''Journey to the West: Legends of the Monkey King'' is a 1999

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

produced by

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is the State media, national television broadcaster of China, established in 1958. CCTV is operated by the National Radio and Television Administration which reports directly to the Publicity Department of th ...

and the Quebec-based CINAR Corporation. 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 Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...

''. 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, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

. In the original 1999 Chinese edition of the series, there are instead 52 episodes with each segment being extended to a full, half-hour episode with added animation and dialogue, and the prequels making up episodes 1–7. The English-language version of the show was produced by Cinar (now

WildBrain WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production company, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of Children's tel ...

, previously

Cookie Jar Group The Cookie Jar Group, commonly known as simply Cookie Jar and formerly known as CINAR, was a Canadian animation studio, production company, media production and distribution company that existed from 1976 until it was folded into DHX Media, no ...

and then DHX Media). It first aired on

Teletoon Cartoon Network (formerly Teletoon) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts animated series aimed at children and teenagers. It was launched on October 17 ...

in Canada in 2000, and was later aired on the Cookie Jar Toons block on

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) was 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 ...

in the U.S. from 2009 to 2010. In

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, it was broadcast by

Indosiar PT Indosiar Visual Mandiri, commonly known as Indosiar, is an Indonesian over-the-air television broadcaster, established on 19 July 1991, with test broadcasts commencing on 18 December 1994, and officially launching on 11 January 1995. It ha ...

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 Sun Wukong (, Mandarin pronunciation: ), also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel ''Journey to the West''. In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monk ...

, 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 common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

told Monkey that the Monk

Tang Sanzang Tang Sanzang is a Buddhist monk and pilgrim who is a central character in the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West'' by Wu Cheng'en. His birth surname name was Chen (), but having been found in a river as a baby--he was abandoned after bir ...

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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. 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 disciples of Tang Sanzang, along with Sun Wukong and Sha Wujing, and a major character of the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West''. ''Zhu'' means "swine" and ''Bajie'' means "eight pr ...

and the Hermit

Sha Wujing Sha Wujing ( zh, t=沙悟淨) 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 n ...

, 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

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 Monkey King