Monkey: The Complete Series (Fabulous Films)

[Spiderwalk]

Monkey: The Complete Series Blu-ray

05/10/2020

[Sifox211]

Fabulous indeed! I only ever liked the first series, unfortunately.

[Drunken+Master]

Not for £70 i ain’t! Will wait until a sensible price reduction comes along.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by Drunken+Master

Not for £70 i ain’t! Will wait until a sensible price reduction comes along.

Plus you don't want to be an early adopter when FF have a 50/50 strike rate in terms of flawed/flawless releases....

[drush9999]

Yeah would instabuy for around 40 quid

[Zagreus]

Is the only difference between Monkey and Journey to the West the dub, or was there any differences in the edits? I was just wondering how possible it would be to have both Japanese and English audio options. I know its probably highly unlikely but I am curious. I'm imagining this will be similar to the DVD release, where it is purely the "Monkey" series and nothing else.

Also, is this likely to be a true HD remaster or just the SD episodes in a bluray collection? Don't know why but I'm just very sceptical about this release.

[Danse Macabre]

Would be interested if it was subbed but alas like the Water Margin it has a terrible dub that I have no interest in hearing.

[Spiderwalk]

I used to love Monkey when I was young teenager, but I'm not too sure how well it would hold up today. I've a feeling it could be a bit of an endurance test to get through now, but having said that, it might be a nice little distraction to all the stuff that's going on in the world at the moment.

[reason108]

This could be a nice replacement for the overly huge dvd box set which takes up way too much room on my shelf. But, wording like "All 52 episodes have now been restored and are presented in this all new collection available on DVD and for the first time ever on Blu-ray." have me a bit concerned. What does restored actually mean, anyways? Now, if it was to say "All new 2k re-master..." or some such, then, yeah, no brainer. But, that's a lot of dough for something I am so unsure of. But, anyway, Amazon.co.uk saying they don't ship to me (USA). Perhaps they will at some point or a different UK merchant will.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by Spiderwalk

I used to love Monkey when I was young teenager, but I'm not too sure how well it would hold up today. I've a feeling it could be a bit of an endurance test to get through now, but having said that, it might be a nice little distraction to all the stuff that's going on in the world at the moment.

I first encountered Monkey as a student and loved it; when it started coming out on DVD I got the first two disks and still enjoyed the first series episodes hugely, but found the third series episodes very poor in comparison. So I ditched those disks and bought a series one only set.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by reason108

This could be a nice replacement for the overly huge dvd box set which takes up way too much room on my shelf. But, wording like "All 52 episodes have now been restored and are presented in this all new collection available on DVD and for the first time ever on Blu-ray." have me a bit concerned. What does restored actually mean, anyways? Now, if it was to say "All new 2k re-master..." or some such, then, yeah, no brainer. But, that's a lot of dough for something I am so unsure of. But, anyway, Amazon.co.uk saying they don't ship to me (USA). Perhaps they will at some point or a different UK merchant will.

This appears to be following the same route as THE WATER MARGIN, even down to the "fully restored" wording.

Fully restored there was that the original assets were used to create a proper HD master, which was then used as a basis for the English version for blu ray, ie recreating the credits, merging them with the English soundtracks etc.

Of course, this being FF, things didn't go entirely to plan on that front....

Also, bear in mind that how much of an upgrade it is will likely depend on the state of the original assets back in Japan. If they've been well-preserved then it could look great. If they're worse for wear, then it will probably still look much better than the DVDs, but best to temper expectations until we can see something.

The lack of original Japanese audio tracks is a shame. It's understandable given the cost of creating subs, and tbh it doesn't overly bother me as I always remember watching it in English anyway, but still, would have been nice....

[Spiderwalk]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

I first encountered Monkey as a student and loved it; when it started coming out on DVD I got the first two disks and still enjoyed the first series episodes hugely, but found the third series episodes very poor in comparison. So I ditched those disks and bought a series one only set.

I bought the first DVD, but I don't think I ever got around to watching it.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by Spiderwalk

I used to love Monkey when I was young teenager, but I'm not too sure how well it would hold up today. I've a feeling it could be a bit of an endurance test to get through now, but having said that, it might be a nice little distraction to all the stuff that's going on in the world at the moment.

I watched it aged 9-11 on its original run and loved it. But now I find that after the first episode it didn’t really hold up that well, at least from an adult’s perspective. Obviously it’s me that’s changed and not the show.

But the book by Wu Cheng-En and translated by Arthur Waley (available as a Penguin Classic) is highly recommended. At times it’s very Terry Gilliam in style, although the book was written in the 1600s and the translation dates from the 1940s.

[pferreira]

Will this include all the episodes they dubbed years later in the late 90's or early 2000's?

[HoldenCarver]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

The lack of original Japanese audio tracks is a shame. It's understandable given the cost of creating subs

It really isn't. Releases like this should have subs regardless. It's no excuse to say that having an English-language audio track means subs aren't needed. I know they're not a zero-cost addition, but it's a massive f u to a large part of the population out there to not include any subs on a release.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Will this include all the episodes they dubbed years later in the late 90's or early 2000's?

The box says all 52 episodes. Check online - Wikipedia or IMDb - to see how many were made.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Will this include all the episodes they dubbed years later in the late 90's or early 2000's?

It must do if the only audio is English. Half the second season was only dubbed back in the 70s, so had to be done years later, think they used most of the original English dub cast.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by HoldenCarver

It really isn't. Releases like this should have subs regardless. It's no excuse to say that having an English-language audio track means subs aren't needed. I know they're not a zero-cost addition, but it's a massive f u to a large part of the population out there to not include any subs on a release.

I often use subs myself so you’re preaching to the choir to a certain extent, but the bottom line is that as far as FF are concerned it was likely a case of a sub-less release or no release at all. Of course that’s disappointing to a proportion of the audience who actually need subtitles though.

[Stefd]

I am wondering if this is worth replacing my old dvd box set or not if it is the same transfer they use.... Which ain't great. Upscaled VHS really.

[backslashio]

Originally Posted by Stefd

I am wondering if this is worth replacing my old dvd box set or not if it is the same transfer they use.... Which ain't great. Upscaled VHS really.

I owned the same set and I think it even had those random VHS "jumps" + static. Still love the intro but as an adult the series didn't really hold my attention for long sadly