The appeal of Monkey! is easier to experience than explain. It's an occasionally surreal blend of Oriental fable, knock-about martial arts, pop Buddhism and slapstick comedy. The frequent comic fight scenes are accompanied by a 70s disco-fusion soundtrack, and a narrator (English voice: Frank Duncan) uses gaps in the action to deliver inscrutable snippets of wisdom ("Even a starving camel is still bigger than a horse", "Does love mean labour even for the carp-hearted?"). Best of all, though, is the dialogue: without regard to any lip-synch niceties the English script (by David Weir) is full of idiomatic delights, jokes and double entendres. All are delivered by British actors in hilarious cod-Japanese accents (distinguished thesp Miriam Margolyes is the voice of Tripitaka). Bad special effects crown the show's cheesy, retro appeal.

On the DVD: Monkey! volume 1 on DVD features the same first three episodes as the VHS incarnation--"Monkey Goes Wild About Heaven", "Monkey Turns Nursemaid" and "The Great Journey Begins"--but also a bonus previously unseen episode from the second season, "You Win Some You Lose Some", which is subtitled not dubbed, so if nothing else is an opportunity to hear the actors' real voices. Extra features are a stills gallery, text pieces on the principal cast, characters and episodes, Weblinks, trailers for The Water Margin and Blake's Seven and a pop-video version of the show's irrepressible main title song.----Mark Walker

DVD Description
DVD Special Features
You Win Some, You Lose Some (Bonus episode never seen on UK TV, with English subtitles)
Principal cast/character biographies
Still galleries
Web links

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