Monkey (1978–1979)
"Saiyûki" (original title)

Monkey is the story by Wu Ch'êng-ên based on the ancient Chinese legend tracing the origins of Buddhism. It follows the adventures of Tripitaka and disciples Pigsy, Sandy and of course ... See full summary »

Stars:

Dankichi Kuruma, Masaaki Sakai, Shirô Kishibe

Cast

Series cast summary:
Dankichi Kuruma		(25 episodes, 1979)
Masaaki Sakai	...	Sun Wu-Kong (Monkey) (15 episodes, 1978-1979)
Shirô Kishibe	...	Sha Wu-Jing (Sandy) (15 episodes, 1978-1979)
Masako Natsume	...	Xuanzang Sanzang (Tripitaka) (15 episodes, 1978-1979)
Peter Woodthorpe	...	Pigsy (14 episodes, 1978-1979)
Toshiyuki Nishida	...	Zhu Ba-Jie (Pigsy season 1) (13 episodes, 1978)

Storyline

Monkey is the story by Wu Ch'êng-ên based on the ancient Chinese legend tracing the origins of Buddhism. It follows the adventures of Tripitaka and disciples Pigsy, Sandy and of course Monkey, on their journey from China to India to fetch the large vehicle holy scriptures which will save the world.

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Plot Keywords:

monkey | china | buddhism | legend | india | 

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Genres:

Action | Family | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

1 October 1978 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Monkey

Filming Locations:

China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kokusai Hoei, Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Made with an ensemble cast and on low budget. Sets are clearly recycled from episode to episode, and the supporting cast can be the King one episode, a demon the next, and a gambler in the one after that.

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Quotes

Monkey: [after finding out that Buddha was female] I always thought Buddha was a fella!

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Connections

Version of The Magic Land of Alakazam (1960)

User Reviews

Monkey is Magic!

Warning - once you hear the theme tune to this show, you'll never totally get it out of your head!

Monkey Magic is probably the craziest and most enjoyable TV series of the 1970s and I have very fond memories of watching it as a small child, growing up. Recently, the videos became available and I bought one just to see if it was as fun as I remember - and it is!!

Monkey Magic rules!