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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Monkey Magic!

  
 
invisible_al
15:15 / 16.01.03
Well speak his name and he appears it seems, Monkey is back on the television, Channel 4 are showing the first 13 episodes and depending on wether the ratings are good they might show the rest.
The first episode will be shown on Channel 4 on the night of Thursday 23rd January 2003, after midnight, i.e. at 12.35am - 01.35am.
Check out Monkeyheaven for the full deal.
Well that's me sorted on friday nights
 
 
Hattie's Kitchen
16:00 / 16.01.03
Fantastic...I have "Monkey" on dvd, with "previously unseen episodes"...watched it recently and it's even more fucked up and surreal than it was twenty-odd years ago. What was the deal with Tripitaka, I always thought she was a woman, but she was a bloke all along...brilliant programme.
 
 
hanabius yamamura
19:43 / 16.01.03

having also purchased the first three dvds recently , it's still bloody great !!! great end theme as well ...

?spoilers of sorts

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surreal moment - lord monkey 'relieving himself' on the pillars at the end of the universe ( following a bet of sorts with buddha ) only to discover that it's his/her fingers , not pillars ... mad ...
 
 
Jack Fear
19:44 / 16.01.03
That's right out of the ancient texts.
 
 
Brigade du jour
21:33 / 16.01.03
I suspect Tripitaka was innately of neither gender. However, I haven't seen Monkey for about five years, but it was ace and mad and cool.

Can't wait for the repeats, big thank you for letting me know!
 
 
Linus Dunce
23:51 / 16.01.03
Pissing on Buddha's fingers? Of course -- the nature of monkey was ... irrepressible.

I can't wait!
 
 
The Monkey
00:11 / 17.01.03
Tripitaka was a male in the text, based on the actual monk Fa Hsien (I think...there were two seperate monks who went to India to get sutras.).
His androgenous appearance in the show may relate to matching the actor's appearance with the old drawings of the character. In older Chinese depictions Tripitaka has a very feminine appearance, corresponding to a period convention in Buddhist art that Buddha/boddhisvatta/saint characters possess slender, aquiline bodies amd very fine/delicate facial features and hands. This represented a physical map of appropriate qualities for such a character. Physical androgyny represented the celibate nature of the figure...set in contrast to the leonine males and surreally-curvy females (both, in their own way, hyper-sexual icons/ideals of their respective gender) of heroic myths.

Note however, that in the series Tripitaka was played by a woman named Masako Natsume, and apparently it's become a convention since her portryal that in any version of "Journey to the West," Tripitaka should be a pretty woman.
 
 
The Monkey
00:22 / 17.01.03
Oops. Wrong monk. The guy was Hsuang Tang.

There's also an manga and anime based on "Journey": it's called Saiyuki, and is set in a futuristic milieu. I don't have a lot of info, though.

Oddly enough, I just found out that the original "Dragonball" series by Akira Toriyama is a spoof of "Journey," too.
 
 
A
13:30 / 17.01.03
Ahh, Monkey, so many memories. Surely I'm not the only one who used to imitate Monkey's cloud-summoning technique (you know, that blowing while moving fingers in front of your mouth kind of thing) in their youth. I think I had it pretty much down, but I don't recall ever summoning any luminous pink riding-clouds. Oh well.

From memory, Tripitaka is referred to as "boy" quite a bit in the series. In Shakespearean times, women were played by boys, so I guess this redresses the balance a little.
 
 
Saiyuuki
20:53 / 20.01.03
Hi, I'm the webmaster of http://www.monkeyheaven.com/

An important note about the Monkey rerun on UK terrestrial TV -

Following on from my earlier announcement:
"The Monkey rerun will take place on Channel 4 on Fridays at 12.30am from 24 January 2003."

It turns out that there's been some confusion about when Monkey wil be shown -

Monkey will *NOT* be shown on Friday nights as originally thought - it will be shown on Thursday nights, after midnight, i.e. 12.35am Friday.

So the first episode will be shown at 12.35am Friday 24th January 2003, i.e. after midnight on Thursday 23rd January 2003.

Please note that the screening slots at that time of night are very flexible, so it's very possible that the slot will change during the 13 weeks that the first 13 Monkey episodes are shown, hopefully to a more favourable timeslot.

In any case, I would recommend checking the TV guides (either online or in print) each week, to ensure you don't miss an episode because of rescheduling.

To be automatically notified whenever Channel 4 change the screening day / time for Monkey from now on, go to the "Monkey TV Guide – UK Free-to-air" page (http://www.monkeyheaven.com/tvguide_ukfreetoair.html) on my web site, and register to be notified of page updates.
You'll then receive an email whenever I update the page with any changes to the schedule.
 
 
Jack Fear
21:58 / 20.01.03
We get the best lurkers here, I swear...
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
22:21 / 20.01.03
but I don't recall ever summoning any luminous pink riding-clouds. Oh well.

Nor I. Or even Pigsy's one, with machine-guns.

Bah.

A local place does sell the DVDs, though. Hmmmmm.
 
 
adamswish
13:48 / 22.01.03
okay one down, when are they going to repeat the water margin then?
 
 
Saiyuuki
10:56 / 30.01.03
I've heard from Channel 4 that 1/4 million viewers tuned in to watch the first Monkey episode at 12.35am last Thursday night!!!!

If this keeps up, then Channel 4 will almost certainly buy the next 39 episodes when the first 13 has finished... and you never know, it may get a better timeslot.

So keep watching Monkey every week, and spread the word... keep spreading the word...

This week's episode "Monkey Turns Nursemaid" is an absolute classic, it's the one where Monkey and Tripitaka meet for the very first time.
Here's my synopsis of this episode, that I wrote for the Monkey videos and DVDs...

Episode 2 (Thursday 30 January 2003): 12.05am - 12.55am
(i.e. after midnight on *Thursday night*)
Monkey Turns Nursemaid
Buddha sends a messenger, the Boddhisattva Kuan-yin the Compassionate, to find a holy man to make the journey from China to India to fetch the large vehicle scriptures. She chooses the boy priest Hsüan Tsang, and bestows upon him the name Tripitaka. Joined by the irrepressible Monkey - with his magic wishing staff and magic powers - and a talking horse, this could be a journey to remember...

Don't miss it!

To keep up with the latest Monkey news & info (currently, I'm plugging where in London you can go and sing Monkey Magic, Gandhara etc. on karaoke!?!), including any updates to the Monkey screening schedule on Channel 4, keep checking http://www.monkeyheaven.com/
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
10:05 / 31.01.03
Saw this last night - absolutely brilliant stuff. I think Monkey himself must have been a huge, terrible influence on my subconscious developing personality... Speaking of the subconscious, I've now started to wonder if there were any shows I watched as a child that *didn't* heavily feature androgeny and some form of mind-control/enforced obedience... Argh! It hurts! Monkey's head!
 
 
Eloi Tsabaoth
12:47 / 31.01.03
I never actually saw this when I was a ween, so I had assumed to a certain extent that it was bad cult TV, as opposed to good cult TV.
Wrong. It's great! Bizarre, exciting, surprisingly good special effects, strangely compelling. And that thing with the blowing on the fingers? Nice.
 
 
_pin
15:56 / 31.01.03
What I don't understand is how he didn't win the bet. He doesn't fly out of her hand. He WALKS out of her hand and PISSES on it.

He fucking rocks!
 
 
Saiyuuki
19:48 / 05.02.03
Monkey episode 3 - "The Great Journey Begins" will be shown on Thursday night on Channel 4, 45 minutes after midnight, at 12.45am.
For viewers in Wales, episode 2 will be on S4C at 1.00am after midnight tonight!
Episode 3 will follow at the same time next Wednesday night, so they're 6 days behind Channel 4.

Following on from Monkey episode 1 getting 1/4 million viewers, this was DOUBLED for episode 2; 1/2 million viewers watched it on Channel 4 last Thursday night! So it's looking like word is getting around that Monkey is back on TV... Remember, the more viewers the show gets, the more likely Channel 4 is to screen all 52 episodes!

So keep watching it, and tell everyone you know that Monkey is back on TV!
Something to remember about Monkey is that, unlike a lot of its contemporary shows back in the 1980s, Monkey _does_ stand the test of time, and it's not just for kids - it's even better watching it again as an adult (it works on many levels).
A quote I saw in a magazine review of the show recently: "Monkey - great to watch as a kid, EVEN BETTER as an adult."

This week's episode "The Great Journey Begins" is the one where the whole gang get together and begin their journey proper. One of the highlights of this episode is when Monkey meets Pigsy for the first time on Earth (remember they met in Heaven in episode 1), and have an epic fight! This episode really illustrates just *how good* a fighter Pigsy is with his muckrake!

Here's my synopsis of this episode... (as featured on the videos & DVDs)

Episode 3 (Thursday 6 February 2003 night, after midnight): 12.45am - 01.35am
(i.e. after midnight on *Thursday night*)
The Great Journey Begins
Tripitaka and the ever-impatient Monkey begin their perilous journey. Arriving at a village terrorised by a greedy and lustful monster, Monkey thus faces the wrath of Pigsy and his deadly muckrake. To cross the Mighty River of Flowing Sands, they must first pass the cannibalistic water monster Sandy. A sandstorm, an army of tiger ghosts - will Tripitaka end up as cat food, or will Monkey save the day?

Don't miss it!

By the way, if you missed the first 2 episodes, check out the episode accounts on these pages so you can catch up with the story so far:
Episode 1: http://www.monkeyheaven.com/summaries_s1e1.html
Episode 2: http://www.monkeyzone.net/episodes/epis2.htm

For the latest news and info on Monkey, keep checking out http://www.monkeyheaven.com/
Currently, I'm featuring information on how you can get involved in a Monkey sticker campaign in the UK, to publicise the DVDs, by putting up stickers in your home town / city - visit the site to find out how you can get involved.

Also, I have an exclusive offer on http://www.monkeyheaven.com/ where you can buy some or all of the first 7 Monkey DVDs at a reduced price, and get free t-shirts, posters and postcards in the deal.

Note that I don't always get time to check out the messages in this forum, so if you have any burning questions about Monkey, please visit http://www.monkeyheaven.com/ and send me your questions directly from there.
 
  
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