Donkey Kong Country (TV series)

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

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

Alongside allies such as his friend and sidekick

Each episode features two songs performed by the characters.

Characters

Cast

• Donkey Kong — the strong yet steady future ruler of Kongo Bongo Island, who is tasked with guarding the Crystal Coconut. His catchphrase is "Banana Slamma".
• Diddy Kong
  — Donkey Kong's sidekick and buddy, who is a fan of shows. He and Donkey Kong take turns acting as the voice of reason for one another.
• Cranky Kong
  — Donkey Kong and Diddy's wise mentor. He enjoys playing the organ and making potions to solve the heroes' problems. The Crystal Coconut is stored in a globe inside his tree house.
• Funky Kong
  — the eccentric friend of Donkey Kong, who believes in the spiritual. He owns Funky's Flights and flies the others around the island in order to help them get around.
• Candy Kong
  — Donkey Kong's headstrong yet short-tempered girlfriend who works at the 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 Donkey Kong's motivation to do the right thing.
• Dixie Kong
  — Diddy's sweet yet naive girlfriend, and Candy's friend.
• King K. Rool
  — the leader, who attempts to try to steal the Crystal Coconut and take over the island. He lives in a cave resembling a reptilian skull.
• Krusha
  — King K. Rool's bodyguard.
• Klump
  — King K. Rool's general.
• Kritters
  — King 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.

Show-exclusive cast

• Bluster Kong — the wealthy, morally ambiguous boss of the Barrelworks factory, who is jealous of Donkey Kong on occasion and makes an unsuccessful attempt to impress his employee, Candy. He has an ego but is 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 brother. He persists in chasing the Crystal Coconut, claiming it to be the right of one of his ancestors.
• Kutlass & Green Kroc — Kaptain Skurvy's minions. Green Kroc is a Kritter, while Kutlass resembles King K. Rool with a light scale tone.
• 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 white-furred yeti who lives in the White Mountains.
• Kong Fu — a kung fu fighter who is hired by King K. Rool to defeat Donkey Kong in the contest.
• Baby Kong — Donkey Kong's nephew.
• Inka Dinka Doo — the spiritual temple from where 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]

Episodes

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

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.

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.

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

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 a homage to the animated series.^[18]

References