The King Kong Show
The King Kong Show is an American/Japanese children's
animated television series produced in 1966 by Videocraft of the USA, and
Japan's Toei Animation, and is the first anime series produced in Japan for an American company (not counting Rankin/Bass' previous
Animagic stop motion specials, also animated in Japan).
This series is an animated adaptation of the famous movie monster, King Kong. In this series, the giant ape befriends the Bond Family,
with whom he goes on various adventures, saving the world from monsters, robots, aliens, mad scientists and other threats.
Included is a comical cartoon show called Tom of T.H.U.M.B., about a 6-inch secret agent named Tom and his Oriental sidekick
Swinging Jack, who foil the plots of evil organizations such as MAD.
In Japan, The first two episodes were combined into a 56-minute special, titled King of the World: The King Kong Show, 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 & 001/7 Tom Thumb, and aired on April 5 to October 4, 1967, with a total of 26 episodes.
This series was successful enough for Rankin/Bass to extend the Kong franchise to another Japanese company, Toho (which already
produced the hit King Kong vs Godzilla in 1962). This
resulted in Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (originally intended as a Kong film)
and King Kong Escapes, which was based on The King Kong Show.
On November 15, 2005, Sony Wonder released 8 episodes (two King Kong cartoons separated by a Tom of T.H.U.M.B. cartoon) on two DVD
releases. The pilot episode was included, in two parts, between the two DVDs.
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