The Monkey King 

American journalist Nick Orton is caught up in the world of Chinese gods and monsters while on a search for the long lost manuscript to 'Hsi Yu Chi' (The Journey to the West) by Wu Ch'eng ... See full summary »

Stars:

Thomas Gibson, Bai Ling, Russell Wong

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Thomas Gibson	...	Nicholas Orton (2 episodes, 2001)
Bai Ling	...	Kwan Ying (2 episodes, 2001)
Russell Wong	...	Monkey King (2 episodes, 2001)
Ric Young	...	Confucius (2 episodes, 2001)
Kabir Bedi	...	Friar Sand (2 episodes, 2001)
Eddie Marsan	...	Pigsy (2 episodes, 2001)
Randall Duk Kim	...	Shu (2 episodes, 2001)
Henry O	...	Wu Chan Yen (2 episodes, 2001)
Kay Sui Lim	...	Subodhi (2 episodes, 2001)
Burt Kwouk	...	Professor Sheng (2 episodes, 2001)
James Faulkner	...	Marcus Harding (2 episodes, 2001)
Sai-Kit Yung	...	Jade Emperor (2 episodes, 2001)
Kwong Loke	...	Imperial Crier (2 episodes, 2001)
Yu Beng Lim	...	Skeleton Demon (2 episodes, 2001)
Turbo Kong	...	Big Demon (2 episodes, 2001)
Hossan Leong	...	Spectacles Demon (2 episodes, 2001)
Hon Ping Tang	...	Nine Inch Nail Demon (2 episodes, 2001)
Picasso Tan	...	Pointy Head Demon (2 episodes, 2001)
Pik Sen Lim	...	Granny Monkey (2 episodes, 2001)
Jacqueline Chan	...	Mother Superior (2 episodes, 2001)
Terence Beesley	...	Prince of Confusion (2 episodes, 2001)
Inday Ba	...	Elizabeth (2 episodes, 2001)
Chia Suan	...	Whitesnake (2 episodes, 2001)
Gregory Teo	...	Chef 1 (2 episodes, 2001)
Ian U'Chong	...	Chef 2 (2 episodes, 2001)
Annette Badland	...	Confusion's 4th Wife (2 episodes, 2001)
Olga Sosnovska	...	Linda (2 episodes, 2001)
Richard Ng	...	Communist Official (2 episodes, 2001)
Jeremy Zhang	...	Barman / ... (2 episodes, 2001)
Nicholas Lee	...	Terracotta Warrior 1 (2 episodes, 2001)
Stiven Liang	...	Terracotta Warrior 2 (2 episodes, 2001)
Chester See	...	Terracotta Warrior 3 (2 episodes, 2001)
Takatsuna Mukai	...	Wolf-Demon General (2 episodes, 2001)
Steven Woon	...	Bearded Priest (2 episodes, 2001)
Marjorie Ho	...	Old Liang (2 episodes, 2001)
Cecil Cheng	...	Monkey (2 episodes, 2001)
Teo-Wa Vuong	...	Maiden 1 (2 episodes, 2001)
Yuka Uto	...	Maiden 2 (2 episodes, 2001)
Anthony Chinn	...	Citizen 1 (2 episodes, 2001)
Ozzie Yue	...	Citizen 2 (2 episodes, 2001)
Simon Bernstein	...	Umbrella King (2 episodes, 2001)

Storyline

American journalist Nick Orton is caught up in the world of Chinese gods and monsters while on a search for the long lost manuscript to 'Hsi Yu Chi' (The Journey to the West) by Wu Ch'eng En. He is accompanied on his journey by a humanoid ape with incredible strength and magical powers, a humanoid pig-man, and his brother-in-arms, an ex-cannibal. Based on one of the greatest stories in Chinese history.

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Plot Keywords:

chinese | demon | dragon | manuscript | scholar | 

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Taglines:

Reluctant hero, beautiful goddess, three days to save the world.

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA Germany Czech Republic Singapore

Language:

English Chinese

Release Date:

2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Monkey King

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hallmark Entertainment, RTL Television, Babelsberg International Film Produktion

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Loosely based on the story from classical Chinese Literature "Journey to the West".

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Quotes

Nicholas Orton: So I might never get rich, buy my own jet, or even maintain a stock portfolio. But when I look in her eyes, I know that none of these things really matter.

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Connections

References The Fly (1958)

User Reviews

Lessons Unheeded

Well, this mini-series was the straw that broke the back for producer Robert Halmi with NBC. The faults of his previous rating disaster, "The 10th Kingdom" have not been heeded in this production. The screenplay is overloaded with over the top characters and situations that never let up. But, to me, the failure of "The Lost Empire" falls in three categories. The total miscasting of Thomas Gibson, who gives a tired and stiff performance. Gibson seems to barely be able to walk, much less perform martial arts, and his delivery is unbelievably stilted. The music score is among the worst I've heard in a production like this. There is little thematic melody and even less of the score reflects the rich culture depicted in the story. Third, the director chose to shoot most of the frequent martial arts action from the waist up, so much of the visual impact of those scenes is lost. Indeed, only Bai Ling retains her dignity in the production. The only other redeeming feature is, that the film did cause me to look into the classic book, "Journey to the West."