Tales of the Gold Monkey: Part 1

I have fond memories of watching this show in Hong Kong as a kid and loving it. This show decided my young mind's career prospects, all I wanted to be was a bush pilot in the South Pacific.

Many years later in the early '90's when was I on an Universal Studio tour the bit that I really remember being the highlight was seeing "Cutters Goose" sitting on the lot.

You can now download "Cutters Goose" to fly on Flight Simulator 2004, 2 versions, 1 comes with Corky, 1 with Sarah as your co-pilots, both come of course with Jack, also a neat switch which plays the theme tune.

Definitely will buy the DVD if it ever comes out,if anything just to show the kids that there was a time when T.V shows could be watched and enjoyed by the whole family without worries about too much adult themes, bloodshed or swearing.

I have watched the episodes many times and considered them excellent, shame they are getting old now and need replacing. Hopefully the series will be available on tape or preferably on DVD. Then people to young to see them at the original airing can see the show!!

1982 was a good year for TV. Magnum, Fall Guy, and The Golden Monkey. The Golden Monkey was a well crafted hour.... something you just can't find on the tube nowadays other than syndicated re-runs. Magnum was tops but The Monkey was special and I was stumped when the next year came and it didn't. Perhaps I'm old school and like the simplicity of family view type shows. They just don't do the Magnums and Monkeys like they used to. Foolsihly lost in nostalgia is where I belong as my little children that used to watch these old shows are now watching what I used to. They also agree that the best stuff to watch is the old stuff. Now where's that cold beer and chili dog... Magnums on at 7:00 and maybe just maybe, The Golden Monkey will pop up.

I remember being a kid, waiting for summer to be over to watch this show. Hey, the commerical made this show another Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the end, this was another cheap telivision rip off. Maybe, the build up was too much. I found the stories too long, and draged out. The action too tvish. The lead actor was no Harrison Ford. Maybe, if I watched this show as a adult I would like it better, but I only watch a couple of them, and half the movie. My friend Marco liked it, but I found the series to be a big disapointment. In the end, the show did not last that long either. 3 out of 10 Is it even on in reruns. I can not believe I even rememberd it. I guess it was because it was such a bad memory.

Raids 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' in nearly every way imaginable, from the time period and search for a mysterious artifact (the titular Gold Monkey) to the two-fisted, leather jacket wearing hero battling Nazi bad guys. It's not like Indy is exactly %100 original, but coming right on the heels of 'ROTLA', 'Tales' does seem like it's definitely raiding Raiders.

Stephen Collins (yeah, I know, me too) is reasonably effective as Wannabe Jones, and a few "Oh, yeah. Him/her!" types round out the cast. The script features the occasional bit of wit, and the production values are above average. The show only ran for one season, but it has developed a bit of a cult following over the years (current IMDb rating is a more than respectable 8.2). The components for a reasonably fun bit of weekly escapism are here in this pilot episode, though I don't quite see it as being a, well, lost treasure.