Donkey Kong Country (TV series)

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Donkey Kong Country
Genre	Animation
Creator(s)	Jacques Goldstein Philippe Percebois
Starring	Andrew Sabiston Aron Tager Richard Yearwood Joy Tanner Damon D' Oliveira Ben Campbell Len Carlson Ron Rubin Frank Welker Neil Ross Adrian Truss Donald Burda Louise Vallance Andy Hamielton
Country of origin	France
No. of episodes	40
Production
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	France 2
Original run	US: August 15, 1998 – July 7, 2000
Links
IMDb profile

Donkey Kong Country is a computer-generated animated television series based on the successful Nintendo franchise Donkey Kong as portrayed in the Donkey Kong Country video game series by Rare. The series was created by French studio France 2 and originally titled, La Planète Donkey Kong. It first aired in France on September 4, 1996; it premiered late in North America on August 15, 1998. The series won in 1999 a (public voted) award at 7 d'Or for Best Animation and Youth Program (Meilleure émission d'animation et de jeunesse).

The show begins by portraying Donkey Kong, a regular ape in the jungle who happens to stumble upon a magic coconut called the Crystal Coconut that summons (at Donkey's command) a pile of magic bananas. After Donkey and his friends consume the bananas, they are granted with increased intelligence and strength, enabling them to defeat enemies such as King K. Rool and Kaptain Skurvy, who wish to possess the Crystal Coconut for themselves.

A few episodes were released in North America on a single VHS cassette titled, Donkey Kong Country: The Legend of the Crystal Coconut and was marketed as a feature length film. In the DVDs Donkey Kong Country Vol.1 (Released in Australia) and Donkey Kong Country - Bad Hair Day (Released in the United Kingdom) they also put a few episodes. The other two DVDs, Donkey Kong Country: Hooray for Holly Kongo Bongo and Donkey Kong Country: The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights (Both were released in Australia) only held one episode.

Donkey Kong Country was one of the earlier television series to be computer-animated to match the artistic style of the Rare video game series, and garnered critical acclaim in France and Japan but only marginal success in the West. Several elements of the series appeared in later Donkey Kong Country video games such as Donkey Kong 64, which was released a year after the show had started airing on Fox Family.

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

Contents 1 Characters 1.1 Characters From the Games 1.2 Characters exclusive to the show 2 Episodes 3 Voice actors 3.1 Guest stars 4 External links

[edit] Characters

[edit] Characters From the Games

These characters all came from Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (mostly the former, though). However, some of them went through some design changes.

• Donkey Kong - The show's titular character, and the future ruler of Kongo Bongo Island. Voiced by Richard Yearwood.
• Diddy Kong - DK's sidekick and his "favorite nephew." Voiced by Andrew Sabiston, who had earlier voiced Yoshi in Super Mario World. But the show makes no reference to their relation. DK just always refers to him as his "little buddy".
• Cranky Kong - DK's grandfather, who often mixes potions. He is able to use the Crystal Coconut to show up as a hologram whenever he needs to alert DK. The show makes no mention of how he and DK are related, or of his days in the arcade games, nor does he refer to him as "Pappy" or "Dad".
• Candy Kong - DK's girlfriend. She is much less passive than in the games, and even has a different design to match. Part of her design for the show was mixed with her old game design for Donkey Kong 64. Voiced by Joy Tanner.
• Funky Kong - The resident airport manager. He looks as he did in the first game, but has tan fur instead of brown.
• Dixie Kong - Diddy's unofficial girlfriend, and the only character on the show directly from the second Country. Like Candy, her design differs a bit (but not as much), and she also has been given tan fur like Funky. Ironically, while Candy is less passive than in the games, unfortunately Dixie isn't quite as dynamic, as she doesn't get much action. She also has a habit of losing her pets.
• King K. Rool - The main villain of the series, always attempting to steal the Crystal Coconut and take over the island. His physical appearance changes are that he's got a beer belly, he's lacking a tail, and that his cape is much shorter. His trademark eye tic is also absent (but his facial expressions will sometimes incorporate the tic). Voiced by Ben Campbell.
• Krusha - K. Rool's bodyguard. He has the IQ of a young child and enjoys watching the Sing Along with Uncle Swampy Show.
• Klump - K. Rool's general. He often carries out his boss's plans, but without success. Voiced by Len Carlson, who had earlier voiced Ganon in The Legend of Zelda.
• Kritters - Basically described as K. Rool's answer to Bowser's Koopa Troopas. They look as they did in the first game, but are armed with Klap-Blasters.
• Klaptraps - Klaptraps like to eat wooden surfaces in the manner of termites. They are fired out of Klap-Blasters by the Kritters and usually give comments on whatever they are eating.

[edit] Characters exclusive to the show

These characters appeared only in the show, and did not appear in any games.

• Bluster Kong - The boss of the Bluster Barrelworks factory, where barrels are produced. He has an ego the size of Texas and constantly hits on Candy (his lone employee), unsuccessfully.
• Junior the Giant Klaptrap - As his name suggests, he is an abnormally large Klaptrap (about Diddy's size).
• Polly Roger the Parrot - Formerly the pet parrot of Kaptain Skurvy, Polly Roger now works for K. Rool. He and Klump do not get along well.
• Baby Kong - Donkey Kong's nephew. Not to be confused with Kiddy Kong from Donkey Kong Country 3.
• Robot Candy Clone - A robot look-alike of Candy created by K. Rool to lure DK into certain traps.
• Kaptain Skurvy - A secondary villain for the series, and a pirate-themed one. His design resembles Kannon from the second Country game, and it has even been revealed that he is Klump's long lost older brother.
• Kutlass and Green Kroc - Skurvy's minions, the former of whom shares a name with one of the enemies from the second game. Green Kroc, despite his name, resembles a black Kritter, whereas Kutlass looks like a lighter-shaded K. Rool.
• Eddie the Mean Old Yeti - A white-furred ape who lives alone in the White Mountains. He doesn't seem to like it when other characters intrude on his territory. He is possibly based on Manky Kong from Donkey Kong Country.
• Inka Dinka Doo - The temple god from where the Crystal Coconut came. It was he who selected DK to be the future ruler. He appears as a stone column on which expressions on featured. This stone block turns around to show the expression that matches his current mood. Hidden deep within his temple is the Golden Banana, an item reputed to have magical powers so great, they rival those of the Crystal Coconut.
• Kong Fu - In a challenge to decide who the ruler of Kongo Bongo will be, K. Rool enlists the help of this martial arts master to help him win. He clearly has the advantage over DK in the Mind and Body challenges, but lost the challenge of the Heart due to DK's refusal to hit him while he was afraid of the dark during a solar eclipse. He forfeited when he overheard K. Rool and his goons saying how big of a sissy he was for being scared of the dark.

[edit] Episodes

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. The 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 and Ape
27. Hooray For Holly-Kongo Bongo
28. The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights
29. Speak No Evil, Dude
30. The Day The Island Stood Still
31. Monkey Seer, Monkey Do
32. Four Weddings And A Coconut
33. Follow That Coconut
34. Vote of Kong-Fidence
35. The Big Switch-A-Roo
36. Hunka Hunka Burnin' Bluster
37. Best of Enemies
38. It's a Wonderful Life
39. Just Kidding
40. Message in a Bottle Show

[edit] Voice actors

Character	English VA	Japanese VA
Donkey Kong	Richard Yearwood	Kōichi Yamadera
Diddy Kong	Andrew Sabiston	Megumi Hayashibara
Cranky Kong	Aron Tager	Ryūsei Nakao
Candy Kong	Joy Tanner	Mika Kanai
Bluster Kong	Donald Burda	Daiki Nakamura
Funky Kong	Damon D'Oliveira	Banana Ice
Dixie Kong	Louise Vallance	Becky
K. Rool	Ben Campbell	Jūrōta Kosugi
Klump	Len Carlson; Neil Ross	Keīchi Sonobe
Krusha	Ron Rubin; Frank Welker	Tomohisa Asō
Kritter	Lawrence Bayne	N/A
Polly Roger the Parrot	Charles Adler	Motoko Kumai
Eddie the Mean Old Yeti	Adrian Truss	Kenyu Horiuchi
Inka Dinka Doo	Rick Jones	Tomohisa Asō

[edit] Guest stars

• Junior the Giant Klaptrap: Andrew Sabiston
• Baby Kong/Robot Candy: Joy Tanner
• Kaptain Skurvy: Neil Ross
• Kutlass: John Stocker
• Green Kroc: Dan Hennessey

[edit] External links

• La Planète Donkey Kong at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
• Donkey Kong Country at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
• List of Japanese products based on the series
• Official list of Japanese card game based on the series
• Donkey Kong Country at TV.com
• Donkey Kong Country at Retro Junk