Classic TV Flashback: Monkey Magic…

This will the first in a series of classic television show flashbacks, the first one to be looked at will be that strangely hilarious show Monkey or more commonly referred to as Monkey Magic. This Japanese show first graced television screens back in 1978 in Japan and was dubbed for an English audience by the BBC in 1979. The show ran for two series each comprising of 26 episodes, was made by the Japanese, in China and then translated to English making for a very multi-national television series. Only 39 episodes were translated to English with the remaining episodes dubbed into English in 2004 by the original people who dubbed them back in the late 70’s.

In Australia the program aired most recently on the ABC during music program Recovery which was cancelled in 2000, and back in the 1980’s Monkey would screen at 6pm weeknights. The show has also been released onto DVD with the 39 episodes which were originally dubbed being on the first 13 volumes of the DVD, later volumes 14 - 17 were released with the newly dubbed episodes. Later on the DVD was re-released into a box set rather than individual volumes.

The show follows the adventure of four main characters Monkey, Pigsy a pig monster, Sandy a water monster and Tripitaka a boy priest.

The series begins with Monkey being summonsed to heaven where he eats peaches that give him immortality, and fights two of the emperor’s officials resulting in him and the two officials being expelled back to earth. Buddha then imprisons Monkey under a mountain for 500 years where he must learn to be patient, while this is going on the two officials who were expelled to earth are evolving into a water monster and a pig monster.

Tripitaka the boy priest is chosen to undertake a journey from China to India in order to fetch ancient scriptures, it is the job of Monkey to guide and protect Tripitaka with the additional help of Sandy and Pigsy along the way. On their journey they must encounter demons, spirits and all sorts of other creatures but with Monkey and his magic staff he is able to defeat them all and help other villages along the way.

Below are all the episodes in order and categorised in there respective series and what DVD volume they belong to.

Series One…

1. Monkey Goes Wild About Heaven (Volume 1)

2. Monkey Turns Nursemaid (Volume 1)

3. The Great Journey Begins (Volume 1)

4. Monkey Swallows the Universe (Volume 2)

5. The Power of Youth (Volume 2)

6. Even Monsters Can be People (Volume 2)

7. The Beginning of Wisdom (Volume 3)

8. Pigsy Woos a Widow (Volume 3)

9. What Monkey Calls the Dog-Woman (Volume 3)

10. Pigsy’s in the Well (Volume 4)

11. The Difference Between Night & Day (Volume 4)

12. Pearls Before Swine (Volume 4)

13. The Minx and the Slug (Volume 5)

14. Catfish, Saint and the Shape-Changer (Volume 5)

15. Monkey Meets the Demon Digger (Volume 5)

16. The Most Monstrous Monster (Volume 6)

17. Truth and the Grey Gloves Devil (Volume 6)

18. Land for the Locusts (Volume 6)

19. The Vampire Master (Volume 7)

20. Outrageous Coincidences (Volume 7)

21. Pigsy, King and God (Volume 7)

22. Village of the Undead (Volume

23. Two Little Blessings (Volume

24. The Fires of Jealousy (Volume

25. The Country of Nightmares (Volume 9)

26. The End of the Way (Volume 9)

Series Two… (note that episodes on the DVD are out of order this is because episodes denoted with # were dubbed in 2004 and were only released when the DVD became popular)

27. Pigsy’s Ten Thousand Ladies (Volume 9)

28. The Dog’s of Death (Volume 10)

29. You Win Some, You Lose Some# (Volume 14)

30. Pigsy Learns A Lesson# (Volume 14)

31. The Land With Two Suns# (Volume 14)

32. The House of the Evil Spirit# (Volume 15)

33. Am I Dreaming?# (Volume 15)

34. The Tormented Emperor# (Volume 15)

35. Between Heaven and Hell# (Volume 16)

36. The Foolish Philosopher (Volume 10)

37. Who Am I? (Volume 10)

38. What is Wisdom? (Volume 11)

39. The Fountain of Youth (Volume 11)

40. Better The Demon You Know# (Volume 16)

41. A Shadow So Huge (Volume 11)

42. Keep On Dancing (Volume 12)

43. Give and Take (Volume 12)

44. Such a Nice Monster (Volume 12)

45. The Fake Pilgrims# (Volume 16)

46. Pretty as a Picture (Volume 13)

47. Mothers (Volume 13)

48. The Tenacious Tomboy# (Volume 17)

49. Stoned# (Volume 17)

50. Hungry Like The Wolf# (Volume 17)

51. Monkey’s Yearning# (Volume 17)

52. At the Top of the Mountain (Volume 13)

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