The Monkey King Script

RedeemedChild

New member
Udvarnoky said:
The Monkey King script was considered for a graphic adventure adaptation at LucasArts in the late 80s/early 90s, but the designers didn't think it was strong enough material and chose to make their own story - Fate of Atlantis was the result. Just food for thought!

Hmm...Fascinating. Very interesting indeed.

raised_eyebrow.jpg


" Fascinating is a word I use for the unexpected. In this case, I should think "interesting" would suffice."

My sentiments exactly. Spock sums up my thoughts perfectly.
 

Col. Detritch

New member
Originally Posted by Udvarnoky
The Monkey King script was considered for a graphic adventure adaptation at LucasArts in the late 80s/early 90s, but the designers didn't think it was strong enough material and chose to make their own story - Fate of Atlantis was the result. Just food for thought!

Udvarnoky, thats very interesting! Just makes you think, how much un-used Indy material is still out there with such potential! Stop holding out on us Lucas Arts and co.!:hat:
 

Morning Bell

New member
Like a lot of the Indy scripts, it has potential and with some tweaks and changes it would make a good novel or video game, at least in my opinion. Those mediums seem to work a bit better for the more "out there" Indy adventures and I'd like to see them give it a go.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Should Monkey King have been made?

Should Indiana Jones and the Monkey King have been made, whether as Indy III, or as Indy IV (perhaps sometime in the early-mid 1990s)?

Was it worthy of the Indiana Jones name?
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Raiders112390 said:
Should Indiana Jones and the Monkey King have been made, whether as Indy III, or as Indy IV (perhaps sometime in the early-mid 1990s)?

Was it worthy of the Indiana Jones name?

I think it was a bit too bizarre to be filmed, and I don't think it would have worked as a graphic adventure either, as I believe we've heard Barwood was pushed to have done - but it could have been a novel. Or much more likely, a comic book.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Attila the Professor said:
I think it was a bit too bizarre to be filmed, and I don't think it would have worked as a graphic adventure either, as I believe we've heard Barwood was pushed to have done - but it could have been a novel. Or much more likely, a comic book.

Bizarre is how I would describe the scene with the infatuated Betsy attempting to commit suicide over Indy. That seemed very inappropriate, and more than uncomfortable to think about - even if it was played for laughs when eventually put to film.

As it turned out even KOTCS was much more down to earth than some of the elements in Monkey King.

I just found this short review on a page looking at "The Scripts That Weren't":

Script: INDIANA JONES AND THE MONKEY KING

Writer: Chris Columbus (writer of The Goonies, but you know him best as the director of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter movies)

Authenticity: Strong. (Though there is some debate regarding which draft is available on the internet and whether or not that draft has been tinkered with.) Spielberg and Lucas have both confirmed that Columbus did work on a Monkey King-themed script. Here's the thing - this script originated back in 1985 and was supposed to be the follow-up to Temple of Doom. Ultimately, it didn't work out, however. Spielberg told theraider.net: "Chris writes comedy brilliantly and his script was very humorous ... It was upbeat and full of the same nostalgia that we tapped into in Raiders of the Lost Ark, so in that sense Chris was right on the money. But I don't think any of us wanted to go to Africa for four months and try to get Indy to ride a rhinoceros in a multi-vehicular chase, which was one of the sequences Chris had written." It was rumored that the script was retooled following Last Crusade as a possible Indy 4, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Plot: Indy heads to Africa to find the lost civilization of Sun Wu-Kung, the legendary Chinese Monkey King, who is said to have a Garden of Immortal Peaches that can grant eternal life.

The Good: Say what you will about Columbus, but the man knows how to write action. His Monkey King script is filled with elaborately-imagined action sequences, which would've made this a $200 million dollar movie, even back in 1985. Apparently, Spielberg liked the action so much, he borrowed some of Columbus' set pieces for Last Crusade (the Venice boat chase and the tank pursuit both have their origins in this script). Plus, even though the general public (i.e. cargo pants-wearing Americans) don't know much about the Monkey King, Columbus gets points for adding a Chinese deity to the canon of other Jones-discovered religious artifacts.

The Bad: Yes, Columbus can write action, but he writes pure-bred CRAZY action, crazy on a level that's appropriate for the Mummy movies, but not Indiana Jones. There IS a sequence where Indy rides a rhino while chasing a tank, and there's an extended battle at the end with Indy organizing an army of African pygmies and super-smart gorillas to battle an army of Nazis Ewok-style. No fooling, there's a bit where the gorilla starts driving a tank. Plus it opens with a bizarre sequence where Indy is fighting a banshee in a Scottish castle and it has NO relevance to the rest of the story (just something that happened on his vacation). He's not a Ghostbuster or Fox Mulder, he's an archeologist!

The Ugly: Beyond the implausibility of Columbus' script, there's also a disturbing undercurrent of stereotyping and misogyny. There is literally a part where Indy's lovelorn grad student, Betsy, attempts to commit suicide again and again because Dr. Jones won't return her affection, and Indy couldn't care less. (He's mad that she almost ruins his whip by trying to hang herself with it.) And Betsy remains a punching-bag for the rest of the script. If that wasn't bad enough, the foreigners are all painted with such ridiculously broad strokes - the Scots are all drunks, the Africans are simple primitives - that it's cringe-worthy. And we're not even getting to the fact that Indy DIES at the end of the The Monkey King, only to be resurrected by Sun Wu-Kung, who tells Dr. Jones that he has enjoyed watching his adventures from the heavens. How do you say "lame" in Chinese?


http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/104036/indy4scripts_feature.php
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
I do want to put in a good word for the Scottish segment, though: they've clearly always had a fondness for the idea of a haunted castle set piece, with Castle Brunwald being a less elaborate version of some of the earlier drafts of the Indy III script. If we get an Indy V, I'd not be at all surprised, and somewhat pleased, if we get a father-son fishing trip opening that proceeds along these lines.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Attila the Professor said:
I do want to put in a good word for the Scottish segment, though: they've clearly always had a fondness for the idea of a haunted castle set piece, with Castle Brunwald being a less elaborate version of some of the earlier drafts of the Indy III script. If we get an Indy V, I'd not be at all surprised, and somewhat pleased, if we get a father-son fishing trip opening that proceeds along these lines.

I'm not averse to ghosts either, but that story played out quite strangely in this script.

Indy was always intended to be an occult investigator, and this should feature at some point. Done well it could be the element of mystery and suspense allowing a septuagenarian Indy to remain centre stage, with his years of knowledge and experience holding the key to survival.
 

Mungi

Member
I would love too see Indy in Africa - without that rhinoceros scene of course. And Indy in a haunted castle as the opening scene? Why not, as long as he's searching for some treasure.

All these possibilites make me even more excited about the idea of another one. Let's hope we'll hear something concrete soon!(y)
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Bump...
I kind of wish in retrospect that Monkey King was Indy 3, and LC was Indy 4, and we could've had Fate of Atlantis as Indy 5, and KOTCS as Indy 6. Would have been perfect.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Raiders112390 said:

Well done. :hat:

Raiders112390 said:
I kind of wish in retrospect that Monkey King was Indy 3, and LC was Indy 4, and we could've had Fate of Atlantis as Indy 5, and KOTCS as Indy 6. Would have been perfect.

The complicating factor here is how many of the elements of the Monkey King script found there way into Last Crusade. Both the speedboat chase and the tank sequence appear in an earlier form in the Monkey King script, and the notion of eternal life first appears there as well. A lot of what's left - the talking gorillas, the Betsy character and her suicide sequence, and the treatment of the pygmies - isn't great. However, there are still some very strong ideas involved: an adventure taking place in Africa, the incorporation of Chinese mythology, the Scottish sequence, a Katherine Hepburn-esque heroine, and the river pirate sequences.

I guess the necessary thought experiment if we were to further explore the notion of both films being made is what goes into which film. I'd wager that Monkey King would take some extensive rewrites, personally. (There's also, of course, a lot to be said about just how Fate of Atlantis would actually be adaptable - and whether it would have any impact on the material we know to exist in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - but one thing at a time.)
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
It may be irony to the tenth power, but I honestly believe that Fate of Atlantis is too good for Spielberg and Lucas to do it justice as a movie. Better to leave it as a fantastic interactive experience that is for a lot of people the Indy4 before there was an Indy4. Besides, Crystal Skull sort of shot the Indiana Jones Movie About A Lost City wad plus featured a main character who is a psychic. While the comparisons may be superficial, I don't see how you can adapt Fate of Atlantis without attracting complaints about rehashing old ideas.

Aside from the pixels, iffy voice acting and some unfortunate attempts at implementing action sequences in a graphic adventure engine, Fate of Atlantis holds up wonderfully to this day - I'd hate to see an adaptation that doesn't do it justice, which is about the only kind of adaptation that I can really see happening. Better just to replay the game and spread the word that it can be obtained for a pittance.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Raiders112390 said:
I kind of wish in retrospect that Monkey King was Indy 3,
Good Lord, NO!(n) I finally finished reading the full thing and it's filled with too much nonsense. While it does contain a small handful of interesting moments, overall it is unbelievably HORRID!:sick: (That is, if the available script is genuine...)
thedeadbolt.com said:
Authenticity: Strong. (Though there is some debate regarding which draft is available on the internet and whether or not that draft has been tinkered with.) Spielberg and Lucas have both confirmed that Columbus did work on a Monkey King-themed script. Here's the thing - this script originated back in 1985 and was supposed to be the follow-up to Temple of Doom.
It's quite possible that there was some degree of mischievous tampering done to the script. Both of the two versions I have say, 'First Draft - 2/10/95', whereas Rinzler's "Complete Making of Indiana Jones" book states that the 1st draught was finished on May 3, 1985 (2nd draught had a different title and dated, August 6, 1985). This inconsistency cannot be explained by a simple, typographical error and raises suspicion.
Steven Spielberg said:
"But I don't think any of us wanted to go to Africa for four months and try to get Indy to ride a rhinoceros in a multi-vehicular chase, which was one of the sequences Chris had written."
This Spielberg quote validates the Rhino Ride but the other, more ridiculous sequences towards the end are hard to swallow as legitimate.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Stoo said:
This Spielberg quote validates the Rhino Ride but the other, more ridiculous sequences towards the end are hard to swallow as legitimate.

I doubt they're illegitimate. The fingerprints of the final sequence are all over Last Crusade and, for that matter, Attack of the Clones.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Attila the Professor said:
I doubt they're illegitimate. The fingerprints of the final sequence are all over Last Crusade and, for that matter, Attack of the Clones.

Yep, it seems they really were that crazy. The fingerprints of doom are also all over KOTCS. The madness of The Monkey King was a portent of things to come.
 

Dr. Gonzo

New member
I remember skimming this script a few years back and thinking, "they can't be serious." For that reason I've never sat down to actually read it in one sitting.

Would you guys have rather seen this as opposed to Saucer Men? Given that Last Crusade does take many an action sequence from Monkey King, theoretically would you guys have wanted to see Monkey King or Saucer Men?
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Dug up this 1984 Spielberg interview where he tells Chris Columbus "this one should have riddles and maybe a puzzle and how there should be a test of character." They could be discussing Goonies though.

In 1985 the interviewer mentions "Raiders III" and Spielberg repeats it. Probably about the last (and first?) time anyone called it that. The 1985-1987 scripts were labelled "Indy III."
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Attila the Professor said:
it could have been a novel. Or much more likely, a comic book.
Starting in September, J.W. Rinzler's 8-part Dark Horse comics adaptation of Lucas's 1974 Star Wars script begins.

Maybe there's hope for a 6-part Monkey King adaptation? Think of the covers: Irish castle, water skiing, pirate ship battle, rhinoceros riding, gladiator arena, Indy's funeral. And it would become canonical!
 
Moedred said:
Starting in September, J.W. Rinzler's 8-part Dark Horse comics adaptation of Lucas's 1974 Star Wars script begins.

Maybe there's hope for a 6-part Monkey King adaptation? Think of the covers: Irish castle, water skiing, pirate ship battle, rhinoceros riding, gladiator arena, Indy's funeral. And it would become canonical!

nope. too late. you said "Star Wars." There is nothing else :dead:
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Lost City of Sun Wu Kung

I have a somber "near acquisituion" story to tell. A week ago I won this eBay auction. (Even more enticing, the seller has this script acquired at the same estate sale in Los Angeles... perhaps he acquired Diane Thomas' Indy script which came between? No, it turned out.)

So a week ago the Columbus draft was supposed to be mailed, but the tracking information never appeared. Now the seller confesses: "I leave all my packages in containers in the back of the post office out side on there loading dock. I left other packages the day and time. Some of the other people have already received they auctions." Fitting, no? Losing the MacGuffin in the final act. Had he placed it in the metal blue thing you'd be reading the PDF right now.
 
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