Saturday, September 20, 2008

Yūyūki

is a video game title developed by Pax Softnica and released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System in .

The game consists of two disks, released on October 14, 1989 and November 14, 1989 respectively. The game's full title is , and the game is the second of the Famicom Fairytales series after ''Shin Onigashima''. The game was never released outside of Japan.

Gameplay


''Yuyuki'' is an adventure game played by choosing from several text commands shown on screen. It resembles its predecessor, ''Shin Onigashima'', in its implementation of the "Change Character" command, usage of traditional Japanese fairytales, and general screen layout and appearance. The story-line is a parody of the Chinese legend ''Journey to the West'', where two main characters, Goku and Chao, embark upon separate journeys to find one another.

In ''Yuyuki'', the "Change Character" command can switch between a maximum of five different characters. However, there are very few points in the game where it can actually be used to such extent. Its main use is to switch between Goku and the others accompanying him. Like ''Shin Onigashima'', the character in use can greatly affect the descriptive text shown on screen, and the significant increase in number of characters allowed for more variety in each scene. It is possible to enjoy the game by viewing the reactions towards choosing completely unrelated characters or commands in certain situations.

While ''Shin Onigashima'' demanded rather complex puzzle-solving abilities, ''Yuyuki'' mainly focuses on having the player carefully read and understand the story-line. Puzzles are solved easily in this game, and very few choices actually lead to a "game over" screen. Easy trivia questions and simple action gameplay emerge at certain points, and players may find themselves searching for the obvious answer on screen more often than thinking hard to solve the puzzle at hand.

Main changes in gameplay from ''Shin Onigashima'' include the implementation of the "Ittaisan" command, which saves progress at any point during the game, and faster animation of game text. The shortening in load time after choosing commands, and an overall decrease in difficulty allowed ''Yuyuki'' to run at a much quicker tempo than its predecessor.

Plot


Once upon a time, a little girl named Chao lived in a small village in . One night, a meteor fell near Chao's home, which burst open to reveal a monkey inside. Chao named the monkey "Goku," and took care of him for a while. However, Goku is led away and imprisoned by for the various crimes he has committed, and Chao sets off to find the "Gavel of Light" in order to save him. Several years later, the world is put under peril at the hands of the bull-monster Gyumaou, and Goku is called upon to save the world...

Characters


The links labeled "see also" are articles for each character in ''Journey to the West''. Descriptions given here may differ significantly with that of the actual novel.

The player has the option of choosing different names for Goku and Chao at the start of the game. The "Change Character" command can be used with the first five characters listed below.

;Goku
:The hero of the game. Rough, rude, and often selfish, he attempted to take over heaven with Gyumaou, but was caught and exiled to a far corner of the world by Oshakasama. He learns the importance of kindness and diligence through his travels with Chao .
;Chao
:The heroine of the game. She enjoys reading romance novels, and often dreams of idealized love relationships. Her parents have already passed away, and she begins her journey to save Goku; her only remaining "family" member. She is an innocent and kind-hearted individual.
;Sanzo
:A lecherous, lazy, and unhygienic monk. He travels to in search of a scroll containing the "Philosophy of Enjoying Life Without Working." He rides on a named "Ryukichi," and has a habit of adding "''-nandana''" to the end of his sentences .
;Hakkai
:A greedy pig youkai with a never-ending appetite. He speaks in Kansai dialect, and has transformation and clairvoyance abilities. He was a petty criminal before being beaten up by Goku. Like Sanzo, he joins the journey to discover the "Philosophy of Enjoying Life Without Working" .
;Gojo
:A capable of reading minds. He joins the group because he is dissatisfied with his current life. He exhibits a discreet personality most of the time, but is actually an alcoholic .
;Gyumaou
:A cold and ruthless bull youkai bent upon taking over the entire world. He was banished from the Earth ages ago along with Goku, but managed to return and restart his evil plans.
;Oshakasama
:The peacekeeper of the heavens. Appears on occasion to give advice to Chao and Sanzo on keeping Goku on the righteous path and defeating Gyumaou .
;Rasetsujo
:Gyumaou's wife. Rumored to be extremely beautiful, but her actual features are horrifically ugly. Wields a fan with magical properties .
;Kougaiji
:The son of Gyumaou and Rasetsujo. Arrogant and big-mouthed, but pathetically weak in terms of fighting ability .
;Kinkaku & Ginkaku
:A pair of thugs that terrorize Onna Village. They are employed by Gyumaou, and lure potential victims into participating in their trivia contest.
;Kumojijii
:A master of martial arts living on Borscht Mountain in Siberia. Over 300 years of age.
;Katyusha
:Kumojijii's girlfriend. Kidnapped by Gyumaou and his cronies.
;Sunajijii
:The younger brother of Kumojijii living in Hawaii. Spends most of his life living underneath sand.
;Gyudon store owner
:The owner of a gyudon store located on the Hawaiian beach. His daughter is kidnapped by Rasetsujo.
;Gyudon store owner's daughter
:The kidnapped daughter of the gyudon store owner. She is imprisoned in the Gyumaou Hotel.
;Dancing people
:A deranged group of people dancing in the streets of Tokyo.
;Ittaisan
:The game's narrator and only returning character from ''Shin Onigashima''.

Television commercial


An odd commercial for the game was aired prior to its release, featuring real-life versions of the main characters visiting various locations by plane in a "Tenjiku Tour" . The most striking part was the commercial's jingle; the developers employed a strange song of no particular meaning that ranted the names of the main characters. This was the last FDS game advertised on television.

Port issues


While ''Shin Onigashima'' was ported to the Super Famicom and Game Boy Advance, no talk of porting or remaking ''Yuyuki'' for other systems has ever emerged. The explanation given was that the game lacked proper copyright clearance from developers and writers, but this explanation is dubious because ''Shin Onigashima'' was created by the same company and staff. The FDS's disk rewriting service ended in September, 2003, but rewriting for ''Yuyuki'' was terminated a year earlier in October, 2002.

Yuyuki and Kirby's Dream Land


Goku and Chao made cameo appearances in the ''Kirby's Dream Land'' series. The appearances do not add to the game's storyline, but they play key roles in finishing each game.
* Chao appears in ''Kirby's Dream Land 2'', which was released in 1995. The player's progress is shown in percentage on the menu screen in this game, and the only way to reach 100% is to rescue Chao from a certain mini-boss. The picture shown on the sound test screen is a parody of a scene in ''Yuyuki''.
* Both Goku and Chao appear in ''Kirby's Dream Land 3'', released in 1998. Finding Goku and Chao on a certain level awards the player an item needed to defeat the final boss of the game.

The Monkey King (manga)

, also known as ''Katsuya Terada's The Monkey King'', is a dark fantasy manga series, written and illustrated in full color by Katsuya Terada.

Story


Based on the 16th century Chinese fantasy adventure classic, ''Journey to the West'' Katsuya Terada's take on the legend of the Monkey King in a savage, lusty saga that The Portland Tribune calls "a Buddhist version of Conan the Barbarian." He raised holy hell as the baddest ape in ... until the Lord Buddha himself dropped a mountain on him! Now the Monkey King will get his parole with one condition - he must escort a Buddhist nun through the demon-haunted wastes of the Silk Road on an impossible quest: reach India and bring back a collection of sacred scrolls!

The Monkey King (TV miniseries)

The Monkey King, also known as The Lost Empire, is a four hour television mini-series produced by NBC and the . It is a contemporary take on the classic Chinese novel ''Journey to the West''. It stars Ling Bai, Thomas Gibson, Russell Wong, and Randall Duk Kim. The film is directed by and written by pre-eminent Asian American dramatist David Henry Hwang.

"A businessman, a powerful monkey-like being and his weird sidekicks battle an army of demons for a Chinese manuscript."

Plot


Nicholas Orton is an American businessman who has lived in China for several years. He has a chance encounter with a beautiful Chinese lady who says that he is the only one who can save China from reverting back five-hundred years. He is unswayed by this until many modern buildings begin disappearing before his eyes. This mystical lady transports him to a portal which offers entrance, through the teachings of Confucius , to the ancient Chinese underworld.

When Nicholas Orton reaches the other side of the portal, he finds that his studies of Confucius will come in handy for the path that lies ahead. Nicholas Orton's first action is to rescue Sun Wukong the Monkey King from the mountain which he has been imprisoned in for centuries. Sun Wukong travels with Nicholas Orton in his quest to save the original manuscript of Journey to the West from destruction. They are later joined by Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing to help them on the way.

Releases


The film is available on DVD and videocassette.

Starzinger

was an anime series aired in Japan from 1978 to 1979. It translates literally to "Science Fiction Journey to the West Starzinger". In the US it is referred to as Spaceketeers and is part of Jim Terry's Force Five series. In the UK, it is referred to as Sci-Bots.

Story


The story revolves around the Princess of the Moon, Aurora and her three cyborg companions who must travel to the Great King planet and restore the Galaxy Energy. The universe is becoming more and more unbalanced as the Queen of the great Planet grows older. Their adventure includes battling the starmen who are transformed from the unbalanced minerals and planets.

Concept


Starzinger is essentially a Sci-fi space opera retelling of the ''Journey to the West'' from the Ming Dynasty. The Sci-fi twists were designed by Leiji Matsumoto based on the Terebi Magazine manga .

Staff


Director: Yugo Seirkawa, Kozo Morishita, Kazumi Fukushima

Creator: Leiji Matsumoto

Screenwriter: Tatsuo Tamura, Michiru Umadori, Sukehiro Tomita

Design: Masaki Suda

Animator: Masaki Suda, Satoshi Kamimiya

Music: Shunsuke Kikuchi

Characters


{|class="wikitable"
! Japanese Name
! English Name
! Spanish Name
! French Name
! Voiced by
! Power
! Vehicle
! Description
|-
|||Aurora||Princesa Aurora||Princesse Aurora|| Kazuko Sugiyama || Telepathy and psychic abilities, can channel Galaxy energy || || The only human among the main four characters. She is the last of the Moon people. Based on .
|-
||| Jesse Dart ||Galáctico||Yann Kougar||Hiroya Ishimaru || Wield Astro-lance that change size, shoot laser || Starcrow || A cyborg. Has bad temper. Based on the monkey-demon, Sun Wukong.
|-
||| Arimos ||Giorgio|| ||Kei Tomiyama || Wield Laser-trident with freeze abilities|| Starcopper/Sea Wasp ||A cyborg. The most intelligent of the three. When in doubt he asks his portable computer. Based on the water-demon, Sha Wujing.
|-
||| Porkos ||Glotín|| ||Kousei Tomita||Swing that turns into a flail, shoots rocket from his feet. || Starbood/Space Hog || A cyborg, cheerful, hungry and the comedian. Based on the pig-demon, Zhu Bajie.
|-
|Prof. Kitty ||Empress ||Doctora Sandra || ||Eiko Masuyama|| || ||A scientist. She reared Aurora after the death of Aurora's parents. Based on Guanyin
|-
|Assistant Prof.Dodge ||Prof.Schnitzel || || ||Jouji Yanami || || ||An intelligent Professor, He made Kugo into the cyborg he is
|-
|Prince Gaima || || || ||Keiichi Noda || || ||Based on the son of Bull Demon King, Red Boy.
|-
|Gingin Man & Kinkin Man|| || || ||Kenichi Ogata || || ||Monster Brothers. Based on King of Gold Horn & King of Silver Horn
|-
|Beramis || || || ||Noriko Ohara ||Electronic sword || ||A female cyborg. A captain of Queen Lacets.
|-
|Captain || || || ||Satomi Majima || || ||
|-
||| || || ||Takashi Tanaka || || ||Based on Bull Demon King.
|-
|Queen Lacets|| || || ||Yumi Nakatani, Nana Yamaguchi || || ||Based on Bull Demon King's wife.
|-


Adaptations


The movie was aired in March 1979 by reusing footages from the first segment of the series. It was more or less a summary.

The last 9 episode of the actual series was rebranded as ''"SF Saiyuki Starzinger II"'', though when shown outside Japan it is treated as one continuous series. It was never intended to be anything more than remarketing the last few episodes, since it was aired immediately after the first 64 episodes were shown in June 1979. The 65th episode began instantly in July 1979 with all the galactic energy restored in the storyline.

Internationalization


Starzinger was aired in early 1980s in Latin America with the name of "El Galáctico", as part of the four-series show ''"El Festival de los Robots"'' which translate to "Festival of Robots". The other shows were "Steel Jeeg", "Gaiking", and "Magne Robo Gakeen".

In North America, it was aired as ''"Spaceketeers"'' as part of the package show Force Five. As the "Journey to the West story" is not well known in the region, the characters were renamed to reference the Three Musketeers. To also fit into the Force Five time slot, the show had to be edit-squeezed into 26 episodes. The US version puts them on a mission to the Dekos Star System which contained evil powers changing peaceful creatures to evil mutants. It should be noted that the Force Five version not only just produced 26 episodes, but this English Version of the series never reached their conclusion.

24 episodes of the original 73 also aired in Scandinavia under the original name Starzinger.

List of what episodes were cut out can be found at:


Screenshots




Trivia


* It was aired every week Sunday 7:00pm to 7:30pm.

Saiyuki: Journey West

Saiyuki: Journey West is a video game released for the PlayStation by Koei. It is based loosely on the popular novel ''Journey to the West''. The game's title is simply ''Saiyūki'' , which is the Japanese name ''Journey to the West''.

It follows the basic outline of the plot of the novel, in which the main character, a Buddhist practitioner named , travels from China to India on a religious mission and has a variety of adventures along the way. The game also features several other characters from the novel, including , the monkey king. In contrast to other renditions of the story, the game allows Sanzo to be played as either a male or a female character at the player's choice.

A gameplay twist is that every character except Sanzo can transform into a monstrous form for a limited time. Instead of transforming, Sanzo has access to summon spells that each boost the party's stats in different ways for a number of rounds and allows him/her to use an extra spell at will. Furthermore, each character has a native element that powers their spells and weakens them to opposing elements.

The game softens the original story, with most of the heroes' negative characteristics removed, and most of the villains surviving at the end.

Characters



Characters in recruiting order.

Sanzo - Portrays the righteous Buddhist monk, based on . His/her element is Nature.

Son Goku - Portrays the rebellious Monkey King, Sun Wukong. His monster form is a giant fire-breathing ape, and his element is Fire.

Cho Hakkai - Portrays the lustful pig demon, Zhu Bajie, here rendered as childlike and food-obsessed, with an overall goal of becoming a great chef. His affiliation is Earth. He transforms into a monstrous humanoid boar.

Shu Ryorin - Haughty but kind-hearted daughter of the King of the Eastern Dragons, on the run from her father and a forced marriage. She fights the party before joining, because she thought her father had sent them to capture her. Her monster form is a powerful bronze dragon, and she is consequently aligned with Metal.

Sha Gojo - Portrays the man-eating sand demon, Sha Wujing, here an intellectual human cursed with monstrous fish-like alternate form. He's ashamed of his monstrous nature, and at first rejects the party's help before Sanzo convinces him to join. His element is Water.

Lady Kikka - A dryad-like spirit who is found trapped in her tree. Her monster form is a giant humanoid butterfly. Like Sanzo, her element is Nature.

So Kinrei and So Ginrei - Twin girls accidentally transformed into monsters during the course of the story. Their monster forms are identical giant humanoid golems with oddly technological attacks . Their elements are Metal.

Chin Genshi - Grandfather of Lady Kikka, and formal teacher of Cho Hakkai. He may or may not join the party, depending on Sanzo's actions. Like his granddaughter, his element is Nature, and he transforms into a tree-like form.

Reikan - Ryorin's fiancé, who is trying to get her back. Starts out as an enemy, and will only join the group if the Sanzo says the right things to him during previous meetings. His element is Water, and he transforms into a turtle-demon.

Taurus and Tessen - Portrays the Ox-Demon-King and Jade-Faced Princess from the novel. They start out seeming to be the main villains , before plot developments cause them to reform and join Sanzo's side. Their monster forms are a minotaur-like bull demon and a humanoid scorpion respectively, and their elements are Earth and Fire.

Shu Ryorin, Lady Kikka, So Kinrei, So Ginrei, Chin Genshi, and Reikan are not based on any characters from the novel, but are entirely made up for this game.

Other Characters



Lady Kannon Bodihisatva who guides Sanzo throughout the Journey

Saiyuki (TV series)

is a 2006 Japanese historical TV based on the 16th Century Chinese story ''Journey to the West''. It is a successor to the popular 1970's TV show ''Saiyūki'', known outside Japan as ''''. There have been 3 dramas and one special based on Journey to the West that have aired previously, making this one the fifth adaptation in Japan.

made an unusual decision to air this on 9pm every Monday, a primetime slot usually reserved for romantic dramas, hoping to capture both the young and the old by making this choice. While the series started off with viewership nearly reaching 30%, its rating gradually sank, barely making it at 20% at one point; the last episode finished off with 24.5%.

Rather than producing a second season, and Toho produced a feature film version of ''Saiyūki'', that was released in Japan on July 14, 2007. The film was a box office success. The DVD was released on January 1, 2008 in two formats; a single disc version with audio commentary and trailers, and a 2-Disc limited collector's edition with documentaries and making-of featurettes.

Cast


* - Shingo Katori
* - Eri Fukatsu
* - Atsushi Ito
* - Teruyoshi Uchimura
*Rin Rin - Asami Mizukawa

Notable guests


*Kadono Takuzo
*Takuya Kimura
*Rieko Miura
*Keiji Mutoh
*
*Shaku Yumiko
*Ayumi Ishida
*Masaaki Sakai -- Portrayed Son Goku in the original ''Monkey'' series

Trivia


* Japan was the first country to adapt this enduring story into a TV series, when aired '''' in 1978; China would not make a live action series until 1986.
*Eri Fukatsu actually shaved her head for her role as Sanzohoshi.
*Traditionally, the role of the monk has been played by a female in Japanese dramas.
*The theme song, "Around the World," is performed by Japanese pop group Monkey Majik, who took their name from the theme song of the original series, "Monkey Magic," performed by Japanese group Godiego.
*''Journey to the West'' is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It was written during the Ming Dynasty, in the 1590s. Its attributed author is Wu Chengen.

Patalliro!

is a long-running manga series by , one of the few known male mangaka for shōnen-ai manga. Patalliro! is supposedly the first shōnen-ai series on television.

Plot


The story focuses less on shōnen-ai than it does on comedy, primarily the wacky adventures of Patalliro himself and the kingdom of Malynera.

Characters


Main characters


*Patalliro du Malyner VIII
The 10 year old diabetic brainchild king of Malynera.

*Maraich Juschenfe
18 year old Swiss former assassin from the Diamond Syndicate. His former lover Count Larken told him not to return until he could kill Bancoran, but ended up reforming and becoming Bancoran's domestic partner. He has a ferocious temper and seethes with jealousy whenever a bishōnen is in Bancoran's vicinity. He beats the snot out of Bancoran on a regular basis, regardless of whether or not he cheats, and somehow got pregnant twice, despite being completely male.
His pregnancy is cut out of the anime. In the manga he first gets pregnant in volume 10, and gets pregnant a second time in volume 46 .

*Jack Barbarosa Bancoran
Major Bancoran of the British M16. Nicknamed "Bishōnen Killer" for his ability to seduce young men with just his eyes. Women are also attracted to him, but the only woman he's shown even moderate interest in is Etrange. Meeting Patalliro has changed his existence; after playing bodyguard to the most annoying person he's ever met, he's now living with Maraich, who tried to kill him, and their son Figaro. Bancoran is known for his blue eyeshadow , his long black hair, and the fact that he never takes off his gloves, even in bed. When he becomes frustrated or embarrassed, he grooms himself like a cat. His name comes from Henri Bencolin.

*Tamanegi
Patalliro's biseinen bodyguards, forced to hide their beauty under padded uniforms, frosted glasses, masks that cover their mouths, noses, and onion-style wigs.

Recurring Characters


*Pulara Plasma
*Arthur Hewitt
Bancoran's Lolicon friend, who has zero luck in love.

*Figaro Bancoran
Maraich's second son after losing the first. Figaro always wears the same thing and plays dated video games in his every waking hour. He's a genius and can grow older at will.

*Etrange
Patalliro's mother and queen of Malynera. She stayed at a sanitarium after her husband passed away and remained after killing Count Larken.

*Zachary
A ticklish boy who can do an interesting trick with tarot cards. He has an intense crush on Bancoran. Patalliro attacks him in a flirtatious manner every chance he gets.

*Skunky
*Super Cat
*Okuma
A very manly cross-dresser.

Cameo Appearances


*Rashanu
A bisexual prince from India who's even more aggravating than Patalliro and immune to Bancoran's stare. He tried to have a relationship with his uncle, but both of them seem to have difficulty with commitment. He has terrible luck in love but does manage to get a wife and a son named Bishone.

*Asterot
*'''Mi-chan''
A chibified mascot of Mineo Maya himself who has not only managed to weasel himself into the animated series, but had 3 manga of his own.'

Saiyuki Cast


*Patalliro as Son Gokuu
*Maraich as Genjou Sanzou
*'''Bancoran as Banko-sama
*Cho Hakkai
*Sha Goujo

The Kingdom of Malynera


The name is inspired either by Santa Marinella, a region of Italy with a castle, or an homage to singer Marinella, whom was popular around the time of the manga. Malynera is a producer of diamonds, and the first adventure of the series focuses on the kingdom's separation from the International Diamond Syndicate.

Media information


Cast


Boku Patalliro!


*Patalliro: Fuyumi Shiraishi
*Bancoran: Kazuyuki Sogabe
*Maraich: Toshiko Fujita
*Police Chief: Ichirō Nagai
*Head Guard: Takeshi Aono
*Tamanegi: Akio Nojima, Toshio Furukawa, Tōru Furuya, Yūji Mitsuya, Yoku Shioya, Kaneto Shiozawa, Kazuhiko Inoue, Akira Kamiya
**The Tamanegi were portrayed by the members of ''Slapstick'', a seiyū band Sogabe was a member of.
*Etrange: Makiko Ikeda
*Sanders: Junpei Takiguchi
*Patalliro 7th: Kazuko Sugiyama
*Patalliro 10th: Minori Matsushima
*Plasma X: Hideyuki Hori
*Afro 18: Eiko Masuyama
*Pulara: Michiko Nomura
*α Random: Junko Hori

Patalliro! Saiyuki


*Patalliro/: Yuki Kaida
*Maraich/: Reiko Takagi
*Bancoran: Takehito Koyasu
*Mi-chan: Kenyū Horiuchi
*: Yoshirō Matsumoto
*: Rikiya Koyama
*Gautama Buddha: Kazuya Tatekabe

Opening themes


* by Fusako Fujimoto
* by v-u-den

Ending themes


* by Eri Takeda.
*"Cock Robin Ondo" by Fuyumi Shiraishi & Slapstick. "Who killed Cock Robin?"
* by Berryz Kobo.

About the author



Mineo Maya does primarily shōjo & classic-style shōnen ai manga. He is married to a ballerina and his daughter is also a ballerina. They also have a son who bears a resemblance to Patalliro. Everyone in his family can draw.

References and external links


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Monkey: Journey to the West

Monkey: Journey to the West is a stage adaptation of the 16th Century novel ''Journey to the West'', by Wu Cheng'en. It was conceived and created by the Chinese actor and director Chen Shi-zheng, together with the British musician Damon Albarn and British artist Jamie Hewlett. However, the original idea came from Jean-Luc Choplin, head of the Chatelet Theatre in Paris .

The production received its world premiere as the opening show of the inaugural Manchester International Festival, on June 28, 2007 at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, where it ran until July 7. It was subsequently staged at the Thé?tre du Ch?telet in Paris between September 26 and October 13 2007. The production received its U.S. premiere at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC in May 2008. A further run was planned for the in July 2008, but instead took place at the London Royal Opera House.

Billed as a "circus opera", the show is Hewlett and Albarn's first major collaboration since Gorillaz. Albarn composed the musical score while Hewlett designed the visual concept, set and costumes. The adaptation for stage has been written by Shi-zheng, who also directs the production. Dramaturgy is by David Greenspan. The show features Chinese singers and 70 Chinese acrobats and martial artists. The orchestra put together for the production includes members of the UK Chinese Music Ensemble , Demon Strings and Sense of Sound.

In addition to the production, the Manchester International Festival also ran a programme of educational workshops in local schools, in partnership with the Chinese Arts Centre. In the programme, local children were introduced to the tale of ''Journey to the West'', and learnt about various aspects of Chinese culture, music and dance, including mask-making, puppet-making, and Kung Fu.

Hewlett and Albarn included characters from ''Monkey: Journey to the West'' in an animation sequence titled "Journey to the East." The BBC used the sequence to introduce coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing.

Synopsis



* Scene 1: ''Birth of and His Quest for Immortality''
Monkey hatches from a stone egg and makes his home in the forest. Over time, he becomes obsessed with seeking immortality, and travels the world to find a teacher. He finds in the Mountain of Heart and Mind, who gives him the name - the Monkey with the Realisation of Emptiness.
* Scene 2: ''Crystal Palace of the and the Iron Rod''
Monkey dives into the Eastern Sea and comes across the Crystal Palace of the Old Dragon King, where he requests to be given a weapon. He is given a magical iron rod, and the Old Dragon King is also cowed into giving him his helmet, armour and shoes.
* Scene 3: ''Heavenly Peach Banquet''
Monkey travels to heaven to demand recognition of his newfound power. There he finds seven fairies preparing a banquet for the birthday of the . Incensed that he has not been invited, he begins to eat the Queen Mother's magical heavenly peaches, and fights off each of her divine guests who try to prevent this. The Queen Mother then calls upon Buddha to deal with Monkey.
* Scene 4: '''s Great Palm''
Buddha presents Monkey with the challenge of escaping his palm. Monkey is unable to do so, and so he is imprisoned by Buddha.
* Scene 5: ''''
Five hundred years later, chooses to go on a mission to bring back the from India. Pigsy, , the Dragon Prince and Monkey are chosen to accompany him.
* Scene 6: ''''
Believing she can achieve immortality by eating Tripitaka's flesh, the White Skeleton Demon adopts disguises in an attempt to fool Tripitaka and his companions. Monkey sees through the disguises, and on each occasion kills the White Skeleton Demon. Tripitaka, however, is horrified by Monkey's display of violence and expels him from the group.
* Scene 7: ''The Spider Woman''
Tripitaka and the other pilgrims travel to the cave of the Spider Woman, who tries to seduce Tripitaka. Pigsy is distracted by the Spider Woman's sexy companions, allowing the Spider Woman to trap Tripitaka. Sandy rushes off to find Monkey, who then defeats the Spider Woman. Feeling sorry for expelling Monkey, Tripitaka asks Monkey to rejoin the group and so he does.
* Scene 8: ''Volcano City''
The group travels to a volcano. The only way to pass is to extinguish the volcano using a magic fan belonging to Princess Iron Fan. She refuses to give the fan, and at first Monkey is unable to defeat her. With help from Guan Yin, he transforms himself into a bee, which the Princess swallows, and Monkey is able to defeat her from inside. He claims the fan, and the group continues on its journey.
* Scene 9: ''Paradise''
The group arrives in paradise, and is given the scriptures by Buddha. Tripitaka is created Buddha of the Purest Merit. Pigsy is made Janitor of the Altars. Sandy becomes a Golden-bodied Arhat. The white horse becomes the Dragon prince once more. Monkey is made Buddha Victorious in Strife.

2007 cast and crew




;Cast
*: Fei Yang/Yang Fukai

*: Yao Ningning

*Pigsy: Xu Kejia

*: He Zijun

*The White Horse: Chen Jihu/Wang Kai

*/Buddha: Liu Chang

*/Princess Iron Fan: Tang Ling

*/Guan Yin: Jia Ruhan

*:

*Spider Woman: Zeng Li

*The Volcano General: Yu Fengnian


;Crew
*Acrobatic Director: Yang Jiansheng

*Martial Arts Director: Zhang Jinhghua

*Aerial Director: Caroline Vexler

*Musical score: Damon Albarn

*Musical Director: David Coulter

*Conductor: André de Ridder

*Special instruments : Thomas Bloch

*Visual concept and design: Jamie Hewlett

*Dramaturgy: David Greenspan

*Libretto and direction: Chen Shi-zheng


Soundtrack




The soundtrack is only based upon, but not a direct recording of the musical. It entered the UK Albums Chart at #5 on release and Number 1# on the UK indie chart.
The track ''Monkey Bee'' entered the Top 200 UK Singles Chart based on downloads alone at #196.

Track List


# Monkey's World
# Monkey Travels
# Into the Eastern Sea
# The Living Sea
# The Dragon King
# Iron Rod
# Out of the Eastern Sea
# Heavenly Peach Banquet
# Battle in Heaven
# O Mi To Fu
# Whisper
# Tripitaka's Curse
# Confessions of a Pig
# Sandy the River Demon
# March of the Volunteers
# The White Skeleton Demon
# Monk's Song
# I Love Buddha
# March of the Iron Army
# Pigsy in Space
# Monkey Bee
# Disappearing Volcano

Monkey Typhoon

is a manga series featuring story by Jōji Arimori and art by Romu Aoi, which was serialized in Kodansha's '' Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' between 2001 and 2002.

It was later adapted into an anime series produced by the Avex group and anime studio Studio Egg, which premiered between October 1 2002 and September 30 2003 on TV Tokyo. It was broadcast by the anime television network, Animax, across its respective networks worldwide, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, South Korea, and other regions. It contains several steampunk elements, and is loosely based on the Chinese myth, ''Journey to the West''. The music for ''Monkey Typhoon'' was conducted by Kōhei Tanaka, and produced Avex and Dentsu.

Storyline


''Monkey Typhoon'' tells the story of three asobots, a form of robots whose general title is a portmanteau of the words and robot, headed by Goku, voiced by '''' ''seiyū'' Kappei Yamaguchi, who are assisted in their journeys by the human, Sanzō, voiced by Tomokazu Seki, the son of the creators of the asobots along with Susie, Tongō and Jō. Later on they are joined by Mīyōn and her sister Shīyōn . Their quest is to stop their world's destruction by collecting the legendary 49 keys to unlock the twin headed dragon door. Along the way the asobots gain the ability to evolve further such as one of Jō's daggers soon allow him to wield the Feather Blade, Tongō's Chain Hammer evolves into the Megaton Hammer, Gōku's Joystick also evolves but has no new name, instead it gains 4 evolution keys allowing Goku power over different elements and new abilities such as the improved "Easter Wind" and "Fire Vortex Revolution". Together, in their many voyages, they come across several foes and enemies such as Loki, Professor D, the Quartet, Dobberman King, and many more, as well as grow united in their friendship.

Characters




Episodes


# With respect to large scoundrel 59 going/participating!
# Fearfully the る should! Ruin virus!
# Dead fighting! Miroku village
# Going on a journey, to Jipang!
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#
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#
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# Iron fist of 59 anger!
# Horseman Pegasus knight of wilderness
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# Tower of ブンガク village memory
# The ちso heaven! ? Cooking village
# The boy who blows the angular whistle
# Sun elephant VS キャットルーク
# The door of the legend which was opened
# グレートベガスグランプリ
# Ghost town longing
# Demoniac Demona of labyrinth
# Protect! ジ?…モク village
# Messiah 59! ?
# Forest ルコラ kingdom of 摩 heaven tower
# Asobotto 59!?
# Sweetheart of secret
# Crash! ! サイトス VS 59
# Conclusion! ! The strongest winner
# It is business! Goku thief group
# Little Jipang puzzle
# Yazu revives!
# Large game! Military affairs fighting meeting of desert
# Puzzle of village ring of miracle
# Crash! I'll be the one to win!
# 59 thief groups, to north! !
# Infinity! Joystick! !
# Perplexity child of snowfield
# The man who waits for the sun elephant
# Town of meeting again aurora
# Revolution! With guts large battle
# Proud high coming inn enemy! !
# Mamee of the Palace of the Sea Goddess island
# End east, Jipang! !
# Dragon of pair head
# Violin of dazzlement! !
# Trumpet of working stage!
# Quartet of quartet death!
# The key of 49 it does to be even, the time
# Meeting again which exceeds space-time
# Immortal 59 thief groups! !

Theme songs


Opening Themes:

# by BoA
# ''Wo Ai Ni'' by

Ending Themes:

# ''i WAKE YOUR LOVE!'' by m.o.v.e
# by Janne da Arc
# ''BURNING DANCE'' by m.o.v.e
# ''LolitA☆Strawberry in summer'' by SweetS
#

Monkey Magic (TV series)

Monkey Magic was an anime series that aired in the 1990s based on the epic legend ''Journey to the West''. To avoid religious implications, the was named "The Guardian". The show did not perform well and only one season of 13 episodes was made; the pilgrimage had only begun, with the dragon-horse joining the small group and the priest's two other disciples not appearing. Sunsoft produced a PlayStation . Monkey Magic is an incarnation of the famous ancient Chinese novel, Journey to the West, in which it follows the novel's story to a high extent. it had aired in the USA first in 1998, while Japan got it at the end of 1999 of December 25th.

Characters




Main characters


;Kongo
:Shane Mcintyre stars as the main character within the Japanese anime series Monkey Magic. Kongo seems to have a generally confident attitude, in which he seems to be a bit arrogant and quick to a bad temper - such as in Journey to the West. During the very beginning of Monkey Magic, a rather large meteor had fallen down from the heavens and had crashed on Flower Fruit Mountain . This meteor soon had cracked open, and Kongo was released as a young little monkey. This astounded the other monkeys, and the current king of the monkeys went up to Kongo and was annoyed by him for some unknown reason. The king then began to kick monkey and hit him atop the head; little did the king know however that Kongo had a head as hard as a rock and could not be easily hurt. In contrast to the novel, Kongo later becomes the King of Flower Fruit Mountain after defeating the current ruler by knocking him senselessly over the head with an enormous rock, causing the other monkeys to quickly relinquish control over to him. Because of his innately strong stone head, he is given the nickname "Stone Monkey". Kongo, along with the other monkeys continue to harass the villagers beneath the mountain continuously by trying to take their land, or defend their own land.

:This leads for the Jade Emperor to send down a young boy by the name of Nata , who then personally duels against Kongo. Kongo soon realizes that he is absolutely no match whatsoever against Nata, in which he lays in the dust ashamed, and defeated. Following this, Kongo vows to become stronger and attain a majestic power just like Nata. Kongo then quickly sets out on sea atop a raft. After a long time, Kongo happens to arrive at a mountainous area where he goes into a certain inn to ask where a celestial master could be found. While in this inn, Kongo meets with two old men that are playing , in which the elder one tells Kongo that a certain celestial master lives atop a large mountain very hard to get two, in which he points his finger at the mountain. After a long effort, Kongo finally manages to make it to the top of this mountain, where lies the celestial master's monastery. Kongo then later attains special powers from the same celestial master that had been playing go within the inn. These powers varied from being able to summon a jet cloud - which corresponds to your will of movement, and the ability of being able to make multiplications of yourself by blowing a few strands of head hairs. Kongo is able to perform these special techniques by chanting special incantations, for Jet Cloud "Jet Cloud" and cloning "''mumbo-jumbo!''". Following this, Kongo quickly returns to Flower Fruit Mountain and builds many fortresses as to defend against the villagers. Due to Kongo's exceedingly evil actions towards the villagers, the Jade Emperor then ordered for Dupac to send his elite heavenly ships to subdue Kongo. Kongo valiantly elaborates on his abilities against Dupac. After Kongo battles it out in heaven and easily destroys everything in his path with the help of the power rod, he is soon banished back down to earth by The Guardian. After Kongo makes an agreement that he will assist Sanzo on his journey after 500 years of solitude with Lady Blossom, he is finally freed and sets out on his journey with Sanzo, his new master.

;Sanzoh
:Sanzoh is the incarnation of the Tang priest known as Sanzang. Sanzo would first be featured within episode 11 in a flash-back. During Sanzoh's past, he would enforce the Buddhist ways to a large extent. During one point of time in his older adult years, Sanzoh would be seen giving even the clothes he had currently been wearing to small homeless children. Various guards had then attempted to arrest Sanzoh; he would soon be presented before the king of China. After the king soon saw through Sanzo and realized his inner virtue and compassion, Sanzoh was made into a high ranking official. Through Sanzoh's assistance, the king's country became a place of somewhat greatness.. After many years flash by and Sanzo sees a large conary stationed outside of his window perched on a neighboring roof, Sanzo realizes this to be an omen - an omen that told him a major journey awaits him.

:When Sanzoh is then confronted by Lady Blossom and is then told to journey west as to retrieve the sacred scriptures at Vulture Peak, Sanzoh says a sad farewell to his fellow king and then heads out. During his journey, Sanzoh would be confronted by a bandit who promised to lead him through the mountainside. Soon enough, Sanzoh would suddenly see a large stone hand before his eyes and realize that a small monkey is calling for his help beneath it. Soon enough after Kongo promises Sanzoh that he will protect him with his life during their journey, Sanzoh recites a buddhist mantra that unseals the large stone atop Kongo. After Kongo is effectively freed, both Sanzoh and his new ally head out on their journey further west. After Sanzoh continued on his journey, he is at first confronted by a set of six bandits. When Kongo strikes fear into the bandits' hearts, they all flee for their lives; this would be the first time in which Sanzo would harbor ill feelings towards Kongo's behavior. Soon enough, Sanzoh would receive the gold banded headband from Lady Blossom; it would be put on Kongo to control him. Following this point, Sanzoh would end up finding a neighboring village to stay in. When Kongo was with him during a following banquet, Sanzoh convinced that this gold banded heasband was the "new fashion". Thus, Kongo is easily tricked into wearing this headband. Sanzoh would once again rise to the occasion when Kongo tries attacking the small young girl for the second time -- Sanzo recites his binding spell which binds Kongo in place. After Kongo leaves and Sanzoh ends up being taken away to a neighboring mountain - to be used as a meal - Sanzoh expresses a level of regret towards his previous sayings to Kongo.

Subordinate characters


;Master Subodye
:The master of Kongo very early on in the series. "The Master" is first shown within episode 2, where he had been playing with another of his friends. He had pointed to his monastery atop a mountain for Kongo to go to, in which the master did not tell Kongo that he had been the celestial master that he was looking many months for. After Kongo becomes one of his students of his monastery, Master tells Kongo that he must attend to many tasks such as regularly mopping and cleaning the halls of the monastery along with regularly taking care of laundry and food. The master had also at one time recited a few words that allowed for him to create many clones of himself to the surprise of his disciples, which explained how he had completed so many tasks in such a quick time. Kongo is the only one who managed to remember what Master had said, in which the master awards Kongo with a legendary suit. Following this, when his disciples aren't looking , Master will head out of the monastery to a nearby mountain and practice with a sacred scroll consisting of over 1,000 sutras.

:Master daily trains by memorizing all 1,000 sutras, in which a large puffy jet cloud is formed beneath him when he says all 1,000. Kongo later manages to turn into a fly and steal Master's scroll that had been hidden behind his ear. To Master's surprise when spying on Kongo's training with the scroll, Kongo was able to recite all 1,000 sutras within a single night. The final test that Master gives to Kongo is a duel in the sky. Master mainly is attempting to test Kongo's unity with his jet cloud. After some time however, and Master ended up being deceived by Kongo, in which he hit face first into a mountain crag, he says his farewells to his student. Master would never be seen again throughout the whole of the anime, in which he noted to Kongo before he left.

;Fanya
:Fanya had never appeared within the novel, in which is because she is meant to be the supposed lover of Kongo. Fanya has a rather motherly type attitude, in which she seems very kind and regularly acts as the caring parent for all other monkeys in the series. Fanya had been together with Kongo since they had been children monkeys and she vows to stand by his side even until this day. When Kongo is later defeated by Prince Nata, Fanya attempts to stop Kongo from leaving Flower Fruit Mountain, in which Kongo tells her he will be gone for about 100 days, which makes Fanya full of sadness. After the monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain later are forced to battle it out against Dupac's heavenly ships, Fanya plays the central role in putting all the children in a safe area from harm. After Dupac is defeated and Fujin comes to invite Kongo to heaven later on, Fanya is very persistent to come with him as to stay by Kongo's side. During the Heaven Arc when Kongo is appointed as the Protector of the Horses - such as in the novel, Fanya overhears two heavenly officials riding on a boat laugh about how Kongo actually believes his position is at a high level, in which it is actually the lowest. Fanya is rather reluctant to tell Kongo of this, and never personally tells Kongo. While in heaven, Fanya is also the first one to eat a Heavenly Peach from a sacred peach tree courtyard. Kongo then tells Fanya that she will live for over 3000 years now that she has eaten it, which leads for Fanya to get rather angry at Kongo for stealing, and the fact that she does not want to live that long. Following the heaven arc, Fanya will still attempt to be by Kongo's side until the end.

;Wowser
:A supposedly minor character within Monkey Magic. Wowser had been the original king of Flower Fruit Mountain, in which he is overthrown later on - or more or less gave away his position to the new king, Kongo. Wowser makes another appearance within the anime when he continuously fought off against the villagers beneath Flower Fruit Mountain and against Dupac's heavenly fleet. Wowser, along with another random monkey, an older monkey, Fanya, and Wukong all head to heaven through Fujin's invitation. While at heaven, Wowser seems to enjoy heaven's fashion, in which he buys a Hawaiian shirt and sun glasses . Wowser had also been regularly seen riding a heavenly horse after Kongo had become the Protector of the Stables. Thus, it seems that Wowser literally follows the others around everywhere within heaven, and shares in their joys. After the Peach Pandemonium later on, Wowser plays a central role in continuously throwing various weapons to the weaponless Kongo when he had been battling against the enraged Refang.

;Redchimp
:A more or less random monkey that is seen with Kongo throughout the earlier episodes at Flower Fruit Mountain. This monkey is vaguely different looking from the ordinary monkey, besides a meager loincloth or so. However, this monkey noticeably possesses the lowest IQ and is always rather reckless. This monkey had originally convinced Kongo to leave to the Celestial Heavens after receiving an invitation by Fujin. After the Celestial Heavens arc, this monkey is not shown again.

;Sarge
:A minor supporting monkey within this anime series. Sarge makes his first appearance within the first episode when it seems that he is the caretaker of Fanya, a young monkey who is the later lover of Kongo. Due to this monkey's oldness, he is seen occasionally walking with his cane for support. Sarge doesn't seem to stand out from the other three main monkeys that follow Kongo and Fanya around, other than the fact that he seems to always favor towards less conflict and can be seen as more wise than any of the others.

;The 3 Disciples
:These three were rather minor characters that had served under the "nameless master" in which Kongo had also served under to learn his majestic ways. However, unlike Kongo, these three distinct disciples never learn the master's skills, which is due to their ineptitude. These three are first shown in episode 2 when Kongo had first set foot in their monastery. All three of these disciples have personally battled it out against Kongo in an attempt to prove he was not worthy. When Kongo is later accepted, these three are primarily seen harassing Kongo over miscellaneous needs such as hall scrubbing, food, water, and other needs. However, this is mainly through the fact that they know the master has been favoring Kongo over the likes of them. After the master performs a body clone manipulation skill, he utters two words. After Kongo believes to have figured it out, and these three disciples spy on him, they do as they heard. However, they did so wrong, making them monsters in appearance. Before Kongo is to leave however, they seem to attain some level of respect towards him, but seem to still be on the arrogant side.

;Jack
:His real name being John, he is one of the crudest of the Monkeys. He has no intelligence whatsoever, and he was killed very early in the series. He existed purely to bungle an easy mission, and dropping the power orb. He has three magnificient older brothers, one of them Jordan, the genius, appearing in episode 73.

Members of Celestial Heavens


;The Jade Emperor
:The jaden figure over the Celestial Heavens. The Jade Emperor is a rather old man that always seems to sit atop his throne, which is supported by a large golden dragon statue. Overall, the Jade Emperor is seen as somewhat of a pacifist in his ways, which is a minor supporting reason to why he is never seen physically accomplishing a specific task; He also seems to be quick to forgive others, as seen when Kongo had not bowed to him when they had both met. However, the Jade Emperor is the one who had allowed for many actions such as Dupac's assault on Kongo. The emperor is first truly shown when Kongo had been sent before him. At this moment, the Jade Emperor had bestowed Kongo with the title Protector of the Imperial Stables, in which Kongo takes with pride. After Kongo leaves, the Jade Emperor and the other major officials were all seen laughing together. When Kongo then causes further chaos in Heaven, the Jade Emperor ends up having to defend even his own life. While being held as a hostage by the rampant Kongo, the Jade Emperor begs not to be killed. Due to The Guardian's assistance, the celestial heavens returns to its originally prosperity as like before Kongo's attack. Thus, the Jade Emperor sits atop his throne once again in peace.

;Fujin
:A high ranking official of the Celestial Heavens. Fujin acts as the primary messenger of the Jade Emperor - such as in the novel. Fujin is first shown within the anime when he had suggested to the Jade Emperor that he should invite Kongo to heaven after making havoc on earth, in which he will be appointed a low ranking post in hopes that his alternated nature will be at rest. The Jade Emperor consents, in which Fujin heads out to the Flower Fruit Mountain via a large heavenly ship, and calls out to invite Kongo to heaven. Kongo eventually agrees, in which Fujin gladly takes Kongo back to heaven. Later Kongo physically attacks Fujin during the Peach Party after he finally hears that his position of Protector of the Stables was the lowest of ranks. However, Fujin quickly cowers before the powerful Refang, who then battles it out against Kongo. Refang scolds Fujin afterwards for his continued deception.

;Prince Nata
:A high ranking official within the Celestial Heavens. Nata is a rather young child and rides atop a carpet like jet cloud. When Nata had been at a very young age, it is said that he dueled against a great Dragon King. In their duel, Nata had defeated the dragon and ripped out its long spine as his treasure and his new weapon. Due to this fact, Nata - even as a young and small boy, is feared for his exceeding prowess. As seen within the anime, it is also known that Nata always trains together with the powerful warrior Refang, which may be a reason for Nata's exceeding strength. Nata first makes his appearance within the anime when he had suggested to go down to earth to punish Kongo after he had been regularly terrorizing innocent villagers. The Jade Emperor consents, in which Nata then appears before every monkey and Kongo. Nata quickly puts Kongo to shame by easily defeating him without effectively transforming his standard weapon - . He is sent to deal with Kongo again later on, but by then Kongo has gained supernatural powers, forcing Nata to resort to his special weapons. It does him little good, with Kongo destroying them one after another while becoming stronger and stronger himself. Following this, Nata is occasionally seen glaring at Kongo during the trip to Haven arc.

;Lao Tzu
:A rather minor character within the Monkey Magic anime series. Lao Tzu is first shown around episode 8, in which he is within his large immortal pill producing furnace. After Kongo and the other monkeys had arrived at Lao Tzu's furnace and spyed at him through the window, Kongo waited until Lao Tzu had left - in which he wished to go back to his room. Kongo then used his transformation technique to look exactly like Lao Tzu, in which he went up to the immortal pill producing machine and made it spout out a handful of them, in which Kongo kept continuously eating. However, everyone around the fake Lao Tzu soon realized that he had been a fake, in which Kongo ran away as fast as possible. Following this, Lao Tzu cannot forgive Kongo's action, in which he now desires to burn Kongo up in his immortal furnace - just like in the novel. Lao Tzu does this by ordering the powerful Refang to lure Kongo into his factory - who is then eventually trapped in a large area with heat seeping through the bottom area. Lao Tzu is amongst joy when seeing his plan attain succession.

;Dopuck
:A high ranking official within the Celestial Heavens. Dupac is first shown within Monkey Magic when he had suggested that he should go to earth and punish the now more powerful Kongo. Kongo by this time had prepared for the worst by constructing many fortresses and regularly training his monkeys in the art of combat. After the Jade Emperor consented, Dopuck lead a large heavenly fleet of around 100 ships to completely destroy Kongo. On these ships, rather large cannon balls can be shot out from each of its sides. A large golden dragon head is visible on the front, and continuously revolving paddles on the side of the ship keep these fleets at a stable floating position in the skies. After Dopuck destroys many of Kongo's forts, and it is now at the time of night, Dopuck sees many monkey's attempt to escape via a small cramped mountain path, in which each monkey is holding a torch. Dopuck personally foolishly comes very close to these monkeys, in which they all suddenly vanish and many large boulders tumble from the top part of the mountain that barrage a few of Dopuck's ships. He, who at this time is both exhausted and fearful, retreats back to Heaven.

;Refang
:A high ranking official within the Celestial Heavens. Refang is a man of around 20 years of age, in which he regularly wields his famed heavenly sword which he uses with great prowess. Refang is ranked as one of the very highest enforcers under the Celestial Heavens. Refang is first shown within the anime when he had been bowing before the Jade Emperor, his supposed cousin . Throughout the beginning of the series, Refang is not shown to a large extent which is because he seems to occasionally train with Prince Nata. Refang also chooses to stay at heaven throughout many times due to being a heavy enforcer of heaven's politics. However, Refang truly first shows his colors when he had stood before Kongo, who wished to attend the Peach Party. After Fujin explains the situation, Refang has no choice but to allow Kongo to pass. However, after Kongo later destroys many tables in his rage about hearing the true nature of his position, Refang takes physical action to quell the monkey he had already held hatred towards - Kongo.

:During their bout however, Kongo continuously scurries in fear, while Refang himself almost purposely in perception destroys many of the heavenly pillars holding up the roof of the area they had been within. After much destruction, Refang is forced to chase after the fleeing Kongo. This is so, until Kongo decides to fight back against Refang. After Kongo sees that Refang can manipulate his weapon at will, Kongo himself fights back with many weapons - thanks to Wowser. Refang however seems to favor his axe, in which he strikes down on Kongo's head. After Lao Tzu tells Refang to cease for a moment, Kongo turns into a bird to flee from Refang's sight. Refang this transforms himself into a larger bird, and continues to overpower Kongo in his transformations. Refeng then follows by chasing after the fearful Kongo until Kongo ends up in Lao Tzu's immortal furnace. Thus Refang rejoices in his triumph, until Kongo emerges alives, angry and wielding the unbeatable power rod.

;Milesight and Sonicmate
:These two characters serve as subordinate officials under the Jade Emperor of the Celestial Heavens. Milesight can of course see rather far, in which he has extra-large glasses over his eyes. Sonicmate as very large ears but slits for eyes, in which he can of course hear within far distances. Overall, these two do not make a tremendously large appearance within the anime, but they had been responsible for telling the Jade Emperor of Kongo's arrival on earth. These two individuals had also been spying on Kongo's second fight against Prince Nata within the mountain areas as well. Overall, these two are seen at times in which the Jade Emperor is in need of further information - this is not a prevalent trait of his however.

Members of the Underworld


;Batty
:A small bat of evil alignment that serves under the cliché-of-name leader, Dearth Voyd. Batty is first shown within episode 1 when Dearth Voyd had told Batty to spy on the newly born Kongo who had just fallen from the heavens. Dearth Voyd quickly sees potential emitting from Kongo, which is the true reason. After Batty sees Kongo being treated poorly by the other superior monkey's Batty tells Kongo that they should not be allowed to push him around like that. When Kongo becomes an adult and is the new King of Flower Fruit Mountain, Batty is occasionally seen harassing Kongo to sign a contract with Dearth Voyd as to join their crew. Kongo continuously chokes Batty and throws him away due to this. When Dupac's troops had attacked Kongo, and Kongo had lost many monkey's, along with forts, Kongo began to truly think about joining Dearth Voyd for support. Fanya quickly knocks the unfortunate Batty away, and changes Kongo's mind. After many efforts however, Batty is determined to attain Kongo's partnership. However, this determination is severed after Kongo sets out on his journey with Sanzang, in which was where Dearth Voyd completely had disposed of their previous plans, but were now determined to destroy him instead.

;Dearth Voyd
:The supposed main enemy throughout the Monkey Magic series. Dearth Voyd is present within the underworld area, in which he resides within a large castle like area with a revolving sun like blade behind. However, Dearth Voyd is not seen in his physical body, but instead a hologram like image is present in front of his minions. During the beginning of the series, he says how he wants "all the teachings of the Guardian to be lost forever", which it looks like Dearth Voyd has a grudge against him. After talking about that, he sees Kongo arrive in Flower Fruit Mountain and sees potential emitting from him. Due to this, Dearth Voyd sends Batty to continuously harass Kongo into joining his "dark forces". After Kongo is very reluctant to not join under Dearth Voyd and has begun a new journey with Sanzoh, Voyd becomes rather uneasy. At the end of the series, Dearth Voyd noted that he will take out Kongo himself, in which he will finally be physically seen for the first time. Unfortunately however, this would never be seen happen because the series stopped airing after episode 13.

;Runlay
:A small young girl that is noble in her appearance; this young girl is first featured during episode 12. After both Sanzo and Kongo had continued on their journey westward, they soon ran into this little girl who is an apparition. Kongo flees after her, for he knows that she is truly a demon dragon only in human form. Thus, this small young girl pretends to admit she is innocent while fleeing at her greatest speed down the mountain slope. After relations become even worse between both Kongo and Sanzo - even to the extent that Kongo flys away on his jet cloud, Sanzoh appears by himself before the young girl who Kongo tried to attack for the second time. Suddenly however, Runlay transforms herself into a large blue dragon and carries Sanzoh off to her stationed base within a neighboring mountain. However, this little girl did so only through her own orders -- she had been forced to do so by Dearth Voyd himself.

;Slime Lord
:The first true enemy featured within the journey between both Sanzo and Kongo to the western heavens. Slime Lord is a large chef like eel who enjoys being the # 1 cook under Dearth Voyd. After the "little girl" stole Sanzoh and effectively placed him before Slime Lord, Slime Lord would then make the preparations of boiling Sanzoh as a specific type of food -- an action that Dearth Voyd hopes will make Kongo ally with the Underworld. After Kongo enters in as a fly and attempts to cut Sanzoh's bonds loose, Slime Lord pursues Kongo with due persistence. After Kongo creates a fake Sanzoh with his hairs, Slime Lord becomes distracted, while Kongo then heads back to free the real Sanzoh. Soon enough however, Slime Lord would return in good time and duel it out with Kongo with his large cleaving sword. After some time passes and Kongo realizes that his hits have no effect on Slime Lord - his body is of rubbery slime like substance - Slime Lord suddenly unleashes his true form -- as a very large eel. Before Slime Lord has a chance to destroy Kongo in his true state, the young girl would transform herself into a dragon and duel it out with Slime Lord in defiance. After Kongo manages to retrieve her dragon stone, the young girl is able to defeat the Slime Lord with true ease. Following this point, Slime Lord would be seen as a small eel . Through Sanzoh's orders, Kongo frees the now rather small Slime Lord into a neighboring pond and then continues on their very long journey west.

Deities


;The Guardian
:Literally translating as Lord Buddha. "The Guardian" is meant to be the legendary most powerful of all Buddha's - the Tathagata Buddha. Tathagata makes his first appearance within this anime during episode 10 where he is called upon as to subdue Kongo. Tathagata however seems to have a rather strange appearance within this anime, which is because he is completely the color of rainbow which radiates off from his body. The Guardian is effectively summoned by Lady Blossom after Kongo had even gone to the extent of holding the Jade Emperor himself hostage. When The Guardian appears before Kongo, he experiments with his abilities -- The Guardian will see if Kongo can escape from the very palm of his hand; if Kongo happens to succeed , The Guardian will grant Kongo the title of Jade Emperor. After Kongo is astounded over his failure, The Guardian banishes Kongo to the earth with a large stone hand sealed over him. The Guardian would not physically be shown again following this point.

;Lady Blossom
:Lady Blossom is the incarnation of Bodhisattva Guanyin, a major entity during their journey. After Kongo effectively puts the Celestial Heavens to ruin and holds the Jade Emperor hostage, Lady Blossom immediately appears in her true form and summons The Guardian from his slumber as to subdue Kongo. After Kongo is subdued for over the time period of 50 decades, Lady Blossom had regularly appeared before Kongo at random times as a conary to feed Kongo and deliver him insight -- never at any point did Kongo actually realize that this bird was truly Lady Blossom. Soon enough, Lady Blossom contacts Sanzo in her conary form and indirectly tells him about his future journey. After Kongo is freed and the journey to the west begins under both Sanzo and Kongo, Lady Blossom would randomly appear before either one of them and provide insight; such as giving Sanzo the gold banded heaband and convincing Kongo to always live by his word.

Objects/items in Monkey Magic


;Jet Cloud
:The primary tool used by many of the higher celestial beings within Monkey Magic. The jet cloud made its first appearance at the end of episode 2 when Kongo had been spying on his master while training. However, it is extremely difficult to be able to summon the jet cloud. This is because you must be able to remember and recite 1,000 prescribed sutras that lay within a sacred scroll. After Kongo attains his own jet cloud, he realizes that its stability is difficult to control. The jet cloud is meant so as to implement your own will into the cloud, and it will act on your every conscious movement. Kongo's personal jet cloud is rather small and is a yellowish color. After you are able to recite all 1,000 sutras at least once, your have the free will to use your jet cloud as you please. The jet cloud may also reflect well on the Flying Nimbus seen within the manga/anime series . Refang seems to have a blue one.

;Dragon King's Spine
:This is a famed weapon used by Prince Nata, a major official in the Celestial Heavens. As the story goes, when Nata had been a child, he dueled against the Great Dragon King and ripped out his spine when he had defeated him. The Dragon King's Spine is first physically shown within episode 5 when Nata had wielded it against Kongo. Kongo was rather fearful of this weapon and had been easily crushed by it throughout many moments. In the end however, Kongo manages to escape this fearsome weapon by blowing one of his hairs and making one of his clones feel the blow. Nata's general tactic with this weapon is to wrap the spinal cord around his enemies and then squeeze them to an inevitable death.

;Nata's Carpet
:This is a small carpet like cloud that is occasionally riden by Prince Nata himself. The carpet is red of appearance and has two jets on the back. As seen within the anime, it seems that this carpet is one of the fastest clouds, such as when Nata has easily been able to catch up Kongo during their second encounter. When used however, it seems to emit a rather jet like sound, which may show that the user is of a higher conscious will. This carpet like object is not seen very much later in the series, which is because Nata is not ordered to go anywhere specific following his second duel with Kongo.

;1,000 Sutra Scroll
:This is a sacred scroll passed down for generations. It is not known how many of these scrolls are present within existence, but it seems that Kongo's master is in the possession of this sacred object. As seen at the end of episode 2, this legendary scroll is used as the gateway to awaken the jet cloud art to a conscious state. For external protection, "The Master" makes the scroll extremely small with his arts, and then hides it behind his right ear. This scroll is later impulsively ripped up by Kongo after the master had attempted to get it back.

;Weapon manipulation
:A technique used generally by high ranking officials of the Celestial Heavens. This weapon manipulation technique is first shown by Prince Nata when he had continuously transformed his weapon to defeat Kongo. Later in the series, Refang elaborates on this ability to a high extent by changing his sword into various weapons such as an axe. This ability primarily allows the user to turn their sacred weapon into any type of weapon that they please. Kongo himself later on attains this ability when attaining his As-You-Will Cudgel.

;Heavenly Ships
:A large ship that usually consists as in a group, forming a full fleet. These heavenly ships have large golden dragonheads atop the frontal area, while cannon holes are placed on each side of the ship. These ships have the infinite ability of flight, in which 3 paddles on each side simultaneously revolve so as to more or less make the ship look cooler. On the ship, there is an extended tower like region where the commander as a full view of the extended terrain before him while afloat in the sky. These ships seem to have very great maneuverability skills, in which they can turn a full 180 degrees within a mere 3-4 seconds.

;Power Rod
:Renowned as the main weapon of Kongo. This power rod was first attained by Kongo during episode 9, in which Kongo physically tore it from Lao Tzu's furnace and completely destroyed his whole furnace with ease due to his new weapon. After this, the power rod is used with great skill, which defeats the 4 Heavenly Generals of East, West, North, and South. Refang himself even fell to his knees before this incredible weapon. It seems that the Power Rod was claimed to be the "strongest weapon in the universe".

;Lao Tzu's Furnace
:A very large furnace area that is under the protection of many officials of heaven. This furnace's primary function is the establishment of heavenly pills that grant immortality to its consumer. Day and night the officials shall work to their utmost towards the production of this material. Lao Tzu himself takes the center role over the governing of this process. The "most powerful weapon in the universe" - the Power Rod is also contained within a small area that produces large measures of heat as to kill any such person who attempts to obtain this superb weapon.

;Gold banded headband
:A legendary headband purely made of gold that had been used since ancient times to effectively control any one individuals actions. During the anime series, this item had been given to the Tang priest, Sanzoh by Lady Blossom as to control Kongo. In appearance, this is an ordinary circular golden headband, only the fourhead section is cut off and extends from right to left. Following episode 12, this gold headban would be atop Kongo's forehead until the very end of their journey.

Areas


;Celestial Heavens
:A very large area and rather important area within the overall Monkey Magic anime series. This area is run by the renowned Jade Emperor and his high ranking officials such as Dupac, Refang, Fujin, and Nata. Kongo personally comes to this area around episode 7 in which he was later made the Protector of the Horses. As seen through the high ranking officials in the Celestial Heavens, each official seems to have the ability of being able to manipulate an object into any type of weapon that they wish. However, it seems this ability is only possessed within the generals of Heaven that seem to have a legendary treasure like weapon. Over all, this area is one of the very largest and stands out as a far more pleasant area to live than that of the earth.

;The Underworld
:A rather featureless area throughout the whole of the Monkey Magic series. The ruler of the underworld is meant to be Dearth Voyd, the supposed main villain within the anime. Due to this fact, it seems that King Yama along with the external 9 kings were taken out - as derived from the Journey to the West novel. Random demons seemed to be grouped in this area, in which a very large mansion like area is the only true object seen within this underworld. Overall, it seems that all demons are meant to come from this area which is meant to be classified as "evil", in which contradicts the fact that many random demons had been from Heaven, such as a certain animal that changed its body when coming to earth.

Credits


Cast


* Gokuu: Shoutarou Morikubo
* Sanzo: Megumi Tano
* Motoboss: Hisao Egawa
* Motte: Satsuki Yukino
* Akakesu: Yuji Ueda

Staff



* Series Director: Tameo Kohanawa
* CG Director: Hiroshi Arima
* Character Design: Masahiko Ohta
* Music: Eiichi Naito, Shun Suzuki
* Script: Larry Parr, Soji Yoshikawa
* Editing: Kouichi Katagiri
* CG Producer: Hiroshi Arima
* Producer: Takashi Sakurai
* Production: 1998 S. Matsushita Co.*B-F/Monkey Magic Productions

;Openings:
# "Holy Mission" by Raphael

;Endings:
# "F" by Angelique

U.S. ''''

;Openings:
: "Monkey Magic Theme" by The Toms

;Endings:
: "Monkey Magic Ending" by Kitaro

Monkey Magic (PlayStation game)

Monkey Magic was a game developed by the game production company Sunsoft around 1998. This game had been released on the original Playstation gaming system.

General game information


The video game ''Monkey Magic'' is based on the anime series, "". It is a sidescrolling action/platform game; unique features include the ability to switch between the foreground, middle, and background layers in some sections, and four magic spells - Fire, Ice, Shrink, and Strength - which can be cast on either the player's character or on enemies as a projectile.

Character biographies


See article:Monkey Magic Note: ''Many characters in main article have never been seen within the game''

Monkey (TV series)

Monkey, also known as Monkey Magic!, refers to the English language voice over version - not the original English subtitled version - of the Japanese television series , based on the classic novel ''Journey to the West'' by Wu Cheng'en. It was originally produced by Nippon Television and International Television Films in association with NHK.

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 into English. The English language version was produced by the BBC and broadcast in and Australia in November 1979. The script for the dubbed dialogue was written by . 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 were shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2004.

Besides Britain and Australia, ''Monkey'' has also aired in New Zealand and is available on DVD. ''Monkey'' has not been screened in the United States , although ''Saiyūki'' was screened on a local Japanese-language TV station in California during the early 1980s.

Plot summary


, the title character, "born from an egg on a mountain top", was a brash king of a monkey tribe . He achieved a little "enlightenment" and proclaimed himself "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven". After demanding the "gift" of from a powerful Dragon king, Monkey is approached by Heaven to join their host in the lowly position of "Keeper of the Peach Garden of Immortality". Monkey eats them all, becomes immortal and runs amok. Having earned the ire of Heaven and being bested in a challenge by an omniscient, mighty, but benevolent, cloud-dwelling , Monkey is imprisoned under a mountain in order to learn humility.

Eventually Monkey is released by the priest in CE 630, who has been tasked by the Boddhisatva 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: , the water monster and ex-cannibal, expelled from heaven after his interference caused a precious jade cup to be broken, and , 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, who was set free by Guanyin after being sentenced to death, 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. Monkey can also change form, for instance in 'The Great Journey Begins' Monkey transforms into a girl to trick Pigsy. Monkey's other magic included a cloud upon which he could fly, a fighting staff which could be any size and the ability to conjure bare-fisted monkey warriors by blowing on hairs plucked from his chest.

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 and/or 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. 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 then came a stone monkey. The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!"

Soundtrack


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 "" and "Thank You Baby" on Side 2. Note: "Gandhara" has one verse in and the other in .

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 . The BBC also released the full Godiego soundtrack on in 1980, which featured 11 tracks.

Masaaki Sakai, who plays Monkey in the series, is also a popular singer in Japan. Sakai himself sang "Songoku" which was played at the end of every episode of season two. Songoku is the name of the character Monkey in the Japanese language version of the show. He also sang "Imadewa Ososugira" in episode 15 and "Kono Michi No Hatemademo", a Japanese version of Godiego's "Thank You Baby" , in episodes 11 and 15. The three songs were released as two singles in Japan. The B side of the Songoku single was another Godiego song sung by Sakai called "20 Oku Nen No Kurayami" .

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''. Another cover was featured in ''''. The Japanese-Canadian pop group Monkey Majik released a new cover version in 2007.

Cult appeal


''Monkey'' is considered a in countries where it has been shown, especially in Australia, where its immediate widespread popularity surpassed that of both 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, which often was not correctly synchronised to the actors' speech, and the fact that the young priest was played by a woman.

Australian contemporary youth programs like alternative music show '''' and radio station ''Triple J'' often made references to ''Monkey''. ''Triple J'' interviewed the original voice actors on several occasions.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation frequently repeated the 39 episodes dubbed by the BBC at 6pm on weeknights throughout the 1980s. ''Recovery'' aired an episode of ''Monkey'' weekly from 1997-2000. When ''Recovery'' was put on hiatus it was replaced with three hours of ''Monkey''.

In ''Love Hina'', when the characters put on a ''Journey to the West'' play, Seta insists Naru play the priest Tripitaka because he wanted a female to play the role to be like this series.

In one closing credits sequence of '''', 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.

Characters




Monkeys dubbed English voice is almost identical in sound to Masaaki Sakai's real Japanese voice.

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.

In 2006, Japan's Fuji Television produced another television series, based on the ''Journey to the West'' story, titled ''''. The lead character of Son Goku 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 . Companies from South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and the United Kingdom are 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, .

China CCTV made a faithful and costly TV serial adaptation of ''Journey to the West'' in 1986, which in the strict sense is not a remake. The Chinese version focused on authenticity through using traditional imagery and interpretation and adopting a much more serious tone overall. The show is still considered by most Chinese as the definitive interpretation of the novel, while the Japanese version is often derided as a second-rate adaptation. Hong Kong TVB also made a more humorous version while still tried to stay faithful to the original novel. There were numerous campy action and humour sequences in this version, possible as a tribute to the Japanese version. The show was redubbed into English and broadcast to their English sister channel TVB Pearl.

The highly popular Japanese anime & manga series '''' 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.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li star in the film, ''The Forbidden Kingdom'', which is based on the same story.

In the run up to the Beijing Olympics, the BBC commissioned Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett - the team behind Gorillaz, to create a 2-minute advert based on the show. It features a twist on the ''Journey to the West'' as a Journey To The East, towards the Olympic stadium. Monkey will appear to introduce the Olympics on the BBC Sports coverage.

Episode list


Series 1


# "Monkey Goes Wild about Heaven"
# "Monkey Turns Nursemaid"
# "The Great Journey Begins"
# "Monkey Swallows the Universe"
# "The Power of Youth"
# "Even Monsters Can be People"
# "The Beginning of Wisdom"
# "Pigsy Woos a Widow"
# "What Monkey Calls the Dog-Woman"
# "Pigsy's in the Well"
# "The Difference Between Night & Day"
# "Pearls Before Swine"
# "The Minx and the Slug"
# "Catfish, Saint and the Shape-Changer"
# "Monkey Meets the Demon Digger"
# "The Most Monstrous Monster"
# "Truth and the Grey Gloves Devil"
# "Land for the Locusts"
# "The Vampire Master"
# "Outrageous Coincidences"
# "Pigsy, King and God"
# "Village of the Undead"
# "Two Little Blessings"
# "The Fires of Jealousy"
# "The Country of Nightmares"
# "The End of the Way"

Series 2


# "Pigsy's Ten Thousand Ladies"
# "The Dogs of Death"
# "You Win Some, You Lose Some"
# "Pigsy Learns A Lesson"
# "The Land With Two Suns"
# "The House of the Evil Spirit"
# "Am I Dreaming?"
# "The Tormented Emperor"
# "Between Heaven and Hell"
# "The Foolish Philosopher"
# "Who Am I?"
# "What is Wisdom?"
# "The Fountain of Youth"
# "Better The Demon You Know"
# "A Shadow So Huge"
# "Keep on Dancing"
# "Give and Take"
# "Such a Nice Monster"
# "The Fake Pilgrims''
# "Pretty as a Picture"
# "Mothers"
# "The Tenacious Tomboy"
# "Stoned"
# "Hungry Like The Wolf"
# "Monkey's Yearning"
# "At the Top of the Mountain"

Journey to the West (TVB)

Journey to the West is a 1996 Hong Kong TV series produced by TVB, based on the .

The series was very popular during its original run on TVB Jade, mostly because of Dicky Cheung's performance as the Monkey King Sun Wukong. In 1998, the series was dubbed in English and broadcasted on TVB Pearl, the only TVB series to have received such treatment to date.

A sequel, ''Journey to the West II'', was broadcasted in 1998, but the role of Sun Wukong was played by instead, due to contract problems between Dicky Cheung and TVB. Cheung later reprised the role in another series entitled ''The Monkey King - Quest for the Sutra'' , which was broadcasted on TVB but not produced by it.

Cast


Leading stars


*Dicky Cheung as Sun Wukong
*Kwong Wah as
*Wayne Lai as
*Evergreen Mak as Sha Wujing

Other stars


*Marianne Chan as the
*Rebecca Chan as Princess Iron Fan
*Angie Cheung as Spider Spirit Si Si
*Cheung Ying Choi as Great White Planet
*Chin Kar Lok as Yu Shu / Centipede Spirit
*Chor Yuen as the
*Maple Hui as Red Boy
*Derek Kok as Wu Gang
*Kung Che Yan as Guan Yin
*Lau Kong as King of Chechi Kingdom
*Rain Lau as Spider Spirit Yan Yan
*Law Lan as the Spider Spirit Mother
*Lee Kwok Lun as the Dragon King of Jing River
*Lee Lung Kei as Jade Emperor
*Gordon Liu as the Bull Demon
*Marco Lo as All-Seeing Eyes and
*Angelina Lo as the
*Lui Yau Wai as the Emperor of Female Nation
*Joe Ma as Erlang Shen
*Mok Ka Yiu as Prince of Elephant Kingdom
*Tai Chi Wai as Tiger Power
*Tang Siu Chuen as the Chicken Spirit
*Angela Tong as
*Wai Ying Hung as General Tiger
*Wong Wai as

Journey to the West (TV series)

Journey to the West is a 1986 live action TV series made by adapting the majority of the literary classic Journey to the West. The show became an instant classic in mainland China and is still being praised as the best and the most authentic interpretation of the original novel. Unadapted portions of the original Journey to the West were later covered in 1998 as a 'part two' to complete the whole novel .

List of episodes


Part 1


The first series runs to 25 episodes. Directed by Yang Jie, the first trial episode was aired on October 1, 1982, and shooting lasted until 1987. It was aired as a whole in 1988. With the limited but relatively new special effects, the series received a of 89.4% in 1987. The series has been rebroadcast every year since then.

Episode List :

1. The Birth of Monkey King

2. Monkey King the Charge of Horses

3. Monkey King Wreaks Havoc in the Palace of Heaven

4. Monkey King Imprisoned in Wuhang Mountain

5. Monkey King Becomes the Body Guard of Monk Tang

6. Disaster in Kwan-yin Temple

7. Getting Ba Jie with Strategy

8. Facing Three Adversities during the Rough Journey

9. Stealing the Ginseng Fruit

10. Beating the Dead Bones Spirit Three Times

11. Stimulating the Monkey King Wisely

12. Seizing Treasures in Lotus Flower Cave

13. Killing the Devils in the Wuji Country

14. A Battle with the Red Boy

15. Defeating the Three Monsters with Magic

16. The Funny Advantage in the Women Nation

17. Getting the Palm-leaf Fan for Three Times

18. Cleaning the Tower and Clarifying the Injustice

19. Getting in the Little Thunder Temple Accidentally

20. Doctor Monkey King

21. Falling in the Spider Silk Cave Accidentally

22. Visiting the Abyss for Four Times

23. Teaching in Yuhua Continent

24. Getting the Rabbit Spirit in India

25. Arriving in the Pure Land

Cast


*Liu Xiao Ling Tong - Sun Wukong
*, Xu Shaohua, Chi Chongrui -
*Ma Dehua - Zhu Bajie
*Yan Huaili - Sha Wujing

Part 2


The second part of series includes 16 episodes. The shooting began in 1998 and finished in 1999. It was first aired in 2000.

Episodes List :

1. Dangerous Crossing at the Heaven-Reaching River

2. A Rift between Master and Disciples

3. Real and Fake Handsome Monkey King

4. Stopped at Lion Hump Mountain

5. Meeting Immortals at Peacock Stage

6. Buddha Captures the Great Roc

7. Heartbreak at Black Water River

8. Capturing the Green Bull Demon

9. Praying for Rain at Phoenix-Immortal Prefecture

10. Wreaking Havoc on Fragrance-Covered Hall

11. A Dead-End Becomes the Way

12. Shedding Tears on Mist-Hidden Mountain

13. Rescue in the City of Children

14. Catching Bandits in Bodhisattva Territory

15. Returning the Souls of Benefactor Kou

16. Admiring the Lanterns at Gold-Level Prefecture

Cast


*Liu Xiao Ling Tong - Sun Wukong
*Xu Shaohua, Chi Chongrui -
*Cui Jingfu - Zhu Bajie
*Liu Shaogang - Sha Wujing

Reshot version in High-Definition


A High-Definition reshoot of the entire series is speculated to be planned by CCTV and is speculated to start filming soon.

Other Adaptations


There also exist at least three other TV adaptations of the same novel. Nippon Television made a series, ''Saiyūki'', in 1979-1980 which was translated by the BBC as . Another was made by TVB, a Hong Kong television station. This was made into two parts; part one was made in 1996, starring Dicky Cheung, and the second part was made in 1998, starring Benny Chan Ho Man. The general public was displeased with the second part of the adaptation, mostly due to recasting Sun Wukong. Cheung later reprised his role in Taiwan's 2002 adaptation, which was infamous for being terribly inaccurate.

Havoc in Heaven

Havoc in Heaven , also known as Uproar in Heaven, is a feature film directed by Wan Laiming and produced by all four of the Wan brothers. The film was created at the height of the Chinese animation industry in the 1960s, and received numerous awards. It earned the brothers domestic and international recognition.

Background


Wan Guchan, of the and one of the animators of the feature film '''', began planning the production of ''Havoc in Heaven'' after its release in 1941. However, the project was delayed for over a decade after the Japanese capture of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and latter by the Chinese Civil War.

Wan Laiming returned to Shanghai as director of Shanghai Animation Film Studio in 1954, and production of ''Havoc in Heaven'' resumed shortly thereafter. The first part of the film was completed in by Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan. The second part was completed in with the assistance of Wan Chaochen and Wan Dihuan. Both parts of the film were screened together for the first time in . This was the last major of the Second Golden Era of Cinema of China. A year later, the entire industry was effectively shut down by the Cultural Revolution.

Story



The story is based on the earliest chapters of the classic story ''Journey to the West''. The main character is Sun Wukong, aka the Monkey King, who goes to heaven in rebellion against the Jade Emperor of heaven.

Influence


The name of the movie became a colloquialism in the Chinese language to describe someone making a mess. It became one of the most influential films in all of Asia, animation or not. Countless cartoon adaptations that followed have reused the same classic story ''Journey to the West'', yet many consider this 1964 iteration to be the most original, fitting and memorable.

DVD release


As part of the 40th anniversary of the second part's release, the film was re-released on a 2-disc special edition DVD in 2004. This edition is the original remastered Chinese version of the film, and contains Chinese subtitles in traditional and . An English-subtitled version of the film has not been released, but fan-made English subtitles can be downloaded .

Debate


Because this film was so influential, it can be argued that the retelling of a classic literature story became the recipe for making a Chinese animation. Even well after the Cultural Revolution faded, productions from mainland China had a hard time trying new formulas. It is not until recent years when libraries of Disney cartoons and Japanese anime have forced the industry into a new direction.

Awards


* Won the outstanding film award at the 1978 .
* Won the 13th Special Interest award at the Czech Republic Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
* Won the best art award and children's literature award at the 2nd Chinese film "Hundred Flowers" festival.

Trivia


* At the time, the film was also used as a joke metaphor for the "havoc" being caused by Mao Zedong in "heaven" .
*Although it was never translated in English nor released in majority of European countries, it was once broadcasted in Swedish television during the mid 1980's with Hans Alfredson whom described scene for scene on what is happening. It also aired two or three times in USSR in 80s, and became very popular among then youth. Furthermore it was shown in Denmark in the 80s.
*It was also broadcasted by the BBC in 1984. The version broadcast is a longer edit than that of the 40th Anniversary DVD and contains several extended and omitted scenes.