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| The Monkey King | |
|---|---|
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| Also known as | The Lost Empire |
| Based on | Journey to the West byWu Cheng'en |
| Written by | David Henry Hwang |
| Directed by | Peter MacDonald |
| Starring | Thomas Gibson Bai Ling Russell Wong |
| Composer | John Altman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Robert Halmi Sr. Robert A. Halmi Tomas Krejci |
| Producer | Steve Harding |
| Cinematography | David Connell |
| Editor | Colin Green |
| Running time | 153 minutes |
| Production companies | Hallmark Entertainment RTL |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | March 11 (2001-03-11) – March 12, 2001 (2001-03-12) |
The Monkey King, also known asThe Lost Empire, is a 2001 televisionminiseries produced byNBC and theSciFi Channel. It is a contemporary take on the classic 16th-century novelJourney to the West. It starsBai Ling,Thomas Gibson,Russell Wong,Eddie Marsan, andRandall Duk Kim. The miniseries was directed byPeter MacDonald and written by Asian American dramatistDavid Henry Hwang.
Nicholas Orton (played byThomas Gibson) is an American businessman who has lived inChina for several years. He has a chance encounter with a beautiful Chinese lady (played byBai Ling) who says that he is the only one who can save the world from reverting five-hundred years. He is unswayed by this until many modern buildings begin disappearing before his eyes. This mystical lady (revealed later asGuanyin, thebodhisattva of compassion) transports him to a portal which offers entrance, through the teachings ofConfucius (played by Ric Young), to the ancient Chinese underworld.
When 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. Orton's first action is to rescueSun Wukong, the Monkey King, from the mountain in which he has been imprisoned for centuries. Wukong travels with Orton in his quest to save the original manuscript ofJourney to the West from retroactive destruction; if the story itself is erased from history, all the people who were ever inspired by the lessons it teaches will be worse off, and history will permanently change for the poorer. They are later joined byZhu Bajie (Pigsy) andSha Wujing (Friar Sand) to help them on their way.
Robert Bianco ofUSA Today called it "silly and confused."[1]Variety called it "tedious" and said "all the strong technical work comes across as the outer shell of an empty nut."[2]
The ratings for the miniseries were poor; it recorded one of the lowest ratings ever for a miniseries on NBC. Critics said it was due to oversaturation of special-effects-driven miniseries dropping in popularity.[3]
The film is available on DVD and videocassette. There was also a novelization of the miniseries by Kathryn Wesley released under the titleThe Monkey King.