show then began airing in the United States on the Fox Family Channel on August 15, 1998 (occasionally airing on Fox Kids), and the original run finished on July 7, 2000. In Japan, the series began airing with a Japanese dub on TV Tokyo on October 1, 1999, and finished its run on June 30, 2000.{{ref needed}}

''Donkey Kong Country'' ran for three seasons with forty episodes in total. Like the ''[[Super Mario (franchise)|Super Mario]]''-based television series before it, the 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. Additionally, while the first two seasons were produced by [[Medialab]], the third season was instead produced by Chinese company Hong Gaung and switched to a newer, sleeker style of computer animation, as well as dropping the use of title cards to introduce each episode. Also similar to the earlier ''Super Mario'' cartoons, each episode (excluding "[[Message in a Bottle Show]]") features one or two original songs based on 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.

Some elements of the series would go on to appear in later ''[[Donkey Kong (franchise)|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 also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEtPo0_ccP0 a commercial] for the [[Game Boy Color]] game ''[[Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Color)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' featuring [[Donkey Kong]], [[Diddy Kong]], and [[Rambi]] fighting [[General Klump]] and [[Krusha (character)|Krusha]] over a giant Game Boy Color, in which all of the characters are depicted with retooled versions of their designs from the show's third season (besides Rambi, who does not appear in the show).

The show stars [[Donkey Kong]], an anthropomorphic ape who happens to stumble upon the [[Crystal Coconut]] in the temple of [[Inka Dinka Doo]]. After finding the artifact, Donkey Kong is named the future ruler of [[Donkey Kong Island|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 strive to keep it safe from the clutches of the villainous [[King K. Rool]] and his minions, who desire the coconut so that K. Rool may rule the island himself using its power.

[[File:Kaptain Skurvy DKCTV group.png|thumb|Kaptain Skurvy (center), one of the main antagonists of the show, with his crew mates [[Green Kroc]] (left) and [[Kutlass]].]]

Two conflicting season numbering schemes exist for the show: [[Nelvana]] considers the show to have three "cycles" (13x13x14),<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060328013320/http://www.nelvana.com/shows/episodes_template.asp?sid=16 "Episodes : Donkey Kong Country" on Nelvana's official website circa 2006]. Retrieved Sunday, June 26, 2021</ref> and this is the numbering used for the show's release on services such as {{wp|iTunes}},<ref>https://itunes.apple.com/ca/tv-season/donkey-kong-country-vol-1/id760744886</ref> {{wp|Pluto TV}}, and {{wp|Tubi}}. The show's official DVDs, however, identify two seasons, the first being made up of the 26 [[Medialab]]-produced episodes and the second being made up of the 14 Hong Guang-produced episodes. The list below follows the former scheme.

Dkc cartoon wrap around.png|Reference sheet for Donkey Kong, King. K Rool, Krusha and Klump

Four episodes were released together in North America on a 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. It was released in Canada by Seville Pictures and Nelvana themselves, while in the United States, it was released by Paramount Home Entertainment. Advertisements and the videotape's packaging neglected to mention the TV series the episodes originated from, with it instead marketed as a standalone film (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 of the show. Two other Australian DVDs, ''Donkey Kong Country: Hooray for Holly Kongo Bongo'' and ''Donkey Kong Country: The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights'', each only feature one episode. Three years after the release of the previous DVDs, an additional 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, under its Kaboom! Entertainment label, 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 once had the entire series available for free streaming on its official YouTube channel until it was turned into the official [[wikipedia:Wayside (TV Series)|Wayside]] channel.

The show had a large line of merchandise in Japan, including a [[Gallery:Donkey Kong Country (television series) trading cards|collectible card game]] by [[Nintendo]] and [[Ahomaro Games]]. A subsequent release of the card game featured characters and gimmicks based on ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]''. The television series took over the TV Tokyo Friday 6:30 PM timeslot from ''{{wp|Gokudo}}'', and was later replaced by ''{{wp|Hamtaro}}''. As with most programs in Japan, the show has received home releases through rental tapes.

*All non-Kremling enemies from the first game ([[Zinger]]s, [[Gnawty|Gnawties]], [[Manky Kong]]s, etc.) are omitted and the Kremlings' military force is mostly simplified to Kritters and Klaptraps (the latter of which is considered ammunition for weapons instead of troops). [[Rock Kroc]]s additionally do not appear, nor do any of the [[Animal Friends]]. The only character to neither be a Kong nor a Kremling to have a model in the series is [[Polly Roger]], while [[Inka Dinka Doo]] is part of the scenery.