The New Legends of Monkey explained

The New Legends of Monkey is a fantasy adventure television series inspired by Monkey, a Japanese production from the 1970s and 1980s which garnered a cult following in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and South Africa. The Japanese production was based on the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.^[1] This new series is an international co-production between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, New Zealand's TVNZ and Netflix.

The first season, consisting of ten episodes, premiered on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's ABC Me television channel in Australia on 28 January 2018, and later debuted outside Australia and New Zealand on Netflix on 28 April. A second season, also ten episodes, was released on Netflix on August 7, 2020.^[2]

Premise

It follows a young monk, escorted by a group of gods, on a journey across an ancient and fantastical land now ruled by evil demons to collect lost scrolls of wisdom.^[3]

Plot

The Monkey King was imprisoned under a mountain 500 years ago by his enemies in Heaven. Five hundred years later, the Earthly realm is overrun, and its humans oppressed, by demons. The gods and immortals are in hiding or oppressed by demons as well. A scholar secretly concocts a plan to bring together a few warriors and a monk, named Tripitaka, to undertake a quest to resurrect the Monkey King and find the Heavenly scrolls that were stolen by Monkey 500 years ago and hidden away secretly on earth. Anyone who finds the scrolls would gain unlimited power. However, the night the group is about to start on their quest, a demon attacks the scholar's home and kills everyone inside except for the scholar's adopted daughter, taking the golden crown necessary to revive the Monkey King. In his last moments, the scholar entrusts his daughter with the quest. She takes on the identity of Tripitaka and ventures out into the world, narrowly escaping death herself.

In a town she gives charity to a monk and ends up forced to work for a tavern owner, thus gaining a job and a room to sleep in. When the same demon that killed her adoptive father shows up, she secretly steals the magical crown and makes a run for it. When demons begin searching the town for her and the magic crown, she is disguised as a monk by the same monk she helped and successfully makes her way out of the city. In an opening along the side of a mountain, she finds the stony visage of the Monkey King's face, and puts the crown on his head. Finally, the Monkey King is free but he soon discovers that the crown is repressing most of his godly abilities. The pair return to the town and join up with Pigsy and Sandy, who are also gods, and the four of them begin their quest of finding the lost scrolls and gaining enough power to overthrow all the demons.

Cast

Main

• Chai Hansen as Monkey (Sūn Wùkōng / 孫悟空) - an egoistic yet selfless god who was exiled for 500 years and freed by Tripitaka on a mission to retrieve the scrolls from the demons as well as liberating people from oppresive demonic rule. Hansen also plays a clone Monkey named Shadow Monkey (season 2).
• Luciane Buchanan as Tripitaka (Táng Sānzàng / 唐三藏) - a young orphan who was adopted and raised by a scholar, was tasked to retrieve the scrolls from demons and free Monkey from a 500-year exile. Initially a nameless character, she assumed the name Tripitaka in order to accompany Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy on her mission to retrieve scrolls, lying about her gender. She has the ability to calm Monkey by using chants.
• Josh Thomson as Pigsy (Zhū Bàjiè / 猪八戒) - a smartest and strongest god among the main characters, he has powers to control electricity using his weapon rake. His other skills include cooking. He worked under a demon Princess Locke, whom he romantically involved with and later deserted before he joined Tripitaka, Monkey and Sandy on their mission.
• Emilie Cocquerel as Sandy (Shā Wùjìng / 沙悟浄) - a very quirky but caring and compassionate god who has a great sense of humor and a selfless ego. Initially mistaken as a demon, she has powers to manipulate water and to teleport as well as to manipulate human emotions.

Recurring

• Jarred Blakiston as Font Demon (season 1)
• Josh McKenzie as Davari (season 1)
• Jordan Mooney as Raxion (season 1)
• Daniel Watterson as Shaman (season 1)
• Bryony Skillington as Princess Locke (season 1) - a demon ruler of the town Palawa, before was imprisoned and sent away by Pigsy, who worked for her as her right hand man. She was also romantically involved with Pigsy during his time with her as her right hand man.
• Chelsie Preston Crayford as Gwen (season 1) - a god who is one of the responsible for exiling Monkey for 500 years, after wrongfully accusing him of murdering their master who was actually killed by the demons (episode 6). Realizing her fault, Gwen reconnected and reconciled with Monkey and joins Tripitaka and the gods on their mission, only to die after saving Tripitaka's life from poison by transfusing poison from the former into hers (episode 7). She is the first one to know about Tripitaka's identity.
• Rachel House as Monica (season 1-2)
• Jayden Daniels as Gaxin/the real Tripitaka (season 1-2) - a monk who was initially tasked to retrieve the scrolls from demons and free Monkey from a 500-year exile, being unalived by the demons along with warriors before starting their mission (season 1). He also went to be renamed as Tripitaka, a name known to gods. It was instead given the responsibility to a scholar's adoptive daughter. However, Gaxin is seen resurrected in the last three episodes of season 2 only to die again after an attempt to retrieve the scroll inside a tree.
• Atticus Iti as Kaedo Zef (season 2) - a young boy who befriends Monkey and his companions and helps them in their mission.
• Michelle Ang as General Khan (season 2)
• Fasitua Amosa as Dreglon (season 2)
• Simon Prast as Hagfish (season 2)
• Tawanda Manyimo as Gorm (season 2)
• Natasha Daniel as Mothrax (season 2)
• Katherine Kennard as Mycelia (season 2)

Episodes

Season 2 (2020)

Broadcast

The first three episodes debuted in Australia on 28 January as a single 90-minute telemovie. Subsequent episodes of the ten-episode series were released daily until 4 February 2018. It debuted on Netflix worldwide on April 28, 2018.^{[4] [5]} In late October 2020, CBBC acquired television broadcast rights to the series in the United Kingdom, despite Netflix already holding the rights in the country, and planned to air it by early 2021.^[6]

The New Legends of Monkey premiered in the Philippines on GMA. It was aired from October 31 to November 25, 2022, and dubbed into Tagalog/Filipino.^{[7] [8]}

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 6/10, based on 6 critic reviews.^[9]

Awards and nominations

2018 New Zealand Television Awards

• Best Children's Program (nominated)
• Best Cinematography: DJ Stipsen (nominated)
• Best Original Score: Peter van der Fluit (nominated)
• Best Costume Design: Liz McGregor (nominated)
• Best Make-up Design: Susie Glass, Jacqueline Leung, Joe Whelan (won)

8th AACTA Awards

• Best Children's Program (nominated)
• Best Costume Design in Television: Liz McGregor (nominated)

18th Annual Screen Producers Australia (SPA) Awards

• Children's Series Production of the Year (nominated)

46th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Cinematography: DJ Stipsen (nominated)
• Outstanding Sound Mixing (nominated)
• Outstanding Sound Editing for a Live Action Program (nominated)
• Outstanding Costume Design/Styling: Liz McGregor (won)

48th Daytime Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design (nominated)
• Outstanding Sound Mixing and Editing (won)
• Outstanding Principal Performance in a Children’s Programme: Emilie Cocquerel (nominated)

ASSG Awards 2021

• Best Sound for a Children’s Programme (nominated)

Notes and References

1. Web site: See-Saw & Jump Team On 'Legend Of The Monkey' For ABC Australia, Netflix. Lodderhouse. Diana. Deadline Hollywood. 20 April 2017. 20 April 2017. 20 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170420155724/http://deadline.com/2017/04/see-saw-films-jump-film-and-v-legend-of-the-monkey-abc-australia-netflix-1202072873/. live.
2. Web site: 'The New Legends of Monkey' Season 2 Coming to Netflix in August 2020 - What's on Netflix . 10 July 2020 . 10 July 2020 . 10 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200710140422/https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-new-legends-of-monkey-season-2-coming-to-netflix-in-august-2020/ . live .
3. Web site: The New Legends of Monkey (2017) - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia. 3 January 2018. 20 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180920120021/https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-screen-guide/t/the-new-legends-of-monkey-2017/33943/. live.
4. Web site: See-Saw's 'Legend of the Monkey' Swings Into Production for ABC Australia, Netflix. Mitchell. Robert. Variety.com. 20 April 2017. 20 April 2017. 20 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170420135245/http://variety.com/2017/tv/global/see-saws-legend-of-the-monkey-swings-into-production-for-abc-australia-netflix-1202391051/. live.
5. Web site: Australian Television: The New Legends of Monkey: episode guide. www.australiantelevision.net. 3 February 2018. 4 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180204013605/http://www.australiantelevision.net/new-legends-of-monkey/series1.html. dead.
6. Web site: Deals of the Week: Screen Australia, CBBC, Toonz. kidscreen.com. 30 October 2020. Ryan Tuchow. 30 October 2020. 1 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201101060230/https://kidscreen.com/2020/10/30/deals-of-the-week-screen-australia-cbbc-toonz/. live.
7. Web site: Geli . Bianca . LOOK: The cast of 'The New Legends of Monkey' . 2024-10-22 . www.gmanetwork.com . en.
8. Web site: 'The New Legends of Monkey' is coming to GMA . 2024-10-22 . www.gmanetwork.com.
9. Web site: The New Legends of Monkey . May 19, 2023 . . Fandango Media.