Journey to the West (TVB)

  As a child, I have always heard of the four Chinese classics, them being: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Dream of the Red Mansion, Water Margin, and lastly, Journey to the West. Out of these four, I have only sampled two of them, by reading excerpts and watching the television adaptations. You could say I grew up watching the CCTV 1986 version of Journey to the West, sometimes parading around the house dressed up as the lovable main character Sun Wukong and swinging a small rod, pretending it was his cudgel.

  Now that I've grown up, I see that Journey to the West is not merely a childhood fairy tale story; it has many teachings for the intended audience of Wu Cheng'en's time and even for its present-day audiences. I even wrote my senior thesis based on one story arc of Journey to the West, along with other literary works. After reading a translation of the actual book, I can still fondly recall scenes from the TV series. The reason why this adaptation is considered classic by most people is because it is quite faithful to the book (of course, there is some "artistic license" applied), and because the actor, Liu Xiao Ling Tong, is the best Monkey King ever.

  There have been many times that others tried to replicate the success of the 1986 version. Hong Kong's TVB adapted three series based on Journey to the West, with the Monkey King portrayed by Dicky Cheung and then Benny Chan in the sequels. I tried watching it, but all I could do is cringe in horror seeing the ridiculous changes to the story and the character's personalities. If you're going to adapt a famous book, you should at least follow SOME part of story properly. Dicky's Sun Wukong is arrogant, a show-off, silly, weak, and stupid. Although Sun Wukong is rather arrogant at the beginning of the book, he is quite intelligent and very strong, thank you very much for spoiling his image, Dicky. I recall there was this instance where Dicky's Sun Wukong can't even beat the first demon they come against (because all it takes is the power of praying and reciting Buddhist verses), yet he is able to transform many other people to look prettier (kind of like magic plastic surgery/real life Photoshop?). WHAT THE HECK IS THIS. I know that in the book, Sun Wukong cannot do that -- it takes him lots of materials to transform his master to look like him, he cannot just snap his fingers to change others if they are mortal. Also, he would NEVER bothering wasting his powers like that. In the end, the TVB Xuanzang (the master) told Dicky to turn them all back to their normal selves. The REAL Sun Wukong would have kicked the first demon's butt -- what is the point of having four disciples to protect you if Xuanzang's praying is enough? Seriously, TVB, get real.

  And I'm not even going to talk about how Sun Wukong became something like King Kong. I don't understand how people interpret Monkey King = King Kong (massive giant, wild gorilla). Almost every adaptation I've seen (excluding the 1986 and the sequel to it) has Sun Wukong turning into King Kong. Maybe they're trying to appeal to modern audiences, but you can do better than this. Why not show off more of Sun Wukong's powers instead? He has 72 transformation and it would be very impractical to transform into a wild giant gorilla when he can just make himself bigger and flatten all his enemies with his cudgel. In fact, Sun Wukong prefers smaller size transformations such as the fly to spy on his enemies. He would not see the point of becoming so large such that there is more area for you to hit him back. He knows size doesn't matter (coughcoughZhuBaJiecoughcough).

  But, the thing is, the TVB version seems to be predominantly popular among the Chinese community (and even Vietnamese). All my friends, and many people I've seen online, claim that the TVB version "is the best, hands down". They all remember watching the TVB version during their childhood, and because of this, are biased towards what's good and what's not. It's the same with Pokemon -- we watched it in our childhood, so Pokemon has always been that endearing TV show we all know and love (but I love Pokemon). I think this is because all my friends speak Cantonese (while the original 1986 China version is in Mandarin), thus it's more understandable to them in their primary language. I was fortunate enough to possess the dubbed Cantonese version of the 1986 version, which is what I watched during my childhood. I think this is the turning point in our opinions -- if I had watched the TVB one when I was little, I would probably be more fond of it. I might even object to how "inaccurate" the book is compared to the TVB show, which maybe is what's in the mindset of these people right now -- they actually think the TVB version is the true version of the Journey to the West story. Also, TVB is better at marketing their merchandise -- especially if it happens to be their classic series, so it doesn't surprise me that it's more widespread than the 1986 version. Other factors about why people are so in love with the TVB version are probably the improved computer graphics, how cool Sun Wukong (Dicky) seems to be with his gangster-like catchphrase, how funny the interactions between the pupils are (especially for Zhu BaJie), and maybe even that Dicky is soooooooo hot (which a lot of girls think). But you need to look beyond all that. The 1986 version has funny moments as well, although the humor may be lost on younger generations, and computer graphics don't have to be that good to be a good show. I mean, black and white shows are still in ways superior to color TV, what can I say? The most advanced film technology is only a complement to the overall quality of the actor's skills and the TV series plot.

  Some might say I'm biased toward the 1986 version, since I watched it during my childhood. But when one grows older, one can learn the flaws and accept them, and move on. Maybe if I had started out watching the TVB version, I will eventually dismiss it as the best version because of its failure to stay consistent with the true story line. BUT. I have objectively compared all the version I have watched to the book. The book is the true source, and thus determines everything -- if it's an adaptation, it must remain faithful and not invent monsters along the way or change the character's powers (I'm looking at you, TVB). I have an undying fascination with Journey to the West, it's a beautiful fantasy, long journey type story that shows how people can change over time, and the lessons they learn in times of difficulty. Because of its inaccuracies, I have completely dismissed the TVB version -- I have watched it objectively for around 12 episodes when I gave up, around where the disciples plan to give their urine for their master to drink because he was thirsty (I'm not even going to comment on that). The real contestants for the best version of Journey to the West are the 1986 version, the 2009 version, and the 2010 version, all from China, the land of its birth. I have not finished watching either of the newer versions, but I do plan on doing so -- they don't give me headaches watching them.

  The 1986 version is not perfect. Sometimes the order of demons is not flowing the order of the book, and it tries to cram a whole story arc in one episode. But back then, one episode was around an hour long. Several chapters make up a story arc, which themselves are very short. It might be enough to cover an arc in one episode. Longer arcs should span a couple more episodes. This is why the 1986 version gave way to a sequel later, to cover the arcs that they missed. The sequel, although it had two of the leads remaining, was not as good as the original. This might be because of a sloppy job of connecting the arcs, which seemed random, and they were told as stories to the Tang emperor when they returned back to China. The graphics had improved by then and was other passable. The arcs the sequel covered were quite boring, mostly to do with water demons, which are always an obstacle because Sun Wukong can't fight underwater. Also, the original 1986 version fails to depict the demons properly at times, probably because of the limited resources they had -- nine headed demons had sticks coming out of their shoulders, which was utterly laughable. There are some plot holes too that are unexplained in the 1986 version where Erlang Shen magically appeared to save the day with Sun Wukong. Nevertheless, the creators of the 1986 version tried their best in adapting the story with the limited technology and props they had. It is not perfect, but very close to it, and an extremely engaging series when one discards the need for extremely nice computer graphics. The soundtrack is amazing, sung by some of China's best singers, and emote the scenes quite well when needed. And no one, and I say NO ONE, can outperform Liu Xiao Ling Tong's deliverance of the Monkey King. No one is as dedicated as he is.

  I watched about 14 episodes of the 2009 one, and I have a couple of comments. I realize in this new generation of drama, viewers care more about love relationships and angst, and emotions and drama. This might be another reason why the 1986 version is unappealing nowadays -- it lacks what viewers want from a drama series. But keep in mind the book was written a long time ago -- the characters and demons are relatively flat, with the exception of Sun Wukong and Zhu BaJie, who probably have the most stunning personalities in the book, hands down -- and this is what the 1986 version replicates -- main characters are good and focused on their journey as they should be, and demons are evil, evil, evil. The modern adaptations of Journey to the West try to cater to the needs of the modern day audience while staying close to the story line. In the 2009 version, we see two sister demons added to Sun Wukong's family, in addition to the Bull Demon. This strays from the book, but I feel the makers are allowed some artistic license here, since it otherwise does follow the plot. Besides, it does have an interesting factor to it -- I personally love the White Crane demon, she is beautiful and has a nice voice. It's that extra oomph that is missing from the 1986 version because of it following the book -- a true adaptation, in theory, gains both the strengths and flaws of the work it is adapting. Anyway, the 2009 version focuses on the love story between the White Crane and Sun Wukong (at least, that's the vibe I'm getting -- I haven't been able to confirm it yet). The two sister demons died during the raid by Heaven on Flower Fruit Mountain, which is why they have been reincarnated into very evil demons later to fight Sun Wukong. I personally think that the relationship Sun Wukong has with the two demons is very interesting, and it seems to be developing a story outside of Journey to the West. But this may come off a bit cheap -- it feels like fanfiction, adding these two characters in that have such an impact on the overall plot. Other ways this particular version seems cheap is how everything is made of computer graphics -- the whole Heaven and underwater realm is CGI-ed, which makes the film overly fake. I do like the comradeship between Nezha and Sun Wukong, I always like how they fought in the beginning and then later Nezha would always help him during his journey in the 1986 version. It makes their mutual trust and friendship more believable, since it wasn't covered in the 1986 version (but I think another reason why they get along is because they have similar histories/personalities). However, in the beginning, I feel their relationship is very childish -- but that may be because Sun Wukong in the 2009 was a bit childish. They frequently have competitions about who's faster or stronger. Which brings me to my next point -- although engaging, the 2009 version has fights that last waayyy too long. And when I say too long, I mean too long. NeZha and Sun Wukong's first fight lasted almost half the episode, if I recall correctly, and there were other fights that took up a good chunk of each episode -- which is why each episode does not cover a single arc (which might be good if used wisely, but here it is not). Fights are interesting and all, but after 20 minutes of clashing and talking, please get it over with. Sun Wukong completely outmatches Nezha in terms of combat -- why should it take him that long to beat him? Okay, okay, he's your friend and you don't want to hurt him, but there is no need for a fight to last that long. Not to mention, the fights look fake -- they're probably partly CGI-ed or whatever as well. The 1986 version, the actors actually had some martial arts skills -- Liu Xiao Ling Tong came up with his own stunts and moves to make as he played the Monkey King - spontaneous and wild like his nature. Not this overly long procession of clang!clang!crash! as weapons touch each other for 20 minutes. Overall, the 2009 version seems to do a good job of following the original story line besides the two additional characters, but it looks like a cheap production (actors and actresses are reused several times as different characters, CGI-ed EVERYTHING, etc.) and its fights take too long. But I will continue watching this -- I want to see how that extra story line develops. I have one complaint about the actor for Sun Wukong here -- he is awesome everywhere else really (he even sounds like Liu Xiao Ling Tong!!!) -- he pants a bit too much. When he's supposed to angry or some other emotion, he's always panting! I don't think monkeys pant that much, it sounds strange and sometimes I want to slap him because I can't hear what other people are saying over his panting. I don't know what to make of it.

  The 2010 production is by no means cheap. I hear the director spent tons of money to make the most faithful adaptation possible. He even hired very famous actresses/actors to play the roles of demons, who are only there for one story arc. I think he did this to appeal to the young generations into watching this, because there are many, many beautiful female demons with their own background history here. The costumes, props, scenery, and CGI are very well done and authentic looking. Everyone is as pretty as they are in the book or as ugly (such as Zhu BaJie -- he is HIDEOUS as stated, none of the other adaptations have such a ugly mask). Even Sun Wukong's mask is a bit ugly, compared to the other Monkey masks (and TVB's doesn't even have a mask, only fur surrounding the actor's face). But that is what a real adaptation should do. I only watched 11 episodes out of how many, 80 something episodes. This is a real attempt at being faithful to the adaptation -- I don't think I've seen any other plot changes besides extra background history behind the demons. The main 4 characters look good, and did I mention how awesome Erlang Shen is in here? He KICKS BUTT. In here, he and Sun Wukong are actually on good terms, unlike all the other versions, where he's Sun Wukong's rival because they're about equal in power). It seems he doesn't like how Heaven is run, and he supports Sun Wukong wreaking havoc like a boss, but still performs his duties. I feel this will develop well. I haven't reached the main core of the demons, so I actually haven't seen the more elaborate demons, but this adaptation is very good. I'll keep watching this one. Sadly, it's not very widely promoted because China nowadays seems to forbid Buddhist/thoughts of reincarnation in its dramas. What a pity, I think this should be watched by everyone. I'll see if it can top the 1986 one. My one small complaint is that the series is not very engaging compared to the other two China adaptations, but that might be because I haven't reached the core yet -- Sun Wukong is always a bit dull without Zhu BaJie to poke fun at. I look forward to see how they handle their relationship here -- right now, it's missing the humor of the 1986 version that I feel is necessary, because their relationship is meant to be funny.