January 10, 2005

MONKEY!! Oh boy, let nostalgia reign. Growing up in Australia, many many evenings were spent watching Monkey on the ABC. That's the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not the USian ABC.

Heaven sought order But the Phoenix can fly only when its feathers are grown The four worlds formed again and yet again As endless eons wheeled and passed. those darn Wikipedia servers *grin* Monkey accompanies Tripitaka (young male Buddhist priest, played by this woman in the series) on a pilgrimage from China to India after being buried under a mountain by Buddha himself (uh, herself; "I thought you were a fella!") for many hundreds of years. Along the way a fish spirit and a pig spirit also join the pilgrimage, and the horse used to be a dragon. There's lots of fighting and defeating of demons (the demons want to stop Tripitaka, because if he brings back the sacred scrolls, it would be bad for them) and cloud flying and ripping out of chest hair. There's also a magic wishing staff, which lives most of its life in Monkey's ear, but will get pulled out if occasion calls for it ie demons to be bashed. Where are they now?" thanks go to (irrepressible) Nostrildamus for the Mofi profile that reminded me

posted by polychrome 19 years ago
  • My parents wouldn't let me watch Monkey. I think they deprived me of a goo dupbringing.
  • Oh, shit man I loved this show when I was a kid. In the UK they had the dubbed version, some of the voice actors went on to some amazing stuff. I got into trouble whacking my playmates around the body & head with a large thick cane staff, emulating King Monkey. To me, that was one of the top shows of my childhood, bar none. Except Star Wars. I kicked living shit outa the kids in my block with that big cane stick I had. DEMON!!! Whack whack whack! Pching! I think Masaaki Sakai was originally part of something like the Japanese version of the Beatles if I recall correctly. The Japanese version of the show was not as humorous as the english-dubbed version. I recall being upset that the actor who played Pigsy did not continue his role into the final series, nor did the 'quest' finally end. I also hated that fucking horse. Sadly the very beautiflu actress who played Tripitaka died of leukemia, IIRC.
  • I also have a few .wav samples of the into to this series, & I was in a band that did a very hardcore extended version of the theme song, with a big long guitar solo by yours truly. Sadly no one appreciated it except the girlfriends of the band.
  • I grew up watching him as Wukong, in the China-made series. They kept quite closely to the original stories too. Funny thing is that Monkey - from a purely literary creation - is now worshipped as a deity in his own right (I recall a small temple back in Singapore with hundreds of small monkey statues lining the walls). Ironic factoid about the China series: there were two actors playing Tripitaka, because the first one went to jail for beating his wife.
  • Also I think it would be great if the story was made into a major motion picture with special FX, including Monkey pissing on Buddha's fingers in the first episode, & hardcore wire fu. Kick ass!! Sorry, I'm geeking out a bit on this post. Good one, polychrome! I read the translation of (one version of) the story when I was in Hi School & was disturbed to learn that Tripitaka was originally a wizened old male monk instead of a hot japanese model with a bald-wig. God damn! But the phoenix etc etc... I use that intro speech as a way of filtering out really geeky friends from just pseudo geeks. The real geeks could quote the thing exactly! Yes that is pathetic. MONKEEEEEYYYYYYY!
  • Tripitaka was originally a wizened old male monk I thought he was a handsome young man, slightly younger than the Tang emperor that he was sworn brothers with? Hence the numerous women/female demons falling in love with him? Although most of the demons were more concerned with eating him to be immortal.
  • Nostril - not at all pathetic. Gotta be some way of weeding out the geeks from the wannabes! *cue swirly cloud* In the world before Monkey... oh boy, I'm there.
  • Damn that was a good show. I remember coming home from school and watching it on "the arvo show." I think James Valentine used to host it before being replaced by a very young Michael Tunn. They were replaying episodes not all that long ago on Sat mornings I think.
  • Damn that was a good show. I remember coming home from school and watching it on "the arvo show." I think James Valentine used to host it before being replaced by a very young Michael Tunn. They were replaying episodes not all that long ago on Sat mornings I think.
  • A previous monkey thread, from the deep, dark depths of Monkeyfilter history. Good God I love Monkey.
  • Love monkey...or else! Have read Journey to the West and back in the seventies managed to catch an excellent performance of Monkey by the Taiwan Opera Company -- astonishing, mind-boggling performances by very talented cast touring North America. But, alas, never saw the televised series. *weeps with the anguish of not-seeing*
  • thanks dng - I had a sneaky feeling that Monkey had been posted once but a search didn't turn it up. And I really did look, so I've no idea what I did wrong. *sigh*
  • My second favourite show ever. Right behind Get Smart. The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!
  • beeswacky (and others) - the complete series can be bought from Amazon UK
  • Monkey is funky!
  • My younger brother and I still run around pretending to summon the cloud - he does it much better since he actually has chest hair to pluck out and blow...
  • Thanks, prismatic&!
  • Sorry. = prismatic7
  • bees -- seriously, it was a great show.
  • aaaah Tripitaka! My head hurts!!!
  • Monkey reincarnated They are remaking Monkey. "If Australians get to see it they might notice that the scenery of ancient China looks a little familiar. Parts of the series were shot in New South Wales at Stockton Desert near Port Stephens and the Blue Mountains last year." Hmm, I, uh....hmmmm...so want this to be good....so very afraid though.....
  • The vibrators look nice too.