This was a cool show! I'm surprised it didn't last longer, I mean this seems like perfect fare for the early '80s, with Indiana Jones and all. I guess it was a big hit with kids, but not so much with adults. It was awesome to me, but then I was only 9 at the time, so what did I know??
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culwin11 August 2001
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I enjoyed the collected DVD compilation. It combined a terrific ensemble cast with an complex story line. Granted there were times when the Corky character would get on my nerves and I could have done with less of him.
My chief impression though is that the series had longer scripts than the episodes had time to film. There are a number of episodes that could have benefited from a longer run time in order to flesh out things that were skimmed over or left poorly explained. Still, given what the 80s were, and compared to the carbon-copy ensemble shows we have now, this was not bad.
Oh, and BTW, Herthh, you should try paying attention when you watch and then your review might not contain so may inaccuracies. -
gilbert-haentjens6 August 2006TotGM came on Flemish (commercial) television in 1989 - 1990. I was 41 years old then, which is somewhat older then many of the other reviewers. I remember it as a perfect combination of adventure, romance and historical background, and with enough suspense to keep every episode very enjoyable. Today, 16 years later (and older), it still remains my favourite TV series and until this day I check regularly whether it would appear in the programming of one or other of the many TV stations which can be received in Flanders. As far as I know this has never been the case ... I am thus, like many of you, eagerly awaiting a release on DVD !
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NeoLeo30 August 2003Contrary to popular consensus, TotGM was not an Indiana Jones knockoff, although the popularity of those movies was probably responsible for Gold Monkey getting its shot on television. No, Gold Monkey was much more in line with many older adventure movies, and creator Donald Bellisario insisted it was inspired mostly by the 1939 movie Only Angels Have Wings.
Regardless of where it came from, though, this was a very enjoyable series. As a boy of 9 at the time it originally aired, I was absolutely enamored with it (so much so, in fact, that my father still calls me "Jake" to this day). Now, as a man of 30, I have managed to find copies of all the episodes, and I find that I still love it. I may love it even more now that I'm older and more able to appreciate the historical references in the show, which is set in the Pacific in 1938. Spies and political intrigues abound in every single episode, and provide the perfect backdrop for an adventure story.
This series is clearly a product of early 80s American television, showing quite a bit of similarity in structure and production values with nearly every other series produced at the time. Gold Monkey, though, was far from formulaic, and very original. How many shows can you name that had an intelligent one-eyed dog that was regarded in every respect as an equal member of the cast?
I will never understand why it didn't last more than a single season, but at least I can enjoy what little there is. "Tales of the Gold Monkey" will always have a special place in my heart and on my video shelf. -
flatrich18 February 2011I watched this show way back when it came out but only saw about a half a dozen episodes. Some of these also appeared as reruns a while later, but never the entire series. So I was delighted when the DVD box was announced at last and even paid the folks at Amazon in advance of its release. Now, don't get me wrong kids: this is a TV series by the guys who did Magnum p.i. and Quantum Leap (and J.A.G and N.C.I.S) and it is really a TV series from that Magnum period all the way. Studio sets, stock shots, very familiar character actors and that horny, brassy Mike Post music (again, like Magnum) screaming inappropriately everywhere. But this series is a gas, man! It's fun! It's silly! It's TV! AND it has Jack - undoubtedly the smartest dog in TV history! And Jack talks! Well, sort of. One bark for "no" and two barks for "yes" and he cracks me up in every episode. Rent it, buy it, I don't care. You'll thank me later. (Arf, arf!)
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billk5125 February 2011Well, Herthh, you're entitled to your long, senseless and mostly incoherent opinion. It's good to see that you're a fan of the eight copy-cat prime time crime dramas currently ruling the fading major networks.
"Gold Monkey" had a great cast of talented actors who had strong chemistry together. That's why it developed such a strong group of devotees during its short life time. The Kirk, Spock and McCoy characters could have been plunked down into almost any plot and had a hit because of the appealing interaction between them.
If you didn't find the relationships between Jake and Corky and Jake and Sarah appealing then you're just not a 30's kind of guy. -
bluesman-2019 July 2014Tales of the Gold Monkey. Is a show That sprang up after the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tales of the Gold monkey and Bring Em back alive were the two shows that tried to copy an Indiana Jones vein. While both shows only stayed for a season they were actually superior to a lot of shows that did stay. Tales of the Gold monkey is the story of Captain Jake Cutter and his friends on a Pacific island in 1938 They must contend with Nazi spies Pirates and just about every other perils the adventure pulp novels could think of. Jake Cutter is a out of work pilot who owns a battered Grumman goose. He travels with Corky a mechanic with a drinking problem. Jack a egotistical one eyed dog. Along the way he ends up working at the monkey bar owned by Bon chance Louie a shady con man with a heart of gold. When the show opens Jake is flying cargo with his beloved plane Cuter's Goose. and he runs into American Spy Sarh . Naturally after a few adventures together they fall in love. And after that the show to it's credit. does not fall into a formula show. it instead becomes a one reel serial adventure movie. here the heroes are heroes the bad guys are bad guys and there are no areas off grey. This show still remains a treasured part of my childhood so much. I bought the series on DVD. and today it's a show even my sons enjoy. That says a lot about a 30 year + show that only lasted a season. Now if they would only release Bring Em Back alive on DVD. Oh well until then I have this show to keep me company.
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mygenerationpodcast27 October 2013I remember seeing this show as a kid, and loved it. My parents were into the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, and this was just an extension of those 1930's serials.
And when, less than 10 years later, Talespin aired, it brought the memories flooding right back for this show.
Comparisons:
Jake had the Cutter's Goose, a sea plane.
Baloo flew the Sea Duck, also a twin-engine sea plane,
The bar where Jake used to frequent was called Louie's; so was the bar where Baloo frequented.
Wildcat was Baloo's absent-minded mechanic; Corky was Jake's absent-minded mechanic (albeit, Corky suffered from too much drinking, while Wildcat was just absent-minded and something of an idiot savant when it came to repairing things).
Tales of the Gold Monkey was just 10 years too early. It was a great show, a great premise - constantly going on treasure hunts, getting in and out of scrapes with the Japanese and Nazis that were starting to come to power, and of course, the American and German spies going back and forth.
Sure, some of the scenes were re-hashed over and over (scenes of the Goose taking off and landing, or of the Goose flying somewhere over land), but that's to be expected to cut costs. Flying an old air boat like that probably wasn't cheap, and they wanted to keep production costs down...I miss this show. Maybe it's time for a resurrection, as long as it doesn't leave a bad "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" taste in our mouths. -
I was a young 22 just out of active duty after serving 4 yrs in the United States Navy when this show first appeared, this was an awesome program, love the 30s time, the way people dressed, talked, behaved...it was a better time (without having to get into the nuances of today)... the south pacific, that specific area and post WW2)...the writing acting, costumes...beyond words, my family would record it for me,(when you could) on super8, while I was on reserve duty...it was good, you could watch the show and enjoy the exploits of the cast, (fast forward thru the commercials) it was very disappointing to see it get canceled even though it received recognition, ABC made a mistake, as the networks often do
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joker-scar17 September 2018I remember watching this show and loving it. Couldn't remember a single episode....so when I got a chance to re-watch the entire series, I was hesitant to destroy my fond memories and see how possibly cheap and bad the show actually was. Well it does have some bad acting, not from Stephen Collins, he is perfectly cast as a likable hero, but rather from some supporting and guest cast members. Some of the plots are pretty ludicrous and cheesy.... but damn, it's fun to watch! I have to say they did a great job at producing a high action & adventure show on a TV budget. Obviously some of the special effects don't stand up by today's standard but this was produced more than 30 years ago so you can easily over look it and find it amusing rather than be critical of it. The one thing I was surprised by was the high body count that this supposed light hearted fun & adventure Indiana Jones TV show rip off actually contains...whether heroes or villains, they drop like fly's on this show. Stephan Collins and "Jack" the one eyed patch wearing, beer drinking, English language understanding dog, both steal the show. It is a shame it only lasted one season but at least we have that much. This one does not disappoint!
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SnoopyStyle13 February 2017It's 1938 in the South Pacific. Jake Cutter (Stephen Collins) is a former Flying Tigers pilot flying his seaplane Cutter's Goose with his one-eyed dog Jack. With drunken mechanic Corky (Jeff MacKay), he operates out of the French island Bora Gora run by the supportive Bon Chance Louie (Roddy McDowall) who owns the Monkey Bar and Hotel. One day, he comes to the defense of performer Sarah Stickney White (Caitlin O'Heaney) who turns out to be an American secret agent. The Nazis are chasing the legendary Gold Monkey which is made of a heat-resistant alloy, guarded by deadly apes, and located on a volcanic island. They recruit Japanese Princess Koji (Marta DuBois) who is half Irish. Todo (John Fujioka) is her samurai henchman. The second episode ends with Jake finding a small brass monkey which becomes the icon of the show. The actual giant golden monkey is never found and believed to be a myth. There is also Reverend Willie Tenboom (John Calvin) who is not actually a man of God and in reality a Nazi operative with murky motives.
Following the success of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', ABC brings this 30s style action adventure to TV. The pilot is solid with some odd camp and plenty of action adventure. It's a lower-level sillier version of those old serials. It's more like 'Temple of Doom'. The Gold Monkey serves as a great McGuffin. The rest of the season suffers without that McGuffin. It becomes a story of the week. Some of it works but plenty do not. The show needs an objective to drive it. It's not actually a procedural and there is nothing connecting the stories from week to week. Stephen Collins is great back in the day. Caitlin O'Heaney looks like a younger Lesley Ann Warren. The most fun is Jack who always has the best bit like losing his glass eye in a card game. This show is basically a fun old style action adventure movie and then the show tries to milk stories out for the rest of the season. -
It shows that even a producer of a caliber of one Donald Bellisario can make an awful production, literally insulting intelligence of this viewer. And probably the majority of viewers saw it similarly, when I consider that Studios pulled the plug after one season.
This show was made amid of the successful Magnum P.I. Don Bellisario later made the landmark series JAG and the current excellent NCIS. I feel happy that he came to senses, recovered and let his talent and ingenuity flourish.
Much of the Magnum cast appears in Monkey's pilot: Jeff McKay, one of our favorite characters from Magnum (Lt. MacReynolds, later returned to Magnum as a "con man extraordinaire Jim Bonnik." Marta DuBois (Magnum's wife Michelle) appears as a Japanese princess of kinds. John Hillerman, main character in Magnum "Jonathan Q. Higgins" appears here also as a vicious gestapo agent "Fritz the Monocle," who as expected will find his untimely death. Alongside appear a series of Asian actors, whom we also saw on more than one occasion in Magnum episodes.
Let me briefly summarize the pilot, a good representative of what type of a show this was: Two Germans, of course portrait in a stereotype way of vicious and cowardly, stupider than a regular adult person ever could be, stand at a waterfall and see a huge ape on the other side. Huge Gorilla of sorts, like in a Planet of the Apes, expect for a childish (party?) costume. We know later that the Germans are 'scientists.' For some reason one of the Germans opens fire at the (noble) ape. The ape is not easy to kill, it attacks! It takes a lot of yelling and shooting until the ape finally dies. Other apes appear and make a short process of the Germans. Hurray.
In another scene Princess Koji (Marta DuBuis) sits naked in a Japanese Onzen Bath, and a Japanese samurai tries to grab a red cord tied to a neck of a cobra as a test of courage. A German agent visits the princess. The German is extremely cowardly, scared to death of the cobra, sweats and shakes, what amuses everybody. I was not amused, neither was my wife, who said at some time "I am finished with the show," and did not wanted to watch it any longer. Later in the episode we see the German agent pretending to be a local reverend, seducing a local, pretty and yet stereotypically stupid native girl Tiki. So what it is about? Legend wants, on the volcanic Island with the Apes exists a statue, a gold one of course, and that alloy is so resilient to heat that Germans are after it. Fritz the Monocle, who won dog's Jake glass eye in a poker game, worth $100,000 as they said on the table, is dressed as a German navy officer and is on the mission to find the Island of the Apes and get the statue. The rest of the details are kind of irrelevant, get the DVD if you must see. Suffice to say, bad guys die, good guys win, French womanize, but are good otherwise, Germans are bad. Japanese are also bad, but in a knightly "samurai" kind of way, whereas Germans are ridiculous and cowardly. Visual effects are embarrassing, especially the volcanic eruption on the Island of the Apes looked like an apprentice job.
Poor Jeff MacKey! For this role of a mechanic Corky his character on Magnum has died in season 3! Corky as a character fades into another stereotype: simple minded, always dirty, unshaven, looking for a bottle and yet a good trusty fellow. Jeff was lucky to return to Magnum in season 5 as Jim Bonnik, and his extraordinary talent showed fully in this role.
Monkey seemed to have been filmed in Tahiti and on Oahu, we clearly recognized Bora Bora, called here Gora Bora. Standing joke in the show is that dog Jake makes "woof" for yes, and "woof woof" for no, or is it the other way around? This seem to lead to a never ending series of confusion. -
mailrefuge6 August 2005I remember watching this show as a 10 year old. It was my favorite show. I was crushed when it got cancelled after only 1 season. I couldn't believe such a great show got cancelled while lousy Knight Rider ran on. How could a kid not like the adventure, the exotic locales, the Cutter's Goose? I looked for the show a few years ago online and couldn't find anything. I recently found a site doing a Google search. I purchase the DVD collection for old time sake, trying to relive the past. I figured it would never live up to my childhood memories.
So far I've gone through about 8 episodes and wow!!! I find myself enjoying it as much as ever. Who would have thought that after more than 20 years.
The casting as top notch, not like today where a pretty face is all that is required. Jake, Corky, Sara, Louie, Princess Koji, Jack and the Reverend were perfect. The chemistry between them is flawless. You can't help but like all the characters. The story lines are very 80's, simplistic but very enjoyable. The show has a subtle sense of humor I probably didn't appreciate as a youngster.
Give me a beaten old seaplane over Kitt any day of the week.
Drinks at the Monkey Bar are on me :) -
afpope3 February 2021The series did make the BIG mistake of Jake being a former "Flying Tiger", four years before the Flying Tigers existed, but lets let that go. In the pilot episode you had a former fighter pilot (Jake), his troubled mechanic, an interesting and quirky dog, exotic south seas locale, and a bar on a south seas island run by a Frenchman with a checkered past. Enter an American secret agent, Nazis after a fabled treasure and an island with a reputation so evil that no one will go near it (and it is where the treasure is). The end of the pilot was stunning. The rest of the series, however, the writing seemed to meander and the series quickly lost focus. New characters were introduced, but the writers weren't sure where to go with the story. As this was early 80's TV, the series was allowed to run it's full season, then was quickly cancelled. I was sorry to see it go. American TV series seem to do things on the cheap (the original Star Trek series had a stuntman under a thrift store rug as the villain in one episode) and so no real plans were made to advance the series. As Jake flew deliveries and passengers to other islands, if Bellasario productions actually had access to an island, instead of a studio set, the series could have gone somewhere and done some interesting things, but alas, it was not to be.
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dmeyer685831 May 2005. . . was an absolutely fantastic show. I was only twelve when it aired, and given my age it holds the same place in my heart that movies like "Indiana Jones" hold (and yes, I know the former did not derive from the latter). It was fantastic in the true sense of the word. At the same time, it was light-hearted and fun and adventurous. I have ever since wanted to visit Boragora, and was disappointed to find that the place didn't exist.
I searched for hours on-line looking for the name of this show. For whatever reason, the image of it popped into my head a few months back, and I could not for the life of me remember it. Hours on-line cured that.
For all you Gold Monkey fans out there, you can now purchase the season on DVD. -
gdjobs17 June 2005I noticed when looking up this show, that most of the reviewers were just kids when this show was out. I was about 30 when this came out, & granted I may have just been a big kid, but I liked this show quite a lot.
The broad natures of the characters was a nice use of clichés to set up a pretty cool little world. Evil Nazies, great side kick, beautiful babe, comic dog & iron jawed hero. I was always surprised when it went off after one season. Seemed like it had a nice world with lots of angles left to explore.
Eh, well, lots of shows I've liked were one season wonders. I guess I'm not a good demographic model for advertisers.
I'm looking forward to getting the DVD. The Web has been a wonderful thing for finding rare gems like this. -
RedRaven23 December 1998"Tales of the Gold Monkey" was a fun romp of a show. Rather than being a rip-off of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," it was a show inspired by classic movies, such as "Only Angels Have Wings," with a great cast including Stephen Collins, Caitlin O'Heaney, Jeff MacKay, and the late Roddy McDowell. Running only one season, the show never made it into syndication, although the USA Network ran it in the late 80's.
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sqeyes30 December 2003Yep I saw it when I was living abroad but never when I was in the United States strangely enough.
I was in my late teens I loved it, so did my family. I would love to see it again but for all the internet searches I have done over the years this is the first time I have ever got a reply to a search for it.
I would like to find out who has the tapes and see if they are going to release them on DVD. It is set in a very nostalgic era and I think it would go down well today even though it was a TV series.
If you find anywhere broadcasting it please let me know. -
Mork-413 May 1999A great programme that I remember watching in the early 80's on British TV. It was shown in England in about 1982 (I was 12, my brother 16). We both loved it, but it was only on for one series and then vanished into thin air. I would love to see this again!
Reminiscent of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", but with a classier, darker feel to the stories. The characters were less one dimensional, but still appealed to the kid in me. I always loved the flying "boat plane"! -
mrviolence9 July 2000I was just a kid when this show was on TV, but I still remember it with a warm feeling. I was a real adventure show, with a lot of cool stories. I doubt that I would worship it if I saw it again, but it would be a great trip of nostalgia. Plus it can´t be all bad.
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Web-729 June 1999I just happened to think of this show one night as I was on the web, and so I decided to look it up. I was SIX years old when this show aired on TV, but I still remember it, ever so hazily. Like the other commentees - I too was captured by it in my youth and would love to see it again. Strange it is that we all seem to have looked it up at about the same time, '98-'99.
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jasonsiques9 July 2005This morning I woke up with the title in my head. Obviously some of you have too.
This was the show to tune into when my friends and I were in third grade. The next day's lessons were always secondary to the discussions of Jake, the Goose, and all the adventures contained within the world of the show.
I too was initially surprised that it only lasted one season, but I quickly remembered tuning in to it's normal time slot the following fall (I believe it was Tuesdays at 8?) and being disappointed. So sad. The show was awesome. Our little eight and nine year old minds were just overdriven by the by it. -
Good & picturesque TV series. i saw some episodes in french channel "serrie club"and it vanished! Can I see it on US channels?I am still a fan of war series like Black sheer squad.with R.Conrad & Hoagan Heroes. where to find info. & posters on the web? Your website is wonderful & I found there unvaluable infos of any kind please apologize for my english!
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Scott_Weinberg26 May 1999I was curious to see if ANYONE out there still remembered this show. I was 11 when it aired and I loved it. It's probably for the best that I'll probably never see it again, as I doubt it would stand up to what I remember. Ah, well.
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Blueghost16 January 2012I have to admit right now that I didn't watch this show too much when it first aired, but I did catch an episode every now and then. And the thing that strikes me the most are the memorable characters.
Riding off of Lucas's and Spielberg's reinvention of Hollywood by reintroducing classic serial film making for the masses, Donald Belisario brings us a tale of an Indy Jones aviator flying the south seas in his Grumman "Goose" flying boat. With him are Jack, his canine companion missing one eye, his overweight mechanic with lots of good intentions, a French bar owner of Planet of the Apes fame, and of course a spy in the form of a femme fatal as she keeps tabs on the Japanese fleet for Uncle Sam.
The stories are outlandish. The characters over the top. The situation is right out of a 1930's Saturday matinée as we follow the adventures and misadventures of Jake and Jack and their friends.
It's not a very well shot series. It comes out of the industrial TV age of the 60s, 70s and 80s, where TV productions were cranked out like Golden Era Hollywood feature films. That is to say this thing was essentially mass produced with a lot of other TV. The stage and sets were predominantly pre-lit, so that all you had to do was setup the props and roll camera.
It's not the best TV show around, but if you find yourself liking the characters and situation, then that's all the producers can really expect. The show, had a bit more money been pumped into it, then there would've been money enough to stage and shoot proper flying sequences a- la "Baa-Baa Black Sheep" a fear years before. Ditto with the action sequences. There's a lot of slight of hand with editing going on, but the shots and sequences get their point across, even if those same action sequences are a bit stilted.
A proper production would have gone the extra mile as per Lucas's TV series from the 1990's; "The Chronicles of Young Indiana Jones". Lucas's series lasted three full seasons with magnificent production values; battle sequences, chases, gunfights, equestrian theatrics, stunts on trains, and incredible flying sequences. Had Belisario gotten more financing for his show, then "Tales of the Gold Monkey" would have ranked up there as a high-ranking knock off of Lucas's and Spielberg's recreation and homage to afternoon serials of the 30s and 40s.
Otherwise, and I hate to say this, but will state so with the best intentions, this show is a mediocre TV series. It's even campy by borrowing from other genres, and incorporating concepts from films. Still, for all that, it is entertaining. But, like I say, had Golden Monkey been filmed on location, with extra money for real flight and proper action sequences, this production could have really shined beyond its current status. Still, it's likable for what it is. Again, still, for all that, the wit injected into the script breath life into the characters, and that makes this show worth watching.
A good TV program from an unheralded age of television. Campy, silly, moderately budgeted, but still endearing for all that.
Give it a chance.