Donkey Kong Country (TV series)

Updated on Oct 06, 2024

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Donkey Kong Country is a Canadian/French computer-animated television series. It is based on the Nintendo franchise Donkey Kong as portrayed in the Donkey Kong Country video game series by Nintendo and Rare. Donkey Kong Country first aired in France on September 4, 1996; and aired on Teletoon in Canada in 1997. In the United States, the Fox Broadcasting Company got exclusive broadcast rights to the series. It was seen on Fox Kids from 1998-1999 for a very short time airing two episodes as specials on December 19 of 1998 and aired a few more episodes during the summer of 1999 before being taken off. It was also one of the first series to be shown on Fox Family, in which the series was broadcast in its entirety from August 15, 1998 (the same day Fox Family was launched) until 2000.

In Japan, Donkey Kong Country took over the TV Tokyo 6:30 p.m. timeslot from Gokudo airing on October 1, 1999, and was later replaced with Hamtaro after ending on June 30, 2000.

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Donkey Kong Country was one of the earliest television series to be entirely computer-animated with motion capture, matching the artistic style of the video games. Several elements of the series, such as the crystal coconut, appeared in later Donkey Kong Country video games like Donkey Kong 64, which was released a year after the show began airing on Fox.

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Main from the games

These characters all came from Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (mostly the former). 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. His singing voice was provided by Sterling Jarvis.

Diddy Kong - DK's sidekick and buddy, voiced by Andrew Sabiston, who had earlier voiced Yoshi in Super Mario World.

Cranky Kong - DK's mentor, 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, which he frequently mentions in the game series as a form of meta-reference. He is voiced by Aron Tager.

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. She is 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. He is voiced by Damon D'Oliveira.

Dixie Kong - Diddy's unofficial girlfriend, and the only character on the show who originated in Donkey Kong Country 2. 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, Dixie isn't quite as dynamic, as she is not given much attention. She also has a habit of losing her pets. She is voiced by Louise Vallance.

King K. Rool - The main villain of the series, always attempting to steal the Crystal Coconut and take over the island. His only noticeable change in physical appearance is that his cape is much shorter. He is voiced by Benedict Campbell and in the pilot episode by Len Carlson, who had earlier voiced Ganon in The Legend of Zelda.

Krusha - K. Rool's bodyguard. He is very childlike and enjoys watching the Sing Along with Uncle Swampy Show. He is voiced by Len Carlson.

Klump - K. Rool's general. He often carries out his boss's plans, but without success. He was voiced by Len Carlson.

Kritters - K. Rool's standard foot soldiers. They look as they did in the first game but are also armed with Klap-Blasters.

Klaptraps - Small crocodiles who 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're eating.

Exclusives to the show

These characters appeared only in the show and have not appeared in any games to date.

Bluster Kong - The boss of the Bluster Barrelworks factory, where barrels are produced. He has a huge ego and constantly hits on Candy, his lone employee, unsuccessfully. He is voiced by Donald Burda.

Junior the Giant Klaptrap - As his name suggests, he is an abnormally large Klaptrap (about Diddy's size).

Kaptain Skurvy - A secondary, pirate-themed villain for the series. His design is identical that of Kannon from the second Country game, and it has even been revealed that he is 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, the former of whom shares a name with one of the enemies from the second game.

Polly Roger the Parrot - The pet parrot of Kaptain Skurvy, Polly Roger later works for K. Rool. He and Klump do not get along well.

Baby Kong - First appeared on the show as DK after having drunk a youth potion. Confusingly, he appeared again as a separate character from DK, similar to how Baby Mario showed up as a different character from Mario in his sports games.

Robot Candy Clone - A robot look-alike of Candy created by K. Rool to lure DK into certain traps.

Kong Fu - A martial arts "Kung Fu Master" who is hired by K. Rool to defeat Donkey Kong in the Annual Donkey Kong Challenge. He only appears in one episode. His name was later used in the French version of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the boss Karate Kong.

Eddie the Mean Old Yeti - A white-furred gorilla who lives alone in the White Mountains. He doesn't seem to like it when other characters intrude on his territory.

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 are featured. This stone block turns around to show the expression that matches his current mood.

Robot Kong - Donkey Kong after exchanging minds with Bluster's robot.

Plot

Donkey Kong is an ape who happens to find a magic coconut called the Crystal Coconut, which grants wishes and is capable of answering questions asked of it. Donkey Kong is the protector of the Crystal Coconut, which is housed in Cranky Kong's Cabin. King K. Rool and his minions want to steal the Crystal Coconut from Donkey Kong and company in order to rule Kongo Bongo Island, the setting of the show. Try as they may, King K. Rool and his minions never succeed in stealing the Crystal Coconut. Each episode features two songs performed by the show's characters, and the series spanned a total of 40 episodes in two seasons.

Voice cast

Season 1 of the French version was done in Quebec, with the exception of Donkey Kong 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 afterwards, which had a new voice cast and it was done in France, with DK and Funky's voice actors reprising their character roles.

Home video releases

Over thirty Donkey Kong Country DVDs have been released with only five being in English for the longest time.

In 1999, four episodes of Donkey Kong Country 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 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. The North American version of the tape was distributed by: Paramount Pictures, Nintendo, and Nelvana.

In Japan, the TV series was very popular and proven to be successful, since the videogames 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. The Japanese dubbed version of the entire series has been released on home video through Rental VHS tapes in 2000. Nippon Columbia a record label company has released all the episodes of the series spreading through 13 volumes and each tape containing three episodes each and in consistent order of its Japanese broadcasting on TV Tokyo, with the exception of its series finale, Message in a Bottle Show was not included due to mostly being a clip episode. However, that episode was later introduced as part of another TV Tokyo program which is a quiz show known as Ohashi.

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 UK in 2008.

Finally 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 alongside with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and began releasing episodes starting off with the He Came, He Saw, He Kong-quered DVD that was released on August 20, 2013.

The episodes of the show are all available on iTunes.

Merchandise

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.

References

Donkey Kong Country (TV series) Wikipedia

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