Expedition to Khumbu

Expedition to Khumbu is the twenty-second episode of the first season of The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.

Premise
On an expedition to find the Yeti, the team finds a scientist bent on taking the monster in dead or alive.

Opening
Dr. Quest, his guide Mezda, Professor Kyle, and Kyle's guide are on an expedition in Nepal. Kyle radios Dr. Quest, warning him of a storm coming their way, and saying they should head back to Khumbu Monastery. Off the radio, he tells his assistant to cause an avalanche to kill Dr. Quest, so that Kyle can take credit for finding the yeti instead of Dr. Quest. His assistant fires a grenade, causing an avalanche to fall on Dr. Quest and Mezda below.

A gloved hand reaches up through the snow, and a yeti's hand reaches down to take it.

Act 1
In Questworld, Jonny is playing a game, and Iris tells him he's reached the last section of level 8. He begins fighting human-scorpion monsters that duplicate. In the real world, Jonny's actually in a hotel room, acting out the fight. Jessie and Hadji arrive just in time to stop Jonny from falling off the balcony, ending the game. Race comes in, sullen, and tells them about Dr. Quest.

Race and the kids take a helicopter out and set down near where the avalanche was, but they can't find any trace of Dr. Quest or the expedition. With a storm coming, they continue on to Khumbu Monastery, all four tethered by a rope.

Hadji asks Jonny to slow down, but Jonny turns to press on, and he triggers a cage that traps them both. In the cage, they slide in the snow, dragging Jessie and Race. The cage goes over a cliff, as does Jessie, but Race uses a pick-axe to stop them all from going over. With Jonny and Hadji trapped in the cage, and Race unable to move, Jessie unattached herself from the tether and slides down to the cage. She releases the latch on the cage, and is able to grab onto Jonny's shoe as they fall after the cage releases. Still untethered, Jessie's able to climb back up to the top, and she helps her father pull up the boys.

The team makes it to Khumbu Monastery. The High Lama tells them that Dr. Quest hasn't arrived. Professor Kyle joins them and Jonny demands to know where his father is, accusing him of abandoning his father. The High Lama tells Jonny that anger will not help, and when the weather changes, his monks will help them search. Professor Kyle asks the High Lama about the Hand of Khumbu, the mummified hand of a yeti rumored to be kept at the Monastery. The High Lama tells him that it's a sacred artifact that is never shown to outsiders. The monks retire for the evening.

That night, the team all share a room. Race gets up to look around. Race spies one of the monks accepting money from Professor Kyle, but someone sneaks up behind Race and knocks him out, then drags him off.

Act 2
In the early morning, Jessie is concerned that he father's been gone for three hours, and she sneaks out to go look for him. Jonny and Hadji go with her. Jessie sees the monks at morning prayer and runs past the prayer room. They see two months break glass and steal the Hand of Khumbu. Professor Kyle says "it's not a live specimen, but it's a start," and takes the hand from the monks. Hadji is angered and nearly steps in the room to stop them, but Jessie and Jonny hold him back. But Professor Kyle and monks step out of the room and find them.

Jonny snatches the Hand of Khumbu from Professor Kyle and runs with it. As the kids are running, they run into the monks leaving morning prayer. Professor Kyle catches up to them and accuses them of stealing the Hand of Khumbu, and the monks pull out knives and make to attack. Jonny throws the Hand to them to distract them, and he, Jessie, and Hadji escape by jumping out a window. The High Lama arrives, and accepts the Hand of Khumbu.

Outside the Monastery, Jessie is worried that they won't survive long without weather gear. They head on, away from the Monastery.

Professor Kyle tells the High Lama that he and the two monks witnessed the theft. The High Lama asks his monks, who confirm they saw the children steal it, and the High Lama suspiciously asks, "That is why you were not at morning prayers?" He tells the monks to search for the children and to bring them back unharmed. Professor Kyle protests, but the High Lama points out that the boy is the son of Kyle's friend, saying it's strange that Kyle "would not want to rescue him, whatever his crime." The High Lama repeats his instructions to find the children, but Kyle pulls a gun on them. He tells his two monk accomplices to lock the others in the chant room. Outside, they hear a crying, and Kyle realizes one of the traps have caught something.

Out in the snow, the trio fall into a snowbank and discover a body mostly buried. They dig him free and find it's Mezda, Dr. Quest's guide. Mezda was carrying gear, and the trio take it to survive the night out in the snow. That night, Jonny is worried that his dad might actually have died, but Jessie is certain that they'll find both their dads alive, and that the key is back at Khumbu.

Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji sneak back into Khumbu Monastery. They hear a wailing, and peak through a door to see a baby yeti. Professor Kyle and his two monks catch the trio. Outside, they hear a loud growling. One of the monks is concerned about many yeti approaching, but Professor Kyle doesn't care, they only have to hold off long enough until a helicopter comes. The yeti break in and attack Professor Kyle and the two monks, and throw the monks out the window, who then run off. The trio tackle Professor Kyle, and Jessie throws his gun out into the snow. Race is tied up in another room, and one of the yeti breaks his ropes. The other yeti break into the room where the child is being held. Jonny turns to run, thinking the yeti will attack them as well, but the High Lama stops him and Jonny sees that the yeti only came for the child and they are now leaving. Race walks and Jessie hugs him, glad he's alive. Jonny walks off, seemingly upset that his father is still missing. The High Lama tells him not to give up hope.

Jonny goes up to a window and falls asleep there. He wakes to someone knocking on the Monastery door, and he answers it to find his father. Dr. Quest tells the team and the monks about his time with the yetis: they pulled him from the snow and nursed him back to health, and while he was with them he was able to study their culture. He shows them his journal where he's taken extensive notes. Concerned that proving their existence to the world would only lead to their destruction, Dr. Quest says he will not reveal it and he hands the High Lama his journal. The High Lama thanks him and reaches for the journal -- revealing a yeti's hand. The High Lama departs the room with the monks, leaving the Quest team stunned.

Characters
Main characters:
 * Jonny Quest
 * Hadji Singh
 * Dr. Benton Quest
 * Race Bannon
 * Jessie Bannon

Supporting characters:
 * High Lama

Villains:
 * Professor Kyle
 * Kyle's monk guide
 * Kyle's second monk associate

Other characters:
 * Mezda
 * Iris
 * Monks
 * Yetis

Locations

 * Khumbu, Nepal
 * Hotel
 * Khumbu Monastery
 * Questworld

Objects

 * Hand of Khumbu

Vehicles

 * Helicopter

Notes/trivia

 * Michael Ryan is credited for additional story material.
 * Bandit is absent.
 * There is no Quest Byte.
 * The fate of Professor Kyle and his two monk associates is not explicitly clear. Kyle is last seen laying on the ground where he was knocked down by the trio, possibly unconscious. But Jonny say they're "dead" if the yeti think they're with Kyle's gang, possibly indicating Kyle's unseen death. The monks are last seen running off into the snow without weather gear.

Goofs

 * After Jessie releases the cage and grabs onto Jonny's shoe, she looks down. From her perspective, we see her dangling hundreds of feet from the ground below, and there's extra rope dangling past her feet. But there is no extra rope past Jonny, the rope ends with his tether. Additionally, it's not her black boots shown, it's Hadji's teal boots.


 * A scene is flipped and reused, but in flipping the scene, the Hand of Khumbu (a right hand) becomes a left hand, and a monk's left glass eye becomes his right glass eye.

Home media

 * 🇺🇸 The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: Season One, Volume 2 DVD set released on March 27, 2012 by Warner Archive Collection.

Quotes
Hadji: "It is true what they say, that the mountain makes its own weather."

Jonny: "Careful, Jess."

Jessie: "I never understand why people say that. It's like, what? Am I stupid enough to take an impossible risk?"

Hadji: "But you are taking an impossible risk."

Jonny: (about Jessie) "Gotta hand it to her, Hadj. She's pretty cool."

Jessie: "I thought you guys would be lighter."

Hadji: "Ah, you see, we are heavy with wisdom."

Jessie: "This is about the stupidest thing I've ever seen you do. How long do you think we'll survive without weather gear?"

Jonny: "Long enough to figure something out."

Hadji: "The question is whether to die by ice or knife."

Jessie: "Uh-uh. The question is how not to die at all."

Jonny: (after pulling a body from the snow) "It's Mezda."

Jessie: "Your dad's guide?"

Hadji: "I hope he will forgive me if I'm thankful that he is not Dr. Quest."

Jessie: "I hope he'll forgive us if we take anything which might save our lives."