Journey to the West ~ Lost in Adaptation
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A look at the many adaptations of The Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en.
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0:25 Intro
6:10 The Cave of the Silken Web
6:41 Princess Iron Fan
7:24 Monkey
9:27 Journey to the West
14:45 Saiyuki
15:49 Conquering the Demons
18:16 The Monkey King
19:09 The Monkey King 2
20:17 The Monkey King 3
21:39 The New Legends of Monkey
23:17 A Korean Odyssey
24:50 Dragonball
25:09 Final Thoughts - บันเทิง
![[TH] VCT Masters Shanghai Playoffs - Grand Finals // GEN vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HL-hhLrtctw/mqdefault.jpg)
Nice mug 👀 -R
There's Red. Was wondering if you'd crop up, given how like 90% of the comments are about you guys. (I enjoyed today's BotW Diatribe by the way. Never noticed the Zelda's Lullaby around the Crest of Hyrule before.)
Hi, Red! Love your Paradise Lost video. I showed it to some friends and they thought it was wild.
Can't wait for the podcast episode!
Any idea when the next one of your journey to the west videos will come
Heeeeyy.... that is a nice mug😁
My favourite adaptation is OverlySarcasticProductions version, mostly because of the illustrations and jokes, and being told by someone who knows their mythology.
Same
Most definitely
Yup! It’s very fun
There is no other adaptation worth your time. Now if Red would just release the next part..
@@jeremyg7261 well, I have it on good authority that it's coming out sooner than you'd think
I read a translated collection of Journey to the West (which was actually from China) and the translation included a very clever way of keeping it true to the origin. You see, when Monkey starts his quest to learn magic and become immortal, his master asks what his surname is and Monkey (who doesn't have one) thinks he's being insulted - the joke is that the Chinese words for 'surname' and 'temper' are almost identical and he thinks the master is suggesting he lost his temper. But this translation did it like this:
"What's your surname?"
"I'm not surly!"
Very clever translating there!
Can you tell us which specific translation this is? It's very clever; I love it when translators do things like this.
which translation is it? i think that reading a translation coming directly from china would be great.
I have massive respect for this kind of thoughtful level of localisation
@@calitaliarepublic6753 only when it's in English. in Chinese it's probably brilliant.
@@calitaliarepublic6753 How would you have translated that pun?
I mean, in all seriousness, the original Dragonball made a _lot_ of references to Journey to the West. The first season's plot even lined up with the book, with Bulma (Tripitaka) searching for the Dragon Balls (Buddhist scriptures), and meeting Son Goku (Sun Wukong), Oolong (Pigsy), and Yamcha (Sandy) on the way. Sure, things got out of hand _real_ fast after that, but it did begin as a fanciful adaptation.
Dragon ball literally took inspiration from journey to the west, but with Toriyama's own twist. Funny enough Sun WuKong's (the Monkey King) name in japanese is translated to Son Goku. Toriyama the creator of Dragon Ball loved the Journey to the west series.
It basically is an adaption that eventually goes it’s own way
the fact is, Journey to the West in East Asia has a cultural impact that can be compared only to Elvis or Michael Jackson in music, the number of works inspired by it is infinite. Counting only mangas that are inspired by it we have: Boku no Son Goku, Dragon Ball, Goku: Midnight Eye, Monkey Magic, Saiyuki, Shinzo, even Starzinger is basically Journey to the West in space... We even have a ecchi adaptation in Queen's Blade Grimoire, and a porn one called Secret Journey, with gender-swap, where Goku is punished for having an harem of boys and trying to jump Buddha himself...
Absolutely love og dragonball dbz is amazing but in its own way I view dbz and dragonball as different things because I like them for different ways
This video kinda explores some of those parallels btwn J to the W and Dragon Ball. th-cam.com/video/0cVToC4v8TI/w-d-xo.html
Hear me out: Lego Monkie Kid.
I know it's made by Lego and "for kids", but it actually stays quite faithful to the source material.
It takes place after the journey and focuses on a new generation of the original cast, while referencing things that have happened in the book (Bull Demon King, the White Bone Spirit, the Gold and Silver Horned Demons,etc). The animation is also amazing 🤩
There's even an episode in the third season that follows the book's formula (Tripitaka gets kidnapped and has to be saved by Monkey king and others).
Istg this show is so good-
It also had Sean Schemmel (you know, fucking GOKU) as the Monkey King and Billy fucking Kametz has Macaque which instantly made him everyone's favourite character.
I really like that one
respect for you bestie!!
Oh and its has some of the damn best sets in quite a while
Not to mention, while it stays faithful to the original story, it also adds a little twist in it too. A prime example (that I know of) is Macaque. Yes, he is the Six-Eared Macaque from the story, but he is also part of the Brotherhood.
In the original story, the Six-Eared Macaque and the Macaque in the Brotherhood are two different characters but in the show it was confirmed that they're the same one. Plus, he also has a lot more history with Sun Wukong than the original.
I get that being faithful to the material is great, but it's even better to add a little twist to make it interesting that it catches the audience's attention and make them wanna see the original! That's what happened for me, and now I wanna know more about JTTW.
Dom: “If I don’t reference it, some of you will go Super Saiyan on me. I am of course referring to Dragonball Evolution.”
Me: “...you monster!”
Some men just want to watch the Comments burn.
YOU MONSTER FRISBEE!
I hope he realizes he deserves to cover that now.
The pain will make us stronger.
I dont think he's gonna binge watch all of og dragon ball just to do an adaptation on dragon ball evolution 😂😂😂 although I would want that 😂😂
@@elywahl9520 It would be considerable faster to read the manga and he doesnt even had to read all of it. What Evolution loosely (to put it kindly) adapts ends with Piccolo Daimaku arc. Think it would fairly easy to read what he needs to make the compatation, but i dont know if theres much value in reiterating what we all know, which has already been said multiple times, of how bad an adapation it is. Regardless, I would want to watch it too, but yeah, i doubt it will ever happen.
Imagine if Lord of the Rings were written by Shakespeare, stared superheroes as the supporting cast, and included within their adventures nearly ever fairytale.
Honestly such a great analogy tbh
What about king Arthur?
@@younghan3573 Let's not go to Camelot. 'Tis a silly place.
LOTR is cute
Did you call your own analogy great?
Coulda said Dragon Ball. Which is based on the tale of Monkey.
Actually Sun Wukong is quintuply immortal: once though his Taoist training, twice by his name been crossed out of the ledgers of the underworld, thrice by eating a garden's worth of heavenly peaches, four times by eating all those immortality pills and a fifth due to being essentially smoked in an alchemical concoction that made him invulnerable and also turned his eyes red by Heaven's apothecary in that brazier you mentioned.
Technically making U invulnerable doesn't necessarily make U immortal, I haven't read that one so I'm not sure of the details tho.
P.S. should it be once, twice, thrice etc or once, the second time, the third time etc grammatically speaking?
I got confused when U said "twice by . . . " Because I thought that meant he was made immortal 2 times by his name bring crossed out of the ledgers
@@animemangalover94 Just to clarify: Sun Wukong's invulnerability by the brazier seems to work by Achilles rules, in that it also makes him effectively immortal on top of indestructible (also his red eyes allow him to see through illusions and shapeshifting for some reason, but that wasn't really important).
Also keep in mind that immortality in Chinese myth can be a bit different from what we would consider immortality in the west, it's more like a spiritual state as opposed to a physical condition (although there isn't really that clear a line between the spiritual and physical in those myths) and it's entirely possible for most immortals to die even of things like poison or disease (depending on the type of immortality), just not old age. And they usually have the ability to come back to life in some way.
@@PhileasLiebmann that's exactly what I'm talking about, it's not true immortality because it's technically only indestructiblity therefore he can be poisoned etc whereas after striking his name of the mortal ledger, my understanding is he literally can't die because he's not on the list. If U tricked him into death, he would walk right back out of the afterlife because they wouldn't let him in. Whereas invulnerability is no such guarantee. A similar kind of sort-of immortality is also present in western mythology regarding faeries, they don't age like humans but they can be injured and killed. The peach of immortality is the immortality of the gods and is therefore also likely to be true immortality tho in some versions I think U have to eat it once a year to maintain it so may also count as sort-of immortality.
@@animemangalover94 No, as I just tried to explain, it is also what you call "true immortality".
But that doesn't matter, because immortality in Chinese mythology doesn't mean the same thing as it does in, say, Greek mythology. It's about the immortal's spiritual state in the the context of the cycle of reincarnation. The physical ability to not die (and also in this particular case being invulnerable) is just a convenient side effect to the actual state of being immortal.
I just used Achilles as an example, because it's a convenient parallel to this case (immortality manifests in a form of invulnerability and it's brough about through intense physical contact with a rare, supernatural substance), but it doesn't actually function the same way (or maybe it does, I don't know enough about the specific mechanics of immortality in Greek myth to definitively say, but I honestly doubt it, since that would require the Olympians to also operate in kind of Samsara cycle, which is pretty antithetical to their whole deal of being vicious assholes).
@@PhileasLiebmann but if you're still in the samsara cycle isn't that then not true immortality? Within the Buddhist lens of Chinese mythology the 神仙 don't aspire to be better in the next life, they aspire to ascend to enlightenment, which would remove them from reincarnation as a side effect.
Son wukong starts as an elemental spirit, and through serving the monk presumably becomes enlightened, though he had already achieved immortality by more archaic means. But most of the 神仙 or youkai/monsters-seeking-immortality stories (with Buddhist leanings anyway) are specifically about trying to achieve enlightenment not functional immortality because as supernatural creatures, unlike humans, they already have that.
When you're going on about how hard it is to express how difficult it is to equate the importance of Journey to the West to anything in English/American culture reminds me of something a Lithuanian friend told me once "American is too young to have culture" which was a joke ofc but ever since then it's made me appreciate how small the scope of time that composes the history of the country I live in is compared to like literally everywhere else. Idk it's something Americans have a hard time appreciating: that our country is a tiny baby and so are we
Most countries have stories that were already around even before the country became a country.
Big baby. It's huge. But baby.
@@mffmoniz2948
This is the case with the North American countries as well, but even the pre-nation history doesn't go back more than a couple hundred years. Anything prior to that (not counting native cultures) is transplanted and distant from the cultural and environmental context.
True, coming from Europe (Lithuania too😬) the difference is that every corner has a long history even before the country was a country - usually belonging to different kingdoms.
This has always seemed like a really ignorant viewpoint to me, because the English speaking world DOES have a particular bit of literature that has molded our culture and media in a similar way: the overall Arthurian canon (and to a lesser extent the surviving bits of the Epic of Beowulf). And those are only the primary examples if you discount the "real" one: the works of Homer, primarily the Iliad and Odyssey.
I can’t believe The Dom, actually included Saiyuki, even for a few seconds. The only thing I think it has common with the original is how much they are derailed by those dang side quests so much that we forget the original goal. Though there was a funny episode where the protagonists ran into some identity thieves pretending to be them that actually matched the book description better than they did. 😆
I think they had quite a few similarities. The protagonists were once in heaven then cast out. Goku was in a mountain for 500 years until sanzo saved him . They are heading towards India (and despite having a car it takes them years). Demons want to eat sanzo for power. Sanzo was thrown into a river as a child before being picked up by monks. They did have the spider women try to eat them. Goku does have a power limiter that sanzo can control. And goku and the water sprite have the weapons as described.
@@Alphasnowbordergirl I may have exaggerated slightly. They’ve picked bits and pieces, but not enough to be a modern retelling. I’d also argue that while, the power limiter is there, Sanzo doesn’t use it to control him. There was an episode where Goku removed it himself for a major fight and went absolutely cray cray. Goku isn’t there because he is being controlled, because he loves Sanzo and wants to be by his side.
The people behind Gorillaz made a Chinese opera called, "Monkey: Journey to the West".
All of the set and costume design were created by the same minds as all of the artwork for the band, and I was always so sad that the opera's tour ended so quickly. I really wanted to see it.
The music is phenomenal, too.
I saw this! It was amazing!!
I'm pissed I missed out on this. Especially since I love Gorillaz.
An animated adaptation is available on youtube
That’s why I’m here lol
They also made an animated short version for the 2008 Olympic Games
I think a common trend is in how Sun Wukong's characterization has changed. Originally he's supposed to be like the douchier Deadpool of that story. He's prideful, arrogant, formerly human-eating, but also fun-loving, protective, and badass. He's a hero but he's also an undeniable asshole. That's what made him a compelling character and so awesome to a young me reading the books. More recent adaptations have really leaned into either making him a violent edgelord, or making him a noble paragon hero who's only slightly mischievous. Giving him a love interest is also very common nowadays and very weird imo, especially if we're loyal enough to the source material that he's still a freaking monkey.
I really love him being more heavily flawed, I think thats what makes him so compelling!
That's part of why the OSP version is fun. Lovable chaotic and ridiculous
Can an undeniable asshole be a hero? No, seriously.
I agree. He's also literally a monk so the love interest really makes no sense.
I grew up with the 80’s series as a kid, and I saw the Monkey King as being part of a trickster archetype like Bugs Bunny or Anansi the Spider.
Seeing a bishonen with a gun then saying it's the pacifist character of the story was the funniest thing I've seen and heard all day
Even funnier when you watch it... The character that was originally a pacifist is hands down the most murderous
@@elle8786 Yes he totally is and it's pointed out quite often in the show....and that's part of the reason it's so awesome ^_^
also a chainsmoking alcoholic with a biker attitude
@@hiatusinc and a gambling habit.
Vash ... VASH THE STAMPEDE???
Wow, reading Journey to the West, even in mildly abridged form, is a _project_ - once I tried and gave up partway through. Congrats on achieving it!
I read the Anthony Yu translations. Took me two years. I kept having to stop between volumes to find the next one but still.
I never even got through the wukong part
I found the (abridged) Waley translation pretty readable... but overall, yeah, I'd say it's right there with Rot3K as being one of the more impenetrable of the "four great classics."
@@Netherfly On that I'd disagree. I'd say Journey is the least impenetrable of the four. Long as it is it moves at a pretty decent pace and after the Monkey prologue it's episodic and the main characters don't change so you only occasionally have to keep up with the continuity. Compare the casts of dozens of interlinked characters and twisting storylines in Three Kingdoms, Red Chamber and Water Margin and I had a lot easier time with Journey.
Sarcastic Productions is still going through the series.
Here in Vietnam, the 1986 adaptation is very famous and it's regarded as the best version, .It's so well-known it has reached leagendary status and is still broascasted every summer, even to this day. In fact, I remember catching it on television three or four times.
Also fun fact: Stephen Chow played Sun Wukong in a 1995 version called A Chinese Odyssey.
for us Canto-speaking kids, the 1996/1998 one is most memorable
86版西游记确实神中神
@@kori228it is also the most popular version here in Indonesia, and the localized version of the opening song is so sick.
Hear hear. The 86 version is pretty much the childhood of every east and southeast asian kid, even today
I'm from northern region of china and I totally agree with you . same same
As weird as it is to say, Lego Monkie Kid seems to have taken the most from the original while also creating a story that is its own. It takes place in a modern society but technically seems to exist in the same universe as the original JTTW, as many of the charecters, items, and events still exist or are referenced on a fairly regular basis.
As a huge Overly Saracstic Productions fan I must say it is amazing to see you reference them! I knew you had good taste! Watching this I was just thinking about them then immediately say that so well done!
you know he was on their podcast, right?
It feels like anyone who brings up JTTW inevitably brings them up
Like I watched a video about the Lego monkey king show and they were referenced
The 1986 TV show is extremly popular even nowadays in China. Every one has seen it (elderly, middle aged, young, kids - literally the whole population). It is still running on TV sometimes and available on many streaming platforms. I watched the whole series when I was in China and enjoyed it very much.
The performance from the lead actor in the 1986 version is so famous that for a lot of people he *is* the embodiment of Sun Wukong. Unfortunately, that means that any subsequent adaptations are either seen as inferior imitations or perversions of what he did.
It's kind of like Christopher Reeve's performance as Superman.
It took me so long to find an actual Chinese insight.
Here in Vietnam for generations too, they usually re-air the show every summer so a lot of kids grow up watching it.
中国人心中最经典的版本，主角都是无可超越的，虽然现在看起来特效有些粗糙，但你要问一个中国人最推荐的西游记影视作品，86版就是最经典的，我记得我从小都不让家里换台😂
It's not out yet, but the game "Black Myth: Wukong" looks fascinating. It seems like it's going to be a sequel set after the book, a Wicked-style alternate take, or some combination.
When is it coming out?
@@NeroLeMorte 2023 afaik
I NEEEEEEEEEED IT!!!
@@Ottmar555 summer 2024
I think its dead.
Growing up, my parents had a set of VHS tapes of the 1986 Journey to the West series, dubbed in Vietnamese (I'm half-Vietnamese on my mother's side, for context). I watched those things religiously, and then looped right back around to the beginning when I was done. I was 6, maybe 7 when I started? Holy cow, this takes me back.
Honestly, Dragon Ball is the adaptation, and DBZ is just a continuation of it. I love how you referred to the terrible movie adaptation instead though.
Also, Saiyuki is an awesome anime, a lot of fun to watch.
saiyuki is kinda terrible imo... and i watched all of them except for the last one that came out in 2017. I could forgive the older saiyuki shows for how limited their animation was, but that 2017 one has no good excuse for looking like a 90s anime. And all of it is a little boring.
@@ComboSmooth Insert "just read the manga" comment here (because yes, it is originally a manga). :P
The manga for Saiyuki was fantastic. I didn't finish it since I had to borrow the books from friends in high school, but I adored the manga. I watched some of the anime and I think a movie if I recall correctly. This was all over a decade ago that I was introduced to Saiyuki so all I really remember is how much I loved it.
Saiyuki is great! Gaiden broke my heart into millions of pieces and I'm still trying to find some pieces
@DC Diver I feel like that was the point though. Sure, Dragon Ball started as an adaptation. But quickly became it’s own thing. Dom acknowledged that bad adaptation by its own bad adaptation.
Tripitaka being a woman is actually REALLY popular to do. Several games, stories, shows, etc, make them a woman. Very few even just have them played by a woman, like is normally done with, say, Peter Pan, and instead just straight say they're a chick now. Always worked for me. Story's a bit of a sausage fest, anyway.....
That was NOT a joke about Pigsy, but fuck it, it works there, too.
@@CJCroen1393 goku and bulma are not a couple, i think many adaptations do that to make the monk a damsel in distress
@@CJCroen1393 In Warriors Orochi 3 they are decidedly NOT a couple. And Bulma and Goku were never a thing, but I can certainly see it in New Legends, maybe. Which I did NOT hate.
@@CJCroen1393 Not to mention Monkey and Trip and the game Enslaved: Odessey To The West doesn't have them as a romantic couple.
@@devforfun5618 Hm, possibly, but Trip in Enslaved and her counterpart in Warriors Orochi 3 are not damsels in distress.
Huh...I did not knew that. Kind of a weird thing to see to be honest.
I really appreciate that you tackle non-Western fiction and the immense care you take to examine all the adaptations.
Well im still pissed he hasnt covered any german book yet, Faust is perfect for him to cover
I'm currently really enjoying the lego monkie kid series. It's more of a so-called "fan-continuation" than an adaption, but it's a fun take on the story and it's characters - not to mention it has some fantastic animation!
I also like the 1996 chinese tv-series, it's very fun and simillar to the 86 version stays very loyal to the original story
I love that show so much! Currently looking into Journey to the West so that my friend and I can compare and contrast the show from the source material :))
@@sliceof_tea1526 YESS I’ve been reading the novel myself (the anthony c. yuu revised edition) and it’s very fun seeing the differences in the two :] Even if they stray away from the source material it’s so fun to see all the different ways the jttw story has been adapted
@@spadaces one: where can I watch Lego monkie kid and two, where I can read that version of Journey to the west and 3: Why is it called journey TO the west when they already have the scrolls and heading back east to China?
Thank you for commenting this! I never knew about it and I watched abit today. I'm quite enjoying it!
Woah we like the same adaptations!!!
"The nature of Monkey was - irrepressible!"
It's ridiculous that I got such a kick out of reading this, but thank you
I'm just waiting for the Overly Sarcastic Productions fanbase to leap on this. Also there's supposed to be a film with Sun Wukong played by Jackie Chan though I can't tell you if it's based on JTTW at all
*jumps in* Here we are
Present
You rang? Also I think the movie you mentioned is called The Forbidden Kingdom, but I also couldn't tell you if it was an adaptation or not.
*waves*
You might be thinking of The Forbidden Kingdom, which does have Jackie Chan in it, but Monkey was played by Jet Li. Jackie Chan did apparently play Monkey in Kung Fu Panda.
Id' also add the legend of King Arthur to the list of similar influences in Western culture. It's also an old myth, retold in different ways over time, with elements that sound both grounded in fact and fantastical.
As for anime adaptations, I have a soft spot for Starzinger, which appeared in the US as the Wednesday offering "Spaceketeers" in Force Five.
King Arthur in a lot of ways is the amalgamation that Dom spoke of. Heavily influencing a lot of things about western culture. Complete with Fantasy, intrigue, super heroes of a classical sort, etc... with a lot of quite varied adaptations to it.
Same with Charlemagne.
I love Starzinger too! 😂🙌
I think a difference is that Arthurian mythology is very confusing, with original sources and versions being unknown. The exact telling of characters like Morgana/morgan le fe and Lancelot are very different depending on the version. And since there’ve been so many rewrites it’s very difficult to tell which is the true original. Like I’ve heard Morgan(a) was originally a fairy who wasn’t even related to Arthur, but obviously in many versions she’s his sister and an evil witch. Dom said the author is debated for JTTW but at least there’s some sort of pin on it, and the og story is pretty consistent
I like the 1996 version of the Journey to the West with Dicky Cheung playing Sun Wukong. The comedy is so much for me instead of too serious.
Personally, my favorite Journey to the West adaptation is the post-apocalyptic video game Enslaved: Odyssey To The West. The main characters maintain their names from the source material (Monkey, Tripitaka aka " Trip," and Pig), the soundtrack is incredible, the combat is loosely inspired by pole-fighting-based martial arts, and the cast is incredible for its time (particularly Andy freakin' Serkis as Monkey). 😁
Absolutely agree that Enslaved is a totally fantastic game. I also really enjoyed Saiyuki: Journey West on PSX. It was a tactics-based RPG that was just a lot of fun, and is what introduced me to Journey to the West and taught me that Dragon Ball was based on Journey to the West. It was also fairly faithful to the source material, if I remember correctly, at least insofar as a PSX game can be..
Haven't played it but it seems like an RPG would be the best way to actually adapt the whole thing.
I’ve played a bit of it but I need to play through the whole thing. Wouldn’t mind if it got a remaster
The 1986 show is THE Journey to the West to me, and to everyone in my country. It is *obscenely* popular and a part of every kid's childhood, and it always reruns on TV pretty much every year.
Same. The actor for Wukong himself is pretty much the quintessential version of Monkey. I believe his dad was an iconic stage performer and he eventually took up that mantle and when they do stage performances or anything regarding JttW, and he shows up, it's instant applause and cheering by everyone in the audience. Most modern adaptations draw inspiration from the '86 Wukong in the voice, mannerisms, and sometimes look.
Didn't expect you to cover this out of the blue, but as a Chinese person it's always nice to see other people talk about stuff from your Homeland
My favorite adaptation has to be Wan Laimin's 1964 feature animation Havoc in Heaven. It's more focused on monkey's origin, the horse-keeping peach-nicking part of the story, and the fully hand-drawn animation is simply sublime. One of the best 2D animation in the history for sure.
No one seems to talk about this one so I will ! :)
There's a two-part movie from 1995 called "A Chinese Odyssey" (First part : Pandora's Box, Second part : Cinderella) which is a parody of Journey to the West.
It's batshit crazy, full of symbolism and it's absolutely FANTASTIC. It has been a big part of my childhood and I can't recommend it enough.
The main actor is Stephen Chow btw, his involvement with that myth has been going on for a while !
Also, there's a beautiful 1964 chinese animated movie concentrating on Su Wukong's life before the whole "being buried in a mountain" thing. In English, it's called either Havoc in Heaven, or Uproar in Heaven.
Yes thank you for mentioning that. No clue how he didn't mention it when it's a culturally iconic movie series still relevant in modern Chinese society.
It's a cult classic, every Chinese New Year Chinese TV station replays the movie. It's also my top ten favourite movies. The meaning behind the movie is subjective (even today Chinese youtubers are trying to explain its symbolism).
@@Peachu_n_Goma_Home that is so cool !
My cousins showed it to me when I was young and left us the dvd, I think I would never have seen it otherwise (I’m french)
I’m glad I did, it’s one of my all time favourites
I really thought it would be in this video
A Chinese Odyssey was ranked in a critic's list of the 100 greatest Chinese language movies of all time. It deserves all that praise. Also, I don't care what anyone says, Stephen Chow's Journey to the West Conquering the Demons is a masterpiece. Shu Qi is awesome in that movie.
@@andrewpragasam I’m so happy I’m learning things about this movie, since I don’t know anybody around me that knows about it
My favourite adaptation of Journey to the West will always be OSP. I hope one day they finish it.
Yay to this episode! Adaptations of this tale are always so varied. Damon Albarn's version is pretty random but beautiful.
It's great
"How important this book is to Chinese literature cannot be overstated. I struggle to think of something in British or American literature that's a fair comparison. You'd have to take the longevity of Shakespeare, the influence on fantasy of Tolkien, the universailty of fairy tales, and the nerdiness of comic books and smash them all together."
It's the bible. You're talking about the bible.
You've got an odd view of the Bible, my dude
Ok now I want to see an anime adaptation of the bible :D
@Skye Are you kidding me? I'm hardly an expert, but once you start looking for them, Christ figures are absolutely everywhere. References to Christianity and Christian iconography/theology absolutely infest literature (and art), especially the older stuff. Satan likes to show up too in different forms. Off the top of my head, The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings are both Christian allegories. I'm not even Christian, but I know a number of bible stories specifically because of cultural osmosis.
@Skye P.S. - The Bible is the best selling book of the year, every year. It is also the best-selling book of all time. The Guinness book of world records estimates that about 5 billion have been sold.
@Skye Re-reading your comment, it sounds like you agree, but think that the way the bible manifests in culture doesn't count. I'm not sure you have to have extremely specific stories repeated to recognise the bible's influence in culture and I'm not sure that's what Dominic necessarily means when he says the Journey to the West is influential. It could be that Christian influence is different for you if we live in different countries or if you read lots of books in other languages though.
my fav show based on journey to the west is lego monkie kid. It might be lego, but it's surprisingly amazingly animated and all the characters are really cool.
Reading through thousands of pages for a 30 minute episode. That's dedication and that's why we love you Dom
Dom sending his viewers to other youtubers for a summary: 😏
The linked version being OSP: 🤩
Him consistently calling the disciples Sandy and Pigsy: 😊
I mean, it is probably for the best so that he wouldn't screw up their actual Chinese names.
The name “Sandy” and “Pigsy” were not created by OSP y’know
The Stephen Chow adaptation is so fun!
Stephen Chow actually played the Monkey King back in the 90s in A Chinese Odyssey, and now he's directed his own take on the legend.
I can't believe he left out the most iconic adaptation of them all. I can think of 203881 reasons why he should have included it.
Really glad to see the OSP love in the comments. I look forward to each entry to their Journey to the West series.
A channel can see their audience overlap with other channels. It's part of the statistics, like country, language, gender, age group and so on. I assume Dom was so subtle with his reference because he knows we all watch OSP.
I always go and rewatch everything up to the new episode cause it's so long between uploads
@@courtneyhoward2370 I'll definitely be doing the same thing now! I just watched for the first time all OSP's Journey to the West videos after Dom referenced them at the beginning - and then came back to this video to finish it 😊
Wow, all the way through I was thinking, "I hope he talks about Korean Odyssey," and then it was the last one. I love it so much, I've watched it four times already. Bull demon king is amazing. As for the stature of Journey to the West in culture, I think you need to add the pervasiveness of Arthurian legends in there as well, simply for the amount of 'leaping off point' comparison.
Im just annoyed he never talked about The Forbidden Kingdom
Dude I saw Saiyuki and I literally squealed! I knew you're an anime fan but this makes me soooo happy! Saiyuki isnt very well known especially with newer anime fans so as an elder weeb I feel so represented
I know it's silly, but seeing you cover the 86' series made me so happy! My family brought over the DVDs when they immigrated over to the US, and they were my favorite thing to watch when I was young. That laughter still haunts my ears though!
I grew up with the 1986 version cause my family always watches it in the Vietnamese dub. Also, hopefully the Dom does more Asian books of lost in adaptations. I do want to see his take on the Untamed vs. Mo Dao Zu Shi.
That would be awesome.
Oh, there's an animated version of that too! It would be great! I need to read it again...
Journey to the West was--and still is!--my favorite old myth growing up! I'm glad you're covering it! Super glad you mentioned the 1970s version as it was one of the first I came across myself. The theme song is in my head to this day.
1:30 "There's much better ones available on YT" and the sneaky OSP plug in the corner. Respect.
I grew up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, when an entire generation of kids grew up finishing their homework before Monkey started on TV at 6pm. For most of the 70s and 80s, the 6-7pm weekly time slot was dominated by news and current affairs on the commercial tv channels, but on the public broadcaster, the ABC, it alternated between Doctor Who, the Goodies, the Kenny Everett Video Show and Monkey! (as well as a few locally produced shows, too).
I have a copy of Monkey, by Wu Cheng-En, translated by Arthur Waley (Penguin Classics). It’s a pretty readable adaptation, although heavily abridged, of course.
Are you, me? :)
Bless you for fanpersoning over A Korean Odyssey, one of my first Kdrama watches, I could not agree more of how fun it is, also grew up with Monkey "magic" and can still recite the intro. "The truth about magic is that it is unreal. Only the enlightened man sees clearly, then life itself is unreal, a dream, an illusion created by our own minds".
I had a few issues with elements of A Korean Odyssey but definitely agree that the interactions between the monkey and bull demon were golden. It was my favorite part of the show, hands down!
What is likely the best adaptation was OverlySarcasticProductions version. It kept both the spirit and actual actions of the plot while still putting in their own spin! Really glad you gave it a link!
Being late to this video and as your latest subscriber, you should watch the 1995 classic which inspired Stephen chows latest series: 大話西游, which is a two part movie, the first of its time. Everyone hated it back then.
A quick back story: Journey to the west fans and the public generally hated the original and deemed it as a “slapstick comedy”. But most Asians(meaning Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and China) kids like me, grew up thinking that it’s a silly comedy. But once we grew older, we realised that it is an epic tragedy love story. So yes, this is a hit amongst university students and adults in recent years. A clear indication is that there are plenty of designer toys designed around this series and are often sold out.
Who would have known that a box office flop would become a cult hit down the road.
And on a side note, as someone who grew up knowing Monkey gods origins like how everyone know a certain Parker or Wayne’s backstory, the new Stephen chows journey to the west series is a mind blowing experience with a new love story twist. Amazing stuff.
Not sure I would enjoy it as much NOW, but when I was a kid, the 1986 Chinese series was a big hit in Czechoslovakia and I *loved* it. Still partial to it, though probably mostly for nostalgia reasons.
I also have a regrettable soft spot for A Chinese Tall Story.
Would like to watch Zhang Jizhong's adaptation one day, since I quite liked what he did with some of Jin Yong's novels.
Dude. I can't even BEGIN to tell you how excited I was that you mentioned Saiyuki!! No one has ever heard of it, and it was one of my favorites during my teenage years
Saiyuki fans unite!!
Wait... noone's heard of it? I was tripping over posters for it when I first got sucked into Anime back in college! (I. Never actually got around to watching it because so many anime, so little time and also oh god the yellow text fansubs on the tape we had were just. So bad. So very bad. But I feel like it was just in the air so much that I know it anyway.)
@@FranNyan Skip Saiyuki, start with Saiyuki Reload. The English dub is actually good.
This is one of my favorites. Period.
I think its pretty popular at least in Japan, seeing how its still receiving anime adaptations to this day, theres been one a few years ago and I saw a trailer for another for 2022
I love it when Dom shows an adaptation I've never heard of. BTW, since Micheal and David announced they're currently working on season 2, are we going to get a LIA of Good Omens soon?
yes i read it on the dom the patreon to do list.
It doesn't say when, but I think pretty soon.
on the list are only Captain Underpants above good omens.
@@ladysam3834 thanks for the update I've been wondering about that also
I'm so pleased to see OSP tagged for summary. And that Korean one looks genuinely interesting, so I might give that a look. I'm a sucker for modern rewrites of basically anything.
As soon as he said 'Pigsy and Sandy' I knew he'd watched OSP
it’s beautiful that most of us know about Journey to the West because Red of OSP decided to draw Journey to the West Z Kai.
Honestly, I want more!
Who?
@@MsMeiriona Overly Sarcastic Productions, the one Dom linked towards the beginning.
Hell yeah, Saiyuki is the only anime whose japanese opening song I know by heart. Love it! Goes onto my "revisit"-list.
For Real is a top tier opening song, alongside Pegasus Fantasy (Saint Seiya), Fire Wars (Mazinkaiser), Tank! (Cowboy Bebop) and Heats (Shin Getter)
"For Real" is a song that STILL gets my heart pumping, it's so good. Everyone should listen to it.
Wow, didn’t know Saiyuki was an adaptation of Journey to the West, I should give that a read
@@larsnyman2455 loose adaptation, and that off the typical Japanese localization of the story. It's... Freaking silly in places, but also was like "ok but what if rated M too"
@@MsMeiriona that sounds fucking awesome
My favorite adaptation of Journey to the West is Stephen Chow's earlier attempt at the story, Chinese Odyssey 1 and 2. I think... maybe... that it's meant to be a "new" bottle chapter in the Journey to the West that involves time travel, spider demons and an unrequited love story where immortals die easily and then don't.
The Monkey King wasn't the Monkey King until he was. Then he was two guys but not really. Except where he was.
I love the most stories that are inspired by Journey to the west. Monkey King is a great character and it is a story that is still so entertaining and true in it's messages. The writer did a good job making something for generations to read and interpret.
Wow I never expected to see a video with Journey to the West. My favourite adaptation is the one I watched as a child and still absolutely love as an adult - the 1996 TVB series with Dicky Cheung.
Oh my god YESSS
Journey to the West fed my love for fantasy, but the book was kind of hard to get through for a middle school student, I had the same difficulty with the LOTR series.
LOTR is a beach book compared to JTTW.
@Char - Oh I hear ya! Not easy, or quick, but keeps sucking you back in 😎
I think my favorite Journey to the West adaptation is probably Doraemon: The Record of Nobita's Parallel Visit to the West, it’s kinda obscure and not that popular since it’s such an old movie but it’s very special to me, Doraemon was my favorite kid show growing up and I would binge watch all the episodes. I also watched many of the movies and I still remember them to this day among them my favorite was the journey to the west one. I was already exposed to Journey to the West by this point since my parents would watch old Chinese Journey to the West dramas but they didn’t appeal to me as much as the cartoon version of the story did. I also loved the cast of characters in Doraemon so it was just perfect to me.
I wanted to rewatch the movie recently but it’s very difficult to find, I only found a Chinese version of the movie with no sub or dub. (originally I watched the movie in Vietnamese dub but I couldn’t find the Vietnamese version no matter how hard I tried). If anyone is able to find a watchable version, either dub or sub please send it to me, I want to rewatch it so badly. T^T
Doraemon seems to be popular everywhere except America (where I'm from). We've gotten some localizations in the last few years, decades after everyone else in the world did.
This episode was an utter delight. Thanks for watching all those adaptations!
As a child of the 70s and 80s it cannot be overstated enough the impact and popularity of Monkey! (the BBC dubbed Japanese show). So many minor injuries sustained by me and my mates acting out that show. Not to mention having some rather confusing feelings towards a certain bald Buddhist monk. 🤣
Oh man I loved Saiyuki back in the day, and I still have a lot of nostalgia for it. Anime and manga certainly love the "classic piece of literature but all the characters are hot guys/girls" genre.
I'm so pleased you talked about this text, I love seeing all of the iterations that have happened! A Korean Odyssey is such a lovely show. I wish there was a second season.
I did NOT expect you to mention Saiyuki! It was my first introduction to the story and I loved it so much it made me look up the original. Well done on this video, it must have taken so much work!
Man, the time you must have put into this one. Also glad you included Saiyuki, it's not very accurate, but it is so fun.
My introduction to Journey to the West was Overly Sarcastic's version.
I even got the first volume because of it (it's been a few years and I still need to get the other three - those volumes are pricey).
My favorite part of what I've read was the Tang Emperor's road trip through hell. I am so disappointed that that's an easy section to cut.
The Journey to The West adaptation that had a soft spot in my heart is The Hong Kong TVB drama version. I would watch it every Chinese New Year when it's always on rerun
It has 2 seasons and very faithful to the source material and the narrator is like those 4th wall breaking narrators
Again completely agree and I've already comment about it on artistiqa's comments.
25:06 GODS that is terrifying. XD
I am sadly very ignorant of litterature not within my own culture or media I grew up with. Learning not only about another story, but its multiple interpretations and its impact on others is INCREDIBLE!
I think my favorite interpretation you spoke of is Saiyuki, the 1999 anime, JUST because of the pseudodragon that turns into a car. That is just amazing.
Thank you for putting this all together for our enjoyment, I have a lot of fun coming back to this video every so often! ^^
Goku was def' the best adaptation of the monkey king, complete with the magical staff that can change size and length
Especially if you follow the outline
Not gonna lie, Saiyuki was one of my favorite animes in my life at one time. If you take out DBZ, Saiyuki was the first introduction to The Journey to the West for me. If you compare it to DBZ, I will fully stake my claim that it is a much better adaptation to the story.
It is honestly still has a great place in my heart. I'm glad that someone finally talked about it. Between all the extras, side stories, movies, and remixes, it really is pretty good. Thank you, Dom, for covering it. Even a little is enough for me. Thank you so much!
But you can't really compare Dragon Ball and Saiyuki because of how different they are.
@@TheFLAMEXD you can compare them as adaptations of the thing they're both based on. But admittedly only portions of Dragonball are JTW based. None of which are in Z lol. I never watched Saiyuki, this video is my first time hearing about it actually, so idk how much else has based off JTW
Me too. I have the complete series of Gensoumaden Saiyuki on Blu-Ray.
Saiyuki is great. It's one of the few mangas that work even if they never get anywhere or get anything done.
I guess The Dom never saw the original Dragonball, which is a fairly close Journey To the West adaptation, replacing the scrolls with the titular dragonballs and the monk with a hot girl named Bulma, and adding in dinosaurs and futuristic technology. It leaves the JTTW rails after the dragon is summoned for the first time, turning into a fairly standard martial arts/tournament story.
I will say, it is really cool how much this story lends itself to faithful adaptations but also really cool "can you pick out the parallels" game style looser adaptations
My introduction was the US mini series “The Monkey King” from 2001 with Thomas Gibson. It wasn’t trying to be a true adaptation and I liked including a modern perspective character so we could follow it more easily.
Yes! Thank you! I was remembering I saw something in the TV as a child, that had the characters from Journey to the West, but for the life of me couldn't remember what it was.
I was searching for ages to find out what this was! I remembered seeing something with a monkey and a pig when I was younger, and knew that the monkey had a staff but it wasn't until this that I put 2 and 2 together
That smug smile when you mentioned Evolution had me howling. Thank you for that.
You know that's going to bite him in the ass someday, right?
Omg I’m squeeing at your favorable comments about A Korean Odyssey!!! I love love LOVE that Kdrama!
From start to finish, a GEM!
The expression of sheer delight and glee on my face when you brought up Korean Odyssey (aka Hwayugi) can not be overstated. I loved that show and the clever little nods to the original book so much; even Son Oh-gong's haircut in the present-day scenes is a very subtle nod to the makeup used for past versions of Sun Wukong on film (note the heart shape made by his hairline/bangs). As someone who isn't Korean but grew up frequently exposed to Korean culture thanks to family friends, I absolutely LOVED the whole story; if you've seen it and want something similar, "Mystic Pop-Up Bar" (aka Ssan Gap Pocha) is really good and I highly recommend it as well.
A Chinese Odyssey 1 & 2 are fun movies that basically is a one off story in the Journey to the West but it is an absolute blast to watch. Stephen Chow is one of the best Monkey King portrayals I have seen, which makes sense as to why he'd direct Journey to the West in his future being so familiar with the character.
Only version I like. Music is also timeless
Gotta love Overly Sarcastic. And it's taking them about as long as tripitaka to get through their series
The cartoon at 4:40 is wonderful! Im not sure if it has an english translation so im guessing thats why it wasn't talked about but i remember seeing it on television so much.
I was trying to find comments about it but could only find 2.
I am in the middle of translating it in English actually!
I am in the middle of translating it in English actually!
Unfortunately I could only find the first 19 episodes in the original dub with english subtitles. I've only seen one episode of the english sub, but they removed the parts where monkey kills the bandits.
It's fun to see how much of the Journeys characters and plot Toriyama used in Dragonball.
The guy playing the Handsome Monkey King in the 1978 version is kinda wonderful. He has so much charisma!
So glad this wasn't just me! As I'm a certain age Monkey from the 1978 version was my first crush.
The 70's cast really is phenomenal. The guy who plays Monkey is utterly charming, charismatic and full of energy. The dude playing (original) Pigsy is a magnificent clown and comic foil, Sandy's actor is appropriately glum, pessimistic and churlish, and Tripitaka's actress was so elegant and graceful.
Dom dunking on the DBZ fans is amazing.
The effects were on par with the time, where Monkey is concerned, they were neither cheap nor bad fifty years ago. It was kids TV, but it wasnt Doctor Who on a shoestring.
I've not read Journey to the West. My introduction to Sun Wukong was "The Monkey King 2" where I honestly fell in love with Sun Wukong as a character. The first film in that series, "Havoc in Heaven's Palace" struck me most as they used the fox spirit's betrayal of Sun Wukong as the catalyst for his rampages and defiance of the Jade Emperor and everything he's been taught. The third film moves Sandy into his water demon aspect if I recall correctly. There are a number of films that reference Sun Wukong, Pig, and Sandy, one of them is 2016's Call of Heroes, where one of the main characters is teased by some school children for being Piggy, but then he rescues the inn where everyone is at from thieves and the kids decide this guy is not Piggy but Sun Wukong. There's a 2018 film that is supposed to be a prequel of some sort titled Immortal Demon Slayer about Sun Wukong before he meets the others. Finally, there is "The Forbidden Kingdom" with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Jackie Chan plays an immortal Taoist, and Jet Li is Sun Wukong. I don't know if the story has anything to do with the book, but it is, for me anyway, a fun ride with one of my favorite characters.
I liked this format for these kind of books.
I feel like this would be a great way to do Frankenstein when you choose to go there.
I love Dragonball, wish Dom had given it a shoutout.
I know that dude I grew up with on toonami Pakistan
I'm guessing because of how much Dragon Ball became its own thing, Dom didn't think it counted as an adaptation.
it was really interesting seeing how different movies/tv shows adapted the source material
omg I didn't even realise Hwayugi (A Korean Odyssey) was based on Journey to the West, you learn something new every day!
My first introduction to Journey To The West was a Hallmark tv movie, sometimes referred to as The Monkey King and somes as The Lost Empire. It's about an american scholar of chinese literature who gets sucked into the story effectively taking the place of Tripitaka and the story was actually about demons trying to erase Journey to the West from existence. It has some pretty big white saviour vibes but I don't think it was malintended and honestly, despite its flaws I still enjoying watching it today. Of course I haven't read JTTW yet so it makes it easier to like these kinds of things.
Dom, thank you for the effort and respect you've given this story for this video. It's hard to state how much this series and some of its adaptations mean to me as a diaspora Chinese. :) The "1986" live action and the Chinese cartoon especially formative for me as a kid, the Monkey King is still one of my favourite shithead protagonists ever.
I'm a year late to the party, but if you can put your hands/eyes on "Journey to the West - Legends of the Monkey King", a 1998 animated series, I believe it's worth it. You put an image of it at 4:40. I was a young teenager back when it aired in my country, but from what I gathered from Overly Sarcastic Productions, it seems to me that it was REALLY close to the original material and fun to watch (at the time). The sad part is I can't seem to find it anywhere on the internet T_T
I audibly exclaimed my joy the very second I saw this video suggested to me! :D Thanks for working on this one, Mr. Noble. I greatly appreciate your effort and expertise. :)
when i saw saiyuki - 19 year old me suddenly appeared and screamed like the crazy fangirl she was ... oh boy. I am so very glad you even put this anime into the video. Was unexpected but my 19 year old self is now very very happy
Sha Wujing, Sandy, having sand powers may have come from the fact that the river he was a demon in was known as the Flowing-sand river. Further both his actual name and localized name reference this fact as well.
I wasn't thinking too much today and went a little off the cuff in explaining Journey to the West to my students as "Imagine if Jesus went on a road trip with Superman and two mid-tier X-Men."
Woah, this is the best snippet of all the iterations. Thank you for going over