Added: 5 years ago
From: goldmonkeydotcom
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  • Loved this show. Thirty years ago this year!! I miss Roddy.

  • I remember this one!!!! Used to love it.

  • Why can't t. v. land put this instead of the same old stuff

  • WOW! loved the show. Didn't realize it was the same actor who did Eric Camden. :-]

  • born in 73. grew up watching this show. gaawd damn! gaawd damn.. gee golly good gaawd damn. awesome

  • I read too that the writer had written this story years before the Raiders of the Lost Ark, however it took the popularity of the film to bring this television show to fruition.

  • And I just realized this has been said like 4 or more times already in these posts:)

  • According to the wiki, the writer was pushing this show since the early 70s, but no studio wanted to pick up a show set in the 1930s. It wasn't until the box office success of Raiders of the Lost Ark, that this got picked up a year later.

  • I went ahead and created 4 or 5 accounts just so I could thumbs up. Indy, Indy, Indy.....(face palm). I remember some scary fucking apes in the jungle......and didn't the pub doors swing both ways like in the old west? A seaplane. What a fantasy. Hmmmmm.......

  • Talking about shows I loved as a kid and I brought this one up not surprisingly no one else had heard of it. Such a short run but I remember it all these years later

  • Jake was my Hero

  • i loved this show :) so did spielberg and he stole it to creat indy jones

  • @MrEddiewestham ummm no, he didn't. this was created a year after the first indiana jones movie came out, and this was actually a take off of indiana jones.

  • @MrCticky1 what an idiot clearly wrong , i was in primary school when this was out loved it then indy jones came out get your facts right

  • @MrEddiewestham just look at the description it says 1982- 1983! raiders came out in 1981, any indy fan would know that

  • Caitlin was a babe.

  • the theme tune sounds like a redacted version of the A Team ?

  • @394pjo and the show was a Raiders rip-off. great time$!

  • wow, i haven't thought about this show in probably twenty years.

  • I totally thought that was the best show in the world when I was a kid!

  • I remember watching that show as a kid,,, loved it,,, It was such a direct rip off of Indiana Jones

  • love this show this is t.v. when it was tv

  • Aww man I used to watch this!

  • Oh my God! This must have been on ABC (the only network our rabbit-ears wouldn't pick up)! I would have TOTALLY ate this stuff up. Instead, we probably watched The Facts of @#$%ing Life on NBC.

  • Hmm, actually, from Wikipedia - "Most critics saw it as the network's attempt to capitalize on the fame of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark the previous year ... Creator Donald P. Bellisario tried to get the series commissioned since the late 1970s, but executives felt that audiences wouldn't be interested in an adventure series set in the 1930s. It was the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark that changed their minds."

  • Never heard of this. A bit before my time.

  • the best movie after six million dollar man,bionic boy,bruce lee , knight rider and air wolf .

  • That was a cool show. Yes It was very inspired by Indiana Jones, but it was well developed.

  • What a blatant Raiders of the lost ark rip-off...but I still watched it when it came on.

  • @whitewitchoz Yes, it was a blatant rip-off, capitalizing on the popularity of the Raiders genre and timeframe, but hey it worked and it was a fun show to watch. I never missed an episode. I was even just as pissed as Jack when Jake lost Jack's eye, again. LOL

  • @Ovrkyl That's what I thought at the time, and clearly the show's producers hoped to capitalize off of it. However, the TOTGM was actually cooked up in the late 70s, before Raiders. But the network execs didn't think anyone would watch a show set in the 1930s. Only after Raiders did they change their minds and give the green light.

  • What do you get when you cross Indiana Jones with Talespin? Tales of the Gold Monkey.

  • I was about 10 years old when this show was on and I had the biggest crush on Steven Collins

  • @tulipchic34 Ditto, except I was 12 or 13.

  • man i used to feed off this show inbeteen the the indy shows of the time.dressad as indy i would do anything back then as a thrill those were th golden days for sure

  • got the theme on CD... don't know how many times I played it

  • remember this, awesome show :)

  • hey anybody has an online link to the full series i desperately need it

  • @sharonbaner Amazon has it.

  • i had a dog named Jack because of this show.

  • I have never heard of this show TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY

    it looks like a telly version of Indiana Jones

    thanks for sharing

  • @peckerdecker

    It was an awesome show! Funny enough, Belasario (the creator) approached ABC network in 1977 for this show. They were not interested. Then after 1981, when Indiana Jones appeared, ABC suddenly wanted the show. It only ran 1 season due to high production costs.

  • Comment removed

  • Παιζόταν στην ετ2 το 1987 ή το 1988. Ήταν από τις πρώτες σειρές που παρακολουθούσα μικρή.,..Παράξενες εποχές

  • I loved Stephen Collins in this show and I really missed the show when it disappeared. Great shows being cancelled is an all too commom occurrence!! :(

  • sniffles i miss this show so much thankies

  • I tried to watch this show but it wasn't that great. I remember for a little bit it came on right before the Fall Guy which was the shit! I know that Bring Em Back Alive did much better in the ratings than this. And yes I remember Entertainment Tonight saying this and Bring Em Back Alive was trying to cash in on the success of Raiders, that was their exact words.

  • I loved this back then. Think it was only 1 season. Have no idea how it would hold up today for me.

  • i want this back, goddammit

  • loved this when i was a kid

  • i remember watching this show when i was a kid..loved the adventure even i cudnt understand much since i was too young..what was the "Gold Monkey" refers to?

  • @adyboy76 the gold monkey refers to the relic they were searching for in the first episode, and only in that episode did they find the gold monkey. the rest of the episodes have nothing to do with the gold monkey, mainly because an entire season of searching for one relic would seem too far fetched.

  • How long was this on? I saw one or more episodes. All the clips from this intro seem to be from the first (only?) show??

  • i hated this show it was a very poor version of indiana jones.

  • @doctorw2 Then would you say the same for the other show that cashed in on the success of "Raiders"? i.e. "Bring 'Em Back Alive" with Bruce Boxleitner

  • @theman2017inc no i love bruce boxleitner any thing with him in it i like hes my favorite actor.

  • Another of those shows of my youth. A sort of tv Indiana Jones. I never got the Title though. I don't remember ever getting the gold monkey? Also Were both guys on Black Sheep Squadron or just Mc Kay the Mechanic guy?

  • Loved  that show

  • Just bought the Box dvd set. Loved it. I can't believe it was on for one season.

  • Good stuff!

  • Loved this show as a kid...was 1 of the first generation of American shows to cross teh Atlantic and onto thed BBC (with Manimal and Automan !!!!)

  • Just watched the pilot episode of Tales of the Gold Monkey from 1982...tv's take on Indiana Jones..the main character played Reverend Camden 14 years later in 7th Heaven...flashback form the 80's! Good clean wholesome fun!

  • this tv show was very good, wish it comes back on tv again, been long time,

  • Now I remember this show! One of my favorites (back then)! Almost like a TV wannabe version of Indiana Jones.

  • Oh I loved this show! It came on at 9 pm and my parents would let me stay up late to watch it. Never missed an episode! Huge crush on Stephen Collins back then. Great show and will definitely add the series on DVD to my collection.

  • I used to watch this show with sister back in the day. I remember liking it a lot. Then after summer vacation it didn't come back. We were disappointed. But I was reading that the show was cancelled due to production cost, not a lack of popularity. I wish it could have run for another couple of seasons.

  • For those that don't know, Don Bellasario developed the idea and characters in the mid-70's (Raiders came out in 1981). It was because of Raiders that it was later picked up, but Raiders didn't create the show, so to speak.

  • Attention: Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981. This series came out AFTERWARDS.

  • @dkerris I think the concept of the show was around before Raiders, but when it finally came out it was due to Raiders. It is likely they adapted some of the ideas from Raiders into their show. I'm sure they borrowed some of the popular elements from Raiders.

  • sweet!

    can't wait for the dvd.

    sure help my indy fix back when i was a kid.

  • If the date doesn't changed Tales of the Gold Monkey the complete series is supposed to be released on 6-8-2010.

  • Always liked Caitlin O'Heaney.

    Here, in her guest shot in "Beauty & the Beast," and in "The Charmings."

    Where or where did you go???

  • @Laceykat66 Man, I had a HUGE crush on Caitlin O'Heaney, especially after seeing her in 3 O'clock High.

  • i`m in it.

  • Forgot about this , I was 7 yrs old , Memories of that plane!

  • @simba282 Heck Yeah! For some reason I remember two scenes from the show from childhood. One where there was an eclipse and Caitlin O'Heaney felt dizzy, and the second where some samurai were drawing their swords and couldn't resheath them until they tasted blood. Guess those scenes made an impression on me.

  • i watched this as a kid loved it  didnt realize what a raiderrs of the lost ark ripoff it was then -not that im complaining and only just now knew michelle from magnum was in it -cool

  • @1rockford1

    While it was a sort of "Raiders" ripoff, it actually was based on an old radio program called, "I'll Fly Anything." Same plane, same setting, just before the war.

    Little known fact.

  • @Laceykat66 Raiders, your OTR show and a bucketful of "To Have and to Have Not" with Humphry Bogart. Derivative, but a fun show. It was developed well, but the writing came up short, unfortunately. And Laceykat66, I thought The Charmings with Caitlin O was funny, too. The prince ended up in Reba, didn't he?

  • Too bad this came out too early if only the producers could have had a crystal ball into the future it would have done so much better if it had come out after the original Indiana Jones movie. The public would have been more willing to accept this show. I still remember watching it and for years could not remember what it was called. The title was just a little too long winded. Thanks for posting it. Can't wait to pick it up.

  • @oaeirfg Actually, it premiered during the fall television season that followed the release of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' ROTLA was the inspiration for the show, hence the similarities. If I remember correctly, another show called 'Bring 'Em Back Alive' also premiered that same fall and was also inspired by the sucess of ROTLA.

  • The disney cartoon Called "TailSpin" was based on this show and a movie by Hayao Miyazaki called "Porco Rosso"

  • he was on seven heaven

  • I remember this show, I was 12, I also remember why it was only on one season

  • I remember this show of 80's! I saw it in Costa Rica many times!

  • Great Show !!!!! Cant Wait for the DVD !!!!!

  • A release date of June 8, 2010 has been announced for the US debut of Tales of the Gold Monkey Complete Series on DVD. It is aleady available for pre order on amazon for a great price! Pre order it today.

  • I thought this show was lost forever! Thanks for posting this :)

  • me and my brother watched this show as kids. now he is in iraq, and when i see this show now. i think of how much i miss him.

  • I wish they would release this on DVD. Great show.

  • that one fella in the intro was MAC from Magium Pi the navy guy that died and tomas kept seeing him around the island again etc. Just to point out, Well if you were a tv actor in the 70s and 80s I think you made all the rounds at somepoint, Look at John Ritter etc;)

  • Hollywood Plz bring back these damn shows remakes we want em!

  • Didn't Disney do a "rip-off" of this show in the late 80s/early 90s...an animated show called "Tailspin"?

  • @oldetownecoffee1 yeah, ist like this, but I dont know if disney studios work based in this great show.

    Love the Cutter`s Goose and the Sea Duck, the great palnes of that shows.

  • yes they did

  • Have read one IMDB and this is the show TaleSpin is actually based on.

  • OMG! I used to love this show! Man the 80's tv shows rocked. Remington Steele, The A-Team, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas, Rip Tide! Man tv sure has gone down the tube! I miss those days. Now we are stuck reality tv, which is starting to slowly go away but not fast enough in my opinion.

  • this was a great show, ala Indiana Jones

  • me and my brother never missed this show growing up

  • @THETRADOGGFUL how old you now, i remember this too!

  • @THETRADOGGFUL you should be about 35 years old righ now..

  • Gives me great memories to being in the 4th grade when this series was on tv.

    It reminded me of "Indiana Jones"(this series came out before "Temple of Doom" in'84 and "Last Crusade"in '89).

    By the way,I remember I had a crush on actress,"Caitlin O'Heaney".

  • For anyone who wants to know, Tales of the Gold Monkey The Complete Series will be coming to DVD in the US courtesy of Fabulous Films sometime early next year.

  • thanks for the info really want to see it!

  • Oh god I remember this show when I was akid!! It was an Indy rip off, but very good!!

  • I believe the concept for the show was actually around before Raiders of the Lost Ark, but the network didn't think it would work until they saw the success of that film. They then green-lit the project.

  • You're right. Donald Bellisario peddled TOTGM to the networks without success for two years. Then came Raiders, & suddenly every network wanted a Raiders ripoff. Bellisario based Monkey on the movies "Rain" and "Only Angels Have Wings"... both fantastic films. Yet everyone assumed he ripped off Raiders.

    BTW, notice Jake wears the same "Maltese Cross" ring Magnum PI wears... another Bellisario production. He stated in at least one interview that Magnum is probably Jake's grandson.

  • The dog with the eye patch rocks.

  • I kinda remember this it was on when I was a kid and I don't think it was ever repeated again in my area. I remember I liked it but the memory of it is very vague. I wonder if its out on dvd?

  • indiana jones with a plane, would love to check out some old ep's of this. Is it on dvd yet?

  • I miss shows like this. I don't even watch TV anymore!

  • just come from the facebook fan page for TOTGM and its mentioned there that its being released on dvd in November at HMV..... hope this is true!!

  • Wow. I had almost completely forgot this show and watched the whole thing with a stupid smile on my face. I struggle to retain 50% of what I take in at work each day and forget where I'm going once I start for the printer but the second I saw the dog with the eyepatch - "Jack!"

  • WOW! I So forgot this show!!!!!!!!!

    How cool! Dang! What else is rattling around in my head?!?!

  • old memories, i never loose any episode. im waiting to buy it on a dvd.

    my favorite series

  • Awesome show. Steven Collins & the late Roddy McDowell made this show rock. Thank you for posting.

  • Sheer awesome... made my day seeing this....almost 30 year wait to see it again.....ohhh happy dayz

  • gees i thought i'd never see this again haha ..takes me back to when i was around 12 yrs old and this was on t.v at the time it was a great show..we had all the best shows back then.

  • True, except...Only Angels Have Wings was'nt Gable.... it was Cary Grant

  • Bellisario tried to sell this show to the networks for several years - he based it on the old W. Somerset Maugham play (later film starring Joan Crawford) called Rain, as well as the Clark Gable film Only Angels Have Wings. No one bought it until Raiders came along. Bellisario didn't rip off Spielberg or Lucas at all. It was just the network trying to capitalize on the success of Raiders.

    GM ratings were actually very good, but ABC followed another rating system & canned it anyway. Idiots.

  • I want to see the show on DVD yet when the DVD coming to the near future.

  • I loved this show when i was a kid, where's the dvd? Ah the great late Roddy McDowell. Man that's telling me I am getting old. All the people I grew up watching are slowing dying off. How sad!!

  • He lost his dogs eye in a bet.What a bastard.(lol;)

  • I remember this show. I liked it, but I now realize that ABC was just capitalizing on the whole "Raiders of the Lost Ark" craze. Never realized it was Stephen Collins as the star. You would never think that the star of "7th Heaven" would do a show like that.

  • I just got all the episodes of "Bring Em Back Alive"..until now i could have sworn this was that if you know what i mean?.

  • Yep, I spanked my Golden Monkey to Caitlin O'Heaney many a time.

  • this is before drug companies had everyone on a downer....

  • that little paw!  mitts prehensile mit

  • Might be my favorite show when I was 6 or 7. Others: Manimal, Automan, Greatest American Hero, Riptide, Magnum... Good old days spent in front of the TV changing channels with a knob...

  • bbbbrrrrrrpppp p p p hisss pip.hisss pip pip.

    if i told you once i told you a thousand times stop turning the damn channels so fast your gonna break it.

    one year later your using a pair of pliers. where are the pliers boy. i told you to leave em on top of the set when your done with em or next to the tv guide.

  • @opticannon i dont get it?

  • @blueluny oh, haha. thats when tv sets ( when we called em sets lol) had dials and they were so analog. if you rush through the channels it makes thats sound that typed phonetically in the above comment. and after a year of turning the knob like that it wears it down so you have to use plyers to grab the nub as where the dial falls off. after all thats what dont change that dial comes from.

  • @opticannon You forgot the wire coat hanger used to replace the antenna that you accidentally snapped off. ;-)

  • @qqrk1372 i know! right? lol. aaaah, memories.

  • I loved this show ... I was about 11 or 12.

    At the end of the 80s, I recognized that the settings and characters for the Disney cartoon "Tailspin" were basically "Tales of the Golden Monkey" replaced with the animal characters from "Jungle Book."

    Good live show, good cartoon ... the mythical world of South Pacific sea gypsies.

  • Yep complete with Rebbecca Cunningham as the anthropomorphic stand in for Sarah Stickney White. :D

  • this only ran for 1 season? too bad. stephen collins sure was cute. and the whole show was well cast. i never saw it but all the people in this opening look 1940ish.

  • The setting is 1938. Collins is a Han Solo-type character ... just an American expat trying to run an honest smuggling business in the South Seas. The female lead is a spy, keeping tabs on Japanese operations in the area.

    The mechanic sidekick guy has a running gag ... he refuses to get involved in dangerous business until bribed with oh-so-hard-to-find Hershey's chocolate bars ... in other words, Shaggy with Scooby Snacks.

    Wiki up "Tales_of_the_Gold_Monkey" for more!

  • I can see why you named your self  "jerk faced loser" Everyone has an opinion, and for its time the show was great. I'd love to watch it again.

  • se pusieron los pelos de punta, voy a llorar

  • its true that things look different years after being exposed to better and better effects. Ever watched a re-run of Magnum PI, or Simon&Simon? they seem corny to us now, but they were HOT back then, simply because they were state of the art for the time, and the clothing, cars etc all fit in. My step father worked at a local TV studio here, and after thinking about this show, I placed a call to him, he has every episode recorded that they showed! as well as every other thing the station showed

  • Que bueno ver esto de nuevo conozco gente de mi edad que cuando yo nombraba esta serie me miraba como si estuviera inventando .... jajaja ahora tengo pruebas de que existio...Gracias!!!!!!!!!

  • No te preocupes, yo veía esta serie, aunque duró poco..

    Saludos desde México.

  • How awesome was this show!!!! No one remembers it, but it was one of my faves as a kid - thx for the post!

  • This was a great show but only seemed to be on for a couple of series. Would like to see it repeated like so many others have been.

  • I've been wanting to see this show. There's a website selling the DVD but it is obviously not official, and the site looks like it was built in the 90s!

  • I loved this show when I was a kid!

  • My fav show when I was in kindergarten. I assume it came about in response to Indiana Jones popularity.

  • Does anybody else find it incredibly ironic that a man named "John Calvin" is the one portraying a Catholic priest?

  • That's just hilarious--I love it! Absolutely cannot wait for the Region 1 release of the DVDs...

  • I got a friend in VA thats been in the service under the Coast Guard, and he got to fly a Gruman on several occassions. He's retired now, but he's trying to actually buy one of the retired planes from the money he makes from this book he's trying to write. I was told the C 129 Providers and Hercules replaced the Grumans several decades back as the lead search and rescue planes. I've only had the luck of flyin 172 and 82 Cessnas so far, but theres still time to get behind a Goose.

  • This actor Stephen Collins is married to Faye Grant the actress who played the Doctor in the TV series V

  • WoW!!! Isn't that Murdock from the A Team? I loved the heck out of this show when I was about 5. Sucks it only ran for 1 season. I love that plane. Its an Albatross Gruman. I started flyin just so I could get my chance to fly one of those birds one day. Its still a work in progress.

  • Grumman Goose, to be exact.

    Sadly, the one used for the flying scenes (which was also the oldest Goose in existence) burned up in a ground accident a few years ago. However, someone purchased the remains and was talking of getting it restored.

  • Jeff McCay recently passed away. He will be sorely missed. He seems to pop up on all of the Glen A Larson/Donald P. Bellasario series a lot. He was a staple if I recall at the convention they had where they reunited the cast. He had lots of photos and some good stories. God Bless him and thanks for all the fun he gave us.

  • Bring Em Back Alive was much better

  • dog bark 1 for yes 2 for no like conseravites do when fox news talk

  • Arf arf.

  • It's amazing the "quality" of all my favorite childhood shows. Few of them stand the test of time, eh?

  • Right...Mike Post (and...Pete Conrad?) did both themes.

  • I hard a massive crush on Stephen Collins when I was 12 or 13, when this show was on.  I LIVED for this show.

  • This kind of reminds of "Tale Spin" in someways. "The Gunner's Goose" (SeaDuck), The planes from both shows look nearly the same, and Baloo dresses like the guy in this show.

  • cuz tale spin was based after this

  • I remember this show with the broke-ass Indiana Jones knockoff, but it was still better than those stupid Alan Quartermain movies with Richard Chamberlin. The dog with the patch eye was pretty cool though.

  • I'm hoping a movie adaptation would be made.

  • lol yeah, but good ideas died out in the 90s

    :-/

  • That's not necessarily so. There are many movie adaptations of old TV shows.