Classic Jonny Quest List: Hadji's Mystical Powers

Part of the reason for Hadji's character was to serve as an offset to Jonny's "All-American" character; to this end, the writers endowed the young Calcutta orphan with several mystical abilities, based on reported feats by fakirs and other eastern mystics. In truth, many of these abilities could be attributed to very well executed sleight-of-hand or illusionary performances, although some others could not be so easily dismissed. It is a credit to the writers that they did not rely on Hadji's "magic" to get our heroes out of too many tight spots, and that most of the occurrences were fairly reasonable (with a few exceptions).

Thanks to Paulo Brandão, who proposed the conceptual design of this page, as well as providing all of the images.

Arctic Splashdown

appear/disappear

Making a dog biscuit appear as if from Bandit's ear would seem to be a trivial use of sleight-of-hand, but Bandit was upset after the dog-skiing fiasco and the boys were trying to apologize. The apology was accepted.

Curse of Anubis

appear/disappear	The old "guess which jug I'm in" trick -- was used twice: once in fun as a guessing game with Jonny and once as a way to keep the bad guys distracted while Jonny escaped.
snake charming	Used to save Dr. Quest and Race from poisonous adders; Hadji commented before he started to the effect that the snakes were not cobras, but that maybe they were still susceptible to persuasion. Fortunately, they were, and Hadji was able to direct them out of the tomb.

Riddle of the Gold

levitation	The only time we know of that Hadji tried to teach Jonny how to accomplish some mystical feats was this instance of using a flute to make a rope levitate. Poor Jonny, even Bandit had better luck at this one.
appear/disappear	In this particular case, once again it was Bandit who "disappeared"; although we were let in on the secret when we saw Bandit's tail wagging from Hadji's carry-on luggage.

Calcutta Adventure

levitation	Levitated a rope so Jonny could climb it and listen in on the bad guy's plans from outside a second-story window. This scene has been popularized a number of times, including this image from a storyboard for the episode.
appear/disppear	As a distraction to prevent Jonny from being caught spying on the bad guys, Hadji performed this trick in which Bandit seemed to vanish.

The Robot Spy

levitation

Levitated Bandit while he was sleeping; without ever waking the unsuspecting pup.

Double Danger

appear/disappear	Jade's earring from Jade's ear to Hadji's hand... ...and onto Bandit's ear. Tabak was amused...
	Next, Tabak's gun from his hand (under cover of a handkerchief) to behind Tabak's back... Tabak was not so amused.
	Finally, bullets removed from Tabak's gun without his knowledge... Tabak was very annoyed -- or he would've been if Race hadn't knocked him unconscious.

A Small Matter of Pygmies

levitation

Made the pygmy chief very frightened by levitating him; made him very angry by dropping him onto the ground.

Pirates from Below

levitation	Levitated Jonny into the air upwards of 20 feet as a small demonstration of his abilities. This is Jonny's least favorite exhibition.
hypnosis	Hypnotized their guard by using the jewel from his turban to effect their escape -- and provide himself a comfortable way to get to the prober without having to walk all that way.

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