User Reviews

In "Pursuit of the Po-Ho", Dr. Quest receives an urgent message that a friend of his has been kidnapped by a group of natives known as the Po-Ho. But almost as soon as Dr. Quest and the rest of the family arrive in the jungle, Dr. Quest is also kidnapped. It's up to Race and the boys to save Dr. Quest and his friend. But how? Maybe they can trick the natives into believing that Race is the water god, Aquesio.

Until I sat down to write this, I never realized "Pursuit of the Po-Ho" was such a controversial episode. I think it's a real shame that Warner Bros. appears to have fallen in line with the thought police and edited their DVD release to eliminate the names Race calls the natives. I think calling the Po-Ho "savages" and "heathen monkeys" is pretty mild considering they've kidnapped and plan to kill (and most likely eat) Dr. Quest. I would have thought he would have done far worse than that. Besides that, I grew up watching this episode unedited. I don't think I've suffered any long lasting negative effects of the experience. It seems to me that people are just too sensitive today.

As for the episode itself, it's a good one. Lots of tension – well, at least as much tension as you can drum-up in a 22 minute cartoon. The Po-Ho are very effective and there's a real sense of danger every time they make an on-screen appearance. When I was younger, they absolutely terrified me. Evan at that age, I understood what they were about to do to Dr. Quest. And the sight of Race covered in berry juice, yelling at the Po-Ho – that's awesome. Finally, one thing I noticed while re-watching this episode is that the show should have been called Race Bannon – not Jonny Quest. More often than not, Race is the real star.

So, this episode I had watched when I was a child and it honestly frightened me because of the fact that the Po-Ho were such a dangerous enemy because of their lack of fear. Just as the episode starts, Benton Quest applies a tactic that to me sounds a bit controversial to the science of cultural study. He tries to use technology to declare himself a god Aerion, and decides to use this approach to scare the the natives into releasing his captured friend.

Now if the intention of the writers were to be racist, you would expect the classic thing to happen: the dumb natives would bow to the superior white man and declare him a god and yaddy-da. BUT NO! NO! This tribe is not fooled by the white man's tricks and as soon as Benton is within grabbing range, he is immediately captured too. His scheme is immediately debunked and he is not a hostage too.

Next, after the clever recognizance, Race decides that Benton's bad plan was actually good, he just needs to use less science magic and less spectacle and instead goes for the old skin darkening with barries (that the natives would know about) and declares himself the god of the water and demands in English, no less, that the Po-Ho should not harm the captives or risk his wrath. (Now when you campare this to the attept by Benton this could be viewed as a joke of the show because Benton flew over the jungle, used the lound speakers on a plane and spoke fluent Po-Ho that the natives would understand, Race on the other hand, stained his skin with permanent marker juice from berries, came out of the water almost naked and spoke clear English to a groups of savage natives who probably had no idea what he was saying).

Now, you'd think the savage natives would immedialty bow to this god and give him whatever he wants, including all the virgins in the village. BUT NO! NO! The village chieftain declares the fake god and apparition and insists on the "cultured" tradition of inviting their guests to a nice feast and dance during the full moon followed by a tour of the village an- NOPE! They're just going to drop flaming hot coles on them in a pit! (And probably eat them after).

Finally Race starts actually using his brain, realized that Benton's plan was trash and infiltrates the camp and rescues the 2 captives at night, something anyone should have told him.

Now honestly, what I said about the censors begin very VERY ignorant. YES, Race does use those words out of frustration because all of their plans have been ignored or not taken noticed of by the Po-ho who are anything but a parody of the racist depiction of natives. They are brave smart and skilled.

If anything this episode does the exact episode and put into full view how ignorant modern man is to these natives. Twice they use a plan to impersonate a diety and twice they fail hard. Not to say that the natives aren't a little savage themselves.

In the end what saves the day is not ignorant messages or cultural corruption, it is plain old technology. Training and survival techniques.

This episodes says exactly the opposite of the that illbegotten words: the Po-ho are smart enough to see through their ruses and tricks.