Montana Jones – Treasure Hunt with Montana – The 90's Animated Series
Montana Jones is a charming Italian-Japanese animated series, born from the creativity of brothers Marco and Gi Pagot and expertly directed by Tetsuo Imazawa. The anime, which aired for the first time in Japan on April 2, 1994 on NHK and arrived in Italy in 1997 on Canale 5 and Italia 1, is openly inspired by the iconic Indiana Jones film saga, combining elements of adventure, archaeology and comedy with anthropomorphic characters full of charm and irony. Over the course of its 52 episodes, Montana Jones offers its viewers exciting adventures full of humor.
The plot revolves around Montana, a courageous and adventurous puma who leads an unlikely but close-knit team composed of Alfred, a brilliant ocelot full of phobias, and Melissa, an intelligent and determined cat journalist. Each episode transports viewers to different corners of the world, among mysterious archaeological treasures belonging to ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Mayans and Incas. The goal of Montana and his friends is to recover and deliver these precious finds to the most prestigious museums in the world, preserving them from the hands of the evil Lord Zero, an aristocrat obsessed with accumulating treasures. Lord Zero is constantly accompanied by his hilarious henchmen Slim and Slam and the brilliant, but often unlucky, Doctor Nitro, creator of the machinery used in the daring expeditions to recover the treasures.
Characters
Montana Jones: The Adventurer “in His Own Way”
Montana Jones is not a refined professor or a philanthropic explorer. He is a puma impulsive, practical, proud and absolutely averse to anything resembling a library. And here lies the series' first stroke of genius: unlike its obvious model, Indiana Jones, Montana hates books, museums and academics. Yet he is an experienced adventurer, skilled with a whip and a hooked rope, gifted with a quickness of thought and a physical resistance that make him the perfect pulp protagonist. He has a plane (the legendary Kitty) who is falling apart, works occasionally at Aunt Agatha's restaurant in Boston, and seems interested in missions only for the action, not for the culture or the glory. His relationship with knowledge is paradoxical: he is Professor Gilt's apprentice, but in fact he learns everything on the job.
The Jones duo: cousins, opposites, complementary
Alfred Jones, cousin and traveling companion, is the other half of the series' brain. Where Montana is instinct, Alfred is theory. Where one flies between explosions and traps, the other reads ancient texts and prepares spaghetti bolognese during breaks. Both are pumas, but with opposite styles: Alfred is rotund, sedentary, terrified of danger, but equipped with a authentic archaeological expertise. He’s not just the “nerd” of the group: he’s the one who allows the series to really play with historical, geographical and cultural references.
Their dynamic is hilarious and very human: Alfred always carries a parachute for safety, remembers the exact contents of Dr. Gilt's disks, and is also the only one who tries — at least in theory — to follow a professional code of ethics. More than a comic supporting actor, Alfred is a dramatically complex character: he has his own ethics, his own traumas, and in episode 46 he even becomes a protagonist in the style of Rambo, building traps in the desert and holding off Baron Zero alone.
Melissa Thorn: The Feline Journalist (With a Secret)
Melissa is a tall, elegant cat, always dressed differently in each episode (a rather rare choice in animated series), Melissa is a wealthy, multilingual and enterprising journalist, who actively participates in the missions. She is not a princess to be saved: she flies planes, dresses up, buys clues at auctions, and saves Montana and Alfred more than once.
The twist comes in the last episode: Melissa is actually Professor Gilt's daughter, the mysterious mentor who sends orders via gramophone records. A twist that retroactively explains his omnipresence in the adventures and his discreet but determined participation in the missions. The fact that the viewer does not suspect anything until the end is a sign of the solid writing of the series, capable of sowing clues without making them too obvious.
A world built with coherence and affection
The world of Montana Jones It's the 30s, but seen through a fairytale filter. There are pyramids, time mechanisms, submerged temples, lost continents. Each episode is a self-contained mini-adventure, but the whole builds a coherent narrative geography: a global map of the archaeological wonders of the world. As in a journey by Salgari or Verne, the places are exotic but never stereotyped, because they are always filtered by the irony of the writing and by respect for the original imagery.
The tone is light, but never silly. There is often laughter (thanks to Lord Zero's two henchmen, Slim and Slam, which seem to have come out of a silent film comedy duo), but it reflects equally: on the vanity of wealth, on the importance of knowledge, on the balance between past and present.
Production
The series was created thanks to the production synergy between the Japanese broadcaster NHK and the Italian studio Rever, with animations curated in part by the historic studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha. The unforgettable Italian theme song was composed by Franco Fasano, with lyrics by Alessandra Valeri Manera, and is performed by the famous voice of Cristina D'Avena.
On the technical front, Montana Jones stands out for its exceptional artistic quality compared to the standards of the time. The detailed and meticulously crafted drawings, combined with vibrant and colorful settings, give each episode an engaging and captivating visual dimension. The narrative balance between suspense and comedy makes the series enjoyable for a wide audience, capable of involving both adults and young viewers. Despite the obvious similarities with Indiana Jones, Montana Jones manages to maintain its own original identity, especially thanks to the deep characterization of the protagonists, always brilliant and likeable.
In conclusion, “Montana Treasure Hunt” represents a nostalgic jewel of Italian-Japanese animation from the 90s. Unfortunately, today it has become difficult to recover the series in high quality due to disputes regarding distribution rights, an undeserved fate for a work that, for artistic and narrative quality, deserves a return in grand style. Montana Jones remains a fond memory for those who experienced it at the time, and an intriguing discovery for new fans of the adventure animated genre.
