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Monkey (TV series)

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Fabulous Films Ltd Region 2 DVD cover of Monkey, Episodes 1-3.

Monkey is the English language version of Japanese television series Saiyūki (西遊記, Saiyūki^?), based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. It was originally produced by Nippon Television (NTV) and International Television Films in association with NHK. Special effects for most of the series were performed by Teisho Arikawa. The series ran for two seasons of 26 episodes each. The first season ran from October 1978 to April 1979. The second season ran from November 1979 to May 1980. Both seasons had footage shot on location in northwest China and Inner Mongolia. The show is unusual in that it was performed by Japanese actors in China and then dubbed into English. The English language version was produced by the BBC and debuted on British and Australian television screens in November 1979. The script for the dubbed dialogue was written by David Weir. It ran for only 39 episodes, because at the discretion of the BBC select episodes were not dubbed for the original run. These remaining episodes were dubbed by Fabulous Films Ltd in early 2004 by the original actors following a successful release of the English dubbed series on VHS and DVD. The missing 13 episodes premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2004. Monkey has also aired in New Zealand and Australia and is available on DVD. Monkey (the dubbed version) has not been screened in the United States (for reasons which involve copyright), although Saiyūki was screened on a local Japanese-language TV station in California during the early 1980s.

1 Plot summary
2 Spoken word introduction
3 Soundtrack
4 Cult appeal
5 Characters
6 Longevity
7 Remakes
8 Episode list
- 8.1 Series 1
- 8.2 Series 2
9 See also
10 External links

Plot summary

Promotional photo of Monkey.

Monkey, the title character, "born from an egg on a mountain top", was a brash king of a monkey tribe (indeed, the title song goes so far as to claim that he was the "funkiest monkey that ever popped"). He achieved a little "enlightenment" and proclaimed himself "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven". After demanding the "gift" of a magical staff from a powerful Dragon king, Monkey is approached by Heaven to join their host in the lowly position of "Keeper of the Peaches of Immortality". Monkey being greedy eats them all, becoming immortal and running amok. Having earned the ire of Heaven and being bested in a challenge by an omniscient, mighty, but benevolent, cloud-dwelling deified Buddha (specifically Avelokitesvara aka Guan Yin, Buddha of Compassion), Monkey is imprisoned under a mountain in order to learn humility. Eventually Monkey is released by the priest Tripitaka in AD 630, who has been tasked by the Boddhisatva Guanyin to undertake a pilgrimage to India to fetch holy scriptures. The pair soon recruits two former members of the heavenly host who were cast out as a result of Monkey's transgressions: Sandy, the water monster and ex-cannibal, expelled from heaven after his interference caused a precious jade cup to be broken, and Pigsy, a pig monster consumed with lust and gluttony, who was expelled from heaven after harassing star princess Vega for a kiss. A dragon, Yu Lung, eats Tripitaka's horse but upon discovering the horse was carrying Tripitaka, assumes the shape of a horse to carry him on his journey; later in the story he occasionally assumes human form to assist his new master (for instance, Monkey transforms into a girl to trick Pigsy in 'The Great Journey Begins'). The pilgrims face many perils and antagonists both human and supernatural. Monkey, Sandy, and Pigsy are often called upon to battle demons, monsters and bandits, despite Tripitaka's constant call for peace. Many episodes also feature some moral lesson, usually based upon Buddhist and/or Taoist philosophies.

Spoken word introduction

Each episode of the English language series begins with the following spoken word introduction, given in a dramatically breathless faux-oriental accent: "In the worlds before Monkey, primal chaos reigned. Heavens 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!"

Soundtrack

Cover to the single released by the BBC.

In 1980, the BBC released a Monkey single on a 7 inch RESL 81. It featured three tracks, an edited version of "Monkey Magic" on side 1, and "Gandhara" and "Thank You Baby" on Side 2. Note: "Gandhara" has one verse in Japanese and the other in English. The songs in the series were performed by the five-piece Japanese band Godiego. Formed in 1976, Godiego had also provided the theme to the TV series The Water Margin. An album containing many of the songs from the programme - Magic Monkey - was released in Japan (and has since also been available on CD). The BBC also released the full Godiego soundtrack on LP (REB 384) in 1980, which featured 11 tracks. A cover version of "Monkey Magic" by Orange Range was featured in the Nintendo DS video game, Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2.

Cult appeal

Monkey is considered a cult classic in countries where it has been shown, especially in Australia, where its immediate widespread popularity superseded that of Japan and the UK. Among the features that have contributed to its cult appeal are the theme song, the dubbed dialogue spoken in a variety of over-the-top "Oriental" accents and the fact that the young priest Tripitaka was played by a woman. Australian contemporary youth programs like alternative music show Recovery and radio station Triple J often made references to Monkey. Recovery's audience favoured the series to such a degree that they began airing Monkey regularly during their show. Ironically when Recovery was put on hiatus it was replaced with three hours of Monkey. Australian radio station Triple J interviewed the original voice actors on several occasions. In Love Hina, when the characters put on a Journey to the West play, Seta insists Naru play the Monkey King because he wanted a female to play the role to be like this series. In one closing credits sequence of Lucky Star, Konata tries to karaoke to the "Monkey Magic", only for her wanting to bail out upon realizing that the song's lyrics are in English. In Read or Die OVA, one of the main villains that was a clone Genjo Sanzo carries a bar called the King Bar.

Characters

Character	Actor	Dub actor	Original Chinese name	Japanese name
Tripitaka	Masako Natsume	Maria Warburg	Xuanzang	Sanzo hoshi (Genjo Sanzo)
Monkey	Masaaki Sakai	David Collings	Sun Wukong	Son Goku
Pigsy	s1: Toshiyuki Nishida s2: Tonpei Hidari	Peter Woodthorpe	Zhu Bajie	Cho Hakkai
Sandy	Shiro Kishibe	Gareth Armstrong	Sha Wujing	Sha Gojo

Longevity

In 1996, the BBC interviewed the executive producers Harold Chan and his wife Adrienne Kirby about whether it is still playing. They said it can still be seen on CBC Television in Canada and on ABC TV in Australia every afternoon.

Remakes

In 1994, Nippon TV produced another television series, based on the Journey to the West story, titled New Monkey, it ran for only one season. The series when released was considered a special effects achievement. Hong Kong TVB made a faithful and costly TV serial adaptation of Monkey in 1996, using the original title Journey to the West. Although the Chinese version was more serious and used heavy Buddhist imagery there were numerous campy action and humour sequences, probably as a tribute to the Japanese version. The show was redubbed into English and broadcast to their English sister channel TVB Pearl. In 2006, Japan's Fuji Television produced (yet) another television series, based on the Journey to the West story, titled Saiyūki. The lead character of Son Goku (Monkey) was given to Shingo Katori, a member of the pop group SMAP. This latest remake has been so successful as to break viewing records with one in three Japanese viewers watching each episode of the series (according to the Times Online Newspaper). Companies from South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and the United Kingdom are not trying to secure rights to broadcast this 11 episode first series. In lieu of a second season, Fuji TV and Toho are producing a feature film version, to be released in Japan on July 14, 2007. [1] The highly popular Japanese Anime & manga series Dragon Ball was based on the story of journey to the west and its creator used the original Japanese series as a form of inspiration when making it.