Editing note: As I get older and technology gets better, I’ve found myself making more “research notes” about what I read and watch and play and, well, you get the idea. So much so that I’ve come up with an outline of the things I want to remember for myself and I’m applying it more and more. This is my first attempt at actually using that outline to create a type of post which I’m calling a Summary. If it works I may do more.
Background
I think I became aware of the legend of the Monkey King when I first saw The Forbidden Kingdom movie. I love that movie. So I started paying attention whenever the Monkey King character was mentioned. Then I saw a video series on YouTube that explained a lot about the character. He is a very interesting mythical being.
OK, so basically THE Monkey King is supposed to be a trickster type who is or becomes a god and who usually bites off more than he can handle and then has to power-up to straighten out the messes he makes, creating chaos on a cosmic scale usually. Put it this way, the first time I actually heard the full story of Monkey King told in the above video series I realized that his story is the basic pattern for most of anime. Confusion. Chaos. Power-ups! Which explains so much.
Format
I was very intrigued when I heard about this new TV series, The New Legends of Monkey, that’s flat-out inspired by popular retellings of Journey To The West. It’s an Australian import that’s streaming on Netflix and felt to me very reminiscent of Hercules & Xena in both setting and tone. No, seriously it almost felt like they might’ve reused some of the sets if those hadn’t been long gone. The first season is only 10 episodes, each around 25 minutes. I think I sort of dislike that the episodes were only 25 minutes but that also made the binging so much easier so I can forgive it. I’m not sure if it is, but in a lot of ways, probably due to the length of the episodes, it feels like a series aimed at either children or young teens.
Main characters
The main characters are the same as in the legend – Monkey, Tripitaka, Pigsy and Sandy.
- This Monkey is very subdued for the Monkey King and I think it works in his favor because it made the rare moments when he did go (excuse the pun) bananas stand out a lot more. But it’s also the beginning of his story so he isn’t even technically a king yet. He just likes to call himself that and loves it when others do.
- The legend Tripitaka is a monk and old, I think. In this she’s a young girl (late teen?) who ends up with the name and mission due to circumstances beyond her control. I wasn’t actually that crazy about Tripitaka at first but she grew on me.
- Pigsy is odd. There’s just no other way to explain it. At first glance he appears to almost be a stock character that’s morally ambiguous. But he comes with some surprises that would be spoilers to talk about.
- Sandy is another character that they flipped to female and made work. She has mysterious origins and abilities, which leave room for exploration later. A lot because it’s like they barely scratched the surface of her character. Or Pigsy’s either for that matter.
Basic plot
So we have a magical based world where demons have taken over running things from the gods who imprisoned Monkey in stone 500 years earlier because he killed another god. The demons took over basically because Monkey is missing, which gives an idea of just how powerful he is. The girl “monk” Tripitaka releases him from his prison and they set off to figure out how the demons got control of the world, picking up Sandy and Pigsy as companions along the way.
And none of the above are spoilers because it all happens fairly early in the first episode. They are the main characters after all. It is their story. And off we go into the rest of the season.
Genre combo
- superheroes (mythology) – There’s definitely a lot of this one because of who Monkey, Sandy and Pigsy are, but more than that Monkey is the Monkey King who in myth ultimately has off-the-scale powers and abilities. Just saying.
- adventurers (fantasy) – OK, loads of this one simply because of the source material, the setting, their mission, etc, etc.
- detectives (mysteries) – You’d think this one wouldn’t be there at all due to it basically being a fantasy quest story but there is a mystery that they’re trying to solve (how the demons got so powerful) and they keep picking up and puzzling about clues all through the season so I’ll call it a smidgen.
- soul mate (romance) – There’s a hint of the possibility of a romance in the distant future but I don’t hold out a lot of hope for that considering the source material.
- explorers (science fiction) – I’d say a definite, flat no to this but there were moments when I was thinking “was that thing that just happened technology and not magic?” and I’m not talking about special effects either. So, maybe?
Overall reaction
To say I devoured this first season is an understatement and since all ten episodes could be watched in a long, lazy weekend afternoon, then devoured is definitely what I did. If I had to give it a rating, it would be 9/10. Yes it was that good. Well that fun, anyway. There was one episode out of the 10 that I kind of skimmed through most of, so I have to knock something off.
Has anyone else seen this one?