Donkey Kong Country
Also known asDonkey Kong (Japan)
Based onDonkey Kong by Nintendo
Donkey Kong Country by Rare
Developed byJacques Goldstein
Philippe Percebois
Directed byMike Fallows
Voices of
Theme music composerPure West
Opening theme"Donkey Kong Country" (English)
Ashita Ga Kitara (Japan)
Ending theme"Donkey Kong Country" (Instrumental)
Banana Tengoku (Japan)
ComposerPure West
Country of origin
  • Canada
  • France (season 1)
  • Japan (season 2)
Original languagesEnglish
French
Japanese
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes40 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Maia Tubiana (Season 1)
  • Stephen Hodgins (Season 1; supervising producer, Season 2)
  • Patricia R. Burns (Season 1; supervising producer, Season 2)
  • Pam Lehn (Season 2)
EditorSamuel Lajus
Running time30 minutes (per episode)
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseAugust 15, 1997 (1997-08-15) –
July 7, 2000 (2000-07-07)

Donkey Kong Country, known in Japan simply as Donkey Kong, is an animated musical television series based on the video game Donkey Kong Country from Nintendo and Rare. Co-produced by Nelvana, Medialab Studio L.A. (Season 1) and Hong Guang Animation (Season 2), in association with WIC Entertainment, with the participation of Teletoon—for Season 1, it was produced in co-production with France 2, Canal+, in association with Valar 4.

The show was first introduced in France on September 4, 1996, on France 2, on a hybrid live-action and motion-capture-animated block titled La Planète de Donkey Kong (The Planet of Donkey Kong). It later became a full series and broadcast from August 15, 1997 to July 7, 2000.

Donkey Kong Country is the first television series that has been primarily animated with motion capture technology.[1] Several elements of the series, such as the Crystal Coconut, appeared in later Donkey Kong video games like Donkey Kong 64 (itself released three years after the show began airing on television). The second season was produced by Taiwanese CGI studio CGCG (which featured updated character models, silkier lighting and key framing), and was announced as early as May 1999.[2]

Plot

Taking place on Kongo Bongo Island, the show focuses on Donkey Kong, the island's resident hero. Before the series' events, he was chosen as the island's future ruler by a magical artifact known as the Crystal Coconut, which is connected to a spirit known as Inka Dinka Doo. In the present, Donkey Kong must prove he deserves the role through his heroics and by simply guarding the coconut.

Alongside various allies such as his best friend and sidekick Diddy Kong and his mentor Cranky Kong, he must protect the Crystal Coconut from various threats, most notably the villainous King K. Rool and his army who long to steal it in order to rule Kongo Bongo. Oftentimes, Donkey Kong has to juggle his guardian duties with his social life, his relationship with Candy Kong, and his love of gorging on bananas.

Each episode features two songs performed by the show's various characters.

Characters

Game characters

  • Donkey Kong — the strong but slow-witted future ruler of Kongo Bongo Island, tasked with guarding the Crystal Coconut. A bit of a slacker, he loves to eat bananas, which are often his main motivation for solving problems. His catchphrase is, "Banana Slamma!"
  • Diddy Kong — DK's excitable sidekick and buddy, who loves to cause mischief and is a fan of movies and TV. He and DK often take turns acting as the voice of reason for one another.
  • Cranky Kong — DK and Diddy's wise, but ill-tempered mentor. He enjoys playing the organ and making potions to solve the heroes’ problems; the latter was soon carried over into Donkey Kong 64. The Crystal Coconut is stored in a globe inside his treehouse.
  • Funky Kong — an eccentric, laid-back friend of DK, who speaks in a Jamaican accent, believes in the spiritual, and is also fond of surfing. Much like in the games, he owns Funky's Flights and often flies the others around the island in order to help them get around quickly, although he is noted to be rather incompetent at piloting.
  • Candy Kong — DK's headstrong yet short-tempered girlfriend who works at the Bluster Barrelworks Factory as its only employee. She frequently pines for a promotion from her boss and has even fantasized about owning the factory. She is usually DK's main motivation to do the right thing, tied with bananas.
  • Dixie Kong — Diddy's sweet but naïve girlfriend, and Candy's best friend, who has a habit of losing her pets. She is the only Kong in the show who originated in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest.
  • King K. Rool — the show's main villain, who constantly attempts to steal the Crystal Coconut and take over the island. This version speaks in an English dialect and lives in a cave resembling a reptilian skull.
  • Krusha — K. Rool's dull-witted bodyguard.
  • Klump — K. Rool's spineless and clumsy general, who speaks in a thick southern United States accent.
  • Kritters — K. Rool's soldiers.
  • Klaptraps — small crocodiles who like to eat wooden surfaces in a manner similar to termites. They are fired out of Klap-Blasters by the Kritters and usually give comments on whatever they are eating.

Show-exclusive characters

  • Bluster Kong — the wealthy, morally ambiguous boss of the Bluster Barrelworks factory, who is jealous of Donkey Kong on occasions and continually makes unsuccessful attempts to romance Candy. He has a massive ego but is actually quite cowardly. A running gag involves him calling his disapproving mother, from whom he will soon inherit the factory, to bail him out.
  • Kaptain Skurvy — a pirate captain and Klump's long-lost twin brother. He persists in chasing the Crystal Coconut, claiming it to be the birthright of one of his ancestors.
  • Kutlass & Green Kroc — Skurvy's minions. Green Kroc is a Kritter, while Kutlass, although named after the same enemy from Donkey Kong Country 2, resembles K. Rool with a lighter scale tone instead of this enemy.
  • Polly Roger the Parrot — a pet parrot of Kaptain Skurvy.
  • Junior the Klaptrap — a large Klaptrap who frequently has his dentures stolen, and will do a favor for anyone who retrieves them for him.
  • Eddie the Mean Old Yeti — a primitive, white-furred yeti who lives in the White Mountains.
  • Inka Dinka Doo — the temple god from whence the Crystal Coconut came. It was he who selected Donkey Kong to be the future ruler. He appears as a stone column on which expressions are carved. One stone block turns around to show the appropriate expression for his mood.

Voice cast

Season 1 of the French version was done in Quebec, with the exception of Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong[3] and Funky Kong's voice actors who are from France. Season 2 was not given a French version until later when it got released on DVD years afterward, which a mostly new French voice cast that had Donkey Kong and Funky Kong's voice actors reprising their character roles. Hervé Grull never returned as Diddy Kong, as he had long since hit puberty, replaced by Lucile Boulanger as a result.[4]

Character Role French (Season 1) French (Season 2) English Japanese
Donkey Kong Franck Capillery Richard Yearwood
Sterling Jarvis (singing voice)		 Kōichi Yamadera
Diddy Kong Hervé Grull Lucile Boulanger
Donald Reignoux (singing voice)		 Andrew Sabiston Megumi Hayashibara
Cranky Kong Yves Massicotte Yves Barsacq Aron Tager Ryusei Nakao
Funky Kong Emmanuel Curtil Damon D'Oliveira Banana Ice
Candy Kong Camille Cyr-Desmarais Odile Schmitt Joy Tanner Mika Kanai
Dixie Kong Violette Chauveau Annie Barclay Stevie Vallance Becky
Bluster Kong Daniel Lesourd Patrice Dozier Donald Burda Daiki Nakamura
King K. Rool Éric Gaudry Daniel Beretta Benedict Campbell Jurota Kosugi
General Klump Jean Brousseau Jacques Bouanich Adrian Truss Keiichi Sonobe
Krusha Pierre Auger Daniel Beretta Len Carlson Tomohisa Aso
Eddie the Mean Old Yeti Unknown Patrice Dozier Damon D'Oliveira Kenyu Horiuchi
Inka Dinka Doo Unknown Unknown Lawrence Bayne Tomohisa Aso
Kaptain Skurvy Unknown Unknown Ron Rubin Katsuhisa Hoki
Kutlass Unknown Unknown John Stocker Takuma Suzuki
Green Kroc Unknown Unknown Richard Newman
Kritters Unknown Michel Tugot-Doris Lawrence Bayne Tokuyoshi Kawashima
Toshitaka Hirano
Takayuki Yamaguchi
Daiki Nakamura
Tomohisa Aso
Polly Roger Unknown Unknown Rick Jones Motoko Kumai
Junior the Giant Klaptrap Unknown Unknown Ron Rubin Kappei Yamaguchi
Baby Kong Unknown Unknown Bryn McAuley Kōichi Yamadera
Kong Fu Unknown Unknown Richard Newman Hōchū Ōtsuka

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
126August 15, 1997December 29, 1998
214December 2, 1999July 7, 2000

Production

Over seventy percent of the character animation in the series was produced using performance capture.[5] Two performers were required for each character; one performed the character's body movements, while the other used hand movements to control the character's face.[6] The limitations of the technology used meant that actions like picking an object up could not be produced with this method and had to be keyframed.[7] This process allowed the character animation of one episode to be completed in two weeks, as compared to the six to eight weeks keyframed animation was estimated to require for the same length.[8]

Telecast and home media

Donkey Kong Country was first introduced in France on September 4, 1996, on France 2, on a block titled La Planète de Donkey Kong (The Planet of Donkey Kong). The French-language version of the show later premiered in Canada on Télétoon on September 8, 1997, making the series one of the channel's launch programs, while the English version premiered on its English counterpart on October 17, also as a launch program. In the U.S., it was one of the first series to be shown on Fox Family (now Freeform), in which the series was broadcast in its entirety from August 15, 1998 (the same day that Fox Family was launched) until 2000. It was also seen on Fox Kids from 1998 until 1999 for a very short time airing two episodes as specials on December 19, 1998, and aired a few more episodes during the summer of 1999 before being taken off.[9] 40 episodes were produced.[10] In Japan, the series aired with a Japanese dub and took over TV Tokyo's 6:30 p.m. time-slot from Gokudo the Adventurer airing on October 1, 1999, and was later replaced with Hamtaro after ending on June 30, 2000.

Over the years, the show has been released throughout many VHS and DVDs in many countries. In total, 13 DVDs around the world were released with English audio.

For North America, four episodes of Donkey Kong Country that feature Kaptain Skurvy were edited together into a videocassette release titled Donkey Kong Country: The Legend of the Crystal Coconut and was marketed as a feature-length anthology film. However, these episodes are not in chronological order, as a flashback shown in the third episode actually occurs in the fourth episode of the tape. It was released in Canada around 1999 with both English and French dub tapes separately with distribution handled by Seville Pictures and Nelvana themselves as the secondary distributor.[11] The US version of the tape was distributed by Paramount Home Video and was released in the country on November 9, 1999, marking this the only time that the U.S. had a VHS release of this series. France has gotten a release of this tape as well under the title: Donkey Kong Le Film!

In Japan, the TV show was very popular and proven to be successful, since the video game that the series is based on was also a hit. It was also because the Japanese dubbed version of the series was produced with a very high-budget thus investing to having a big-name, well-known voice cast. On top of that, the Japanese and also the Latin Spanish dub editions had ad-libbed a lot of extra humour that were not in the original scripts. The Japanese dubbed version of the entire series has been released on home video through Rental VHS tapes in 2000. Shogakukan Video has released all the episodes of the series spreading through 13 volumes and they were sold by Nippon Columbia, a record label company. Each tape contains three episodes each and in consistent order of its Japanese broadcasting on TV Tokyo, with the exception of its series' final episode, Message in a Bottle Show was not included due to mostly being a clip episode. That episode was later introduced as part of another TV Tokyo program which is a quiz show known as Oha Star.

In the PAL regions, Donkey Kong Country Vol. 1 (released in Australia) and Donkey Kong Country - Bad Hair Day (released in the United Kingdom) were released on DVD. The other two DVDs, Donkey Kong Country: Hooray for Holly Kongo Bongo and Donkey Kong Country: The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights (both released in Australia) only held one episode. After over three years of no new English DVD, I Spy With My Hairy Eye was released in the United Kingdom in 2008.

In 2013, Phase 4 Films, a small Canadian low-budget film company, officially purchased the rights to license and distribute the series for a DVD release in Region 1 along with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and started releasing episodes beginning with the He Came, He Saw, He Kong-quered DVD that was released on August 20. The Complete First Season was then released on DVD in Region 1 on May 12, 2015.[12][13]

In 2017, Pidax Film has gotten the distribution rights in Germany to release all 14 episodes of Season 2 on DVD with English and German dubbing audio included. Germany still has yet to get the release of the first season.

As of 2023, the show is now added on the Tubi streaming service as well with Pluto TV, but the first two seasons are available on Freevee and on Amazon Video with advertisements.

The episodes of the show are all available for subscription on iTunes and on the Amazon Prime's Ameba channel.

Thirty-nine out of 40 episodes are available on Nelvana's Retro Rerun YouTube channel.

NameRelease dateEpisodesRegionAdditional information
The Legend of the Crystal Coconut (English)
Donkey Kong Country: La Légende de la noix de coco en cristal (French)		1999 (Canada)
November 9, 1999 (USA)		4VHSIncludes Legend of the Crystal Coconut, Bug a Boogie, Ape-Nesia, and Booty and the Beast edited together in a feature-length format. A French dub release for Canada was also released.
Donkey Kong Le Film!TBA4VHSFrench dubbed version of the Legend of the Crystal Coconut compilation feature, release for France.
ドンキーコング Vol. 1 (Donkey Kong Vol. 1)June 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 1-3 (Bad Hair Day, Ape Foo Young and Booty and the Beast).
ドンキーコング Vol. 2 (Donkey Kong Vol. 2)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 4-6 (Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel, Kong for a Day and Raiders of the Lost Banana).
ドンキーコング Vol. 3 (Donkey Kong Vol. 3)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 7-9 (From Zero to Hero, Buried Treasure and Cranky's Tickle Tonic).
ドンキーコング Vol. 4 (Donkey Kong Vol. 4)August 19, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 10-12 (Orangutango, Double Date Trouble and The Curse of Kongo Bongo).
ドンキーコング Vol.5 (Donkey Kong Vol. 5)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 13-15 (Speed, Get a Life, Don't Save One and The Big Chill Out).
ドンキーコング Vol.6 (Donkey Kong Vol. 6)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 16-18 (To the Moon Baboon, I Spy with My Hairy Eye and Klump's Lumps).
ドンキーコング Vol.7 (Donkey Kong Vol. 7)October 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 19-21 (Kong Fu, Bluster's Sale Ape-Stravaganza and Legend of the Crystal Coconut).
ドンキーコング Vol.8 (Donkey Kong Vol. 8)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 22-24 (Watch the Skies, Bug a Boogie and Baby Kong Blues).
ドンキーコング Vol.9 (Donkey Kong Vol. 9)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 25-27 (Ape-Nesia, A Thin Line Between Love & Ape and The Day the Island Stood Still).
ドンキーコング Vol.10 (Donkey Kong Vol. 10)December 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 28-30 (Hooray for Holly-Kongo Bongo, The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights and Speak No Evil, Dude).
ドンキーコング Vol.11 (Donkey Kong Vol. 11)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 31-33 (Monkey Seer, Monkey Do, Four Weddings and a Coconut and Vote of Kong-Fidence).
ドンキーコング Vol.12 (Donkey Kong Vol. 12)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 34-36 (Follow That Coconut, The Big Switch-A-Roo and Hunka Hunka Burnin' Bluster).
ドンキーコング Vol.13 (Donkey Kong Vol. 13)3VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 37-39 (Best of Enemies, Just Kidding and It's a Wonderful Life).
Donkey Kong Country - Vol. 1TBA44Includes Hooray for Holly-Kongo Bongo, The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights, Speak No Evil, Dude and The Day the Island Stood Still.
The Kongo Bongo Festival of LightsTBA24Includes The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights and Hooray for Holly-Kongo Bongo.
Speak No Evil, DudeTBA24Includes Speak No Evil, Dude and The Day the Island Stood Still.
Monkey Seer, Monkey DoTBA24Includes Monkey Seer, Monkey Do and Four Weddings and a Coconut.
Bad Hair DayJune 6, 200542Includes Bad Hair Day, Ape Foo Young, Booty and the Beast and Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel.
I Spy with My Hairy EyeJune 9, 200832Includes I Spy with My Hairy Eye, Baby Kong Blues and The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights.
Raiders of the Lost BananaAugust 3, 200952Includes Raiders of the Lost Banana, Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel, Kong for a Day, From Zero to Hero and Buried Treasure.
He Came, He Saw, He Kong-queredAugust 20, 201341Includes Bad Hair Day, Ape Foo Young, Booty and the Beast and Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel.
Raiders of the Lost BananaOctober 1, 201341Includes Raiders of the Lost Banana, Kong for a Day, From Zero to Hero and Buried Treasure.
Kong FuJanuary 21, 201441Includes Kong Fu, Get a Life, Don't Save One, Cranky's Tickle Tonic and Orangutango.
The Legend of the Crystal CoconutMarch 11, 201441Includes Legend of the Crystal Coconut, Bluster's Sale Ape-Stravaganza, Klump's Lumps and Speed.
The Complete First SeasonMay 12, 2015261Includes all 26 episodes from season 1.
The Complete Second SeasonTBA141Includes all 14 episodes from season 2.

Legacy

The show had a large line of merchandise in Japan, including a manga and collectible card game featuring drawings of characters—some of which never appeared in the series. The card game was later adapted to be based on Donkey Kong 64.

"Pirate's Scorn", a song from the episode "Booty and the Beast", was covered by Scottish heavy metal band Alestorm in their Curse of the Crystal Coconut album. This cover of Pirate's Scorn was also included in DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut, an animated fan tribute to the show.[14] Additionally, the album artwork contains several nods to the Donkey Kong video game franchise.[15]

Benedict Campbell, Adrian Truss, Ron Rubin, and Richard Yearwood—the English voices of King K. Rool, General Klump, Kaptain Skurvy, and Donkey Kong, respectively—reprised their roles in DKC: Return to Krocodile Isle, an animated short made by fans of the series.[16][17]

In the Nintendo Switch version of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, the "banana slamma" catchphrase is used in one of Tawks' lines when visiting Funky's Fly 'n Buy while playing as Funky Kong, paying an homage to the animated series.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Solomon, Charles (1 June 1999). "An Emmy Awards Debate: What Makes 'Donkey Kong' Run?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Nelvana wraps up annual general meeting". Playback Online.
  3. ↑ "RS-Doublage".
  4. ↑ "Planète Jeunesse - Donkey Kong". planete-jeunesse.com. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  5. ↑ Street, Rita (1998). Computer Animation: A Whole New World. Rockport Publishers. p. 88. ISBN 1-56496-377-2.
  6. ↑ Street, Rita (1998). Computer Animation: A Whole New World. Rockport Publishers. p. 94. ISBN 1-56496-377-2.
  7. ↑ Street, Rita (1998). Computer Animation: A Whole New World. Rockport Publishers. p. 93. ISBN 1-56496-377-2.
  8. ↑ Street, Rita (1998). Computer Animation: A Whole New World. Rockport Publishers. p. 95. ISBN 1-56496-377-2.
  9. ↑ "Fox Kids Saturday Morning Lineups (1998-1999) The Kids Block Blog". wordpress.com. 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  10. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 277–278. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  11. ↑ "Donkey Kong Country: The Legend Of The Crystal Coconut - Your VHS Collector". vhscollector.com. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  12. ↑ "Amazon.com Donkey Kong Country: He Came, He Saw, He Kong-quered". Amazon. July 2016. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  13. ↑ "Amazon.com: Donkey Kong Country: Season 1". Amazon. July 2016. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  14. ↑ Devore, Jordan (September 15, 2021). "DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut is an inspired animated tribute to Donkey Kong Country". Destructoid. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  15. ↑ Craddock, Ryan (June 4, 2020). "Random: Pirate Metal Band Alestorm's Latest Album Features Several Donkey Kong References". Nintendo Life. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  16. ↑ rawmeatcowboy (May 8, 2023). "Fan-made Donkey Kong Country short brings back actors from the animated series". GoNintendo. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  17. ↑ Reynolds, Ollie (May 10, 2023). "Random: OG Donkey Kong Country TV Series Cast Reunites For Animated Short". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  18. ↑ Olney, Alex (April 25, 2018). "Video: Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze's New Easter Egg is Only On Switch". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
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