Danger Island

 Hail and well met! I offer a Toast And Salute for your timely return!

So, I was trying to track down an old Matinee serial from 1931 called "Danger Island".  Couldn't find it.  Turns out it is considered one of several "lost" serial talkies who have at least one chapter's reel of sound or audio deteriorated beyond salvage.  This is sad, but not really the subject of our little discussion today.

You see, during my research I found another "Danger Island", a live-action cliffhanger serial produced by--now get this--Hanna-Barbera!

You read that correctly!  Back in, like, 1968 I think it was, Hanna-Barbera produced "The Banana Splitz Adventure Hour", hosted by live action costume versions of their cartoon bubblegum rock band, the Banana Splitz!  

I used to watch reruns of this show way back in my misspent youth, but I can't really remember much about the show.  Ok, I don't really remember anything about the show.  I remember the Banana Splitz, they were kinda like sport mascots or Disneyland characters.  And I remember about two lines from their theme song, "The Tra-La-La Song".  

Apparently they hosted different cartoons and performed little sketches on the show.  From what I've been reading online, it was intended as a "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" style show, with lots of short clips edited together, but directed at small children.  But I have to take their word on this, cuz I don't really don't remember.

Anyway, one of the regular features was a cliffhanger serial called "Danger Island"!  It was shown in five minute episodes over about 35 episodes of the Banana Splitz.  And some stalwart fellow on YouTube has edited all these episodes together into a movie that's two hours and twenty minutes long!

Well, of course I watched it!

This thing is totally a Hanna-Barbera adventure cartoon done in live action!  It's VERY Johnny Quest-esque, with some moments of frivolous cartoon slapstick for the kids.  Hoo-boy!

So, there's Dr. Irwin Hayden, out on a boat looking for relics to help prove his theory that the Egyptians and the Phoenicians were somehow connected to the Aztecs.  He is on a boat "somewhere in the South Pacific" with his teenage daughter, Lesley, and his young assistant, Link.  By the way, this guy Link is played by a young fellow named Micheal Vincent, who would go on to become Jan-Micheal Vincent, probably best known from the TV show "Airwolf"!  Of course, he was also in the movie "Damnation Alley".  ...He is also the ONLY actor I recognized in the whole show!

Dr. Hayden's brother disappeared somewhere in this area of the Pacific, just a few short years ago.  He was searching for the Lost City of Tabana, to prove the whole ancient civilization theory.  

Unfortunately, our heroes are beset by a rather inept group of pirates, who believe they are hiding treasure and can lead them to even more.  Shenanigans ensue and our hapless heroes get stranded on an island where they are befriended by Morgan and Chongo, who have been castaways here ever since they were betrayed by the same pirates over a year prior.  They all team up.

Hot on the trail of Dr. Hayden's missing brother, they find a map that should lead them to the Lost City!  However, they are chased by pirates, three different tribes of natives, lions, leopards, and crocodiles, oh my!  

Overall, the story wasn't bad, but you can tell that it was written to entertain very small children.  The concept may have been inspired by things like Johnny Quest, but our three main characters together are not as competent of Johnny's dog, Bandit!  In fact, if they hadn't hooked up with Morgan, they would never have made it!  Chongo is the weird/comic relief character, he cannot speak and communicates solely through bird calls, animal sounds, and other assorted noises, like many cartoon characters before him.  I'm not gonna lie, it quickly got kinda annoying.

I didn't actually look it up, but I have NO trouble believing that this was cooked up by the same writers who worked on things like Johnny Quest and Scooby-Doo.  Even the music was stock stuff that I recognized from Johnny Quest and the Herculoids.  I was surprised to see that it was directed by none other than Richard Donner!  Yes, the SAME Richard Donner who directed Christopher Reeve in "Superman"!  The same Richard Donner who directed "The Goonies", "Ladyhawke", "Maverick", and the "Lethal Weapon" series!  Hey, he hadn't done any of those yet and ya gotta start someplace!

I know I sound really negative, but I don't mean to.  I realize that I no longer fit into the demographic that was the intended audience.  And again, the story wasn't BAD, just...juvenile.

Again, I know I used to watch the Banana Splits when I was a kid, and I don't remember this at all.  Now I've watched the whole thing, and I still don't remember seeing it before!  ...I don't know, maybe I was better off!

If you are interested in seeing it, all the individual five-minutes episodes appear to be on YouTube.  And, as I said, some brave soul edited them all together into a single feature nearly two-and-a-half hours long (I watched in two installments...I just had to!).  A simple search will find it.  I don't know of anywhere to watch entire episodes of the Banana Splitz, sorry!

I'll try to find something I like better to talk about next time!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell