Tales of the Gold Monkey The Complete Series   Starring: Stephen Collins, Jeff MacKay and Caitlin O'Heaney Fabulous Films RRP: £59.99 FHED2662 Certificate: PG Available 09 November 2009

In a backwater corner of the South Pacific in 1938, a young American adventurer and his ragtag group of friends become involved in death-defying hi-jinx, transporting people-on-the-run in a well-worn Grumman Goose seaplane...

You know every so often something really special comes around, special because the program was good and extra special because it’s difficult to find other people who remember it.

Tales of the Gold Monkey was a 1982 television series, created by Donald P.Bellisario (Quantum Leap) in 1979. The show only got the green light from the studio after the obvious success of the equally retro Raiders of the Lost Ark. Apart from both being period pieces there is little that connects the two.

The show was set in 1938 Philippines which places our hero, Jake Cutter (Stephen Collins), who finds himself caught between the evil machinations of the encroaching Japanese and his desire for adventure. Jake makes his living as a pilot for hire on the French island of Boragora in an area where dominance is being contested between the two countries.

As this is an unashamedly boys own adventure our hero has side kicks in the form of Jack and Corky, who also provide much of the comic relief. Jack is a one eyed jack russell. Although he is his devoted companion, he still holds some resentment that Jake lost his fake eye in a poker game. Corky is Jake’s mechanic who had originally built the plane which Jake flies, the problem with Corky is that all that alcohol has befuddled his brains.

Where would adventure be without beauty and the show has two of these, the first is Jack’s sometimes love interest, Sarah Stickney-White (Caitlin O'Heaney) who sings in The Monkey Bar and moonlights as an American agent. Her counterpart is the beautiful but deadly Princess Koji (Marta DuBois) who is often found accompanied by Todo (John Fujioka), her, not terribly bright, bodyguard. Throw in a bunch of stock Nazi’s and Jake has his work cut out for him.

With the stage set Jake spends his life dodging the Japanese whilst trying to win his fortune. It’s a simple concept but one which works surprisingly well.

Each episode comes with a text synopsis and five of the episodes have a full length audio commentary. The problem here is that you might not find these as the menu isn’t very good. If you choose ‘episodes’ from the main menu the option for the commentary does not appear, you have to choose ‘scenes’ before the disc will reveal this option. Go figure.

The show didn’t make it past its first season before it was cancelled, so this six disc set contains all of the twenty-one episodes of the show. The picture is presented in its original aspect ratio of 4:3 and considering the age of the show the picture holds up remarkably well. There is the odd evidence of some print dirt but only if you’re looking for it. Apart for the pilot episode, which is an hour and a half long, the remaining episodes run to a little over forty-seven minutes

There are some extras on the sixth disc though apart from the new thirty-six minute ‘Making of’ documentary these consist of text based information and a stills gallery. The documentary has contributions from Stephen Collins, Caitlin O'Heaney, Tom Greene (writer/producer) and director Harvey Laidman. It a pretty good look at the show and worth watching even if you’re not a fan. If you know nothing about the show, start your viewing here.

So a show, full of fun, which spends as much time on its characters relationships as it does on the adventure aspect. Worth a look if you like boys own type adventure.

8

Charles Packer