Quote: catskillz @ April 2 2010, 7:19 PM BSTI haven't seen him for years. We went to the same Secondary school, but we stopped hanging around with each other when he got into Heavy Metal and started playing Golf all the time. I was into Hip hop and Funk, and I didn't play Golf, so, by the time we got to about 17, the friendship was over. I think he became a Surveyor, and the singer in a "Doom Metal" band.
Are you sure he's not Alice Cooper?
Quote: Timbo @ April 2 2010, 6:27 PM BSTMany years after this was first screened I read a translation of Journey into the West by Wu Cheng'en, first published in the 1590s. I was astonished to discover that Monkey, which I had always assumed was a piss-take, was actually a very literal and faithful adaptation.
And Tripitaka was a real person. As for any TV episodes not in the book, the translator states in his introduction that the original book was of "immense length" so he omitted many episodes. There's a newer TV version of Monkey being screened in parts of Asia theseadays. It lacks the humour and heart of the Japanese series, and instead focuses on the fight sequences and demons. The new actor playing Monkey is crap - or at least the voice actor dubbing him in Indonesian is crap.
Always really loved the end theme song to series one of Monkey. 
(Unfortunately they replaced it with a rather crappy, more upbeat song for series two. 
))...
Quote: Tim Walker @ April 2 2010, 10:47 PM BSTAlways really loved the end theme song to series one of Monkey.
Agreed. The Series 2 end-theme grows on you, but not in a great way. What are the DVD releases of Monkey in the UK like? (Assuming anyone has been sad enough to buy them? Only for introducing the show to a younger generation, of course). A couple of years ago I bought three Monkey DVDs (Siren release) from a $2 shop and they had "bonus materials" in the forms of making-of documentaries, interviews with the English voice actors (Andrew Sachs was the horse), profiles and synopses. More recently I bought the massively discounted complete Monkey Collectors Edition boxset (also released by Siren) but all of the "bonus materials" were missing. Even the DVD sleeves in the new set are a disaster (by putting Series 2 details on the Series 1 covers). Collectors Edition indeed. Gah.
Charles Endell Esquire.
The Water Margin.
And what about US shows mentioned on US imports like the Simpsons we never got to see? Like Gilligan's Island or The Partridge Family.
Quote: sootyj @ April 3 2010, 8:35 AM BSTAnd what about US shows mentioned on US imports like the Simpsons we never got to see? Like Gilligan's Island or The Partridge Family.
Surely you jest?
The Partrdige Family was certainly on British telly, but not I think Gilligan's Island.
Golly, to think that a whole bunch of Englishmen grew up without a crush on Ginger.
Quote: sootyj @ April 3 2010, 8:35 AM BSTAnd what about US shows mentioned on US imports like the Simpsons we never got to see? Like Gilligan's Island or The Partridge Family.
Yes, I've seen some of The (awful) Partridge Family, but always wondered about Gilligan's Island.
Quote: Steve Sunshine @ April 3 2010, 12:17 AM BSTCharles Endell Esquire.
Hey, Budgie - I loved this show :-)
Quote: Kenneth @ April 2 2010, 10:43 PM BSTAnd Tripitaka was a real person.
And played by a very pretty woman, was he not?
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ April 3 2010, 1:54 PM BSTAnd played by a very pretty woman, was he not?
The bald wig and yellow headwear never did anything for me. But yes, the actress Masako Natsume (who played Tripitaka) was a model. She died of leukemia when only 27.
Quote: sootyj @ April 3 2010, 8:35 AM BSTThe Water Margin.
And what about US shows mentioned on US imports like the Simpsons we never got to see? Like Gilligan's Island or The Partridge Family.
I remember The Partridge Family.
The Water Margin was fantastic. I always liked the opening where they'd mention the "with a price on his head" bit that was ripe for parody.
I vaguely remember some other show that was similarirly epic and dubbed. IIRC it was set/made in Russia about some guy in some historical time and he went blind, possibly due to a fire and then he had to cross a river and arrived in some Russian city. No one else knows what I'm talking about when I mention this. It was on in the 80s, early evening on BBC2 in the same slot as Monkey, etc.
Quote: Kenneth @ April 3 2010, 2:07 PM BSTThe bald wig and yellow headwear never did anything for me. But yes, the actress Masako Natsume (who played Tripitaka) was a model. She died of leukemia when only 27.
How sad.
I have a vivid memory of a sci-fi show called something like 'Adam Acadamission' (though I may be completely wrong on the name), which I watched in the early 1980s. It might have been foreign and dubbed into English. There were hermaphrodite-like youngsters in some sort of regimental future society, where people were identically dressed. The plots were quite gripping and seemed very adult.