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I've been avidly watching this series of late so have chosen to do a review and histrionics on it. The information is gathered from various sources and convoluted down....... a little . I've over done it but there is actually quite a lot to the series then first realised. The trail leads back centuries. Be warned I took quite a few days writing this and there is a lot, and I mean a lot, including some repetition. And I haven't even included absolutely everything I wanted to, that would be greedy. 
There is probably going to be some innacuracies. The Review is near the bottom and is my interpretation of the show.
Still, I got carried away. By far.
"In the worlds before Monkey, Primal Chaos reigned.
Heaven sought order.
But the phoenix can fly only when its feathers are grown.
The four worlds formed again and yet again,
As endless aeons wheeled and passed.
Time and the pure essences of heaven, the moisture
of the Earth, the powers of the sun and the moon
all worked upon a certain rock, old as creation.
And it became magically fertile.
That first egg was named 'Thought'.
Tathagata Buddha, the Father Buddha, said,
'With our thoughts, we make the world.'
Elemental forces caused the egg to hatch.
From it came a stone monkey.
The nature of Monkey was....irrepressible!"
Monkey (Saiyuki) is a Japanese fantasy series partially based on a Chinese 16th century epic tale written by Wu Ch'eng-en (1505-1580), called Hsi Yu Chi (Record Of The Journey to The West). Which in turn was based on the Chinese legend of The Monkey King.
The Wu Ch'eng-en bookfollows the journey of a 7th century monk named Xuan Zang/ Hsuan Tsang, (602-664 AD) also known as, Tripitaka (three baskets) and altered for the books fictional taking. The book comprises of fact, Chinese fables, fairytails, legends and uses details from Taoism and Buddhism religions in combination for this satirised allegory. It was translated into English by a man named Arther Whaley.
Tripitaka in 629AD sets out from China intending by foot to travel to a monastary in India (known as the birthplace of Buddhism) on an endeavor to retrieve buddhist scriptures, The Sutra, the holy book of Buddhism and from there to translate them on his return. Aiding in his journey, albeit not entirely of his free will, is 'Monkey' , a being of unnatural birth and two other pilgrims, the pig demon 'Pigsy' and the fish demon 'Sandy'.
Each of the four represented different natures of humanity.
Tripitaka that of innocence and human struggle
Monkey of restlessness and ingenuity
Pigsy, lascivisity and greed
Sandy that of philosophy and trust
In the Chinese legend 'Monkey' was a creature born from a stone egg, birthed from a rock and fertilised by the essences of heaven. As expressed by the narrater at the beginning of each 'Monkey' episode. (See top)
In his past Monkey learnt magic tricks and gongfu from a Taoist monk and from this learnt to transform himself into seventy-two different forms. His weapon, a magical staff, he stole from the Neptune kingdom. Which he was able to extend and retract at his behest. For his rebellious nature and after repeated attempts to halt his fractious behaviour he was forced to bear the weight of a mountain.
For five hundreds years he beared the mountains weight until Buddha chose to test him by sending him to protect the buddhist priest on his way to India. Bound upon his head was a golden ring, placed there by Buddha to insure obediance, which Tripitaka when teaching Monkey a lesson would chant a headache sutra (so named by 'Monkey'), Om mane padme hum, that tightened the ring whenever Tripitaka felt Monkey needed punishment and a painful lesson.
The series comprises of two seasons and a total of 52 episodes, 26 per season. Each episode ran just under an hour each. Only a total of 39 of the 52 episodes had been translated for western audiences but recently there has been news that the remaining 13 are at this momenty in time being dubbed by the very same vocalists who transcribed the script originally.
It was only after vosiverous public demand that the second season was commissioned where the actor, Toshiyuki Nishida, who played pigsy in the first run was replaced by Tonpei Hidari in the same role. Also the horse was given a greater role in the subsequent public requested second run and was now not only just a horse but could change into human form under stress, and before his equine incarnation had been a dragon, who like all, bar Tripitaka (a mortal), had been expelled by heaven. Horse/Yu Lung was played by Shunji Fujimura.
Over the course of the show, the boy-priest and his follows travelled through China, then known as the Great Tang, and passed numerous demons and tests, including dog-demons, Taosit monks, vampires and numerous love interests. Tripitaka always tried to find a pacifistic and non-violent approach to disarming dangerous situations. Many times, in particular the boy-priest and our hero, the characters were prepared at one point or another to sacrifice themselves for someone else. The series unlike the book fails to come to a conclusion and our intrepid travellers never reach India.
Today many of the episode subject matters could and would verge on morality issues, debate and angered responses. In various episodes there had been an attempt of suicide, taking in context of the series, in a humerous, saterised and light-hearted state, male pregnancy and magically induced abortion, the selling of children like livestock, canablism and child eating. And for those who claim Harry Potter encourages the black arts and satanism, many a turn of magical ability. Not to mention the looseness from the original source material and religious factors for purist and devoutist to dispute.
Monkey in the series began by being expelled from heaven by Buddha for eating from a peach tree where varying sizes of the fruit grant, super strength and immortality. From there he was imprisoned beneath a vast mountain before Buddha released him to aid Tripitaka. On him he wears the golden ring about his head and carries his weapon of choice, his extending staff which when not in use he tucks behind his ear. Monkey had other skills too. He could change into various forms including bugs and could even change into a man and woman's body, he had a total of 72 forms . His sense of smell was also highly attuned towards demons. Wherein one episode (Even Monsters Can Be People) three demons use it to their advantage by becoming simple peasant people and allow Monkey to attack and 'pretend' kill them, leaving Tripitaka aghast at such mindless murder. Monkey being able to smell the demon in their hidden form whilst Tripitaka without that sense of smell saw them mainly as the peasants they appeared to be. Another trait unique to Monkey was that by pulling hairs from his body he was able to create an army of monkey men or create an inanimate object. The most memorable ability to me though is his cloud which he called using a special hand gesture then a whistling method.
Monkey impromtu-mises his self importance and infers himself as the 'Great Sage, Equal of Heaven'. He himself is immortal and impervious to destruction due to his having eaten the peaches and/or made of stone.
It seems he is a boastful rebel with ornery attributes and habitual laziness but over the course of the series he also shows a nobilty, and a heroic and self-sacrificing quality as seen in the episode, The End Of The Way, where Tripitaka has a collar around his neck which slowly squeezes until suffocation but Monkey magically swaps places with the priest to save his life, and in doing so preparing to give up his own.
Curiously yet obvious Monkey's name in the undubbed Japanese was in fact Son Goku. Anyone familiar with Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT should instantly recognise the name. Dragonball is another variation of the Monkey King myth and the main character just so happens to be called Son Goku. He is part of the saiyan race who have tails like monkeys and can turn into an Issaru, a giant ape by moonlight. He also shares Monkey's weapon and nimbus cloud. More proof that they share the same historic connection.
Buddha sent Boddhisattva Kuan-yin, a messenger, in search of a pious individual to make the journey to India. Choosing Tripitaka, then named Hsang Tsang for the task.
Tripitaka, which translates to 'three baskets' in sanscrit was a Mayahan Buddhist, congentially veered towards compassion. This characteristic practically turned up in every episode. His insistance on assisting everyone in trouble that they passed was not taken to heart by his disciples whose ethics ran a little bit more selfishly. And more often then not Tripitaka's compassion led the travellers to various states of misfortune which they eventually overcame, leading to the moralistic Buddhism related narration at the end of each episode.
Tripitaka may have been a being of honest and pure intent but he was not infallable. As mentioned in the episode (Even Monsters Can Be People), the boy-priest proved capable of making the wrong decision. Not taking the word of Monkey and banishing him back to his home, the mountain of fruit and flowers he later found himself at the mercy of three demons, red, yellow, blue, who were in fact his demons that he had denied. He banished Monkey again in a later episode (Monkey meets the demon digger) and once more falls into danger.
Apparantly in quite a few episodes Tripitaka unintentionally proved to be quite a ladies man. He certainly did not encourage such thoughts but some how he managed to catch the eye of a woman or the woman's relative and found himself consigned to a marriage proposal. Being celibate this would prove a problem.
Tripitaka's character is familarised by his three pointed hat and priest garb. Not too mention his rather feminine looks, which later proved useful (or intentional) when the story required him to be a woman.
Pigsy was the third to join the pilgramage. He too in the series resided in heaven, as Lord Of The Heavenly Hosts and at one point fought with Monkey there. He was dismissed from heaven because of carnal desire and gluttony and was reincarnated as a pig demon as an apropo form in representation of his habits.
Pigsy is the comedic relief of the group. He falls in love often, persuing his interest with obsessional behaviour, misconstruing fear for being hard to get. Leaping before he thinks Pigsy ends up in trouble with his antics and in a couple of episodes his pig nature is exaggerated to such a degree that he turns into a pig from his more anthropormphised form often due to some magical interference.
Pigsy carries with him a muckrack which he uses in battle. Although he has little to redeem himself in terms of characterisics he has proven on occasion to improve his habitual annoyances and come out looking rather heroic on occasions. This includes the episode, Give And Take, where Pigsy goes out of his way to become a monster-hunter in order to earn enough gold to pay for a cure for a blind girl of her sightlessness.
Sandy, the final member of the original quartet from the first season, is also a fallen figure from heaven, once titled with Commander of The Heavenly Host, and was dismissed for dropping a jade goblet. He was reincarnated as a Kappa, a demon of water with piscine attributes.
Where Pigsy and to the same extent Monkey are the comedy figures, Sandy is the philosophing realist and taciturn character. More oft to speak carefully. This does not however make him an impervious character to comic timing or failure as is Tripitaka.
He is usually placed side by side with Pigsy, setting the two up for argumentive sessions. He also has an aversion to eels as discovered in, (PigsyWoo's A Widow). His weapon is very similar to a halberd and wears about his neck a necklace of skulls and as a Kappa he was also a cannibal.
The latest addition to the fold in the recommishened final season is Horse/Dragon/Yu-Lung. He was the white horse upon which Tripitaka most often rode on their journey. He was struck by lightning and gained a third form of a human, Yu-Lung (Jade Dragon). He was once a dragon who like the other three disciples was expelled from heaven.
Yu-Lung was dim-witted in comparison to his fellow journeymen, (not an incredible feat considering
) and actually proved to be a bit more naive then Triptaka. Despite his third incarnation and greater character role added to the show he still remained in the majority for at least or more then half every episode, in horse form.
Yu-Lung used varying horse references when he spoke and was often put upon by Monkey. He is also blatantly honest of his opinions. His fighting skills are pracitically non existant, he tends to run rather then fight when there is danger.
Recuring individuals include Buddha. She or rather he has many facets to his/her face. Appearing in many aspects of her/hiself. Buddha's most used and prefere face was as a woman, who turned up to give wisdom and lessons on occasions to Tripitaka and his disciples.
Buddha is the one that initiates the journey after seeing mankind falling away from Buddhism he had the 'Greater Vehicle Scriptures' sent to earth for humanity to discover illumination with. However wanting humanity to appreaciate the scriptures Buddha chose to make the retrieval of the scriptures difficult which is where Tripitaka comes in.
The English translation cannot be complete without a mention of the Narrater. Whenever a scene has a lesson to be learnt, the Narrater adds a Buddhist quote to fit the occasion. His voice is also at the end of each episode with another 'Buddhism' to conclude the entire episode.
Some examples......
"Love is no excuse... Like a mountain a good man is visible from afar, said the Buddha... What is goodness? You already know! If goodness is like a mountain, sometimes it is equally hard to achieve, and someone must first find a way... The master goes beyond the boundless land, and nothing, neither men, nor demons, nor gods, nothing in all creation can hold him. Monkey is magic, a god and immortal, but he is less than the Buddha in you".
"The monstrous is only a matter of opinion. To some of us opinions are so precious we will die for them again and again."
"Where do we come from? Where do we go? Only the sage knows. And the sage knows such questions are profitless. Daily, the clever man learns something. Daily, the wise man gives up some certainty. Perhaps."
DETAILS
Monkey (Saiyuki)
Nihon television
1978-1980
39 episodes (english dubbed) plus 13 (undubbed)
LOCATIONS:
Location shots in Northwest China / Inner Mongolia.
Japanese studio.
PRODUCED BY:
Season 1 and/or 2: Tsunbeo Hayakawa / Muneo Yamada / Tadahiro Nagatomi / Yoji Katori / Kazuo Morikawa / Ken Kumagaya / Sadamasa Arikawa.
MUSIC:
Mickie Yoshino / Gandaio (Japanese; Monkey Magic!)
CAST:
MONKEY / SON GOKU
Played by: Masaaki Sakai
Dubbing: David Collings
Monkey, the rebel, fool and anthropomised hero of the show.
Masaaki Sakai the face behind Monkey previously did some acting roles and more prominantly was a member of a Japanese rock group, 'The Spiders' until they disbanded and he decided to go solo musically until eventually he was placed into the main character role.
TRIPITAKA / SANZO HOSHI
Played by: Masako Natsumi
Dubbing: Maria Wahlberg
The innocent Buddhist boy-priest.
Masako Natsumi, a Japanese model and popular actress, was cast in the role of the boy priest Tripitaka.
SANDY / SA GOJO
Played by: Shiro Kishibe
Dubbing: Gareth Armstrong
Fish demon in the book and 'kappa' in the series.
Sandy was played by Shiro Kishiba, also before his casting was a member of a Japanese band of the time. Replacing a member of one of his elders brothers band, 'The Tigers'. On researching the characters on-line I have found mentions that Shiro since 'Monkey' faded from the limelight and became a table tennis player
PIGSY / CHO HAKKAI
Played by: Toshiyuki Nishida(1/2)/Tonpei Hidari(3)
Dubbing: Peter Woodthorpe
The greedy, womanising pig demon.As mentioned Pigsy was played by two different actors on each seperate season. The original 'Pigsy', Toshiyuki Nishida began his career in an acting academy eventually moving towards some musical inclination but his main focus seems to be on acting. Tonpei Hidari the pigsy replacement was infamous for comedic and comedy roles prior to his addition to the series.
HORSE / YU LUNG
Played by: Shunji Fujimura
Dubbing: Andrew Sachs
Dragon-horse-man.
Shunji Fujimura initially began his career by graduating from a performing arts school and starring in Toho musicals and variety shows and even a stint as a disc jockey.
NARRATER
Japanese oration: unknown if any
Dubbing: Frank Duncan
BUDDHA
Played by: Mieko Takamine
Dubbing: Cecile Chevreau
VARIOUS
Dubbing: Miriam Margoyles / Peter Marinker / Michael McClain / Mark Spencer
EPISODE GUIDE
Season 1:
1. Monkey Goes Wild About Heaven
2. Monkey Turns Nursemaid
3.The Great Journey Begins
4. Monkey Swallows The Universe
5. The Power Of Youth
6. Even Monsters Can Be People
7. The Beginning Of Wisdom
8. Pigsy Woos A WIdow
9. What Monkey Calls The Dog Woman
10. Pigsy In The Well
11. The Difference Between Night And Day
12. Pearls Before Swine
13. The Minx And The Slug
14. Catfish, Saint And The Shapeshifter
15. Monkey Meets The Demon Digger
16. The Most Monstrous Monster
17. Truth And The Grey Gloves Devil
18. Land Of The Locusts
19. The Vampire Master
20. Outragious Coincidences
21. Pigsy, King And God
22. Village Of The Undead
23. Two Little Blessings
24. The Fires Of Jealousy
25. The Country Of Nightmares
26. The End Of The Way
Season 2:
27. Pigsy's Ten Thousand Ladies
28. The Dogs Of Death
29. You Win Some, You Loose Some
30. Pigsy Learns A Lesson
31. The Land With Two Suns
32. The House Of The Evil Spirit
33. Am I Dreaming?
34. The Tormented Emperor
35. Between Heaven And Hell
36. The Foolish Philosopher
37. Who Am I?
38. What Is Wisdom?
39. The Fountain Of Youth
40. Better The Demon You Know
41. A Shadow So Huge
42. Keep On Dancing
43. Give And Take
44. Such A Nice Monster
45. The Fake Pilgrims
46. Pretty As A Picture
47. Mothers
48. The Tenacious Tomboy
49. Stoned
50. Howling At The Moon
51. Monkey's Yearning
52. At The Top Of The Mountain
.......and Finally the review proper.
REVIEW (By Revenant)
The series began with a large budget of Y100 million (dollar equivelant $400,000 (I don't have the pound conversion) ) for the first season. Although it doesn't show. However that is part of the appeal of the series, its eccentric looks, including the extremely poor but hilarious special effects, in particular the cloud flying scenes. It may not be by today's standards a high end production but the wonderous if short-coming looks and sumptious location shots and wonderous plot and characters make it such a great show and etrenal cult classic.
I have only seen 'Monkey' with the english dubbing, and the voice casting and writing behind it adds to the flavour of easternese mystery, even if it is in poor immatation accents. The english dub is made up of pseudo english-japanese intonations. The lip-sync may be off but the effect of the entirety of dubbing adds an extra incentive and tickle of the funny bone. The series is after all, although a loose rendition of a Chinese classic, a comedy of sorts especially with the likes of Monkey and Pigsy involved. The lack of lip co-ordination brings up memories of the old martial arts movies too.
By far and away the best voice actor rendered in is the Narrater, adding the charming and often confusing teachings of Buddhism in retrospect of the episode, spoken in that curious pseudo accent.
Peter Woodthorpe the voice behind Pigsy I find very apt to the character, nasal, annoying and whiny. You can hear the 'but' in his tone. His rendition helpfully defines Pigsy's characteristics. Unfortunately there is a down-side concerning the recasting of his character. Toshiyuki Nishida had a greater appeal of facial expressions when he played the part and Woodthorpe really got the voice right in application of the gurny effects of Nishida but the recasted Tonpei Hidara to me does not have the same level of expressions. Woodthorpes established vocals kept even with the addition of the new actor, to me, did not quite work so well. Hidari's more placid and less obnoxious version did not translate well to the english dubbing, of course this is not his fault but an unfortunate case of the nessecity of an actor change and perhaps the inability of Woodthorpe to tone down.
Sandy is suitable doleful as the laid back member of the group, his dubbing actor, Gareth Armstrong opting for a less accentuated take that compliments the sour face and gestures of Shiro Kishibe.
Yu-Lung to me has the most memorable dubber, the fairly well known british-wise, Andrew Sachs. He of Fawlty Towers (another great show). In fact Yu-Lung is very similar in character to Sach's, Fawlty Towers put upon Manuel. It could even be possible that Sach's used his 'Monkey' character as a template for his more visual role in the british hotel comedy.
Going along with the distinctive femine quality, and casting, of Tripitaka the english vocalist of his character is a woman, Maria Wahlberg. Although you can clearly hear the female aspect I can still picture Triptaka as a male. He his after all the 'boy priest'. In today's modern age it would be possible for him to be a choir boy, whose high-pitched singing is angelisised until puberty. Although perhaps the 'boy-priest' is a little too old. Either way I am quite aware of the female connections to his character and still be perfectly capable of recognising him as a male character. A strange decision but one that only augments the saterised and off-beat attitude of the series.
Then of course there is the voice behind 'Monkey'. David Collings does a memorable rendition of the epinimous hero's voice. He has a querrilous tone and to a lesser extent then Pigsy's, that whinyness. It is gruff around the edges and compliments Masaaki Sakai's acting. 'Mosta' comes out sounding childish and petulant when uttered and adds further to Monkey's oft rebellious and infantile personality.
Moving on to the Japanese acting talent within the programme. Perfectly in tune with the theme of the series the acting is a hop-scotch of improvisation. Some funny overacting on part of the disciple characters compliments their characterisation while Masako Natsumi holds back perfectly for the more reserved and demure Tripitaka. She really gives the feel of serenity within the boy-priest and keeps the look of placidness that is habitual of a man who knows his place and is happy there. There are some area's where plot requires Tripitaka to react more boisterous then usual and again Natsumi rarely faults and this is taking into account the serealised nature of the programme. One down point though is that Natsumi is perhaps a little too frugal.
Masaaki Sakai was blessed from birth and pre-fated with inherited looks that meant he already could pass off quite easily in Monkeys role without too much extra definition of his features. During his stint in his band 'The Spiders' he created a dance move known as the 'monkey dance'. Perhaps a hidden sign of is pre-furture. Sakai adds an indefinable air and talent to the eponomised hero. He certainly personifies the agility and cheekiness.
Sakai quickly proves himself a capable stunt man with his fun and frollicing fight scene's. Apparantly he had no practice of the martial arts before hand. Although the fight scene's were played out in theatric fashion they still needed some expertise. The fight scene's would be poorly suited if too much realism was attributed to them as the clumsy and often obvious fakery only increases their merit in a show that is for all sense and purpose, despite whatever original intent, on a comedic and not entirely serious level.
Masaaki Sakai gets a thumbs up from me for the appeal and enourmous sense of fun he applies to Monkey. He certainly makes the character one of the more distinguished ones. He is not as strong as Natsumi in the solemnity stakes, when he is required to appear serious but with a character like Monkey who defies absolute sensibilty most of the time, he doesn't really need to.
Shiro Kishibe, the tall, lanky actor certainly produces a laid back approach. His gangly appearance makes Sandy seem a little slothful but not out and out lazy. By nature of his own character he does not require so much outragious reaction as the others, except Tripitaka who is supposed to be full of restraint. He is often seen leaning on his weapon as a rest. Not the first character to be thought of in reference to the series he nonetheless has a considerbale role. The others just happen to get more vocifeserious roles or more focus except poor Yu-Lung.
Of the two 'Pigsy' actors I feel Nishida is the better of the two. His over-acting combined with the dubbing vocal talents of Woodthorpe are a deadly combination. He certainly gives the feel of more energy and action in the role then Hidari who even though between the two he has the comedy background, gives less definition, but again in Frank Duncan's narration at the beginning of season two he mentions that some characters come closer to humanity as the journey proceeds. It is still unfortunate that Nishida left. If only for Woodthorpes english rendering has Pigsy retained his personality. Tonpei Hidari is unlucky to come on as second fiddle.
There is not much I can say about Shunji Fujimura. His scatty and edgy Yu-Lung has not a great deal of screen time compared to the others but he certainly does put his slightly confused individual to good use. He certainly gives some innocuous impressionism that for a character un-used to being human is perfectly suitable.
The 'White Horse' brilliant actor, simply brilliant. Very horsey.
Mieko Takamine has only a limted number of scenes but endows her 'Buddha' with equable composure and regality. She assuridely gives her character more then enough presence to warrent her placement in the show.
The numerous other actors, show a competancy and suitably abstract talent to the many minor characters in the show. Some perform better then others, love-struck couples, all doey-eyed vary in acting skill, passing quite well as lovers but nothing spectacular. Women appear strong and strange or a little too over-acted. The actors and actresses who play the part of demons have no ulterior comparison to work against (with demons, who could?) but prove to add quite interesting quirks to the demons they portray. It is rather a mish-mash of good, competant and barely passable skill but a nethertheless entertaining showing.
As I talk of demons the next obvious subject is the make-up and costuming of the show. Lavishily and lovingly designed the style, clothing and looks of the character help define the originality and quirkiness to the series. I know little of ancient Chinese and Japanese clothing but the clothing used certainly appears close to what I know of. Some of the props are distinctly fake, like Sandy's necklace of skulls, which can hardly be percieved as anything but papier-mache in design.
Despite the money put into the show the make-up does look fake. Pigsy's ears have a definate 'unreal' quality about them and his hat is an absolute fashion disaster. The real winner though is the entire wardrobe and look of Monkey himself. The side-burns are incomparable with anything on television before or since.
The weapons the disciples carry appear less fake then other items on the show, probably because of their repeated use, especially in all those ownderful fight scene's.
The close shot locations, filmed within a studio also faintly scream fake, but a major part of the charm of the show is the obvious theatrical nature. As for the outside shots, there are some truly beautiful locations there.
Leading in to special effects. Fake! Fake! Fake! But oh so wonderfully funny and absolutely essential to the show. I am thinking of the cloud scenes. The most outlandish and unrealistic effects ever but this is not an insult. Without those puppet parts the series would be missing a great part of what makes it such a cult. How believeable is Monkey when flying on his cloud? Not at all but it doesn't matter, not with a series like this. Without it the show is incomplete. I don't know if it was intentional or mayhaps a false sense of good work but without those scenes 'Monkey' would not be half the fun. Sometimes perfection is not the way.
Finally the fighting. Another essential, and frankly every part is essential, piece. Not exactly a good choice for a training video if you wish to learn martial arts, but for entertainment value your well in. Prolonged pauses, over the top jumping and shoving, everyone waiting their turn to attack and poorly executed falling, how utterly relishing is that?
Not only is there enjoyment of the actual fight but also of the initiation. When the fighting begins you await of that most unforgetable theme tune, 'Monkey Magic'. A show is not a show without a tune that you cannot but help hum in your head or remember with a smile on your face and a tap of your feet. The music all around is fantastic and a perfect finishing touch.
'Monkey' is out-dated by today's standards but it holds a uniqueness that no other programme can compare or even eclipse. It is original and funny and entertaining and all things a cult show should have. Without the trials and tribulations of Tripitaka, Monkey et al it would be an absolute travesty to television and for people like me who love the novel and inventive. It holds a niche, a cult show that although appears poorly made, is a wonder of televison achievement.
Other show may fade away into obscurity, but like the 'Irrepressible' nature of Monkey, 'Monkey' stands for all time. A cult and legend.
There is probably going to be some innacuracies. The Review is near the bottom and is my interpretation of the show.
Still, I got carried away. By far.
"In the worlds before Monkey, Primal Chaos reigned.
Heaven sought order.
But the phoenix can fly only when its feathers are grown.
The four worlds formed again and yet again,
As endless aeons wheeled and passed.
Time and the pure essences of heaven, the moisture
of the Earth, the powers of the sun and the moon
all worked upon a certain rock, old as creation.
And it became magically fertile.
That first egg was named 'Thought'.
Tathagata Buddha, the Father Buddha, said,
'With our thoughts, we make the world.'
Elemental forces caused the egg to hatch.
From it came a stone monkey.
The nature of Monkey was....irrepressible!"
Monkey (Saiyuki) is a Japanese fantasy series partially based on a Chinese 16th century epic tale written by Wu Ch'eng-en (1505-1580), called Hsi Yu Chi (Record Of The Journey to The West). Which in turn was based on the Chinese legend of The Monkey King.
The Wu Ch'eng-en bookfollows the journey of a 7th century monk named Xuan Zang/ Hsuan Tsang, (602-664 AD) also known as, Tripitaka (three baskets) and altered for the books fictional taking. The book comprises of fact, Chinese fables, fairytails, legends and uses details from Taoism and Buddhism religions in combination for this satirised allegory. It was translated into English by a man named Arther Whaley.
Tripitaka in 629AD sets out from China intending by foot to travel to a monastary in India (known as the birthplace of Buddhism) on an endeavor to retrieve buddhist scriptures, The Sutra, the holy book of Buddhism and from there to translate them on his return. Aiding in his journey, albeit not entirely of his free will, is 'Monkey' , a being of unnatural birth and two other pilgrims, the pig demon 'Pigsy' and the fish demon 'Sandy'.
Each of the four represented different natures of humanity.
Tripitaka that of innocence and human struggle
Monkey of restlessness and ingenuity
Pigsy, lascivisity and greed
Sandy that of philosophy and trust
In the Chinese legend 'Monkey' was a creature born from a stone egg, birthed from a rock and fertilised by the essences of heaven. As expressed by the narrater at the beginning of each 'Monkey' episode. (See top)
In his past Monkey learnt magic tricks and gongfu from a Taoist monk and from this learnt to transform himself into seventy-two different forms. His weapon, a magical staff, he stole from the Neptune kingdom. Which he was able to extend and retract at his behest. For his rebellious nature and after repeated attempts to halt his fractious behaviour he was forced to bear the weight of a mountain.
For five hundreds years he beared the mountains weight until Buddha chose to test him by sending him to protect the buddhist priest on his way to India. Bound upon his head was a golden ring, placed there by Buddha to insure obediance, which Tripitaka when teaching Monkey a lesson would chant a headache sutra (so named by 'Monkey'), Om mane padme hum, that tightened the ring whenever Tripitaka felt Monkey needed punishment and a painful lesson.
The series comprises of two seasons and a total of 52 episodes, 26 per season. Each episode ran just under an hour each. Only a total of 39 of the 52 episodes had been translated for western audiences but recently there has been news that the remaining 13 are at this momenty in time being dubbed by the very same vocalists who transcribed the script originally.
It was only after vosiverous public demand that the second season was commissioned where the actor, Toshiyuki Nishida, who played pigsy in the first run was replaced by Tonpei Hidari in the same role. Also the horse was given a greater role in the subsequent public requested second run and was now not only just a horse but could change into human form under stress, and before his equine incarnation had been a dragon, who like all, bar Tripitaka (a mortal), had been expelled by heaven. Horse/Yu Lung was played by Shunji Fujimura.
Over the course of the show, the boy-priest and his follows travelled through China, then known as the Great Tang, and passed numerous demons and tests, including dog-demons, Taosit monks, vampires and numerous love interests. Tripitaka always tried to find a pacifistic and non-violent approach to disarming dangerous situations. Many times, in particular the boy-priest and our hero, the characters were prepared at one point or another to sacrifice themselves for someone else. The series unlike the book fails to come to a conclusion and our intrepid travellers never reach India.
Today many of the episode subject matters could and would verge on morality issues, debate and angered responses. In various episodes there had been an attempt of suicide, taking in context of the series, in a humerous, saterised and light-hearted state, male pregnancy and magically induced abortion, the selling of children like livestock, canablism and child eating. And for those who claim Harry Potter encourages the black arts and satanism, many a turn of magical ability. Not to mention the looseness from the original source material and religious factors for purist and devoutist to dispute.
Monkey in the series began by being expelled from heaven by Buddha for eating from a peach tree where varying sizes of the fruit grant, super strength and immortality. From there he was imprisoned beneath a vast mountain before Buddha released him to aid Tripitaka. On him he wears the golden ring about his head and carries his weapon of choice, his extending staff which when not in use he tucks behind his ear. Monkey had other skills too. He could change into various forms including bugs and could even change into a man and woman's body, he had a total of 72 forms . His sense of smell was also highly attuned towards demons. Wherein one episode (Even Monsters Can Be People) three demons use it to their advantage by becoming simple peasant people and allow Monkey to attack and 'pretend' kill them, leaving Tripitaka aghast at such mindless murder. Monkey being able to smell the demon in their hidden form whilst Tripitaka without that sense of smell saw them mainly as the peasants they appeared to be. Another trait unique to Monkey was that by pulling hairs from his body he was able to create an army of monkey men or create an inanimate object. The most memorable ability to me though is his cloud which he called using a special hand gesture then a whistling method.
Monkey impromtu-mises his self importance and infers himself as the 'Great Sage, Equal of Heaven'. He himself is immortal and impervious to destruction due to his having eaten the peaches and/or made of stone.
It seems he is a boastful rebel with ornery attributes and habitual laziness but over the course of the series he also shows a nobilty, and a heroic and self-sacrificing quality as seen in the episode, The End Of The Way, where Tripitaka has a collar around his neck which slowly squeezes until suffocation but Monkey magically swaps places with the priest to save his life, and in doing so preparing to give up his own.
Curiously yet obvious Monkey's name in the undubbed Japanese was in fact Son Goku. Anyone familiar with Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT should instantly recognise the name. Dragonball is another variation of the Monkey King myth and the main character just so happens to be called Son Goku. He is part of the saiyan race who have tails like monkeys and can turn into an Issaru, a giant ape by moonlight. He also shares Monkey's weapon and nimbus cloud. More proof that they share the same historic connection.
Buddha sent Boddhisattva Kuan-yin, a messenger, in search of a pious individual to make the journey to India. Choosing Tripitaka, then named Hsang Tsang for the task.
Tripitaka, which translates to 'three baskets' in sanscrit was a Mayahan Buddhist, congentially veered towards compassion. This characteristic practically turned up in every episode. His insistance on assisting everyone in trouble that they passed was not taken to heart by his disciples whose ethics ran a little bit more selfishly. And more often then not Tripitaka's compassion led the travellers to various states of misfortune which they eventually overcame, leading to the moralistic Buddhism related narration at the end of each episode.
Tripitaka may have been a being of honest and pure intent but he was not infallable. As mentioned in the episode (Even Monsters Can Be People), the boy-priest proved capable of making the wrong decision. Not taking the word of Monkey and banishing him back to his home, the mountain of fruit and flowers he later found himself at the mercy of three demons, red, yellow, blue, who were in fact his demons that he had denied. He banished Monkey again in a later episode (Monkey meets the demon digger) and once more falls into danger.
Apparantly in quite a few episodes Tripitaka unintentionally proved to be quite a ladies man. He certainly did not encourage such thoughts but some how he managed to catch the eye of a woman or the woman's relative and found himself consigned to a marriage proposal. Being celibate this would prove a problem.
Tripitaka's character is familarised by his three pointed hat and priest garb. Not too mention his rather feminine looks, which later proved useful (or intentional) when the story required him to be a woman.
Pigsy was the third to join the pilgramage. He too in the series resided in heaven, as Lord Of The Heavenly Hosts and at one point fought with Monkey there. He was dismissed from heaven because of carnal desire and gluttony and was reincarnated as a pig demon as an apropo form in representation of his habits.
Pigsy is the comedic relief of the group. He falls in love often, persuing his interest with obsessional behaviour, misconstruing fear for being hard to get. Leaping before he thinks Pigsy ends up in trouble with his antics and in a couple of episodes his pig nature is exaggerated to such a degree that he turns into a pig from his more anthropormphised form often due to some magical interference.
Pigsy carries with him a muckrack which he uses in battle. Although he has little to redeem himself in terms of characterisics he has proven on occasion to improve his habitual annoyances and come out looking rather heroic on occasions. This includes the episode, Give And Take, where Pigsy goes out of his way to become a monster-hunter in order to earn enough gold to pay for a cure for a blind girl of her sightlessness.
Sandy, the final member of the original quartet from the first season, is also a fallen figure from heaven, once titled with Commander of The Heavenly Host, and was dismissed for dropping a jade goblet. He was reincarnated as a Kappa, a demon of water with piscine attributes.
Where Pigsy and to the same extent Monkey are the comedy figures, Sandy is the philosophing realist and taciturn character. More oft to speak carefully. This does not however make him an impervious character to comic timing or failure as is Tripitaka.
He is usually placed side by side with Pigsy, setting the two up for argumentive sessions. He also has an aversion to eels as discovered in, (PigsyWoo's A Widow). His weapon is very similar to a halberd and wears about his neck a necklace of skulls and as a Kappa he was also a cannibal.
The latest addition to the fold in the recommishened final season is Horse/Dragon/Yu-Lung. He was the white horse upon which Tripitaka most often rode on their journey. He was struck by lightning and gained a third form of a human, Yu-Lung (Jade Dragon). He was once a dragon who like the other three disciples was expelled from heaven.
Yu-Lung was dim-witted in comparison to his fellow journeymen, (not an incredible feat considering
) and actually proved to be a bit more naive then Triptaka. Despite his third incarnation and greater character role added to the show he still remained in the majority for at least or more then half every episode, in horse form. Yu-Lung used varying horse references when he spoke and was often put upon by Monkey. He is also blatantly honest of his opinions. His fighting skills are pracitically non existant, he tends to run rather then fight when there is danger.
Recuring individuals include Buddha. She or rather he has many facets to his/her face. Appearing in many aspects of her/hiself. Buddha's most used and prefere face was as a woman, who turned up to give wisdom and lessons on occasions to Tripitaka and his disciples.
Buddha is the one that initiates the journey after seeing mankind falling away from Buddhism he had the 'Greater Vehicle Scriptures' sent to earth for humanity to discover illumination with. However wanting humanity to appreaciate the scriptures Buddha chose to make the retrieval of the scriptures difficult which is where Tripitaka comes in.
The English translation cannot be complete without a mention of the Narrater. Whenever a scene has a lesson to be learnt, the Narrater adds a Buddhist quote to fit the occasion. His voice is also at the end of each episode with another 'Buddhism' to conclude the entire episode.
Some examples......
"Love is no excuse... Like a mountain a good man is visible from afar, said the Buddha... What is goodness? You already know! If goodness is like a mountain, sometimes it is equally hard to achieve, and someone must first find a way... The master goes beyond the boundless land, and nothing, neither men, nor demons, nor gods, nothing in all creation can hold him. Monkey is magic, a god and immortal, but he is less than the Buddha in you".
"The monstrous is only a matter of opinion. To some of us opinions are so precious we will die for them again and again."
"Where do we come from? Where do we go? Only the sage knows. And the sage knows such questions are profitless. Daily, the clever man learns something. Daily, the wise man gives up some certainty. Perhaps."
DETAILS
Monkey (Saiyuki)
Nihon television
1978-1980
39 episodes (english dubbed) plus 13 (undubbed)
LOCATIONS:
Location shots in Northwest China / Inner Mongolia.
Japanese studio.
PRODUCED BY:
Season 1 and/or 2: Tsunbeo Hayakawa / Muneo Yamada / Tadahiro Nagatomi / Yoji Katori / Kazuo Morikawa / Ken Kumagaya / Sadamasa Arikawa.
MUSIC:
Mickie Yoshino / Gandaio (Japanese; Monkey Magic!)
CAST:
MONKEY / SON GOKU
Played by: Masaaki Sakai
Dubbing: David Collings
Monkey, the rebel, fool and anthropomised hero of the show.
Masaaki Sakai the face behind Monkey previously did some acting roles and more prominantly was a member of a Japanese rock group, 'The Spiders' until they disbanded and he decided to go solo musically until eventually he was placed into the main character role.
TRIPITAKA / SANZO HOSHI
Played by: Masako Natsumi
Dubbing: Maria Wahlberg
The innocent Buddhist boy-priest.
Masako Natsumi, a Japanese model and popular actress, was cast in the role of the boy priest Tripitaka.
SANDY / SA GOJO
Played by: Shiro Kishibe
Dubbing: Gareth Armstrong
Fish demon in the book and 'kappa' in the series.
Sandy was played by Shiro Kishiba, also before his casting was a member of a Japanese band of the time. Replacing a member of one of his elders brothers band, 'The Tigers'. On researching the characters on-line I have found mentions that Shiro since 'Monkey' faded from the limelight and became a table tennis player
PIGSY / CHO HAKKAI
Played by: Toshiyuki Nishida(1/2)/Tonpei Hidari(3)
Dubbing: Peter Woodthorpe
The greedy, womanising pig demon.As mentioned Pigsy was played by two different actors on each seperate season. The original 'Pigsy', Toshiyuki Nishida began his career in an acting academy eventually moving towards some musical inclination but his main focus seems to be on acting. Tonpei Hidari the pigsy replacement was infamous for comedic and comedy roles prior to his addition to the series.
HORSE / YU LUNG
Played by: Shunji Fujimura
Dubbing: Andrew Sachs
Dragon-horse-man.
Shunji Fujimura initially began his career by graduating from a performing arts school and starring in Toho musicals and variety shows and even a stint as a disc jockey.
NARRATER
Japanese oration: unknown if any
Dubbing: Frank Duncan
BUDDHA
Played by: Mieko Takamine
Dubbing: Cecile Chevreau
VARIOUS
Dubbing: Miriam Margoyles / Peter Marinker / Michael McClain / Mark Spencer
EPISODE GUIDE
Season 1:
1. Monkey Goes Wild About Heaven
2. Monkey Turns Nursemaid
3.The Great Journey Begins
4. Monkey Swallows The Universe
5. The Power Of Youth
6. Even Monsters Can Be People
7. The Beginning Of Wisdom
8. Pigsy Woos A WIdow
9. What Monkey Calls The Dog Woman
10. Pigsy In The Well
11. The Difference Between Night And Day
12. Pearls Before Swine
13. The Minx And The Slug
14. Catfish, Saint And The Shapeshifter
15. Monkey Meets The Demon Digger
16. The Most Monstrous Monster
17. Truth And The Grey Gloves Devil
18. Land Of The Locusts
19. The Vampire Master
20. Outragious Coincidences
21. Pigsy, King And God
22. Village Of The Undead
23. Two Little Blessings
24. The Fires Of Jealousy
25. The Country Of Nightmares
26. The End Of The Way
Season 2:
27. Pigsy's Ten Thousand Ladies
28. The Dogs Of Death
29. You Win Some, You Loose Some
30. Pigsy Learns A Lesson
31. The Land With Two Suns
32. The House Of The Evil Spirit
33. Am I Dreaming?
34. The Tormented Emperor
35. Between Heaven And Hell
36. The Foolish Philosopher
37. Who Am I?
38. What Is Wisdom?
39. The Fountain Of Youth
40. Better The Demon You Know
41. A Shadow So Huge
42. Keep On Dancing
43. Give And Take
44. Such A Nice Monster
45. The Fake Pilgrims
46. Pretty As A Picture
47. Mothers
48. The Tenacious Tomboy
49. Stoned
50. Howling At The Moon
51. Monkey's Yearning
52. At The Top Of The Mountain
.......and Finally the review proper.
REVIEW (By Revenant)
The series began with a large budget of Y100 million (dollar equivelant $400,000 (I don't have the pound conversion) ) for the first season. Although it doesn't show. However that is part of the appeal of the series, its eccentric looks, including the extremely poor but hilarious special effects, in particular the cloud flying scenes. It may not be by today's standards a high end production but the wonderous if short-coming looks and sumptious location shots and wonderous plot and characters make it such a great show and etrenal cult classic.
I have only seen 'Monkey' with the english dubbing, and the voice casting and writing behind it adds to the flavour of easternese mystery, even if it is in poor immatation accents. The english dub is made up of pseudo english-japanese intonations. The lip-sync may be off but the effect of the entirety of dubbing adds an extra incentive and tickle of the funny bone. The series is after all, although a loose rendition of a Chinese classic, a comedy of sorts especially with the likes of Monkey and Pigsy involved. The lack of lip co-ordination brings up memories of the old martial arts movies too.
By far and away the best voice actor rendered in is the Narrater, adding the charming and often confusing teachings of Buddhism in retrospect of the episode, spoken in that curious pseudo accent.
Peter Woodthorpe the voice behind Pigsy I find very apt to the character, nasal, annoying and whiny. You can hear the 'but' in his tone. His rendition helpfully defines Pigsy's characteristics. Unfortunately there is a down-side concerning the recasting of his character. Toshiyuki Nishida had a greater appeal of facial expressions when he played the part and Woodthorpe really got the voice right in application of the gurny effects of Nishida but the recasted Tonpei Hidara to me does not have the same level of expressions. Woodthorpes established vocals kept even with the addition of the new actor, to me, did not quite work so well. Hidari's more placid and less obnoxious version did not translate well to the english dubbing, of course this is not his fault but an unfortunate case of the nessecity of an actor change and perhaps the inability of Woodthorpe to tone down.
Sandy is suitable doleful as the laid back member of the group, his dubbing actor, Gareth Armstrong opting for a less accentuated take that compliments the sour face and gestures of Shiro Kishibe.
Yu-Lung to me has the most memorable dubber, the fairly well known british-wise, Andrew Sachs. He of Fawlty Towers (another great show). In fact Yu-Lung is very similar in character to Sach's, Fawlty Towers put upon Manuel. It could even be possible that Sach's used his 'Monkey' character as a template for his more visual role in the british hotel comedy.
Going along with the distinctive femine quality, and casting, of Tripitaka the english vocalist of his character is a woman, Maria Wahlberg. Although you can clearly hear the female aspect I can still picture Triptaka as a male. He his after all the 'boy priest'. In today's modern age it would be possible for him to be a choir boy, whose high-pitched singing is angelisised until puberty. Although perhaps the 'boy-priest' is a little too old. Either way I am quite aware of the female connections to his character and still be perfectly capable of recognising him as a male character. A strange decision but one that only augments the saterised and off-beat attitude of the series.
Then of course there is the voice behind 'Monkey'. David Collings does a memorable rendition of the epinimous hero's voice. He has a querrilous tone and to a lesser extent then Pigsy's, that whinyness. It is gruff around the edges and compliments Masaaki Sakai's acting. 'Mosta' comes out sounding childish and petulant when uttered and adds further to Monkey's oft rebellious and infantile personality.
Moving on to the Japanese acting talent within the programme. Perfectly in tune with the theme of the series the acting is a hop-scotch of improvisation. Some funny overacting on part of the disciple characters compliments their characterisation while Masako Natsumi holds back perfectly for the more reserved and demure Tripitaka. She really gives the feel of serenity within the boy-priest and keeps the look of placidness that is habitual of a man who knows his place and is happy there. There are some area's where plot requires Tripitaka to react more boisterous then usual and again Natsumi rarely faults and this is taking into account the serealised nature of the programme. One down point though is that Natsumi is perhaps a little too frugal.
Masaaki Sakai was blessed from birth and pre-fated with inherited looks that meant he already could pass off quite easily in Monkeys role without too much extra definition of his features. During his stint in his band 'The Spiders' he created a dance move known as the 'monkey dance'. Perhaps a hidden sign of is pre-furture. Sakai adds an indefinable air and talent to the eponomised hero. He certainly personifies the agility and cheekiness.
Sakai quickly proves himself a capable stunt man with his fun and frollicing fight scene's. Apparantly he had no practice of the martial arts before hand. Although the fight scene's were played out in theatric fashion they still needed some expertise. The fight scene's would be poorly suited if too much realism was attributed to them as the clumsy and often obvious fakery only increases their merit in a show that is for all sense and purpose, despite whatever original intent, on a comedic and not entirely serious level.
Masaaki Sakai gets a thumbs up from me for the appeal and enourmous sense of fun he applies to Monkey. He certainly makes the character one of the more distinguished ones. He is not as strong as Natsumi in the solemnity stakes, when he is required to appear serious but with a character like Monkey who defies absolute sensibilty most of the time, he doesn't really need to.
Shiro Kishibe, the tall, lanky actor certainly produces a laid back approach. His gangly appearance makes Sandy seem a little slothful but not out and out lazy. By nature of his own character he does not require so much outragious reaction as the others, except Tripitaka who is supposed to be full of restraint. He is often seen leaning on his weapon as a rest. Not the first character to be thought of in reference to the series he nonetheless has a considerbale role. The others just happen to get more vocifeserious roles or more focus except poor Yu-Lung.
Of the two 'Pigsy' actors I feel Nishida is the better of the two. His over-acting combined with the dubbing vocal talents of Woodthorpe are a deadly combination. He certainly gives the feel of more energy and action in the role then Hidari who even though between the two he has the comedy background, gives less definition, but again in Frank Duncan's narration at the beginning of season two he mentions that some characters come closer to humanity as the journey proceeds. It is still unfortunate that Nishida left. If only for Woodthorpes english rendering has Pigsy retained his personality. Tonpei Hidari is unlucky to come on as second fiddle.
There is not much I can say about Shunji Fujimura. His scatty and edgy Yu-Lung has not a great deal of screen time compared to the others but he certainly does put his slightly confused individual to good use. He certainly gives some innocuous impressionism that for a character un-used to being human is perfectly suitable.
The 'White Horse' brilliant actor, simply brilliant. Very horsey.
Mieko Takamine has only a limted number of scenes but endows her 'Buddha' with equable composure and regality. She assuridely gives her character more then enough presence to warrent her placement in the show.
The numerous other actors, show a competancy and suitably abstract talent to the many minor characters in the show. Some perform better then others, love-struck couples, all doey-eyed vary in acting skill, passing quite well as lovers but nothing spectacular. Women appear strong and strange or a little too over-acted. The actors and actresses who play the part of demons have no ulterior comparison to work against (with demons, who could?) but prove to add quite interesting quirks to the demons they portray. It is rather a mish-mash of good, competant and barely passable skill but a nethertheless entertaining showing.
As I talk of demons the next obvious subject is the make-up and costuming of the show. Lavishily and lovingly designed the style, clothing and looks of the character help define the originality and quirkiness to the series. I know little of ancient Chinese and Japanese clothing but the clothing used certainly appears close to what I know of. Some of the props are distinctly fake, like Sandy's necklace of skulls, which can hardly be percieved as anything but papier-mache in design.
Despite the money put into the show the make-up does look fake. Pigsy's ears have a definate 'unreal' quality about them and his hat is an absolute fashion disaster. The real winner though is the entire wardrobe and look of Monkey himself. The side-burns are incomparable with anything on television before or since.
The weapons the disciples carry appear less fake then other items on the show, probably because of their repeated use, especially in all those ownderful fight scene's.
The close shot locations, filmed within a studio also faintly scream fake, but a major part of the charm of the show is the obvious theatrical nature. As for the outside shots, there are some truly beautiful locations there.
Leading in to special effects. Fake! Fake! Fake! But oh so wonderfully funny and absolutely essential to the show. I am thinking of the cloud scenes. The most outlandish and unrealistic effects ever but this is not an insult. Without those puppet parts the series would be missing a great part of what makes it such a cult. How believeable is Monkey when flying on his cloud? Not at all but it doesn't matter, not with a series like this. Without it the show is incomplete. I don't know if it was intentional or mayhaps a false sense of good work but without those scenes 'Monkey' would not be half the fun. Sometimes perfection is not the way.
Finally the fighting. Another essential, and frankly every part is essential, piece. Not exactly a good choice for a training video if you wish to learn martial arts, but for entertainment value your well in. Prolonged pauses, over the top jumping and shoving, everyone waiting their turn to attack and poorly executed falling, how utterly relishing is that?
Not only is there enjoyment of the actual fight but also of the initiation. When the fighting begins you await of that most unforgetable theme tune, 'Monkey Magic'. A show is not a show without a tune that you cannot but help hum in your head or remember with a smile on your face and a tap of your feet. The music all around is fantastic and a perfect finishing touch.
'Monkey' is out-dated by today's standards but it holds a uniqueness that no other programme can compare or even eclipse. It is original and funny and entertaining and all things a cult show should have. Without the trials and tribulations of Tripitaka, Monkey et al it would be an absolute travesty to television and for people like me who love the novel and inventive. It holds a niche, a cult show that although appears poorly made, is a wonder of televison achievement.
Other show may fade away into obscurity, but like the 'Irrepressible' nature of Monkey, 'Monkey' stands for all time. A cult and legend.
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'My mind is full of stars....'
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