''Journey to the West: Legends of the Monkey King'' is a 2000

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

(1998 in the Chinese edition) produced by

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...

and the

CINAR Corporation Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group and originally known as CINAR; renamed as DHX Cookie Jar Inc. from 2012 until 2014, or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX M ...

. It is based on the 16th-century novel ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popu ...

''. There are 26 episodes (52 segments) in total, with a duration of about 22 minutes each (11 minutes per segment), along with a 75-minute

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

. The English-language version of the show was produced by Cinar (now

DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of children ...

, previously

Cookie Jar Group Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group and originally known as CINAR; renamed as DHX Cookie Jar Inc. from 2012 until 2014, or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX M ...

). It first aired on

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...

in Canada in 2000, and was later aired on the

Cookie Jar Toons Cookie Jar Toons (also known as This Is for Kids) was a daily children's programming block on the This TV digital broadcast network when that network was partially owned by the former Weigel Broadcasting (7 years later, the network was acquired ...

block on

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally fo ...

in the United States from 2009 to 2010. In

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, it was broadcast by

Indosiar PT Indosiar Visual Mandiri, commonly known as Indosiar, is an Indonesian over-the-air television network. It broadcasts nationwide on UHF and can be received throughout the Indonesian archipelago on analog PAL television sets, established on ...

in 1999 to 2000 every Monday morning. The production began in 1992. It has been regarded as a classic of Chinese animation.西游记——90年代大制作动画片

Summary

Sun Wukong The Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong ( zh, t=孫悟空, s=孙悟空, first=t) in Mandarin Chinese, is a legendary mythical figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel ''Journey to the West'' ( zh, ...

, who was born from a magic stone, has been imprisoned underneath a mountain for five centuries for his mischief in the heavens. One day, the

Guanyin Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...

told Monkey that the Monk

Tang Sanzang Tang Sanzang () is a central character in the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West'' by Wu Cheng'en. Tang Sanzang is based on the historical Buddhist monk Xuanzang. He is also widely known by his courtesy name, Tang Seng, () or Sanzang (). ...

will set him free and Monkey will join him on a pilgrimage from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The next day, Tripitaka came and set Monkey free, and the two started their Journey to the West. Along the way, they meet two new friends,

Zhu Bajie Zhu Bajie (), also named Zhu Wuneng, is one of the three helpers of Tang Sanzang and a major character of the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West''. Zhu means " swine" and Bajie means " eight precepts". Buddhist scholars consider that both e ...

and the Hermit

Sha Wujing Sha Wujing () is one of the three disciples of the Buddhist pilgrim Tang Sanzang in the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West'' written by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming dynasty, although versions of his character predate the Ming novel. In the sour ...

, who join them on the journey; together, they face many dangers and evil creatures and sorcerers and learn to get along.

Cast

Additional voices (Mandarin): Hai Fan, Di Feifei, Luo Gangsheng, Diang Jianhua, Liu Qin, Bai Tao, Wang Xiaobing, Sun Yufeng, Jiang Yuling

Episodes

Note: In the Original 1998 Chinese edition of the series, there are instead 52 episodes, with the prequels making up episodes 1-7

Movie

A separate 75-minute

under the same titlehttps://content.wildbrain.com/uploads/2019/11/WildBrain-Distribution-Catalogue-2019.pdf serves as a

to the series.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Journey to the West - Legends of the Monkey King 2000 Chinese television series debuts 2000s Canadian animated television series 2000 Canadian television series debuts 2000 Canadian television series endings Canadian children's animated action television series Canadian children's animated adventure television series Canadian children's animated fantasy television series Chinese children's animated action television series Chinese children's animated adventure television series Chinese children's animated fantasy television series China Central Television original programming Television series by Cookie Jar Entertainment Television shows based on Journey to the West Teletoon original programming