The Monkey King (TV miniseries)

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The Monkey King, also known as The Lost Empire, is a 2001 four hour television mini-series produced by NBC and the SciFi Channel. It is a contemporary take on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. It stars Ling Bai, Thomas Gibson, Russell Wong, and Randall Duk Kim. The film is directed by Peter MacDonald and written by pre-eminent Asian American dramatist David Henry Hwang.

"A businessman, a powerful monkey-like being and his weird sidekicks battle an army of demons for a Chinese manuscript."

[edit] Plot

Nicholas Orton (played by Thomas Gibson) is an American businessman who has lived in China for several years. He has a chance encounter with a beautiful Chinese lady (played by Bai Ling) who says that he is the only one who can save China from reverting back five-hundred years. He is unswayed by this until many modern buildings begin disappearing before his eyes. This mystical lady (revealed later as Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion) transports him to a portal which offers entrance, through the teachings of Confucius (played by Ric Young), to the ancient Chinese underworld.

When Nicholas Orton (soon to be named The Scholar From Above) reaches the other side of the portal, he finds that his studies of Confucius will come in handy for the path that lies ahead. Nicholas Orton's first action is to rescue Sun Wukong the Monkey King from the mountain which he has been imprisoned in for centuries. Sun Wukong (the Monkey King or Monkey Emperor) travels with Nicholas Orton in his quest to save the original manuscript of Journey to the West from destruction. They are later joined by Zhu Bajie (Pigsy) and Sha Wujing (Friar Sand) to help them on the way.

[edit] Releases

The film is available on DVD and videocassette.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The works of David Henry Hwang
Full-length plays
FOB (1980) · Family Devotions (1981) · Rich Relations (1986) · M. Butterfly (1988) · Face Value (1993) · Golden Child (1996) · Peer Gynt (1998, with Stephan Muller; from Henrik Ibsen) · Tibet Through the Red Box (2004, from Sis) · Yellow Face (2007)
Short plays
The Dance and the Railroad (1981) · The House of Sleeping Beauties (1983, from Kawabata) · The Sound of a Voice (1983) · As the Crow Flies (1986) · Bondage (1992) · Trying to Find Chinatown (1996) · Bang Kok (1996) · Merchandising (1999) · Jade Flowerpots and Bound Feet (2001)
Film/television
Blind Alleys (1985, with Kimball) · M. Butterfly (1993) · Golden Gate (1994) · The Lost Empire (2001) · Possession (2002, with Jones and LaBute, from Byatt)
Music theatre
1000 Airplanes on the Roof (1988, with Glass and Sirlin) · The Voyage (1992, with Glass) · The Silver River (1997, with Sheng) · Aida (2000, with Woolverton & Falls, John and Rice, from Verdi) · Flower Drum Song (2001, with Rodgers and Hammerstein, from Fields, Hammerstein, and Lee) · Ainadamar (2003, with Golijov) · The Sound of a Voice (2004, with Glass) · Tarzan (2006, with Collins, from Burroughs) · Alice in Wonderland (2007, with Chin, from Carroll)