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Buddhist priest Tripitaka and his three disciples Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy, travel from China to India to fetch the Buddhist scriptures. They have been sent by Buddha, and getting these scriptures will bring peace to the people of the world.
1978
Mischievous King Monkey is summoned to Heaven, where he steals the heavenly peaches, and eats them to gain immortality. He fights two of the Emperor's officials, and all three of them are expelled to Earth. Monkey gets imprisoned under a mountain of rocks, while the other two are transformed into a pig monster (Pigsy) and a water monster (Sandy). Buddha says that a holy man must be sent to fetch holy scriptures from India, to save the world.
Buddha sends a messenger, the Boddhisattva Kuan-yin the Compassionate, to find a holy man to make the journey from China to India to fetch the large vehicle scriptures. She chooses the boy priest Hsüan Tsang, and bestows upon him the name Tripitaka. Joined by the irrepressible Monkey - with his magic wishing staff and magic powers - and a talking horse, this could be a journey to remember...
Tripitaka and the ever-impatient Monkey begin their perilous journey. Arriving at a village terrorised by a greedy and lustful monster, Monkey thus faces the wrath of Pigsy and his deadly muckrake. To cross the Mighty River of Flowing Sands, they must first pass the cannibalistic water monster Sandy. A sandstorm, an army of tiger ghosts - will Tripitaka end up as cat food, or will Monkey save the day?
Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy, Tripitaka and the horse enter a land ruled by the demonic Golden Horn and his wife, Silver Horn. Bewitched by a beautiful lady, Pigsy discovers that all is not what it seems. An old woman proves too much to handle even for Monkey. Tripitaka and Sandy find themselves a bit tied up when left to their own devices. When a mysterious Taoist magician causes Golden Horn to lose his bottle, things start to look up.
In his mountain kingdom, the immature King of Youth dictates that everything old is useless. When the pilgrims approach, he decides to kidnap Tripitaka to gain the attention of Heaven and Earth, in an attempt to stop living in the shadow of his father, the King of Ox. When Monkey's powers prove no match for the King's fiery temper, and Pigsy and Sandy are otherwise engaged, who will save Tripitaka?
When Monkey kills a girl and her elderly parents, Tripitaka is left with no choice but to punish him and send him back home to his mountain of fruit and flowers. No one believes Monkey's story that the people he killed were red, blue and yellow demons disguised as humans. When the pilgrims later discover that Monkey was telling the truth, Tripitaka finds himself in grave danger, and wishes he'd never denied the demons' existence.
Desperate for water due to the intense heat, the pilgrims find that the nearest village is completely dried up. The local water monster, who has a taste for the souls of boys, had cursed the village with a drought, because the villagers had no boys left to sacrifice to him. With Monkey's cloud out of action, brave Pigsy volunteers to make the ultimate sacrifice.
When Monkey saves a pretty widow from the Demon Spirit of Great Snakes, amorous Pigsy falls snout over trotters in love with her, but she only has eyes for the celibate boy priest Tripitaka. The pilgrims move on, but Pigsy stays behind and tries to win the widow's heart; but time and time again, his true pig nature is revealed. When Monkey goes to fetch Pigsy, Tripitaka and eel-phobic Sandy end up in big trouble.
When the magistrate Lord Li's stepdaughter is kidnapped by bandits, Monkey reluctantly takes on the job of catching them. He soon learns that the bandits are not what they seem, but their bark is far worse than their bite. Meanwhile, Tripitaka, Pigsy and Sandy spend the night at an inn that's owned by a wicked dog-woman. She has a big surprise in store for Tripitaka.
Tripitaka is visited in a dream by the restless spirit of the deceased king of the land of Cockcrow. He tells Tripitaka he was murdered by a Taoist magician and thrown into a well; for the past three years this magician has been impersonating him. With the help of the king's son, Tripitaka and his disciples set out to prove that the current king is a fake.
An invisible wall separates the land of night from the land of day. The blood-sucking Queen of Night terrorises the inhabitants of her land, while everyone in the land of day is forced into slavery by their merciless king. Tripitaka finds the task of reuniting night and day very difficult, especially when Monkey becomes hopelessly besotted with a pretty girl and Pigsy falls for a lady of the night.
The once-prosperous land of Codslow is ruled by three animal-strength immortals, and its enslaved people are dying of hunger. The immortals depend on pearls, paper and wine for their magical powers. The pilgrims offer to help a young girl and her family restore their land to its former glory. When lovesick Pigsy almost becomes roast pork, Monkey hatches a plan to end the immortals' reign of terror.
A village headman and his wife grieve for their beautiful daughter Hai-Min who disappeared a year ago. Lecherous Pigsy offers to go and look for her. He finds a slug monster who says he is Hai-Min's reluctant husband, and tells Pigsy he can have her. Pigsy disguises himself as the slug monster and goes to live with selfish Hai-Min. How long will it be before she discovers he's not her slimy husband?
The pilgrims enter a volcanic land that is plagued by earthquakes caused by the frequent quarrelling of two local demons; a catfish demon and a faceless shape-changer demon, who can take on the shape of anyone. The holy priest San-Chung tells Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka that one of them is the shape-changer. Unable to cope with this revelation, they go their separate ways.
While climbing a mountain, the pilgrims discover a man who's been digging a tunnel through the mountain for the past twenty-two years, to provide an easier route for travellers. Ever-helpful Tripitaka tells his reluctant disciples that they must all stay and help dig the tunnel until it's finished. When Monkey uses his magic to help speed things up, Tripitaka is furious and dismisses him. Without Monkey around, the pilgrims fall into grave danger.
Desperate to please Chun-Shou, the woman he hopes to marry, the unhappy King of Unicorns promises to find a new toy for her spoilt brat son, little Chen. When he hears about Monkey's magic wishing staff, he decides this would be ideal. By capturing Tripitaka and using his all-powerful magic ring, the king plans to defeat Monkey and steal his precious wishing staff. While Monkey struggles to resist the king's magic ring, Pigsy finds it difficult to resist Chun-Shou.
Following a terrible sandstorm, the pilgrims find a village where everyone has been killed by the evil Grey Gloves Devil, a magician with the power to hypnotise and control anyone who looks into his eyes. While Pigsy lags behind, the others break their journey at another village. A bitter old woman insists Tripitaka is her long-lost son, Su Fung. Meanwhile, Pigsy gets captured and the Grey Gloves Devil looks for a new village to target.
As the pilgrims continue their journey, Monkey sees that a nearby village is being terrorised by swarms of locusts, and they're coming in their direction. Led by the power-hungry Demon Queen Grasshopper, the locusts follow the magic Lake Lok-Nor as it moves from one place to the next. Everywhere they go they bring death and destruction. Can the pilgrims stop them, or will the Queen turn everyone into pigs?
The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Buddha's Law invites Tripitaka and his disciples to stay as his honoured guests. He tells them of the difficulty in controlling the black magicians, shape-changers and bandits who live in the nearby mountains. Tragedy strikes when Tripitaka becomes critically ill with Tibetan Fever. Meanwhile, Pigsy leads the guards in a search for the vampire responsible for a girl's murder. He makes a shocking discovery.
To escape from a deadly blizzard in the Himalayan foothills, Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka take refuge in a small cave. With Tripitaka's death from starvation looking imminent, Monkey tricks Pigsy into going out into the cold to sacrifice himself to provide food for the master. Grief-stricken Tripitaka believes he has eaten his disciple, and becomes possessed by the spirit of Pigsy.
The pilgrims arrive at the Kingdom of Red Hog, where pigs are sacred. The people hail Pigsy as their new King and God. Tripitaka discovers that the current king is a disguised demon, the Spirit of the Red Hog, and that he murdered the old king. Helped by rebels, Monkey and Sandy set out to save Princess Green Lotus and stop the evil swine before the whole country is converted to hog worship.
In a deserted village, the evil male demon Wun-Lung and three beautiful witches await the arrival of Tripitaka, Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy. If they can make the four travellers believe in them, they'll be brought to life. They plan to capture Tripitaka and his disciples one by one, and convince them of their existence by killing them. Who'll be the first pilgrim to fall into the trap?
Forty years before the pilgrims' journey to India, two lovers Chun-Ying and Yu-Lee disobey the God of Fertility Ju-Lee by eloping together - love is forbidden in his country. As punishment, he separates them and turns the young Yu-Lee into an old woman, the Keeper of the Well of Small Blessings. To regain her youth and her man, she must make Tripitaka drink the magic water. Things get very strange indeed when Pigsy and Sandy drink the water and become pregnant.
The pilgrims enter the Kingdom of Lo-Chun, the Queen of Fire, where they are prevented from continuing their journey by the active volcanoes in the Fire and Flame mountain range to the west. The Queen of Fire has a magic fan that can extinguish the fires. Ever since her husband, the Spirit of Water Buffaloes, left her for a human woman, she's lived as a recluse. So getting her to lend them her fan could be quite a challenge.
On their way to India, the pilgrims must pass through the Land of Nightmares, inhabited by all the legions of Hell, bad demons and wicked spirits. All humans who go there are eaten, and all others must take a magic test upon entry to the land. To allow Tripitaka to travel through safely, Monkey disguises him as a beautiful longhaired female demon, and teaches him some basic magic. Will the King of Bad Dreams see through Tripitaka's disguise?
Tripitaka and his disciples are just a few days away from reaching India - they can clearly see the Gold Temple of the Thunderclap ahead. The King of All Geological Ages appears and says he'll stop them reaching India. Pigsy finds the king's beautiful wife strangely familiar, he knows her from somewhere. The king captures Tripitaka and puts the indestructible Iron Collar of Death on him, to choke him to death. This looks like the end for Tripitaka.
Masaaki Sakai
Monkey
Masako Natsume
Tripitaka
Shiro Kishibe
Sandy
Tonpei Hidari
Pigsy
Shunji Fujimura
Horse/Yu-Lung
Takayuki Akutagawa
Narrator
David Collings
Voice of Monkey
Gareth Armstrong
Voice of Sandy
Peter Woodthorpe
Voice of Pigsy
Andrew Sachs
Voice of Horse / Yu-Lung
Streaming availability information not available
1979
Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy become disillusioned with the pilgrimage and go their separate ways. Monkey flies home to his Kingdom of Fruit and Flowers. Pigsy goes back to China seeking rewards from the Emperor. Sandy returns to the Western Heaven, hoping the Jade Emperor will forgive him. Tripitaka continues his journey. He's flabbergasted when lightning strikes the horse and it turns into a human called Yu-Lung. Deserted by his disciples, Tripitaka soon finds himself in grave danger.
The evil Dogs of Plague, disciples of the Great Hound of Hell, plan to kill Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka. Their leader brings the Plague of Black Dog to a nearby town. The pilgrims arrive at the town, but when Tripitaka tries to help the sick, he catches the deadly plague himself. Monkey discovers the only cure is to give the afflicted grilled fresh monkey brains from a newly dead ape. Will Monkey give up his life to save Tripitaka?
A powerful man called Shotenki and his demon master, Kokufki, lure all the men from surrounding villages to their casino in Ittakudo, where they spend all their time gambling. Tripitaka offers to help the desperate wives and children of one village, and sends Pigsy and Sandy to bring the men back to their senses. When their attempt fails, Sandy asks Monkey for assistance in finishing off Shotenki for good.
The Fraction Demon goes around asking children questions about fractions, and kidnaps those who answer correctly. The pilgrims arrive at a small village and get mistaken for Fraction Demons by the vengeful locals. After a very close shave, Monkey gets a bit hot under the collar. Pigsy volunteers to track down the dazzlingly beautiful Fraction Demon and sort her out - but will he get otherwise distracted?
The pilgrims enter a land where night never falls. For five hundred years, ever since the vulture demon Konsei-Maoh stole Dainichi Buddha's sun-mirror, as soon as one sun sets another one rises. Tripitaka offers the villagers their help and Monkey, who has an old score to settle with the demon, is more than happy to oblige. Things take a turn for the worse after Monkey bumps into a familiar face, and the demon sets his sights on Tripitaka.
After getting separated from Pigsy and Sandy, Monkey and Tripitaka find a creepy house in the middle of nowhere. They are shown hospitality by Mr. Chin and his daughter Kohran who live there. After he befriends Kohran, Monkey discovers that there's more to her father than meets the eye. Meanwhile, Pigsy and Sandy are kidnapped by the man who murdered Mr. Chin's wife thirteen years earlier. He plans to abduct Kohran...
Every night, Tripitaka's sleep is disturbed by a recurring dream. In it, he's being attacked by Lord Yuki, ruler of The Devil's Hell. One night, after Tripitaka nearly sleepwalks off a cliff, the disciples decide they must take immediate action. They think up ways of expelling the demon from Tripitaka's body. Things don't quite go to plan though - before long, Tripitaka ends up in very hot water, and Monkey gets pulled into the dream too...
Emperor Busoku, ruler of the country of Biku, is tormented at night by the ghost of Queen Seiko of Shitan, whose country he destroyed many years ago. Tripitaka and his followers arrive at Biku and hear of the Emperor's plight. After the ghost leaves behind a shoe, Monkey becomes suspicious and sends Pigsy and Dragon to investigate. They sneak into the women's dormitory at the palace in search of the shoe's owner. But Pigsy has other things on his mind.
The pilgrims arrive at a sacred shrine called Chokken Shokoku. Every day, its many visitors pay to go through a hole in the wall that guarantees them entry to paradise in the after-life. Tripitaka is sceptical, but his disciples insist on trying it. When Sandy gets stuck in the hole, the shrine's priest demands 100,000 Gen from the others to let them enlarge the hole, otherwise Sandy must die. Can Monkey, Pigsy and Tripitaka raise the money in time?
A snobby princess has been kidnapped by a fish monster who wants to marry her, but she continually refuses because he's too common. She sends two little water sprites to get help from her parents. They meet Tripitaka and his disciples, who offer their help. Tripitaka and Monkey escort them to the king and queen, while Sandy and Pigsy go to rescue the princess. Things aren't looking good for Sandy when the fish monster captures him.
The pilgrims eat some freshly picked mushrooms, and lose their memories. Monkey wanders off and joins a band of outlaws. They think he's the Fungus Prince who was banished by his father, King Seven Souls. The king wants to kill Tripitaka, so they plan to capture him and claim a reward. Tripitaka leaves Pigsy and Sandy and gets captured by Monkey and the outlaws. Yu-Lung sets out to help Monkey get his memory back so he can save Tripitaka.
Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka are on their way to the palace in The Land of Search for Understanding; the king insists on interviewing all pilgrims who pass. Following an argument, Monkey stays behind, and an evil magician turns him invisible. Posing as a Taoist priest, the magician persuades the naïve king to hold a contest between him and reluctant Tripitaka to determine which is better - Taoism or Buddhism. The magician plans to take over the kingdom - will he succeed?
Tripitaka is shocked when his three followers bathe in a pool and are transformed into babies. It's a Fountain of Youth, and it belongs to two Spirits of Time Passed. Tripitaka must make one of these spirits cry, and use the tears to change his disciples back. Leaving Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy with a babysitter, Tripitaka goes in search of these cannibalistic spirits. Believing Tripitaka won't return, the babysitter decides to sell the three babies at the local market.
After wandering through endless wilderness, Tripitaka and his starving disciples find themselves in a small town in the middle of nowhere. For two years, ever since her son and his human bride abandoned her, the bloodthirsty demon Kari-Temo Hanja has been appearing at weddings in the town and kidnapping the brides. Monkey goes to seek help from Senju Kannon Bosatsu, the Bodhisattva of endless fulfilment, who was once the demon's master. Meanwhile, Tripitaka decides to pay the demon a visit...
Chen-Gold, the world's richest man, is advertising for a husband for his only daughter, beautiful Mai-Sun. Possessed of the Spirit of Greed, he eats gold in order to turn himself golden. To feed his habit, he enslaves men to work in his gold mines. When Sandy tries to help an escaped slave, he becomes enslaved himself. Meanwhile, Pigsy puts himself forward as a possible husband for Mai-Sun. Tripitaka wonders where Pigsy and Sandy have gone, and sends Monkey to investigate.
A young goblin, Yung-Hu, is desperately in love with a married human woman called I-Ling. I-Ling and her husband, Kwo-Fong, are excited that the pilgrims are approaching, because they want to learn about Buddha. Tripitaka is deeply offended by I-Ling's awful Buddhist dance, and the pilgrims leave. The goblin father disguises himself as a priest and convinces Kwo-Fong to join Tripitaka's pilgrimage to India, to become a Buddhist. With Kwo-Fong out of the way, Yung-Hu goes to see I-Ling.
While Tripitaka and his disciples sleep, The Illiterate Vampire appears and plans to bite Tripitaka. The others wake, and chase him away. The next day, the pilgrims see a display of wanted posters - the king is rewarding people for killing monsters, 10 gold pieces per monster. Pigsy meets a blind girl selling flowers in the street, and becomes fond of her. To raise 100 gold pieces for an operation to cure her blindness, Pigsy goes into business as a monster-killer.
A gentle monster dresses up as a puppy dog and calls himself ""a good dog"" in an attempt to make friends. He desperately wants to be liked, but all the villagers are terrified of him. The pilgrims arrive at the monster's country, and Tripitaka tells his disciples to go ahead and make friends with him. After Pigsy, Monkey and Sandy fail, Yu-Lung befriends the good dog, and comes up with a plan to make the villagers like him.
While taking a rest from their journey, the pilgrims are confronted by four sorcerors who are impersonating them. They plan to assassinate Tripitaka and his followers, to improve their ranking in the sorcery community. By wreaking havoc on villages, the imposters ensure that the real pilgrims are blamed and made unwelcome everywhere they go. Monkey decides that Tripitaka should continue alone for a while. The disciples split up, and become targeted by their clones. Will Tripitaka ever see them again?
The pilgrims are welcomed to a village headman's house. He shows the disciples a screen that has a picture of the beautiful Goddess Sorosvati painted on it, along with the six other Gods of Good Fortune. During the night, the goddess magically steps out of the screen, tricks Tripitaka, and takes his place on the pilgrimage. While she enchants the others, Monkey discovers Tripitaka trapped in the screen. Can Monkey free Tripitaka and get the goddess back on canvas?
The pilgrims enter a country where an evil wasp witch with a magic whip flies on her chariot and steals children from their parents. The witch lives in a poison mountain called Kijo, and has a hundred or more children of her own. No one knows what she does with the stolen children. While Sandy and Pigsy help the villagers set traps and prepare themselves to fight the witch, Monkey decides to pay her a visit.
Mt. Sekigutsu, famous for the flowers that bloom on its rocks, is ruled by a fearful demon called Seisai, who has the power to turn anything into stone. A young stonemason from Ushizokoku called Kokanshi climbs the mountain and falls prey to the demon's magic rays. Two years later, Kokanshi's overzealous fiancée Airen travels to the mountain to rescue him, and tricks Tripitaka's disciples into helping her fight the demon. Meanwhile, Seisai abducts Tripitaka and plans to eat him...
Disowned by his parents for being unable to do sorcery, the young demon Shosanpu practises on the unsuspecting pilgrims, but is soon found out. After listening to his story, Monkey decides to give him special training, against Tripitaka's wishes. Using Monkey's staff, Shosanpu turns the four pilgrims into stone statues, and goes to fetch his father, Yuzankun. While he's away, the four statues are stolen and taken to an auction. Will Shosanpu find them in time, to change them back?
After losing their way, the pilgrims find themselves heading towards Mt. Blue Wolf, a place where hideous wolf demons swagger like peacocks. Their leader, Blue Wolf Demon, craves human flesh, and sets his sights on the tasty Tripitaka. While looking for food, Dragon falls off a cliff. He is rescued by a farmer called Ri Shishin, who turns out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing; Blue Wolf Demon makes him an offer he can't refuse to hunt down Tripitaka.
While having lunch, the pilgrims catch a mischievous young boy called Chou trying to steal food from them. Monkey takes him home, and falls instantly in love with his mother, Shugyoku. Chou's father was killed by the fire-breathing Tiger Demon two years earlier, but Shugyoku detests violence, and insists that Monkey should not get involved. Monkey takes a break from the journey to India, and stays with Shugyoku and Chou. Will Tripitaka and the others ever see Monkey again?
Tripitaka has an ominous dream that his mother is dying, and becomes very preoccupied the next day. Concerned about his master, Monkey cloud-flies back to China, and finds Tripitaka's mother, Wing-Chow, infected with a deadly plague. Just before dying, she tells Monkey that her son, original name Hsüan Tsang, must continue his journey to India. Monkey returns and impersonates Wing-Chow, to pretend she's alive, fearing that Tripitaka would stop his journey and return to China if he knew the truth.
