Dr. Benton Quest and his wife, Dr. Rachel Quest, are investigating mutations which turn out to be caused by toxic runoff from the secret laboratory/lair of Benton's old enemy Dr. Zin, who is dying of an unspecified disease and trying to clone himself. Most of the clones turn out mutated and deformed mentally regressed monsters which Zin refers to as "Replicants." He has recently succeeded in creating a more or less perfect clone of himself however.
Zin's Replicants kidnap Benton and Rachel, and Jonny and Hadji along with Race stage a rescue, however Rachel dies when she and Zin fall into molten lava. Later, a girl named Jessie Devlon arrives, insisting that her father, scientist Vincent Devlon, is missing. She wants the Quests help in locating him, and despite Benton's urges, Jonny burns for vengeance.
The film had a troubled development history. It had started life as a part of the second set of the Superstars 10, but it didn't actually get made until after the Turner buyout. The film is seen as an attempt to reboot the franchise after The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, but it only received one follow-up: Jonny Quest vs. the Cyber Insects. Real Adventures ignores the events of the movies and The New Adventures.
Tropes used in this TV movie:
- Abhorrent Admirer: One of the Mooks during the crane chase ends up in the arms of an overweight female American tourist who pretty much instantly falls in love with the guy. Ironically, as a result he's the only one of the construction worker thugs who isn't caught by the authorities.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Devlon when Zin catches him. As is usual for this kind of scenario, it doesn't work; instead of being Easily Forgiven, he's Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves, despite his potential continued usefulness to Zin's plans (see Bad Boss below).
- Amicable Exes: Race and Jade.
- Artistic License – Biology: The missing ingredient that prevents Zin's clones from melting into goo after a few days? Gold! Yes, injections of gold! Because... reasons!
- Bad Boss: Zin briefly considers taking Dr. Devlon back into his employ, but then changes his mind and has his robot kill him. He then admits that he has never been known for "making good management decisions."
- Badass Longcoat: Snipe wears one in his introductory scene.
- Bald of Evil: Dr. Zin.
- Big "NO!": Zin yells "No" as his complex explodes.
- Brainwashed: Averted. Hadji tries to hypnotize Snipe using the sparkly jewel from his turban, but it doesn't work.
- Broad Strokes:
- As a whole this new origin is it taking from the original show what it needed.
- Specifically the role of red head love interest for Jonny had changed again. While the previous series gave as Jessie Bradshaw, now we have Jessie Bannon, lost child of Race Bannon and Jade.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Jessie when she learns her mother lied to her about who her father was and didn't say anything until Race's life was in danger.
- Chase Scene: A few, one with a gigantic cherry picker crane.
- Clone Degeneration: The Replicants don't last for very long and eventually melt into puddles of slime, bones and all.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Rachel’s death causes Jonny to breakdown and Benton to briefly quit i1.
- Da Chief: Commander Burns, the apparent leader of i1.
- Dead Man's Trigger Finger: After being shot, Zin's robot falls down and just randomly starts blasting away at everything in the room, destroying all of its owner's valuable lab equipment.
- Disappeared Dad: Race is revealed to be one to Jessie since her mother was pregnant with her. He never learned the truth until the climax of the movie.
- The Dragon: Snipe, the only Replicant who can talk and also isn't prone to melting.
- The End... Or Is It?: As the heroes get some well-deserved rest, a tube containing an unconscious Zin clone floats to the ocean's surface. Eye Awaken ensues.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Bandit is the one who alerts Jessie to the presence of a Replicant about to enter the hotel room Jonny and Hadji are sharing with Race below.
- Expendable Clone: The first perfect clone of Zin is this. The Replicants (except for Snipe) also count.
- Faceless Goons: Zin's Volcano Lair is bristling with them.
- Faking the Dead: Zin can do this repeatedly thanks to having clones of himself. The Quests eventually get wise to his shenanigans, though.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: The sight of the Replicants melting is pretty horrific, and also Zin's robot kills Dr. Vincent Devlon by burning him to ash with its laser.
- Fed to the Beast: The Replicants try to kill Jonny and Jessie by dumping them into a Shark Pool at the desalination plant.
- Force-Field Door: Benton and Rachel are held prisoner inside of a cage with bars made of energy. The bars are capable of contracting to make the cage bigger or smaller, and one of Zin's scientists tries to kill them by shrinking it.
- Foreshadowing: In her first scene, Jade says she and Race really need to talk. She wanted to tell him that they have a daughter.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: A couple assist Jonny and Hadji in Peru. Later, two more at the Australian desalination plant save Jonny and Jessie from a shark the Replicants try to feed them to, and afterwards also knock Zin down when he's holding Dr. Quest hostage and ultimately aid Jonny in escaping the exploding building through an underwater tunnel.
- Girls Have Cooties: Jonny’s reaction during his conversation with his mother about Race and Jade.
- Government Agency of Fiction: Intelligence 1 ("i1" for short), who the Quests are employed by in these two TV movies. They appear to be based in the United States but have agents throughout the world. Their exact reach and jurisdiction is unknown, although it's implied in Jonny Quest vs. the Cyber Insects that various heads of state answer directly to the i1 commander and that he has the authority to surrender the entire world.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: To escape Snipe, Hadji uses "Sim-Sim-Sala-Bim!" to raise up a bunch of old Roman mummies in the catacombs, making them "attack" Snipe, which is to say they just kinda fly at him and dogpile on him.
- Happily Married:
- Benton and Rachel until the latter’s death.
- Somewhat with Race and Jade, though they went through a divorce prior to the beginning of the movie. They do get back together in the end.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Why Benton doesn't want his son to thirst for vengeance.
- Hologram: 3-DAC, Benton's personal computer who projects a holographic face and speaks in a Creepy Monotone.
- I'm Melting!: Zin's Replicants tend to break down and melt into goop after a time due to unstable genetic structures.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: As usual none of the bad guys can hit anything.
- In Curable Cough Of Death: Zin suffers from this and has to use a breathing machine.
- Killer Robot: Zin has one.
- Land Downunder: Where the climax takes place.
- Loves Only Gold: The missing Dr. Devlon is using the secrets of Alchemy that he stole from Zin to turn random things into gold, apparently out of pure greed. Meanwhile, Zin wants the disc containing the data back to make gold for himself, but not for personal wealth, but because injections of pure gold prevent the Clone Degeneration his Replicants suffer from (!).
- Luke, You Are My Father: Jessie shouts “Dad!” to Race near the climax of the movie, surprising the latter.
- Made-for-TV Movie
- Mental Picture Projector: Because Devlon shot the French museum guard with a dart that erased his conscious memory, Quest uses one of these devices on the guy to help him remember what happened. This effectively turns the guard, with the device on his head, into a human overheard projector displaying the robbery. Jonny later uses the device on himself so he can remember fun times with his mother.
- Mirror Character: Jonny and Jessie once they realize their respective parent (Rachel and Race) would be killed and they blame their surviving parent (Benton and Jade) for the formers’ death.
- A Molten Date with Death: Rachel Quest dies in an erupting volcano along with Dr. Zin's clone when lava engulfs their helicopter.
- Recycled Premise: Most of the story (dealing with Zin's clones and attempts at turning lead into gold) is original, however the Vincent Devlon subplot is a new take from the "Deadly Junket" episode of The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, just with the twist that Jessie isn't actually the missing scientist's daughter this time.
- Sequel Hook: One of Dr. Zin's clones winds up being unaccounted for.
- Short-Lived Aerial Escape: Zin's clone attempts to leave the erupting volcano in a helicopter, only for a huge upheaval of molten lava to engulf the aircraft, killing them both.
- Super Villain Lair: Zin's secret lab inside an Australian water-treatment plant.
- Threatening Shark: The lone occupant of Dr. Zin's obligatory Shark Pool. Some dolphins kick its ass.
- The Unfought: Snipe. Despite being built up as a legitimate threat, the Quests never actually fight him except for a brief tussle he has with Race at the beginning shortly after he's introduced.
- Volcano Lair: Zin has one of these at the beginning.
- Wham Line: When Devlon looks surprised and says he is childless, and then when Jade actually reveals that Jessie is her and Race's daughter from their brief marriage. And again later during the climax when Jessie calls Race "Dad!" while throwing him a gun.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Snipe just sort of disappears.
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: The Replicants don't get much sympathy from the heroes and are routinely dispatched in a variety of gooey, violent ways.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Race lampshades Zin using clones to achieve immortality, saying he'd be living on as these diseased, melting husks forever. Zin admits that would be most unpleasant, which is why he kidnaps Race and intends to harvest DNA to improve his cloning technology.
- Yellow Peril: Underplayed due to this being made in the 90's, but Zin nonetheless has visibly yellow-colored skin and looks and dresses like a racist caricature of a traditional Asian man.
- You Have Failed Me: A Replicant fails at a task and escapes. Later, when Zin is talking outside with Jezebel Jade, he lifts a silver cover to reveal the Replicant has been buried up to its neck in the dirt. Its eventual fate is unknown.
- You Killed My Mother: Jonny to Dr Zin after Rachel’s death.
