This show, the Water Margin, Battle of the Planets , Danger Mouse and Dr Who were my childhood . Loved this show. None of the later updates of this story have the irreverence or charm .
OOOMMMGGG!! That is my childhood right there. I watched both Monkey and The Water Margin in the 70's and they both changed the course of my life. Learned the songs and taught myself the language since I was ten. Went to live there. Got married and had kids in Japan. Gawd over forty years of my life. Thank you for talking about this. X
Strange. You didn't mention the award winning KUNG FU😊 I was lucky enough to find these on dvd. Lots of really good actors started off on that show. 😅(jodie foster plays a broken banjo in one)
I'm a huge Monkey fan. Being a Melbourne lad pushing 50 now, I grew up in the 80's watching Monkey, The Goodies, Danger Mouse etc on the ABC. I still watch my Monkey dvd set about once a year. Timeless classic!
Did you guys Down Under get The Water Margin? I remember liking it a lot. Now im old and nostalgic im a bit afraid to look, either it was crap or im senile and made the entire show up.
I absolutely LOVED Monkey when I was a kid. I loved everything about it, even the cheesiness was endearing. The fact that it was based on a historical story was also right up my street. Even BOTH the theme songs were excellent. Fabulous show! I mentioned it to someone at work the other day. I waved my fingers and blew on them to summon the magic cloud. The look of utter blankness on their face was priceless. Their loss, ha ha.
Good job. Monkey - when I watched it in 81, totally blew my mind like nothing before or since. I hadn't watched any reruns but was very happy to see how much I remembered when I watched both seasons this year on Netflix. I thought it worth mentioning that the woman who played Tripitaka died only a few years after recording Monkey, of leukemia... Very sad.
I absolutely loved watching Monkey after school as a kid. I am turning 40 in September and I still imitate Monkey any time I am holding a broom handle unsupervised for too long.
This show was absolutely profound. So much depth and incredible imagination. Not sure it would stand up to scrutiny through my now-adult eyes, but as a 10 year-old kid it was, quite simply, magic. Thanks for the review.
Monkey was unmissable when I was a kid in the U.K. About twenty years later one of the cable channels reran the series and a bunch of us now grown men went to a mates house to watch it. As soon as it began we were transported back to the playground and every one of us had a huge goofy grin on our faces! Great stuff.👍
This and The Water Margin were brilliant in the UK when I was young 👌🐒 on a sad note, the young girl who played Tripytaka passed away from cancer at an early age, and fans of the series still to this day place tins of peaches on her grave to make her immortal like monkey in the series 🐵😢
Leukaemia I believe. The other actors still tear up when it gets brought up (except Sandy-he disappeared to avoid going to prison for tax fraud, if memory serves…)
Loved that sceen where Monkey, after a very long flight to the edge of the universe, relieved himself on the 5 pillars of creation thinking "who's going to know". Only for the Buddha to show it was the 5 fingers of his hand.
'Monkey' was one of the formative TV programmes of my youth. On my first visit to Japan in 2015 I went to see a film called 'Farewell to Jinu' (in Japanese, which I did not speak a word of). After the screening I asked the person i was with, 'The old guy living in the forst, did he used to play Pigsy in a show called Monkey 40 years ago?' She wasn't sure, but after moving to japan in 2017 i now know that Toshiyuki Nishida is one of the most famous actors in Japan! Sadly he any Masaaki Sakai (Monkey) are the only regular cast members still with us. Since I moved here we have lost three, Shiro Kishibe (Sandy) died in 2020. There is a beautiful but heartwrenching video of him singing 'Yesterday' with his old band, 'The Tigers', while in a wheelchair in 2013. Tonpei Hidari (the 2nd Pigsy) died in 2018, and Shunji Fujimura (Horse) in 2017. Both has long careers, and some may remember Fujimura as Watari in the live-action 'Death Note' movies. Sadly Masako Natsume (Tripitaka) died of leukemia at only 27 in 1985. She was one of Japan's most popular pin-ups at the time, and even now her photo books sell well. In 2019 I went to see a live stage show of 'Saiyuki'. I was very pleased that a) they used the Monkey theme on the character's first entrance, and b) Tripitaka was played by an actress (Moemi Katayama). Despite my pathetic Japanese my knowledge of the TV show (plus a lot of fights) made it a very enjoyable experience. This is far too long already, but suffice to say that the ocassional sight of something in Japan that reminds me of 'Monkey' still gives me a warm nostalgic feel.
I used to get NHK in the UK back when I was trying to learn Japanese. I was watching a drama, and was like 'Hey, that's Pigsy'. I even saw a clip of Monkey hosting some sort of quiz show.
I loved watching this show in the 80’s. We were very limited on TV channels in the UK back then and this was a treat. And yes the Monkey magic theme tune was incredibly catchy. 😃
This was my favourite TV show and to this day I still sing that tune ! "'Monkey magic" is THE go to term if i need to swap out a swear word or just any eureka moments or it just pops out now and again. Loved the vid !
So glad you did 'Monkey'. This show was one of the highlights of my childhood with Monkey, Sandy. Pigsy and Trippers like old pals. Used to loved 'summoning up a cloud', inevitably spraying some other poor kid with spluttering spittle . And damn, that theme tune was great!!!
My goodness watching this makes me so happy. I loved this show so much, the cast was just perfect, the action scenes were awesome, stories endearing, magic spells fun and dialogue was fantastic. Thank you for the review :)
The pure nostalgia of it all... younglings will never understand how much of an impact this made on kids back in the day... an unforgettable show that was then is now and shall always be known as... _Monkey Magic..._ believe nobody who says otherwise...
@@mephistoxarses8585 Monkey! that's what it was called and that's what I've always called it (for the past 45ish years) but if you prefer to call it "Monkey Magic" then that's fine too.
This was absolutely brilliant! Thanks for the trip down memory lane (Fridays at 18:00 on BBC 2); you had me laughing so much with your excellent commentary that the missus went into full-on "tut & roll-eyes" mode! 😂👍
I watched Monkey religiously in the early 1980's. We used to cry with laughter. Brought back fantasic memories. Thanks, mate. 😉👍 Blessings and kindest regards David from Australia. 🌏 🙄☝️
I'm from the Dominican Republic, and I remember watching this show dubbed into spanish in the early 80's. I loved the comedy, the special effects and the chinese fantasy setting. I used to swing a broomstick around like Monkey's staff. I also loved the sci-fi futuristic anime adaptation, "Starzinger" (in spanish dub "El Galactico") they were broadcast simultaneously, but luckily at different times. Golden memories!!
The ABC did a bang up job on my cultural education - and of all those formative shows this one has held up best. Over 30 years on I bought the DVDs for my brother, and it's still bloody good TV! Our parents were far less enamoured with it however, as my brother and I broke every rake, broom, or other stick recreating battles in the yard. On a recent rewatch I was genuinely impressed by the performances and the quality of the fight scenes, just great. Edit/P.S. Great fun video mate, have a sub for your efforts!
Yay! As an Aussie kid this was an absolute must. We loved this show. So much fun and so creative. Of course there were injuries lol, but so lucky to have it. Remember it like it was yesterday. The music, the stories and that party in the belly of the catfish. Brilliant 😊😊🙏🙏
It's on Netflixs, tears,excitement and wisdom wrapped up in every episode of this travelogue and all you need is a red t-shirt, a yellow dish towel and a broom handle and you too can be Monkey.
Answering some very common comments on this video: Monkey, Dragonball- along with dozens of other movies and TV series with various combinations of the following words in the title: Saiyuki, Monkey King, Monkey Magic, etc- are all based on the same Chinese story 'Journey To the West.' It's all in the video @13:08, just sayin'. Also, very happy that so many of you are watching a vid that's based on something that's a little different from our usual content, so thanks. With that cleared up, we can go back to debating misheard lyrics in the theme tune and which Pigsy was better. Here's a wikipedia article listing different versions of the story. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_media_adaptations_of_Journey_to_the_West
I was of the generation of kids who saw it on the ABC when it first ran in the 80s. It makes me feel less bad about not being around when "The Samurai" was in it's hayday in oz. Between Monkey, Doctor Who, The Goodies, Kenny Everett etc in various rotation and cartoons like Danger Mouse and Bananaman the early evenings before the ABC news were god tier.
Ah! Shintaro! Yes I was fascinated with the Samurai show and the ninjas as a little girl in Oz. I am 66 years now. I was also later in love with Kimba The White Lion and found out later from many adults that they were too. I also liked the french show about Thierry La Fronde, can't remember what it was called though.
@@chookinathunderstorm3446 Ah damn now I gotta go watch "Thierry la Fronde" if I can find it...cheers. I have the Samurai on DVD I love it! Apparently he got a bigger reception than the beatles when he visited here. I also have a couple of eps of Phantom Agents but it doesn't seem to have a DVD release for the english dub and the Japan box set is several hundred dollars. Yeah I loved kimba when I was a kid. Also Astro Boy, the King Kong anime and Gigantor.
Yes! And do you remember that Mayan/Inca show that came on at around that same time in those days? I loved that show! Edit: the mysterious cities of gold
Loved Monkey when I was young, used to watch it with my Grandad. I always got annoyed with the others though as Monkey could always tell when it was a Demon but they never listened to him!
Fun fact: Masaaki Sakai who played Monkey in the TV show, was the lead singer in Japanese GS group The Spiders, who made a few beatle-esque movies in the 1960s.
Last I heard in his old age he would do live shows every year for his fans of Monkey etc.. I don't know if he is still alive doing it though... The women died young from memory though from memory..
Brilliant video! I used to watch this in the 70's on BBC2 here in the UK, and this transported me back to that time. I loved it then, and I love it now, and still have the Godiego Soundtrack LP today.
I had forgotten how funny this show was. I had remembered mostly for the action, special effects and engaging storylines but it had a level of wit about it that my kid brain didn't store or understand properly. Thanks for bringing this one back, as usual with these reunions between my past brain and my current one, I remembered Monkey magic (sorry, I know that's wrong but damnit that's what we called it) being waaaay longer that it actually was. Same with Fawlty Towers; twelve episodes? Your having a giraffe! Btw, would love an episode on the Battle of The Planets cartoon. Adored it as a kid but as an adult I thought it somewhat undeserving of such love.
So many good memories about this show. Also one of the rare instances where the dubbing actually adds to the fun, rather than distracts from it. I usually prefer subtitles for foreign language stuff, but the dub always wins out for me with Monkey☺
I absolutely love watching "Monkey" as a 4 and 5 year old in the early 80s. Even as a very young boy I understood the meaningful moral message they gave at the end of each episode lol. Great action, comedy and storytelling!
I never heard of this show until Australian friends started talking about it. I'd read some of a translation of Journey to the West and was astounded to see that it was really a pretty faithful rendition of this classical Chinese story.
Good times in my younger years! I'm now 51, watched Monkey back in the 80s in Australia. I always thought I missed the series where they made it to India 😆👍
A blast from my childhood. Found completely by chance, after coming home from the chip shop with my Mum. Just turned TV on expecting the usual stuff and there was this guy smacking the hell out of these colourful demons with a funky looking stick. We were hooked. BBC 2 Friday evenings were Monkey night.
I was born in 72, and can't quite recall when this was shown in the UK, or if I was watching repeats, but, this, and Battle of the Planets, sparked my young interest in all things martial arts and manga. Anyways, this show was cracking, super funny, and the English voice overs are just unforgettable, and i still use them today....
I'm live in the UK n grew up watching Monkey, it was on every Friday teatime the whole family would watch it whilst eating fish n chip's!😂, great time's for sure!😁👍
Being an American I've no idea where or when I actually saw Monkey but am greatly relieved to now know it wasn't a fever dream. Great video as usual Stam Fine!
Godiego played a gig at the Royal Melbourne Show! I vividly remember seeing them and going off as they played Monkey Magic! Must have been in the first half of the 80s - 83 or 84. Just added Monkey Magic to my iTunes playlist 😄
It was HUGE in Australia, me and all my friends used to watch it as kids and playing "Monkey" at school got banned along with staves (we used to paint wooden mop handles Black with gold tips.)
Monkey was a substantial influence on my dealing with pain. I still go "yah ta ta ya ta ta tah" when I hurt myself. I do recommend Stephen Chow's movie version of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons Within for an excellent take on this classic Chinese tale of Sun Wukong the Monkey King that will be appreciated by audiences of this show. On the other hand the modern (2018) Australian/NZ coproduction (The New Legends of Monkey) should probably be avoided by anyone who liked the original Monkey (and definitely by anyone who is a fan of the original tale written by Wu Cheng'en.
This was one of my favourite shows as a child in the UK. I bought the complete series on VHS in around 2000, I've just bought the complete collection on blue ray. I still called the show Monkey Magic.
The advantage of 80's TV being full of repeats and rubbish, is that the gems really stand out and stick in your memory! ABC weeknights - Doctor Who, Starblazers, Goodies, Monkey etc Thank goodness for the ABC, the commercial stations seemed to think kids wanted to see Chopper Squad after school! :( So many great shows made in the 80's... It would have been great if they were also on TV a bunch in the 80's! :D It's nice to be able to watch these as collections whenever I like now... The magic competition where Sandy blows that fart bubble in the land of demons, is one of my favourites....
Nostalgia! I loved watching 'Monkey' as a kid. Even recently I have attempted to summon my own cloud showing how this series implanted itself in my own psyche. Power to you!
When I was in Hong Kong, I watched "Journey to the West", HK version because there was hardly any English language programming in the 90s. The dubbing was hilarious!
Flipping brilliant! S1 and 2 Pigsy was my favourite, but I did and still do love it. The Water Margin too, but that’s much more serious. I’m rewatching them now 😊
This is the best adaptation I've ever seen of "Journey to the west".You can't beat Masaaki Sakai's performance as Sun Wukong the monkey king, He's the best in my opinion😂🤣
Thanks for the memories. Watched this in Scotland in the early 1980's. It was on early Friday evenings. All my mates watched it as well and personally speaking I think Monkey was the only reason we went to School on Mondays, so we could talk about Friday's Monkey episode.
Great work as always mate... I too was a child of the 80's watching it along Doctor Who or the Goodies... I was holding a scotch ready to scull if you were going to show the clip with Monkey cursing someone as a p**fter (still makes me laugh it's so dumb)... So do we have the Goodies ready to go soon?
Holy crap, did that really happen?. I thought it was just something my drunken mate imagined. Haven't seen him for 35 years but seems he was right. Wish I had have seen that.
I loved this as a kid and i introduced my son. Its still on London Live tv channel here in the UK. I caught a few episodes a few weeks back. It still stands up
Saw the original back in 1981, and introduced it to my children in the early 2000s Used to take large TV with us when we would go camping for two weeks at a time and play a couple of episodes of monkey, if the children have behaved themselves. Gave the children lots of entertainment and play from Melbourne through South Australia up into the Northern Territory
As a young boy watching this, I never realized Tripitaka was a woman. Only years later did I learn that she died from Cancer in 1985 at the age of 27. Sandy (Kappa) died in 2020 while the other 2 are still alive today. The show was called 西遊記 in Japanese (lit. records of a journey west). The Japanese Wikipedia page is titled 西遊記 (1978年のテレビドラマ) for anyone interested and there were 26 episodes. I probably watched all of them as a kid in the UK.
I'm sure this program was instrumental in my becoming a Buddhist. As kids we would all do the 'cloud summoning' ritual, with each of us claiming we did right. Also, I remember that none of us kids could remember the priest's name, so he became Priesty.. And lots of arguments on if he was male or female..
I always thought of the three companions as three 'sins', so to speak, that Tripitaka must travel with and overcome, for him to reach enlightenment (thus get the scrolls). Monkey : Does too much Pigsy : Feels too much Sandy : Thinks too much.
In the Chinese version and Hong Kong version after that, it was correlated to violence , greed, and ignorance, respectively. I didn’t know a Japanese version existed.
@@jasonyoung7705 well, you could be right too. Because it was never stated clearly, so I just gathered from the personalities. Also given the Buddhist doctrine not too focused on sinful actions, rather about psychological states of being. The Japanese version might have taken a slightly different interpretation. Your labels is more akin to Taoism because they much prefer to follow the course of nature or least effort. Which is also interesting.
@@MugenTJ The three labels I used are kind of catch-all groups, for action, emotion, and thought, which would also contain fighting, greed, and ignorance, though maybe ignorance is 'thinks not enough'. If you follow the 4 elements way of looking at it, Sandy is elemental air (thought), Pigsy is elemental water (emotion), and Monkey is elemental fire (action). Tripitaka would then be elemental Earth, which is to be silent, peacefull, resonant. Of course, those are western elemental interpretations, so they dont really correlate, especially with Sandy being a water spirit.
I was born in the year of 2006 but my auntie had a DVD of the show and I love it ever since I've been watching other versions of the same story butt monkey had a special place in my heart
I never watched this in the US, but now that I live in the UK, I know many people who fondly remember this show. I still need to sit down and watch it, even if only a few episodes. This in depth review is amazing and just makes me want to watch it more. With regard to the Severn Bridge, it's been free for a few years and the toll booths removed from the M4. No need to drive up to the M50 to avoid the tolls anymore.
I had tried to show my kids Monkey a few years ago, and - well, as you say - it takes a few episodes before the show really gets going; their attention spans didn't last. Imagine my surprise therefore when I picked them up from school one day, and they start talking about Monkey and Tripitaka on their journey through China! When I started singing the theme tune they were bewildered how I knew the words. Meanwhile I was trying to grapple with why my kids' school had shown them episodes of a 1970's tv show, but no - they went and saw a play about Monkey! As an Aussie, like you I grew up watching it when Doctor Who wasn't on. I remember making a pencil into a mini Monkey staff... and yes - I had a dint in one of my fingernails for about a decade after a Monkey fight with my siblings. The show was absolute crap, and yet, absolute gold! I had hopes for the AU/NZ remake, but it just didn't have the magic...
My year in Australia was at age 16 in 1979-80, when K9 was on Doctor Who. Having watched this introduction, I don't think I missed much. But thanks, as always, for the video.
Thanks for the reminder. These are some very welcome memories you're triggered. That evening timeslot in the 80's with Dr Who, The Goodies and/or Monkey (plus Peter Russel-Clark's "Come and Get it") was a cornerstone of my childhood. Very good memories, all.
This show, the Water Margin, Battle of the Planets , Danger Mouse and Dr Who were my childhood . Loved this show. None of the later updates of this story have the irreverence or charm .
Check out season 1 of 'Danger 5'.
Yep. Fiery Phoenix + Tom Baker for the absolute best childhood!!!
That combo you must be Aussie when ABC had all these on.
Terrahawks anyone?
czcams.com/video/RqHTHsgW6ho/video.html
And that other show where they turn the battleship into a space ship
OOOMMMGGG!! That is my childhood right there. I watched both Monkey and The Water Margin in the 70's and they both changed the course of my life. Learned the songs and taught myself the language since I was ten. Went to live there. Got married and had kids in Japan. Gawd over forty years of my life. Thank you for talking about this. X
that's commitment! are you male or female?
Strange.
You didn't mention the award winning KUNG FU😊
I was lucky enough to find these on dvd.
Lots of really good actors started off on that show.
😅(jodie foster plays a broken banjo in one)
i bet my life HE'S male@@lisetteem3054
The water Margin lol, when they chopped off those paper mache heads
@@boogieknee3781Kung Fu not authentic Japanese. USA made....
I’ve been singing/humming “monkey magic” while playing Black Myth: Wukong
I hope they make a Masaaki Sakai Mod for the game, they already have a Goku one.
@@ozgreatsage5266 I thought that as soon as I saw the Goku mod! haha
This was a staple of my afternoons as a kid in the 80s. I’m sure all Aussies my age remember the music by heart.
In the UK it was (late) after school TV, so on around 16:30-17:00, just before the news at 18:00. Loved it.
On ABC then SBS
@bfragged Do remember seeing any of the episodes from the second series, Because I don't?
In New Zealand it was Saturday or sunday morning show
@@daviddowsett1658I had thought it much more as being a 6.30 BBC2 kind of thing, about 81-83 sometime.
The person playing the monkey was actually a singer. The actress playing the holy person, unfortunately, passed away at a young age after this series.
I'm a huge Monkey fan. Being a Melbourne lad pushing 50 now, I grew up in the 80's watching Monkey, The Goodies, Danger Mouse etc on the ABC. I still watch my Monkey dvd set about once a year. Timeless classic!
What an amazing time to be growing up. So many great shows.
And then it was over before you could say Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki- maungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu
don't forget the kenny everett show
Did you guys Down Under get The Water Margin? I remember liking it a lot. Now im old and nostalgic im a bit afraid to look, either it was crap or im senile and made the entire show up.
@@jamesmaybrick2001 I don't think so which is a shame cause from what I've seen it's really good.
I had the pleasure of watching this as a child in the UK :) its fking awesome
The BBC2 not-the-news Monkey & Flash Gordon hour on the tiny telly in the kitchen.
Ah, all of the nostalgia.
I first saw monkey about 15 years ago when it was on channel 4 at about 2am when I was working nights.
I like the Japanese sense of humour.
Same. Monkey rocked the 70s!
Same 😊✊
it was so good!
Grew up on this show! Was a massive part of my childhood! This , "bmx beat" and "you and me" are all shows I remember 40+ years later!
The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!
Monkeeeeeeee!
I understand that he was born from an egg on a mountain top...
NO MONKEY!!!! I FORBID IT!
@@ntal5859Takes me right back! 😅
*... irripressim.
I absolutely LOVED Monkey when I was a kid. I loved everything about it, even the cheesiness was endearing. The fact that it was based on a historical story was also right up my street. Even BOTH the theme songs were excellent. Fabulous show! I mentioned it to someone at work the other day. I waved my fingers and blew on them to summon the magic cloud. The look of utter blankness on their face was priceless. Their loss, ha ha.
God damn this is just what I needed to lift my spirits tonight. 100% pure nostalgic bliss
Good job.
Monkey - when I watched it in 81, totally blew my mind like nothing before or since.
I hadn't watched any reruns but was very happy to see how much I remembered when I watched both seasons this year on Netflix.
I thought it worth mentioning that the woman who played Tripitaka died only a few years after recording Monkey, of leukemia... Very sad.
It really was! It’s being re run on Rewind TV
One of the greatest kid’s television shows, for one of the greatest times to be a kid, the 1980’s ❤️
100000%
10000000000000%
10000000000000000000000%
10000000000000000000000000000000000000%
Awesome. Our gang called it monkey magic in nz. After watching we would play a simple competition to see who would be monkey and just play. Awesome
We loved it here in the U.K.! Absolute classic!
So true!
_"The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!"_
*WOARRGH!! MON-KEH!!* _(fft! fft! fft! fft!)_
_"Ooh! A Hero!"_
{:o:O:}
It really was so loved.
100% True...UK kids of the 70's/ Early 80's love this. Televised on one of our only three TV channels (at the time).
I absolutely loved watching Monkey after school as a kid. I am turning 40 in September and I still imitate Monkey any time I am holding a broom handle unsupervised for too long.
Im 51 and glad yous younger generation even know of Monkey 👍👍
I'm 41 and I still do the cloud calling whistle thing.
41 just turned, love that theme song
Memories
😅 same here 😂
I thought you'd have to be 50+ to remember this - good to see the young un's know about it
This show was absolutely profound. So much depth and incredible imagination. Not sure it would stand up to scrutiny through my now-adult eyes, but as a 10 year-old kid it was, quite simply, magic. Thanks for the review.
The dialogue was hilarious & the minature effects epic
Monkey was unmissable when I was a kid in the U.K. About twenty years later one of the cable channels reran the series and a bunch of us now grown men went to a mates house to watch it. As soon as it began we were transported back to the playground and every one of us had a huge goofy grin on our faces! Great stuff.👍
Being American, I was previously unaware of this show, but you've convinced me to seek it out. Thanks, Stam!
The Disney+ adaptation of American Born Chinese has a flashback episode which is an homage to this series, right down to the opening titles
Do itttttttttttttttt 👍
The modern version is absolute trash
@@craiggibbons8228 if you’re talking about the Australian Netflix series, yeah that show was trash.
Lucky you. Enjoy.
The nature of Monkey IS STILL irrepressible!!! 🐵🐟🐷🙏🐉
Magical childhood memories! Thank you for this video! 🙏
This and The Water Margin were brilliant in the UK when I was young 👌🐒 on a sad note, the young girl who played Tripytaka passed away from cancer at an early age, and fans of the series still to this day place tins of peaches on her grave to make her immortal like monkey in the series 🐵😢
That's so sad...but very sweet of her fans to leave the peaches. R.I.P. Masako Natsume 🍑🍑🍑
Leukaemia I believe. The other actors still tear up when it gets brought up (except Sandy-he disappeared to avoid going to prison for tax fraud, if memory serves…)
OH, God tears sprang instantly to my eyes when i read that
Yes Masako Natsume was well known in Japan pre / post Monkey ... she died at 27yoa from leukemia.
I was always confused whether is was a He or She : thanks for clearing that up
Loved that sceen where Monkey, after a very long flight to the edge of the universe, relieved himself on the 5 pillars of creation thinking "who's going to know". Only for the Buddha to show it was the 5 fingers of his hand.
'Monkey' was one of the formative TV programmes of my youth. On my first visit to Japan in 2015 I went to see a film called 'Farewell to Jinu' (in Japanese, which I did not speak a word of). After the screening I asked the person i was with, 'The old guy living in the forst, did he used to play Pigsy in a show called Monkey 40 years ago?'
She wasn't sure, but after moving to japan in 2017 i now know that Toshiyuki Nishida is one of the most famous actors in Japan!
Sadly he any Masaaki Sakai (Monkey) are the only regular cast members still with us. Since I moved here we have lost three,
Shiro Kishibe (Sandy) died in 2020. There is a beautiful but heartwrenching video of him singing 'Yesterday' with his old band, 'The Tigers', while in a wheelchair in 2013.
Tonpei Hidari (the 2nd Pigsy) died in 2018, and Shunji Fujimura (Horse) in 2017. Both has long careers, and some may remember Fujimura as Watari in the live-action 'Death Note' movies.
Sadly Masako Natsume (Tripitaka) died of leukemia at only 27 in 1985. She was one of Japan's most popular pin-ups at the time, and even now her photo books sell well.
In 2019 I went to see a live stage show of 'Saiyuki'. I was very pleased that a) they used the Monkey theme on the character's first entrance, and b) Tripitaka was played by an actress (Moemi Katayama). Despite my pathetic Japanese my knowledge of the TV show (plus a lot of fights) made it a very enjoyable experience.
This is far too long already, but suffice to say that the ocassional sight of something in Japan that reminds me of 'Monkey' still gives me a warm nostalgic feel.
I used to get NHK in the UK back when I was trying to learn Japanese. I was watching a drama, and was like 'Hey, that's Pigsy'. I even saw a clip of Monkey hosting some sort of quiz show.
Thank you for that wonderful information. Loved the show
@Tyrconnell, Thanks so much for sharing that information. Very tragic that Masako Natsume passed away so young.
So Masako Natsume joined the 27 Club. Sorry to hear that, but she's in good company.
Ty dude, you magic monkey 😊
I loved watching this show in the 80’s. We were very limited on TV channels in the UK back then and this was a treat. And yes the Monkey magic theme tune was incredibly catchy. 😃
3 channels was all we needed
My childhood. Oh how i loved this show. Still do. Take care man.
This was my favourite TV show and to this day I still sing that tune ! "'Monkey magic" is THE go to term if i need to swap out a swear word or just any eureka moments or it just pops out now and again. Loved the vid !
I forgot Pink Panther, Top Cat and other cartoons. But its equal top !
So glad you did 'Monkey'. This show was one of the highlights of my childhood with Monkey, Sandy. Pigsy and Trippers like old pals. Used to loved 'summoning up a cloud', inevitably spraying some other poor kid with spluttering spittle . And damn, that theme tune was great!!!
My goodness watching this makes me so happy. I loved this show so much, the cast was just perfect, the action scenes were awesome, stories endearing, magic spells fun and dialogue was fantastic. Thank you for the review :)
A greatly beloved show from my childhood. And yes I'll accept the full series Aussie dub thanks Stam
Ray Meagher to voice Pigsy.
OMG bro forgot i used to watch this every week. Pure Joy. When times where great. Find me the back catalogue on dvd and im there.
There's a box set of the complete series available. If you google it, I'm sure you'll find it.
The pure nostalgia of it all... younglings will never understand how much of an impact this made on kids back in the day... an unforgettable show that was then is now and shall always be known as... _Monkey Magic..._ believe nobody who says otherwise...
Monkey!
@@mephistoxarses8585 Monkey! that's what it was called and that's what I've always called it (for the past 45ish years) but if you prefer to call it "Monkey Magic" then that's fine too.
For sure!
This,
Hong Kong Phooey,
Danger Mouse,
They were good times.
@@IvyMay-qn2ys 'Hong Kong Phooey' takes me right back!
NO, Not the younglings! 😱
This was absolutely brilliant! Thanks for the trip down memory lane (Fridays at 18:00 on BBC 2); you had me laughing so much with your excellent commentary that the missus went into full-on "tut & roll-eyes" mode! 😂👍
My after school trifecta at its peak was Monkey, Goodies, then Dr Who. What a time to be a child :)
70s and 80s the pinnacle of tv
I watched Monkey religiously in the early 1980's. We used to cry with laughter. Brought back fantasic memories. Thanks, mate. 😉👍
Blessings and kindest regards David from Australia.
🌏
🙄☝️
I'm from the Dominican Republic, and I remember watching this show dubbed into spanish in the early 80's. I loved the comedy, the special effects and the chinese fantasy setting. I used to swing a broomstick around like Monkey's staff. I also loved the sci-fi futuristic anime adaptation, "Starzinger" (in spanish dub "El Galactico") they were broadcast simultaneously, but luckily at different times. Golden memories!!
Ah I've seen it in the original Japanese and the English dub I didn't know there was a Spanish dub too! Now I gotta go find that. Thanks for sharing.
That’s fantastic! I too watched it in Scotland @1981 💋
Im from Jamaica and they did a Patois version too!!
@@BlowinFreedid they dub in Glaswegian?
@@julianandrews6025 no! But that would have been hilarious 😹
As an Aussie, Monkey is right up there with Starblazers as a classic from the early eighties on Auntie for us kids of the time.
As a fellow Aussie, I always remembered it being Monkey Magic?
@@mickyr171 New Zealand too. Monkey Magic #1.
Starblzers, Monkey, Kenny Everette, Doctor Who and Flash Gordon.
It did take me some yrs to master the flying cloud summons ....
The ABC did a bang up job on my cultural education - and of all those formative shows this one has held up best. Over 30 years on I bought the DVDs for my brother, and it's still bloody good TV!
Our parents were far less enamoured with it however, as my brother and I broke every rake, broom, or other stick recreating battles in the yard.
On a recent rewatch I was genuinely impressed by the performances and the quality of the fight scenes, just great.
Edit/P.S. Great fun video mate, have a sub for your efforts!
Yay! As an Aussie kid this was an absolute must. We loved this show. So much fun and so creative. Of course there were injuries lol, but so lucky to have it. Remember it like it was yesterday. The music, the stories and that party in the belly of the catfish. Brilliant 😊😊🙏🙏
It's on Netflixs, tears,excitement and wisdom wrapped up in every episode of this travelogue and all you need is a red t-shirt, a yellow dish towel and a broom handle and you too can be Monkey.
Oh great!! I was gonna cancel Shitflicks
@@julianandrews6025oh no, I did cancel Netflix!
Answering some very common comments on this video: Monkey, Dragonball- along with dozens of other movies and TV series with various combinations of the following words in the title: Saiyuki, Monkey King, Monkey Magic, etc- are all based on the same Chinese story 'Journey To the West.' It's all in the video @13:08, just sayin'. Also, very happy that so many of you are watching a vid that's based on something that's a little different from our usual content, so thanks. With that cleared up, we can go back to debating misheard lyrics in the theme tune and which Pigsy was better.
Here's a wikipedia article listing different versions of the story.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_media_adaptations_of_Journey_to_the_West
I was of the generation of kids who saw it on the ABC when it first ran in the 80s. It makes me feel less bad about not being around when "The Samurai" was in it's hayday in oz. Between Monkey, Doctor Who, The Goodies, Kenny Everett etc in various rotation and cartoons like Danger Mouse and Bananaman the early evenings before the ABC news were god tier.
And Ulysses 31! The ABC after-school shows were awesome.
Ah! Shintaro! Yes I was fascinated with the Samurai show and the ninjas as a little girl in Oz. I am 66 years now.
I was also later in love with Kimba The White Lion and found out later from many adults that they were too. I also liked the french show about Thierry La Fronde, can't remember what it was called though.
@@chookinathunderstorm3446 Ah damn now I gotta go watch "Thierry la Fronde" if I can find it...cheers. I have the Samurai on DVD I love it! Apparently he got a bigger reception than the beatles when he visited here. I also have a couple of eps of Phantom Agents but it doesn't seem to have a DVD release for the english dub and the Japan box set is several hundred dollars. Yeah I loved kimba when I was a kid. Also Astro Boy, the King Kong anime and Gigantor.
Yes! And do you remember that Mayan/Inca show that came on at around that same time in those days? I loved that show!
Edit: the mysterious cities of gold
@@nickmonk7945 Nah I never watched that but it looks alright.
At least I wasn't alone here. I used to call this show monkey magic. When I was a child. Because of the theme song. Loved this series
YEAH BABY!
I remember requesting this a few months ago when I realised you were an Aussie.
I’m totally psyched to watch this.
I grew up watching monkey and I love that I couldn’t wait come from school and watch it 👍🏴
Absolutely loved this as a kid. Thanks Stam
This was the best show ever! action, comedy, and philosophical lessons!
I remember watching this in the UK. The Water Margins was another show of this genre which was a great watch.
Loved Monkey when I was young, used to watch it with my Grandad. I always got annoyed with the others though as Monkey could always tell when it was a Demon but they never listened to him!
Fun fact: Masaaki Sakai who played Monkey in the TV show, was the lead singer in Japanese GS group The Spiders, who made a few beatle-esque movies in the 1960s.
Realllllly 🤔👍
i heard later he had a cooking show on Japanese TV. dunno if it's true.
Last I heard in his old age he would do live shows every year for his fans of Monkey etc..
I don't know if he is still alive doing it though...
The women died young from memory though from memory..
Alive? He can’t be that old lol @@zakofrx
Brilliant video! I used to watch this in the 70's on BBC2 here in the UK, and this transported me back to that time. I loved it then, and I love it now, and still have the Godiego Soundtrack LP today.
I had forgotten how funny this show was. I had remembered mostly for the action, special effects and engaging storylines but it had a level of wit about it that my kid brain didn't store or understand properly. Thanks for bringing this one back, as usual with these reunions between my past brain and my current one, I remembered Monkey magic (sorry, I know that's wrong but damnit that's what we called it) being waaaay longer that it actually was. Same with Fawlty Towers; twelve episodes? Your having a giraffe!
Btw, would love an episode on the Battle of The Planets cartoon. Adored it as a kid but as an adult I thought it somewhat undeserving of such love.
Mate well done with this review of a show that takes me back to my childhood from the early 80’s. This was and still is a great show! Best wishes 🤙🏻👊🏻
So many good memories about this show. Also one of the rare instances where the dubbing actually adds to the fun, rather than distracts from it. I usually prefer subtitles for foreign language stuff, but the dub always wins out for me with Monkey☺
Watching this was like stepping into a time machine. Thank you very much.
I absolutely love watching "Monkey" as a 4 and 5 year old in the early 80s. Even as a very young boy I understood the meaningful moral message they gave at the end of each episode lol. Great action, comedy and storytelling!
This and The Water Margin were my go to shows as a young lad, been trying to summon that pesky cloud for over 40 years with no luck 0_0
Born in 76, watched this growing up. Refer to it at least once a week! Love it. 🙌🏼🇦🇺👊🏻
Love it mate. Born in the eighties, watched it in the nineties 👍 still rock out to monkey magic every know and again
I never heard of this show until Australian friends started talking about it. I'd read some of a translation of Journey to the West and was astounded to see that it was really a pretty faithful rendition of this classical Chinese story.
Good times in my younger years! I'm now 51, watched Monkey back in the 80s in Australia. I always thought I missed the series where they made it to India 😆👍
A blast from my childhood. Found completely by chance, after coming home from the chip shop with my Mum. Just turned TV on expecting the usual stuff and there was this guy smacking the hell out of these colourful demons with a funky looking stick. We were hooked. BBC 2 Friday evenings were Monkey night.
Saturday mornings were then Twat Your Mates With Sticks mornings. (Followed by Get Bollocked By Parents for Bullying Adrian down the road afternoon)
@@Mr.MFuckingYTchangedmyname😂😂😂
I watched this regularly at the age of 4 or 5 - simply brilliant! Kids these days don't know they're born I tells yer!
I was born in 72, and can't quite recall when this was shown in the UK, or if I was watching repeats, but, this, and Battle of the Planets, sparked my young interest in all things martial arts and manga. Anyways, this show was cracking, super funny, and the English voice overs are just unforgettable, and i still use them today....
Same, '72 kid here. Did you watch Star Fleet, too? No one seems to remember that!
@@M2Mil7er Hah yes I did, great call back!
Star Fleet was awesome
@@M2Mil7er
@@M2Mil7er Starfleet was one of the greatest shows of my childhood. Also remember the melody and words to the theme tune!!!
I'm live in the UK n grew up watching Monkey, it was on every Friday teatime the whole family would watch it whilst eating fish n chip's!😂, great time's for sure!😁👍
So good to revisit this classic, was a huge part of my childhood in the 70s UK. My Mum banned me replaying the fighting IRL 24/7 LOL!
Was great to find this, thanks for the memories and ill definitely look out for the dvd with the newly updated episodes
Been trying to get the wife to see the charm of this show but she can't get past the cheese. Wonderful series. So much wisdom fun and heart.
As a 70's child, there is nothing you could say, that would diminish my love for Monkey Magic
Being an American I've no idea where or when I actually saw Monkey but am greatly relieved to now know it wasn't a fever dream. Great video as usual Stam Fine!
This was my childhood, simpler and arguably ‘better’ times
Godiego played a gig at the Royal Melbourne Show!
I vividly remember seeing them and going off as they played Monkey Magic!
Must have been in the first half of the 80s - 83 or 84.
Just added Monkey Magic to my iTunes playlist 😄
It was HUGE in Australia, me and all my friends used to watch it as kids and playing "Monkey" at school got banned along with staves (we used to paint wooden mop handles Black with gold tips.)
Monkey was a substantial influence on my dealing with pain. I still go "yah ta ta ya ta ta tah" when I hurt myself.
I do recommend Stephen Chow's movie version of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons Within for an excellent take on this classic Chinese tale of Sun Wukong the Monkey King that will be appreciated by audiences of this show. On the other hand the modern (2018) Australian/NZ coproduction (The New Legends of Monkey) should probably be avoided by anyone who liked the original Monkey (and definitely by anyone who is a fan of the original tale written by Wu Cheng'en.
This was one of my favourite shows as a child in the UK. I bought the complete series on VHS in around 2000, I've just bought the complete collection on blue ray. I still called the show Monkey Magic.
Cheers Stam, this brought back some brilliant memories 👌(Oh by the way, you are criminally under-subbed!)
The original Dragonball
Japanese always copied from the Chinese. Many people don't know this.
The advantage of 80's TV being full of repeats and rubbish, is that the gems really stand out and stick in your memory!
ABC weeknights - Doctor Who, Starblazers, Goodies, Monkey etc
Thank goodness for the ABC, the commercial stations seemed to think kids wanted to see Chopper Squad after school! :(
So many great shows made in the 80's... It would have been great if they were also on TV a bunch in the 80's! :D
It's nice to be able to watch these as collections whenever I like now...
The magic competition where Sandy blows that fart bubble in the land of demons, is one of my favourites....
Nostalgia! I loved watching 'Monkey' as a kid. Even recently I have attempted to summon my own cloud showing how this series implanted itself in my own psyche. Power to you!
Monkey Magic! Monkey Magic! I used to play the theme song after class, and sing along. My 6th grade students thought I was nuts. Good times. =)
Another childhood favourite, the laughs were funny, the stories crazy and some how it gelled together enough
Nice blast from the past. We used to play monkey at break time in school. I was the poor kid who was Trippitaka, good times though. Great video.
👋 hello to all the black myth wukong fans
When I was in Hong Kong, I watched "Journey to the West", HK version because there was hardly any English language programming in the 90s. The dubbing was hilarious!
Journey to the West is the real OG
Flipping brilliant! S1 and 2 Pigsy was my favourite, but I did and still do love it. The Water Margin too, but that’s much more serious. I’m rewatching them now 😊
This is the best adaptation I've ever seen of "Journey to the west".You can't beat Masaaki Sakai's performance as Sun Wukong the monkey king, He's the best in my opinion😂🤣
Thanks for the memories. Watched this in Scotland in the early 1980's. It was on early Friday evenings. All my mates watched it as well and personally speaking I think Monkey was the only reason we went to School on Mondays, so we could talk about Friday's Monkey episode.
Great work as always mate... I too was a child of the 80's watching it along Doctor Who or the Goodies... I was holding a scotch ready to scull if you were going to show the clip with Monkey cursing someone as a p**fter (still makes me laugh it's so dumb)... So do we have the Goodies ready to go soon?
Thanks again! We did look at the Goodies in the early days of the channel. czcams.com/video/rZcWQIaogR4/video.html
I'll just leave this here. czcams.com/video/1NK5KW7KFxc/video.html
Holy crap, did that really happen?. I thought it was just something my drunken mate imagined. Haven't seen him for 35 years but seems he was right. Wish I had have seen that.
A pity about the girl who played Tripitaka . She died far to young.
I loved this as a kid and i introduced my son. Its still on London Live tv channel here in the UK. I caught a few episodes a few weeks back. It still stands up
Saw the original back in 1981, and introduced it to my children in the early 2000s
Used to take large TV with us when we would go camping for two weeks at a time and play a couple of episodes of monkey, if the children have behaved themselves. Gave the children lots of entertainment and play from Melbourne through South Australia up into the Northern Territory
As a young boy watching this, I never realized Tripitaka was a woman. Only years later did I learn that she died from Cancer in 1985 at the age of 27. Sandy (Kappa) died in 2020 while the other 2 are still alive today. The show was called 西遊記 in Japanese (lit. records of a journey west). The Japanese Wikipedia page is titled 西遊記 (1978年のテレビドラマ) for anyone interested and there were 26 episodes. I probably watched all of them as a kid in the UK.
I'm sure this program was instrumental in my becoming a Buddhist. As kids we would all do the 'cloud summoning' ritual, with each of us claiming we did right. Also, I remember that none of us kids could remember the priest's name, so he became Priesty.. And lots of arguments on if he was male or female..
I loved this series of Monkey.. I watched this particular series ( same actors) in the UK.. how lovely to see it again. Many thanks for this... 👍
I always thought of the three companions as three 'sins', so to speak, that Tripitaka must travel with and overcome, for him to reach enlightenment (thus get the scrolls).
Monkey : Does too much
Pigsy : Feels too much
Sandy : Thinks too much.
In the Chinese version and Hong Kong version after that, it was correlated to violence , greed, and ignorance, respectively. I didn’t know a Japanese version existed.
cool, I wasnt that far off@@MugenTJ
@@jasonyoung7705 well, you could be right too. Because it was never stated clearly, so I just gathered from the personalities. Also given the Buddhist doctrine not too focused on sinful actions, rather about psychological states of being. The Japanese version might have taken a slightly different interpretation. Your labels is more akin to Taoism because they much prefer to follow the course of nature or least effort. Which is also interesting.
@@MugenTJ
The three labels I used are kind of catch-all groups, for action, emotion, and thought, which would also contain fighting, greed, and ignorance, though maybe ignorance is 'thinks not enough'.
If you follow the 4 elements way of looking at it, Sandy is elemental air (thought), Pigsy is elemental water (emotion), and Monkey is elemental fire (action). Tripitaka would then be elemental Earth, which is to be silent, peacefull, resonant.
Of course, those are western elemental interpretations, so they dont really correlate, especially with Sandy being a water spirit.
@@jasonyoung7705 The Holy Trinity or the majick 3..
I was born in the year of 2006 but my auntie had a DVD of the show and I love it ever since I've been watching other versions of the same story butt monkey had a special place in my heart
I never watched this in the US, but now that I live in the UK, I know many people who fondly remember this show. I still need to sit down and watch it, even if only a few episodes. This in depth review is amazing and just makes me want to watch it more.
With regard to the Severn Bridge, it's been free for a few years and the toll booths removed from the M4. No need to drive up to the M50 to avoid the tolls anymore.
I absolutely loved this show as a kid
I had tried to show my kids Monkey a few years ago, and - well, as you say - it takes a few episodes before the show really gets going; their attention spans didn't last. Imagine my surprise therefore when I picked them up from school one day, and they start talking about Monkey and Tripitaka on their journey through China! When I started singing the theme tune they were bewildered how I knew the words. Meanwhile I was trying to grapple with why my kids' school had shown them episodes of a 1970's tv show, but no - they went and saw a play about Monkey!
As an Aussie, like you I grew up watching it when Doctor Who wasn't on. I remember making a pencil into a mini Monkey staff... and yes - I had a dint in one of my fingernails for about a decade after a Monkey fight with my siblings. The show was absolute crap, and yet, absolute gold!
I had hopes for the AU/NZ remake, but it just didn't have the magic...
My year in Australia was at age 16 in 1979-80, when K9 was on Doctor Who. Having watched this introduction, I don't think I missed much. But thanks, as always, for the video.
Thanks for the reminder. These are some very welcome memories you're triggered. That evening timeslot in the 80's with Dr Who, The Goodies and/or Monkey (plus Peter Russel-Clark's "Come and Get it") was a cornerstone of my childhood. Very good memories, all.