Donkey Kong Country (TV series)


Donkey Kong Country is an animated television series based on the video game Donkey Kong Country from Nintendo and Rare, co-produced by Nelvana Limited, Medialab Studio L.A. and Hong Guang Animation, in association with WIC Entertainment, with the participation of Teletoon—for Season 1, it was produced in co-production with France 2, Canal+, and produced in association with Valar 4.
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. 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 motion capture technology. Several elements of the series, such as the Crystal Coconut, appeared in later Donkey Kong video games like Donkey Kong 64. The second season was produced by Taiwanese CGI studio CGCG, and was first announced in May 1999.

Plot

Taking place on Kongo Bongo Island, it focuses on Donkey Kong, the island's resident hero. Before the events of the series, 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 Diddy Kong and his mentor Cranky Kong, he must protect the Crystal Coconut from threats, most notably King K. Rool who tries to steal it in order to rule Kongo Bongo Island. Donkey Kong has to juggle his guardian duties with his social life and his relationship with Candy Kong.
Each episode features two songs performed by the characters.

Cast and characters

Season 1 of the French version was recorded in Quebec, with the exception of Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong and Funky Kong's voice actors who are from France. Season 2 was not given a French version until its DVD release several years later, which mostly features a new French voice cast with the exception of Donkey Kong and Funky Kong's voice actors. Hervé Grull never returned as Diddy Kong, as he had long since hit puberty, and was replaced by Lucile Boulanger as a result.

Game characters

; Donkey Kong
; Diddy Kong
; Cranky Kong
; Funky Kong
; Candy Kong
; Dixie Kong
; King K. Rool
; Krusha
; General Klump
; Kritters
; Klap Traps

Show-original characters

; Bluster Kong
; Kaptain Skurvy
; Kutlass and Green Kroc
; Polly Roger
; Jr. Klap Trap
; Eddie the Mean Old Yeti
; Kong Fu
; Baby Kong
; Inka Dinka Doo

Episodes

Production

Over seventy percent of the character animation in the series was produced using performance capture. 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. 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. 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.

Telecast and home media

Donkey Kong Country was first introduced in France on September 4, 1996, on France 2, on a block titled La Planète de Donkey Kong. The French-language version of the show later premiered in Canada on Télétoon on September 8, 1997, making the series one of the channel's launch programs, while the English version premiered on its English counterpart on October 17, also as a launch program. In the U.S., it was one of the first series to be shown on Fox Family, in which the series was broadcast in its entirety from August 15, 1998 until 2000. It was also seen on Fox Kids from 1998 until 1999 for a short time airing two episodes as specials on December 19, 1998, and aired a few more episodes during the summer of 1999 before being taken off. 40 episodes were produced. In Japan, the series aired with a Japanese dub and took over TV Tokyo's 6:30 p.m. time-slot from Gokudo the Adventurer airing on October 1, 1999, and was later replaced with Hamtaro after ending on June 30, 2000.
Over the years, the show has been released throughout many VHS and DVDs in many countries. In total, 13 DVDs around the world were released with English audio.
For North America, four episodes of Donkey Kong Country that feature Kaptain Skurvy were edited together into a videocassette release 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. It was released in Canada around 1999 with both English and French dub tapes separately with distribution handled by Seville Pictures and Nelvana themselves as the secondary distributor. The US version of the tape was distributed by Paramount Home Video and was released in the country on November 9, 1999, marking this the only time that the U.S. had a VHS release of this series. France has gotten a release of this tape as well under the title Donkey Kong Le Film!
In the PAL regions, Donkey Kong Country Vol. 1 and Donkey Kong Country - Bad Hair Day 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 only held one episode. After over three years of no new English DVD, I Spy With My Hairy Eye was released in the United Kingdom in 2008.
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.
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.
In 2024, the show began broadcasting on Kartoon Studio's channel Video Game Heroes through the FAST service Samsung TV Plus.
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.
NameRelease dateEpisodesRegionAdditional information
The Legend of the Crystal Coconut
Donkey Kong Country: La Légende de la noix de coco en cristal 		1999
November 9, 1999 		4VHSIncludes Legend of the Crystal Coconut, Bug a Boogie, Ape-Nesia, and Booty and the Beast edited together in a feature-length format. A French dub release for Canada was also released.
Donkey Kong Le Film!TBA4VHSFrench dubbed version of the Legend of the Crystal Coconut compilation feature, release for France.
ドンキーコング Vol. 1 June 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 1-3.
ドンキーコング Vol. 2 June 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 4-6.
ドンキーコング Vol. 3 June 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 7-9.
ドンキーコング Vol. 4 August 19, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 10-12.
ドンキーコング Vol.5 August 19, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 13-15.
ドンキーコング Vol.6 August 19, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 16-18.
ドンキーコング Vol.7 October 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 19-21.
ドンキーコング Vol.8 October 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 22-24.
ドンキーコング Vol.9 October 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 25-27.
ドンキーコング Vol.10 December 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 28-30.
ドンキーコング Vol.11 December 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 31-33.
ドンキーコング Vol.12 December 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 34-36.
ドンキーコング Vol.13 December 21, 20003VHSIncludes Japanese dubbed versions of Episodes 37-39.
Donkey Kong Country - Vol. 1TBA44Includes Hooray for Holly-Kongo Bongo, The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights, Speak No Evil, Dude and The Day the Island Stood Still.
The Kongo Bongo Festival of LightsTBA24Includes The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights and Hooray for Holly-Kongo Bongo.
Speak No Evil, DudeTBA24Includes Speak No Evil, Dude and The Day the Island Stood Still.
Monkey Seer, Monkey DoTBA24Includes Monkey Seer, Monkey Do and Four Weddings and a Coconut.
Bad Hair DayJune 20, 200542Includes Bad Hair Day, Ape Foo Young, Booty and the Beast and Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel.
I Spy with My Hairy EyeJune 9, 200832Includes I Spy with My Hairy Eye, Baby Kong Blues and The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights.
Raiders of the Lost BananaAugust 3, 200952Includes Raiders of the Lost Banana, Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel, Kong for a Day, From Zero to Hero and Buried Treasure.
He Came, He Saw, He Kong-queredAugust 20, 201341Includes Bad Hair Day, Ape Foo Young, Booty and the Beast and Barrel, Barrel... Who's Got the Barrel.
Raiders of the Lost BananaOctober 1, 201341Includes Raiders of the Lost Banana, Kong for a Day, From Zero to Hero and Buried Treasure.
Kong FuJanuary 21, 201441Includes Kong Fu, Get a Life, Don't Save One, Cranky's Tickle Tonic and Orangutango.
The Legend of the Crystal CoconutMarch 11, 201441Includes Legend of the Crystal Coconut, Bluster's Sale Ape-Stravaganza, Klump's Lumps and Speed.
The Complete First SeasonMay 12, 2015261Includes all 26 episodes from season 1.
The Complete Second SeasonTBA141Includes all 14 episodes from season 2.