'Monkey!'「西遊記」 イギリスに渡ってカルト番組化していた！-My favorite thing-
Ｍｏｎｋｅｙ（悟空）とＳａｎｄｙ（沙悟浄
My favorite thing― ”Monkey!”
あの堺正章と、夏目雅子の元祖「西遊記」～
イギリスでは、BBCが当時、吹替え放映して、伝説のカルト番組と化していた！（イギリス人で子供のころTVで見ていまこのDVDを買っている人たちがいるんです～！）
最近、未来少年コナンといい、なんだか懐古趣味に走っている？Lucyさんではありますが、そこで〝Monkey!"最近はこのイギリス版のMonkey!を見まくっている（そして逆にオリジナル日本版もフォローしつつある。）
これは当時のイギリスに即輸入され、イギリスで起こされた脚本（翻訳）で、イギリスで吹きかえられて大ヒット。なのでイギリス人でMonkey!のことを知っている人は実は多い。（のちにオーストラリア、NZでも放映された。）
イギリスに輸入したときの、脚本は当時の有名TV脚本家、David Weir。知っている人は知っているいわくの脚本家なのである。彼はWaterMargin,つまり水滸伝がイギリスに伝わったときも脚本を担当した人である。（彼は有名な脚本家の例外なく当時のDr.Whoにも関わっている。）
（そういえば最近ではJudeLawがMonkeyが筋斗雲を呼ぶときのしぐさを何かでしてたらしい。あの指をしゃしゃしゃ、しゃっ、しゃ！と振るあれ！）
この「西遊記」当時を知らない人なら余計に改めて一見してもらいたい。まさに後世にのこるクラシック番組だ！夏目さんのキレイなのはともかく、脚本もジェームズ三木なんかが担当しててすごいね。それにしてもこのころの堺正章は今の司会者の頃とは随分イメージが違うもんです。Pigsyは西田敏行（西遊記IIでは左とん平）、そういえばSandy岸部シローですが、河童というのは日本の妖怪だそうですね。日本に西遊記が入ったときにもともと顔色の悪い男（そういえば、はは）だったのに河童になったらしい。何とも奥が深いです。イギリス版のMonkey!は１３巻で（残念ながら英語音声のみ）未放映分をボーナスとして日本語版のまま（英語字幕付き）で載せてます。未放映分は今まで見たところ西遊記IIの分ですね。
＊さて、この熱いイギリスの人のレビューを見よ！
5.0 out of 5 stars As Good Today As It Ever Was. Monkey Really Is Magic!!,
Monkey! - The Complete Series [DVD] (DVD)
This is a great series, deserving of a great box-set - and I'm glad to say this box-set does Monkey proud.
I used to love this series as a kid - I couldn't remember the details, just the characters, the general gist of the series, and the fact that I loved it. When the DVDs arrived, I put them on and it all started flooding back. I definitely remembered the 1st episode once I'd seen it - but what I didn't remember was monkey being so funny.
He's hysterical - he so arrogant, spoilt and cocksure of himself he makes a great comic character - coupled with the voice used to dub him and the original actor's facial experessions, Monkey's character is pure comedy gold. I'm only about 3 discs in so far, but the series proves the perfect watch on a Saturday and Sunday when you just want to kill a bit of time and take it easy for an hour.
I used to love this series as a kid - I couldn't remember the details, just the characters, the general gist of the series, and the fact that I loved it. When the DVDs arrived, I put them on and it all started flooding back. I definitely remembered the 1st episode once I'd seen it - but what I didn't remember was monkey being so funny.
He's hysterical - he so arrogant, spoilt and cocksure of himself he makes a great comic character - coupled with the voice used to dub him and the original actor's facial experessions, Monkey's character is pure comedy gold. I'm only about 3 discs in so far, but the series proves the perfect watch on a Saturday and Sunday when you just want to kill a bit of time and take it easy for an hour.
This box-set includes all the episode that appeared on British TV - all the one's you'll remember seeing as a kid, and I can clear up here and now, the fact that it also includes all the lost episodes too. They're not dubbed though - they come with subtitles and the original dialogue provided by the original actors - but this isn't a problem and when I stuck one on to see what it was like, it was quite nice to hear how Monkey and his friends really sounded when they spoke. I suspect that, when I get to them - after 40 odd hours of Monkey's TV magic, it'll be nice to see the last few as they were meant to be; if for no other reason than a bit of a change.
Monkey Magic is one of those iconic childhood memories. Moments that define what it was to be a child if you grew up in the late 70's early 80's; a series that everyone talks of and remembers fondly - even if, just like myself - they don't really remember it that well at all. It's been nice taking a trip (-otaka... remember him? Tripotaka! Then there's Pigsy and the water demon Sandy too) down memory lane and even if the special effect are a bit dated nowdays (OK very dated) it doesn't spoil your pleasure one little bit, if when Monkey calls his magic cloud or grapples with dodgy looking dragons it all looks a bit naff: to put it simply - that's all part of the charm.
They couldn't have come up with a better name for this series: Monkey, really is magic. He was back in the 70's and he still is today. If you were a fan of the show then, buy it now. At this price it's a must. Overall - Excellent !!
Monkey Magic is one of those iconic childhood memories. Moments that define what it was to be a child if you grew up in the late 70's early 80's; a series that everyone talks of and remembers fondly - even if, just like myself - they don't really remember it that well at all. It's been nice taking a trip (-otaka... remember him? Tripotaka! Then there's Pigsy and the water demon Sandy too) down memory lane and even if the special effect are a bit dated nowdays (OK very dated) it doesn't spoil your pleasure one little bit, if when Monkey calls his magic cloud or grapples with dodgy looking dragons it all looks a bit naff: to put it simply - that's all part of the charm.
They couldn't have come up with a better name for this series: Monkey, really is magic. He was back in the 70's and he still is today. If you were a fan of the show then, buy it now. At this price it's a must. Overall - Excellent !!
＊私はこれをまず手に入れてから、あんまりおもしろいので、やはり日本語版の西遊記Iの上下もゲットしてしまいました！（コストかかりすぎか！？）残念ながら音声がこのDVDではボーナストラック（未公開エピソード）除いて日本語がのってないのです。あとはMonkeyの解説も載せときますね。ご参考まで。
Monkey is the dubbed English language version of the Japanese television series Saiyūki (西遊記), based on the classic sixteenth century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en.[1] It was originally produced by Nippon Television (NTV) and International Television Films in association with NHK.
The series ran for two seasons of 26 episodes each. The first season ran from October 1978 to April 1979. The second season ran from November 1979 to May 1980. Both seasons had footage shot on location in north-west China and Inner Mongolia.
The show is unusual in that it was performed by Japanese actors in China and then dubbed into English. The English language version was produced by the BBC and broadcast in the United Kingdom in November 1979, and in Australia in May 1981. The script for the dubbed dialogue was written by David Weir. It ran for only 39 episodes, because at the discretion of the BBC select episodes were not dubbed for the original run. These remaining episodes were dubbed by Fabulous Films Ltd in early 2004 by the original actors following a successful release of the English dubbed series on VHS and DVD. The missing 13 episodes were shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2004.
