 |
| The New Gods! Pigsy, Monkey, Tripitaka & Sandy |
Ah Monkey, I remember the old show that used to be on the BBC back when I was knee high to a goose. It was great fun, lots of daft humour, overacted voice dubbing and martial arts hi-jinks. It was great and of course based on legends/fables from Chinese mythology/religion? Buddhism and all that karmic kosmoligical klaptrap LOL Monkey had to accompany the monk Tripitaka to India on a pilgrimage. Along the way they pick up Pigsy & Sandy who were demons or monsters or something.
In this version of the tale the Gods have gone and demons abound. The story starts when a group, (with Tripitaka among them), dedicated to resurrecting the Monkey King are slain by a demon with just our heroine, (Luciane Buchanan), escaping. She locates Monkey but hasn't got his crown that she needs to bring him back to life. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that she gets him out and then lies to Monkey saying that she is Tripitaka and they have to find the sacred scrolls and go on the journey West.
 |
| The original team - Sandy, Monkey, Tripitaka & Pigsy |
This is a little different from the old series as you'd expect and of course I can not help but to compare it, it'll never match up to the original in my mind and heart but it's not bad at all. I didn't even recognise Sandy and Pigsy when they turned up in the show and this monkey too is nowhere near as iconic as Masaaki Sakai's portrayal, however it didn't take them long to grow on me. Emilie Cocquerel's Sandy is quirky and fun, reminds me of Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter movies somehow. There is also a demon called Princess Locke in the 1st 3 episodes played by Bryony Skillington who is a lot of fun.
So looking this up it says the original 70's/80's show was based on a 16th century Chinese novel called Journey to the West which is one of the 4 great Classical novels of Chinese literature. The original TV show was a cult hit here in the UK as well as in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Those last two liked it so much they clubbed together and shot this 10 episode series and it's filmed in New Zealand, which if it's good enough for Lord of the Rings, Xena and Hercules then it's good enough for me! The action fight sequences are similar to the type of action of Xena/Hercules being not too over the top violent for kids to enjoy I don't think. The series is categorized as a 12 though which surprises me.
In summary this is a cool little show, suitable for most ages, maybe not for very young kids if they are a bit on the nervous side or you don't want your children watching fight scenes. The original series ran for 55 episodes, I don't think this has quite the legs to run as long as that but I can imagine at least a couple of more seasons getting the green light. I think it deserves that much at least.
*****************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment