The King Kong Show

Japanese-American-Canadian animated series

The King Kong Show

Title card

Also known as| King Kong
Japanese name
Kanji| キングコング00+1⁄7親指トム
| Transcriptions

Revised Hepburn| Kingu Kongu 00+1⁄7 Oyayubi Tomu
Genre| Science fiction comedy
Kaiju
Based on| King Kong
by Merian C. Cooper
Voices of| Carl Banas
Susan Conway
John Drainie
Billie Mae Richards
Alf Scopp
Paul Soles
Bernard Cowan
Theme music composer| Maury Laws
Country of origin| United States
Canada
Japan
Original languages| English
Japanese
No. of seasons| 1
No. of episodes| 25
Production
Executive producers| Arthur Rankin Jr.
Jules Bass
Producers| William J. Keenan
Larry Roemer
Running time| 28 minutes (regular episodes)
56 minutes (special episode)
Production companies| Videocraft International
Toei Animation
Original release
Network| ABC (United States)
NET (Japan)
Release| September 6, 1966 (1966-09-06) –
March 4, 1967 (1967-03-04)

King Kong (キングコング00+1⁄7親指トム, Kingu Kongu 00+1⁄7 Oyayubi Tomu), commonly referred to as The King Kong Show, is an animated television series produced by Videocraft International and Toei Animation. ABC ran the series in the United States on Saturday mornings between September 6, 1966, and March 4, 1967.[1] It is the first animated series produced in Japan for an American company (not counting Rankin/Bass' previous Animagic stop motion productions, which were also animated in Japan).[2]

This series is an animated adaptation of the famous film monster King Kong with character designs by Jack Davis and Rod Willis. It is also the first animated series in the King Kong franchise.

## Plot summary

[edit]

Title card for the King Kong segment of the series

In this series, the giant ape named Kong befriends the Bond family, with whom he goes on various adventures, fighting monsters, robots, aliens, mad scientists and other threats.[3] Unlike his counterpart from original 1933 film, Kong is a protector of humanity.[4]

### Tom of T.H.U.M.B.

[edit]

Title card for the Tom of T.H.U.M.B. segment of the series

Included with King Kong is Tom of T.H.U.M.B., a parody of spy films of the 1960s called Tom of T.H.U.M.B. (based on the character in English folklore 'Tom Thumb'), about a secret agent for T.H.U.M.B. (the Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau) named Tom and his Asian sidekick Swinging Jack, who are accidentally reduced by a shrinking laser ray gun to 3 in (76 mm) tall.[5] The pair are sent out in a variety of miniature vehicles by their bad-tempered boss Chief Homer J. Chief to foil the fiendish plots of M.A.D. (Maladjusted, Anti-social and Darn mean), an evil organization made up of black-hatted and black-cloaked scientists "bent on destroying the world for their own gains".

## Cast and characters

[edit]

* King Kong is the titular giant ape. Kong was discovered on Mondo Island (sometimes known as Skull Island) by Bobby Bond, whom he saved from being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex. He saved Bond family from other disasters afterward. Since then, he has become the family's mascot and a hero.
* Professor Carl Bond (voiced by Bernard Cowan) is the head and father of the Bond family. He is the basis for Rhodes Reason's character Commander Carl Nelson in King Kong Escapes.
* Susan Bond (voiced by Susan Conway) is Carl's teenage daughter. She is somewhat perplexed by Bobby and Kong's friendship and always the one that knows what Who is up to, Her fear is dreaming about snakes. She is the basis for Linda Jo Miller's character Susan Watson in King Kong Escapes.
* Bobby Bond (voiced by Billie Mae Richards) is Carl's young son and Kong's closest companion. Bobby is saved by Kong from being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex and they are friends since then.
* Captain Englehorn (voiced by Carl Banas) is Carl's ship captain and a friend to the family. He is based on the character of the same name from the original 1933 King Kong film and its sequel.
* Dr. Who (voiced by Paul Soles) is a bald, big-headed, and bespectacled mad scientist who wants to capture Kong and use him for his own evil schemes. Despite his name, he has no relation to Doctor Who. He is the basis for Hideyo Amamoto's character of the same name in King Kong Escapes.
* Mechani-Kong is a mecha modeled after Kong, invented by Who, who operates it via a control room in the mecha's head. Neither the Bonds nor Englehorn ever knows (or even figure out) that Who invented it. It appears in two King Kong segments, "MechaniKong" (the second King Kong segment from episode 10) and "Anchors Away" (the second King Kong segment from episode 25). Each segment features a different version of Mechani-Kong. It is also Kong's archenemy in King Kong Escapes.

## Crew

[edit]

* Producer – William J. Keenan
* Executive Producers – Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass
* Associate Producer – Larry Roemer
* Music/Lyrics – Maury Laws, Jules Bass
* Recording Supervisor – Bernard Cowan
* Sound/Effects – Bill Giles, Stephen Frohock, Bill Dowding, Frederick Tudor
* Animation Production – Toei Studios
* Character Designs – Jack Davis, Rod Willis
* Animation Continuity – Don Duga
* Story Editor – Cherney Berg

## List of episodes

[edit]

Starting with the second episode, each episode begins with a six-minute King Kong segment, followed by a six-minute Tom of T.H.U.M.B. segment, and then a second six-minute King Kong segment.

1. "King Kong" (December 31, 1966; 56-minute long pilot episode). In American syndication, the episode was split into two parts, which were titled "A Friend in Need" and "The Key to the City".

2. "Under the Volcano" / "For the Last Time, Feller...I'm Not Bait!" / "The Treasure Trap"
3. "The Horror of Mondo Island" / "Hey, That Was A Close One World!" / "Dr. Who"
4. "Rocket Island" / "I Was A 9+1⁄2 oz. Weakling 'Till One Day..." / "The African Bees"
5. "The Hunter" / "I Was A Starling for the USA!" / "The Space Men"
6. "The Jinx of the Sphinx" / "Cool Nerves and...Steady Hands" / "The Greeneyed Monster"
7. "The Top of the World" / "All Guys from Outer Space are Creeps" / "The Golden Temple"
8. "The Electric Circle" / "Mechanical Granma" / "Mirror of Destruction"
9. "Tiger Tiger" / "The Day We Almost Had It" / "The Vise of Dr. Who"
10. "King Kong's House" / "Tom Makes History" / "MechaniKong"
11. "The Giant Sloths" / "Tom Scores Again" / "The Legend of Loch Ness"
12. "Dr. Bone" / "Blow, Jack, Blow!" / "No Man's Snowman"
13. "The Desert Pirates" / "Tom and the TV Pirates" / "Command Performance"
14. "The Sea Surrounds Us" / "The Girl from M.A.D." / "Show Biz"
15. "The Wizard of Overlord" / "Just One of Those Nights" / "Perilous Porpoise"
16. "The Trojan Horse" / "Runt of 1,000 Faces" / "The Man from K.O.N.G."
17. "Caribbean Cruise" / "Hello, Dollies!" / "Diver's Dilemma"
18. "The Great Sun Spots" / "Pardner" / "Kong is Missing"
19. "In the Land of the Giant Trees" / "Beans is Beans" / "Captain Kong"
20. "Statue of Liberty Play" / "What Goes Up..." / "Pandora's Box"
21. "Thousand Year Knockout" / "Our Man, the Monster" / "Desert City"
22. "Eagle Squadron" / "Never Trust A Clam" / "The Kong of Stone"
23. "Murderer's Maze" / "Drop that Ocean, Feller" / "The Great Gold Strike"
24. "It Wasn't There Again Today" / "Plug that Leak" / "The Mad Whale"
25. "King Kong Diamond" / "The Scooby" / "Anchors Away"

## Music

[edit]

The theme music for the series was recorded in London, England, in 1965, using primarily British studio musicians. Canadian conductor, vocalist and former Kitchener-Waterloo Record entertainment columnist Harry Currie provided vocal talent on the recording.

## Release

[edit]

In Japan, the first two episodes were combined into a 56-minute special, titled King of the World: The King Kong Show (世界の王者 キングコング大会, Sekai no Ōja: Kingu Kongu Taikai), and was broadcast on NET (now TV Asahi) on December 31, 1966. The rest of the series, with the inclusion of Tom of T.H.U.M.B., was broadcast on NET as King Kong & 00+1⁄7 Tom Thumb (キングコング00+1⁄7親指トム, Kingu Kongu 00+1⁄7 Oyayubi Tomu), and aired from April 5 to October 4, 1967, with a total of 25 episodes.

On November 15, 2005, Sony Wonder released the first eight episodes (two King Kong cartoons separated by a Tom of T.H.U.M.B. cartoon) on two DVD releases titled King Kong: The Animated Series Volume 1 and King Kong: The Animated Series Volume 2. The pilot episode was included, in its two parts for American syndication, between the two DVDs.

## Reception

[edit]

In the 2007 book Comics Gone Ape! The Missing Link to Primates in Comics, comics historian Michael Eury writes: "The Rankin/Bass King Kong was an early case of identity theft, where the Kong name was appropriated (fully under license) to describe a new character that, at best, only remotely resembled his namesake. This was Kong done wrong".[6]

## Legacy

[edit]

This series, in spite of the lukewarm reception, was successful enough for Rankin/Bass to extend the Kong franchise to another Japanese company, Toho (which had already produced the hit film King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962). This resulted in two films: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (originally intended to be a Kong film, with Godzilla exhibiting some of Kong's traits) and King Kong Escapes, which was based on The King Kong Show.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Aiken, Keith (December 20, 2008). "King Kong Cartoon Series Guide". SciFi Japan. Archived from the original on June 22, 2025. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 477–478\. ISBN 978-1476665993.
3. ^ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. pp. 164–165\. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
4. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 342–343\. ISBN 978-1538103739.
5. ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 250\. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
6. ^ Eury, Michael (2007). Comics Gone Ape! The Missing Link to Primates in Comics. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 33\. ISBN 978-1893905627.

## External links

[edit]

* The King Kong Show overview—an in-depth Japanese website about the series
* Sekai no Ôja · King Kong Daikai in Animemorial (the Japanese name of the pilot episode)
* King Kong · 001 / 7 Oyayubi Tom in Animemorial (contains Japanese episode list, cast and staff)
* "The King Kong Show"—an in-depth article about the series, featuring rare shots of various merchandise and tie-ins related to the series (French website)
* "SciFi Japan King Kong Cartoon Series Guide". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2008-12-22—an in-depth article about the series
* King Kong at IMDb
* King Kong - 00 1/7 Tom Thumb (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
* allcinema キングコング

* v
* t
* e

King Kong

Characters|

* King Kong
* Monsterverse
* Carl Denham
* Jack Driscoll
* Godzilla
* Monsterverse

American films|

| Live action|

* King Kong (1933)
* Son of Kong (1933)
* King Kong (1976)
* King Kong Lives (1986)
* King Kong (2005)
* Kong: Skull Island (2017)
* Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
* Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
* Godzilla x Kong: Supernova (2027)

|

Animated|

* The Mighty Kong (1998)

Japanese films|

| Toho Co., Ltd|

* King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
* King Kong Escapes (1967)

|

Unauthorized/lost|

* Wasei Kingu Kongu (1933)
* The King Kong That Appeared in Edo (1938)

Related films|

* The Lost World (1925)
* Ingagi (1930)
* Creation (1931, unfinished)
* Mighty Joe Young (1949)
* Konga (1961)
* The Mighty Gorga (1969)
* Mighty Joe Young (1998)
* Ready Player One (2018)
* Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Television|

* The King Kong Show (1966–1969)
* Kong: The Animated Series (2000–2001)
* Kong: King of the Apes (2016–2018)
* Skull Island (2023)

Stage|

* King Kong (2013)

Attractions|

* Kong (1972; rebuilt 2015)
* King Kong Encounter (1986)
* Kongfrontation (1990)
* King Kong: 360 3-D (2010)
* Skull Island: Reign of Kong (2016)

Video games|

* King Kong (1982)
* King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch (1986)
* King Kong 2: Yomigaeru Densetsu (1986)
* Konami Wai Wai World (1988)
* Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (2005)
* Skull Island: Rise of Kong (2023)

Related|

* King Kong in popular culture
* Comics
* King Kong statue
* Skull Island
* Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.
* King Kong vs. Tarzan
* Monsterverse
* Godzilla (franchise)
* Tarzan and Jane, "Return of the King" (2018)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Rankin/Bass Productions

* Arthur Rankin Jr.
* Jules Bass

Television specials|

* Return to Oz
* Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
* The Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show
* The Ballad of Smokey the Bear
* Cricket on the Hearth
* The Mouse on the Mayflower
* The Little Drummer Boy
* Frosty the Snowman
* The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians
* Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
* Here Comes Peter Cottontail
* The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes
* Mad Mad Mad Monsters
* Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid
* The Red Baron
* That Girl in Wonderland
* 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
* The Year Without a Santa Claus
* The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
* The First Easter Rabbit
* Frosty's Winter Wonderland
* Rudolph's Shiny New Year
* The Little Drummer Boy, Book II
* The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town
* The Hobbit
* Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
* The Stingiest Man in Town
* Jack Frost
* The Return of the King
* Pinocchio's Christmas
* The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold
* The Flight of Dragons
* The Coneheads
* The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
* The Wind in the Willows
* Santa, Baby!

Feature films|

* Willy McBean and His Magic Machine
* The Daydreamer
* The Wacky World of Mother Goose
* Mad Monster Party?
* King Kong Escapes
* Marco
* The Last Dinosaur
* The Bermuda Depths
* Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
* The Bushido Blade
* The Ivory Ape
* The Last Unicorn
* The Sins of Dorian Gray
* The King and I

Television series|

* The New Adventures of Pinocchio
* Tales of the Wizard of Oz
* The King Kong Show
* The Smokey Bear Show
* The Tomfoolery Show
* The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show
* The Jackson 5ive Show
* The Osmonds
* Kid Power
* Festival of Family Classics
* ThunderCats
* SilverHawks
* The Comic Strip
* TigerSharks

See also|

* Best Christmas Ever
* 25 Days of Christmas
* Filmography
* Elf

* v
* t
* e

Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1960s

First-run
animated series|

* Rocky and His Friends (1959–1973)
* The New Casper Cartoon Show (1963–1970)
* Hoppity Hooper (1964–1967)
* The Beatles (1965–1969)
* The Porky Pig Show
* Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
* Milton the Monster (1965–1968)
* The King Kong Show (1966–1969)
* The Fantastic Four (1967–1970)
* Spider-Man (1967–1970)
* Journey to the Center of the Earth (1967–1969)
* George of the Jungle (1967–1970)
* The Adventures of Gulliver (1968–1970)
* Fantastic Voyage (1968–1970)
* The Smokey Bear Show (1969-1970)
* The Cattanooga Cats Show (1969–1971)
* Hot Wheels (1969–1971)
* The Hardy Boys (1969–1971)
* Skyhawks (1969–1971)

First-run
live-action series|

* Lunch with Soupy Sales (1959–1961)
* The Magic Land of Allakazam (1962–1964)
* Discovery (1962–1971)
* American Bandstand (1957–1987)
* Shenanigans (1964–1965)

Rebroadcasts|

* Top Cat (1962–1963)
* The Bugs Bunny Show (1962–1968)
* My Friend Flicka
* The Jetsons (1962–1964)
* Beany and Cecil (1962–1988)
* Buffalo Bill, Jr.
* Annie Oakley
* The Magilla Gorilla Show
* Linus the Lionhearted (1966–1969)

Related|

* Golden age of American animation
* Animation in the United States in the television era

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