Tales of the Gold Monkey

Chewbacca Jones

New member
Well, I have my dvd set, and it's as fun as I remember. Granted, it has that 80's quality to it that most of the hits had - A-Team, Magnum, etc. But I still love it, it holds up fairly well, and it is amazing to think that so much of it was designed pre-Raiders.

I viewed the pilot while Canyon was visiting - her first exposure to the series. She couldn't get enough of it, and if my father hadn't borrowed the set, we might have watched the whole set in a week!
 

phantom train

New member
Tales of the Gold Monkey - wow - I literally haven't thought about this show in years. I have very dim memories of seeing this on TV in the early '80's. I remember liking it at the time, but am not sure how well it would hold up now. It was obviously a take-off on IJ, but I remember it being original in a lot of ways as well.

I will probably try to check out the DVD set at some point if I can.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
I looked in many different stores for the DVDs and none of them had it until FINALLY I found it at HMV ($36.99 Canadian). It was the last set on the shelf!:eek: After almost 30 years, I'll be able to watch the series again and am 'through the roof' over here!:D
adventure_al said:
i'd quite like to see this.

I hadn't heard of it before or so I thought but watching the youtube clips it seems familiar. I think I was very young when it aired.
They must have been re-runs, Al, since it orginally aired in the '82/'83 season.
Chewbacca Jones said:
I viewed the pilot while Canyon was visiting - her first exposure to the series. She couldn't get enough of it, and if my father hadn't borrowed the set, we might have watched the whole set in a week!
That's not very nice of your dad!;)
phantom train said:
It was obviously a take-off on IJ,
Like Chewbacca Jones mentioned above, the idea was actually conceived pre-"Raiders". I believe that it was Indy's success which gave "Brass Monkey" idea the green light.
 
Happy 30th Birthday, Tales of the Gold Monkey!

Hard to believe that this series has existed (albeit in the back of some people's minds for the most part) for 30 years!
I distinctly remembered the day the pilot first aired as I was very excited (having lost track of how many times I saw Raiders the preceeding Summer)
My problem was it started at 8:00 on a School Night (the 22nd was a Wednesday that year) and my parents banished my 11 year old self to bed after only the first 10 minutes of the premier. (To this day I don't remember a single thing that was taught in school that day i only remember that i missed the first episode of a TV show that would influence my personal interests for the next 30 years!)
 

Randolph Carter

New member
I remember watching most of the episodes of this series way back during its initial run.
Would like to see it again, so I'll probably pick up the box set.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Bon Chance Louie & Beau Geste

Randolph, it's a nice boxed set (and I haven't even watched the extra, bonus material yet) and worth getting if you enjoyed the series on TV.

One thing I realized while watching the episodes again, all these years later, is that Bon Chance Louie was once part of the French Foreign Legion with the classic, adventure character, Beau Geste. In one episode, he mentions the Blue Water Sapphire jewel and, in another, he talks about being at Fort Zinderneuf!(y)

Subtle references that I really enjoyed. Nice little touch.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
For any "Gold Monkey" fans who also happen to be action-figure-customizers, I found this image while looking for pictures of Jake Cutter's dog, Jack.

TalesGoldMonkey_ActionFigure.jpg


Here's the thread with more photos:
http://www.joecustoms.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&p=115090
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Stoo said:
(...but any "Gold Monkey" fan would've never watched that show since it aired during the same time-slot.;))

I can safely say that I had never heard of this show until this thread popped up here, so, whoever started this thread, thanks for bringing it to my attention!

monkey1a.jpg


This has been floating around my Netflix queue for quite some time, and I finally decided to bump it up to the top. Glad I did, too! Despite my initial reservations about Stephen Collins in the lead (he'll forever be condemned as The Dad in Seventh Heaven), I was quite entertained. There were some appalling bad 80's-era VFX (specifically, the natives' Adoration of the Uranium) that momentarily took me out of the story, but it holds up quite well. The weather work, for example, is superb. And whether or not it was intentional, having the cast almost always sweating really sold the location as the South Pacific.

I'm only three episodes in, but it's definitely a find. I'll need to jump another disc or two to the top of my queue soonish. I've got some notes here to flesh out later, but a couple of early concerns:

- Was the story actually fixed to the thirties? The principle cast is dressed for the period, but at times supporting cast look like they've stumbled off the set of Blue Hawaii. To be blunt, the clothing is wrong for the period.

-Jake appears to have been in the Flying Tigers. They weren't commissioned until, what, '41?

- Cutter's Goose doesn't strike me as the plane of a bush pilot. It looks like he should be ferrying passengers to Fantasy Island instead. Too clean and cushioned!

The Monkey Bar is a great set, and I wish the monkey Jake picked up in the pilot was still roaming the bar in the later episodes. It would have been a nice little touch.

Also: The TaleSpin comparisons are spot on! Somebody at Disney Animation was really inspired.
 
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Spectre

New member
Le Saboteur said:
I can safely say that I had never heard of this show until this thread popped up here, so, whoever started this thread, thanks for bringing it to my attention!

monkey1a.jpg


This has been floating around my Netflix queue for quite some time, and I finally decided to bump it up to the top. Glad I did, too! Despite my initial reservations about Stephen Collins in the lead (he'll forever be condemned as The Dad in Seventh Heaven), I was quite entertained. There were some appalling bad 80's-era VFX (specifically, the natives' Adoration of the Uranium) that momentarily took me out of the story, but it holds up quite well. The weather work, for example, is superb. And whether or not it was intentional, having the cast almost always sweating really sold the location as the South Pacific.

I'm only three episodes in, but it's definitely a find. I'll need to jump another disc or two to the top of my queue soonish. I've got some notes here to flesh out later, but a couple of early concerns:

- Was the story actually fixed to the thirties? The principle cast is dressed for the period, but at times supporting cast look like they've stumbled off the set of Blue Hawaii. To be blunt, the clothing is wrong for the period.

-Jake appears to have been in the Flying Tigers. They weren't commissioned until, what, '41?

- Cutter's Goose doesn't strike me as the plane of a bush pilot. It looks like he should be ferrying passengers to Fantasy Island instead. Too clean and cushioned!

The Monkey Bar is a great set, and I wish the monkey Jake picked up in the pilot was still roaming the bar in the later episodes. It would have been a nice little touch.

Also: The TaleSpin comparisons are spot on! Somebody at Disney Animation was really inspired.


I was a huge fan of the show when it first aired.

Yes--it's set in the early 40s.
Jack is a former Flying Tiger. That's where he met Corkie.

Great show--great story--awesome back stories!!!
I love how Jake is still mad at Jack fir losing his opal and sapphire eye in a card game...lol.
That dog has TUDE!!!!

Wait until you see John Hillerman (Higgins) as a Nazi--great stuff.

I was so glad when this finally came out on DVD--I had been a member of the Gold Monkey club petitioning for years!
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Le Saboteur said:
I can safely say that I had never heard of this show until this thread popped up here, so, whoever started this thread, thanks for bringing it to my attention!

This has been floating around my Netflix queue for quite some time, and I finally decided to bump it up to the top. Glad I did, too!
What a pleasant & refreshing thread bump!(y) (As it turns out, I was wrong about "Bring 'Em Back Alive" sharing the same time-slot. It aired on a different night of the week so I must've been thinking about some other scheduling conflict.)
Le Saboteur said:
- Was the story actually fixed to the thirties? The principle cast is dressed for the period, but at times supporting cast look like they've stumbled off the set of Blue Hawaii. To be blunt, the clothing is wrong for the period.

-Jake appears to have been in the Flying Tigers. They weren't commissioned until, what, '41?

- Cutter's Goose doesn't strike me as the plane of a bush pilot. It looks like he should be ferrying passengers to Fantasy Island instead. Too clean and cushioned!

The Monkey Bar is a great set, and I wish the monkey Jake picked up in the pilot was still roaming the bar in the later episodes. It would have been a nice little touch.

Also: The TaleSpin comparisons are spot on! Somebody at Disney Animation was really inspired.
- Costumes: On the contrary, I think they did a decent job with the costumes. Sure, there are a few 'island girls' on Bora Gora whose dresses look too modern but, overall, the period clothes look pretty good. Even one of the show's Emmy nominations was for costume design.

- Timeframe: Yes, the series is set too early for the Flying Tigers and this is one of the story's major gaffes. The flashbacks show Jake flying with them in 1937 but, considering that the Marivellas Islands are completely fictional, this fudging of real history isn't too bothersome.

- Plane: It suits Jake's needs because he also flies passengers around. The cleanliness isn't too much of a problem because those Grumman Gooses were brand new back then. Odd how the engines keep failing even though the plane can't be more than a year old! That said, I love "The Goose" and it's essentially a character in the family, so to speak.

- Monkey statue: It can be seen throughout the series sitting on the corner of the bar nears the stairs. Whenever there's a fight, someone takes it off the bar so it won't get smashed!

- I've never seen "Talespin" but its creator, Jymn Magon, said that "Gold Monkey" was indeed an inspiration.
http://www.animationsource.org/talespin/en/custom_questions/&nump=1338&numg=160336

Anyway, don't let the poorer episodes put you off from watching all of them. One of my faves is "Legends Are Forever" and you'll see why.:)
Spectre said:
Yes--it's set in the early 40s.
Jack is a former Flying Tiger. That's where he met Corkie.

Great show--great story--awesome back stories!!!
I love how Jake is still mad at Jack fir losing his opal and sapphire eye in a card game...lol.
That dog has TUDE!!!!

Wait until you see John Hillerman (Higgins) as a Nazi--great stuff.
It's set in 1938. The year is mentioned & shown numerous times.
Jake & Corky met in Guatemala in 1933.

Well said, Spectre, about the attitude! The dog is one of my favourite things about the show. I love how it can understand what people are saying, no matter what language.

Higgins from "Magnum P.I." was in the pilot episode so Le Saboteur has already seen him.;) Speaking of other Donald Bellisario productions, Anne Lockhart from "Battlestar Galactica" was in an episode (which I'm sure you know). What is uncanny is that she plays an Amish widow with a young boy whom Jake lives with for a while, disguised as an Amish. Uncanny because that episode aired 3 years before Harrison Ford did the same thing in "Witness".
Spectre said:
I was so glad when this finally came out on DVD--I had been a member of the Gold Monkey club petitioning for years!
The DVD release is a godsend and it's a shame that this show doesn't get very much attention here at The Raven.:( Nice to see another fan!:hat:
 

lancasterjames

New member
Did you know that the tavern for this show is still at Universal Studios? It's always been right next to where the Red Sea parts. Seems pretty appropriate.

Watch out for that island!
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Le Saboteur said:
The Monkey Bar is a great set, and I wish the monkey Jake picked up in the pilot was still roaming the bar in the later episodes. It would have been a nice little touch.
Me said:
- Monkey statue: It can be seen throughout the series sitting on the corner of the bar nears the stairs. Whenever there's a fight, someone takes it off the bar so it won't get smashed!
When Le Sab & I went for beers (at The Trappist in Oakland) he clarified that he didn't mean the monkey statue but the actual animal which crawls around the bar. My misinterpretation. In case anyone else is interested to know...

A memo on series continuity was issued to each episode's director and one of the rules reveals that the monkey was planned to be used again (and that it most likely belonged to a member of the Clipper's flight crew). It also stated that the monkey would never remain in the bar when Jack, the dog, comes in.

Don Baer:
"Jack and the monkey should never be photographed interacting in the bar scenes; when Jack enters the bar, the monkey always leaves. Keep in mind that the monkey is only to be included in bar scenes when the Clipper is in for a stop-over."

http://www.goldmonkey.com/infopage.html#memo
lancasterjames said:
Did you know that the tavern for this show is still at Universal Studios? It's always been right next to where the Red Sea parts. Seems pretty appropriate.

Watch out for that island!
Damn! I was there in '99 and didn't even realize how close I was to The Monkey Bar set. Can you go inside?:confused:

Watching the series again after all these years, it's shocking to see how much emphasis is placed on BEER!:eek: There are LOADS of drinking scenes, beer is discussed regularly in other parts (when there's no drinking going on) and one of the main characters, Corky, is an alcoholic.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Stoo said:
One thing I realized while watching the episodes again, all these years later, is that Bon Chance Louie was once part of the French Foreign Legion with the classic, adventure character, Beau Geste. In one episode, he mentions the Blue Water Sapphire jewel and, in another, he talks about being at Fort Zinderneuf!

I've just finished that episode! Episode IV -- Legends are Forever.

The nod to the Blue Water Sapphire & Beau Geste was a nice touch for fans of the genre, as was the obvious connection to H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines. In fact, this was probably closest the entire series has become to being a classic action-adventure tale -- hidden villages, lost treasures and tribes, and a fantastic treasure! There's even a rope bridge! Yet, it all gets neatly subverted at the end to keep true to the series' core direction.

For me though, the best touch about that episode was the implication that Louie (who's quickly becoming my favorite character) was on Everest with George Mallory! And he (Louie) doesn't get why Jake thinks that's surprising. Louie's reaction to Jake's questioning is great.

Brief back story: George Mallory was part of the first three expeditions to Mount Everest that the British mounted. He and his climbing partner, Andy Irvine, disappeared a mere 800 feet from the summit in 1924. Which would have made the pair the first to have ever scaled the peak, well before Hillary & Norgay stepped into the history books. Irvine's body has never been found, but a colleague was the lucky so and so who discovered Mallory's body in '99, 75 years after the climber's death.

tgmlegend.jpg


The following episode is a nice homage to Papillon!

Stoo said:
When Le Sab & I went for beers (at The Trappist in Oakland) he clarified that he didn't mean the monkey statue but the actual animal which crawls around the bar. My misinterpretation. In case anyone else is interested to know...

Well, I thought I was pretty clear! :gun: I would have said statue if that's what I meant. Still, like you said, when Jake and Gandy Dancer* got into a scrap, Louie pulled the statue off the bar and gave it to Gushie. I would have preferred the monkey, but the blue & gold macaw has been amusing in his brief appearances.

Total bill for the damage: 920 francs!

* - Fun fact: Gandy Dancer is old railroad slang for the workers who laid and maintained the tracks.

Stoo said:
Damn! I was there in '99 and didn't even realize how close I was to The Monkey Bar set. Can you go inside?

I was wondering the same thing, but it only appears to be viewable from the tram ride through the backlot. It's been at least twenty years since I visited, but it appears to still be there as of 2009. Or, at least that's the most current reference I could find.

Stoo said:
...it's shocking to see how much emphasis is placed on BEER!

A man works up a powerful thirst after battling pirates and oversized monkeys! Oddly enough, TaleSpin has quite a few scenes in King Louie's bar/island thing. It's very odd for a cartoon, and especially a Disney cartoon.

InexorableTash said:
Huzzah! Now I can indoctrinate my spouse, who was a huge *Talespin* fan. And perhaps the offspring.

Speaking of TaleSpin, I did find the whole series on DVD for, like, twenty bucks rather recently. The packaging was better on the original release, but it was too nice a deal to pass up. I never did pick up the second season.

Anyway, it holds up remarkably well from a storytelling and characterization aspect. The animation is a bit dodgy in places, but I suspect that was part of the nineties' television budgetary constraints. I am rather amazed at how... "progressive" the show was when looking back on it all of these years later.

Spin it!

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RVWKP9QPRjU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Idris Elba is going to have a lot to live up to.

Stoo said:
- Plane: It suits Jake's needs because he also flies passengers around. The cleanliness isn't too much of a problem because those Grumman Gooses were brand new back then.

It's not a deal breaker, but the latest and greatest bits of technology hardly wend their out to remote atolls so early in their lifespan. Something like a Beech 18 converted for seaplane use is what I imagine. Though, if they fail to make the joke "Jake, your Goose is cooked!" I'll be mildly annoyed. It's a perfect setup!

Imagine what a modern update could be like if it were on HBO or something. And with the distant rumblings of classic pulp characters making their way to the big screen again, Cutter's Goose could definitely fly again!
 

InexorableTash

Active member
The SFO Museum and Library - which I just discovered existed in the International Terminal, and am currently sitting in to kill some time - currently has an exhibit on the Pan Am Clipper service. Lots of lovely models, photos, and ephemera. Worth a look if you're passing through and not in a rush to get into the security line.

(Not sure why I posted in this thread.)
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
InexorableTash said:
The SFO Museum and Library - which I just discovered existed in the International Terminal, and am currently sitting in to kill some time - currently has an exhibit on the Pan Am Clipper service. Lots of lovely models, photos, and ephemera. Worth a look if you're passing through and not in a rush to get into the security line.

(Not sure why I posted in this thread.)

Well, there was a China Clipper in the series. Though, I'm now eight(?) episodes in and it has yet to make an on-screen appearance. So, it's thematically related!

For those of you who live too far away, or are in too much of a hurry while at the airport, you can see a nice sample of the exhibit at the museum's site -- Aviation Museum & Library: China Clipper. It's a continuous exhibit, so if you're ever passing through SFO do stop in and check it out.

In the meantime, check this out for historical perspective!

628x471.jpg


Stoo said:
...it's shocking to see how much emphasis is placed on BEER!

Rick's Café Américain is quite possibly the most famous bar that never existed, but bars/cafes/watering holes always seem to have a place in the action-adventure genre. The best ones attract a wide, international clientele. The Monkey Bar certainly has the potential, but ruminating on the topic reminded me of the largely forgotten Rocky Jordan's Café Tambourine in Cairo.

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oVz_NUlu6Zo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Yo said:
This has been floating around my Netflix queue for quite some time, and I finally decided to bump it up to the top.

Done!

It's only taken a year, but I can finally put Tales of the Gold Monkey into my rear view. Yet, I'll come back to various episodes again. I'll even buy it.

Stephen-Collins.jpg


I'll lay out some fuller thoughts later on, but I really enjoyed three-quarters of the series and found the remaining quarter to be quite hokey. Fun, but hokey. I would have left it out. Left out what you ask? All the Indiana Jones-like elements. They're completely unnecessary. Gold Monkey is at its best when it hews close to it's original inspiration; Only Angels Have Wings. Had they fleshed out that aspect and the surrounding environment under Japanese control Gold Monkey could have been a fabulous bit of television.
 
I still love the show but after the Collins/7th Heaven Scandal, It's been hard to watch.
that being said it influenced some of my own stories through the years. here's an abridged Comic adaptation of the prologue to a story i wrote in High school







Someday i'll get around to telling more of the story. Another Day in the Pit is usually reserved for telling my own real-life misadventures but i ran into a rut last summer and wanted to the Pilot Island Adventures out there.
 
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