Turu the Terrible
“Turu the Terrible”
was a pteranodon who appeared on one episode of “Johnny Quest”. It was the
first episode of that series I saw. Before that, I really hadn’t been into
cartoons (I was about four years old at the time). But as soon as I saw the
intro which just happened to be on while was watching, and I was hooked. It
showed roaring Komodo dragons, crocodiles, a black panther, a giant Daddy-longlegs
robot that shot beams form a single crimson eye, a swooping condor, masked men
riding flying platforms over an eerie red landscape. And of course, the huge
pteranodon screaming through the sky. The episode featuring Turu just happened
to be on. And from that day till the end of that season, I would get up early,
and watch all the shows that led up to this one so I wouldn’t miss it. And my
career as a Saturday morning veteran was launched. I thought at the time that “Johnny Quest” was something brand
new, but actually this was 1971, and the show premiered back in ’64. More then
likely, it had already gone off and back on the air by this time! For a while,
I didn’t even know the show’s name, and just called it “the pterodactyl show”.
The “Turu” episode
begins with a black jaguar (which I thought was a panther at the time) stalking
through the Amazon rainforest, then snarls and looks up, as screams resound
over the lush valley. We then see the pteranodon himself emerge from a cave in
a rocky escarpment high above. We then see two Indain brothers paddling down
the Amazon. The winged monster soars screaming overhead—then dives. He snatches
one of the terrified brothers in a blacky bird-clawed talon, and wings off with
him. Then we cat to Johnny Quest and his pal Hadji and their dog bandit. We
learn that Dr. Quest and Race are searching for “trinoxite” a new metal for the
space program. The boys find the half-drowned Indian whose brother was captured
by the turu. When he revives, he tells them of the terrible “bird”, and draws
and outline of the pteranodon in the sand, which astonishes the two men. The native agrees to accompany them
downriver to rescue his brother. When they reach the “land of the turu”,
terrible screams rend the air. We see the shape of the enormous pterodactyl
sail over the moon. He dives at them,
damages their boat, then returns to his Cliffside aerie. This was always a
great scene, when the beast coos and whimpers softly to his master—yes, it
turns out the flying beast is the pet of an evil wheel-chair-bound man who is
using him to terrorize the local tribes. I first took the pteranodon’s name to
be “Tero”, until, years later, when it was finally rebroadcast in syndication,
I learned how it was spelled. I also didn’t recall the man being in a
wheelchair. Anyway, it turns out the man has used his monstrous pet to capture
locals to mine what he believes to be silver. After several close shaves with
Turu, Quest andRrace eventually discover that the metal is actually the
trinoxite they’d been searching for. Then follow a climactic battle with the
villain’s pet. Turr eventually drowns in biling tar, and his master is so
overcome with grief that he falls in trying to save his pet. I was always left
angry that Turu himself didn’t survive.
But at least he has
managed to achieve a sort of “cult status” over the years. A video of his
episode has been released, and Anubis models has released a “Turu the Terrible
model kit, as well as some other “Johnny Quest” models. The “Johnny Quest
Classics” episode adaptations produced by Comico (who also did the late eighties
regular JQ comic) never adapted this, but Cartoon network apparently released a comic book adaptation of this
episode. However, I have been unable to
locate this comic so far.
