Tales of the Gold Monkey

Howdy you Truly Adventurous Souls! 

I know why you're here!  I knew you were coming!  I didn't bake a cake though, but I do have  a true treat this time, team, a terrific trophy of television's times-gone-by called "Tales of the Gold Monkey"!  This is a re-working of an old article that I wrote a few years back for my "Odd Reviews by Oddcube", a feature of the former Abandoned Towers ezine.

 Be warned, There Are Spoilers!

"Tales of the Gold Monkey" aired its one-and-only season on ABC in 1982.  The show was created by some guy named Donald P. Bellisario, who created some other obscure shows with names like "Magnum, P.I.", "Airwolf", "Quantum Leap", "JAG", and "NCIS".  In fact, "Gold Monkey" was apparently the very first series that he got a "Created By" credit for.

So, the scuttlebutt from several online sources is that Bellisario created "Gold Monkey", inspired by such classic movies as "Only Angels Have Wings" and "To Have and Have Not" and that he began trying to sell it to the networks since the late 70's.  He was repeatedly turned down, as them dumb ol' TV execs thought no one would be interested in way cool adventure series set in the 1930's.  And then it happened:

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" was released in theaters, and was a smash hit!

Then all of a sudden, all three networks (yeah, there were only three back then, how did people survive?!) were scrambling to find something similar that they could air.  The good news here is that some guy at ABC remembered "Tales of the Gold Monkey", which came complete with a tropical island and a hero in a leather jacket!  ...The bad news is that they really wanted it to be more of an action-oriented adventure and less the character-driven drama Bellisario originally intended.  The resulting series is somewhere in between, and way cool!

"Tales of the Gold Monkey" takes place in the South Seas in 1938.  More specifically, on the fictional island of Boragora, part of the French Mandate which covers the southern half of the volcanic Marivella Island chain.  The northern half of the Marivellas compose the Japanese Mandate.  The show focuses on the adventures of Jake Cutter, a former Flying Tiger who is now a pilot-for-hire who transports passengers and cargo with his Grumman Goose (that's an airplane, if ya don't know).  Jake is played by Stephen Collins, whom you may remember from "Brewster's Millions" starring Richard Pryor and John Candy (he's the guy Richard Pryor gets to slug at the end), or from "Star Trek:  The Motion Picture" (he's the guy who merges with V'Ger at the end of the movie...in case ya fell asleep and missed that part, which is TOTALLY understandable!), or as a priest in the TV series "Seventh Heaven". 

Of course, a good hero needs good sidekicks, and Jake has several characters to back him up.  His best, or at least most loyal, friend is Corky, the best (and only) mechanic within a thousand miles.  Corky is amiable, optimistic, a little naïve, a little dense, and has a poor memory as a result of how much he drinks.  Corky is played by Jeff MacKay, who also played recurring roles on "Magnum P.I.", "JAG", "Battlestar Gallactica" (the original one), "Black Sheep Squadron", and "The Greatest American Hero".  And on top of all that, I found out that Jeff MacKay was Robert Redford's cousin!

Jake Cutter never went very far without his faithful friend, Jack, who was a one-eyed Jack Russell Terrier.  Jack was smarter than the average dog; in fact, he was often smarter than the average human.  He could hold a conversation with you by barking once for "no" and twice for "yes"...or is it the other way around?  To be honest, I think he switched it around every once in a while, just to confound people.  Jack had a glass eye made of opal with a star sapphire center, but Jake lost in a poker game in the pilot and Jack holds a king-sized grudge against him until he tracks it down and gets it back which, of course, Jake tries to do through the entire run of the show.  In the meantime, Jack wears an eye patch and is very cool, even though he's kinda contrary.

Next up, we have Sarah Stickney-White, who turns out to be an American secret agent...even though she sounds British...who has been assigned to eavesdrop and relay any information that may be useful to the U.S. in the upcoming war.  As her cover, she was the singer in Boragora's central meeting spot, The Monkey Bar.  In addition to all of that, she was Jake Cutter's romantic interest throughout the series, cuz you need that sort of tension in a series.  Sarah is played by Caitlin O'Heaney who was on "One Life To Live" for a while, and was in the Woody Allen films "Zelig" and "The Purple Rose of Cairo", and for a while she had her own perfume, called "Caitlin".

The most mysterious of Jake's companions is "Bon Chance" Louie. 
Louie is the French Magistrate in charge of Boragora and also the proprietor of the Monkey Bar.  Louie is a likable scoundrel and rogue who occasionally drops little hints about various experiences in his exotic and apparently infamous life.  In the pilot, Louie was played by Ron Moody, who has apparently been in tons of things, but I only know him from Mel Brooks' "The Twelve Chairs".  Also apparently, he and somebody didn't get along, because in the ongoing series, Louie was played by Roddy McDowall.  ...I don't have to tell you who Roddy McDowall is, do I?  I mean, he's Roddy McDowall!  Everybody knows and likes him, right?  He was in, like, EVERYTHING it seems like.

 Of course, a hero also needs some opposition, and there were some members of the regular cast to help in that capacity, too.  For starters, there was the Reverend Willie Tenboom, who was actually a Nazi spy assigned to Boragora.  Of course, he wasn't much of a spy; he was actually quite content to be stationed out on that tropical paradise mostly away from weighty worries like war and politics.  He was set up as a Reverend, and his favorite pastime was giving private--ahem--"blessings" to the local native girls.  He certainly didn't seem very devoted to the Nazi cause, and in fact was rather fond of the show's heroes.  As such a reluctant opponent, he wasn't really played up as a villain, but more as focal point for occasional comedy.  Willie was played by John Calvin, who seems to be in one episode of just about everything, and a couple of small movie roles, but "Gold Monkey" seems to be the largest part in his repertoire. 

A more affective villainess was the Princess Koji, a half-Irish/half-
Japanese princess who governed the Japanese Mandate in the Maravellas.  She was sort of a classic Dragon Lady type of character, very clever and cunning, and (of course) intrigued and enamored of our stalwart hero, Jake Cutter.  Princess Koji was played by Marta DuBois, who was also Thomas Magnum's wife on "Magnum P.I." and John Larroquette's love interest on the "McBride" series of mystery movies.

Princess Koji had several people at her beck and call, but her best servant is Todo.  Todo was some sort of samurai-guy who was fanatically loyal to the Princess.  He has a quick temper, unfaltering determination, and a samarai sword--and he's ready to use them all!  Todo is played by John Fujioka, who you might remember from "Pearl Harbor", or "Mortal Kombat", but I remember him from "The Private Eyes".

Anyway, "Tales of the Gold Monkey" is an adventure show, and there's plenty of adventure everywhere!  There are claim jumpers, guys trying to blow up members of Royal Families, kidnappers, slavers, killer apes, tigers, and curses from ancient island gods!  From start to finish, it's just plain cool!

Now, some of these plot elements were part of Bellisario's vision of what the series should be, but some of the more exotic things like ape-men and natives were apparently added at the insistence of the network.  Remember, they wanted it to be more Indiana Jones.  Well, remember also that this is the first series that Bellisario got "Created By" credit for, and since his name was on it, he was very insistent about how it turned out, too.  The short version here is that arguments ensued, and the series was not picked up beyond the first season, much to the surprise of rival networks and the disappointment of their growing fanbase. 

Despite stubborn, short-sighted network execs, the show retains a loyal cult following.  I guess I'm part of it, cuz I totally dig it the most.  And what's not to like?  There's adventure, excitement, romance, intrigue, and exotic scenery!  So if you like Indiana Jones, or Allan Quatermaine, or Jungle Jim, or the movie "Firewalker", or the Disney show "Talespin" (which itself was supposedly inspired by "Tales of the Gold Monkey"), then you will like this show, so check it out!

Or maybe you've seen it already?  If so, tell us what you thought about it in the comments below!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Executioner #14: San Diego Siege

Howdy, you Triggermen And Shooters! 

So, a while back, I won a couple of auctions on eBay that were small collections of "Men's Adventure" books.  I got some Executioner (Mack Bolan), some Destroyer (Remo Williams), some Matt Helm, some Nick Carter, and the first book of the Specialist.  This time, I decided to read an Executioner book.

I have read one Executioner book before, way back when I was in my mid-teens back in the 90s.  I don't remember the title, all the covers looked alike (a white background with a collage of images and the logo was on an upward slant).  I'm under the impression he was working with the government or at least some sort of organization.  He went undercover as some kind of journalist, and I remember it being stated that articles are regularly published under the pseudonym to support the cover identity.  And I'm pretty sure he blew up a helicopter from his hotel room.  I have NO idea who was fighting, or what the bad guy was trying to achieve.

So, I was going into this with little idea of what to expect, beyond the cliche idea that he was one of those heroes who basically kills everybody and blows everything up.  Because, well, that's basically what all these guys are about, right?

I grabbed the earliest book in my current collection:  The Executioner #14:  San Diego Siege.  Of course, the author's name is Don Pendleton.  It was published by Pinnacle Books, with a copyright of 1972.  I have no clue who made the cover art.

So, Mack Bolan was some kind of special forces super soldier and sniper back in Vietnam.  He came home and found most of his family dead, his father driven to murder/suicide because of dealings with the Mafia.  His younger brother was the sole survivor and told him everything.  So Bolan began a one-man war against the Mafia, which has driven him through thirteen previous adventures.

In this novel, Mack Bolan has been "summoned" to San Diego.  He meets with Bancanales, apparently, they fought together in Vietnam, and in one of the previous books.  Bancanales tell him that their former Colonel reached out for help.  But Bolan is unsure because he found some dirt on this Colonel in a previous novel.  First, he wants to scout things out and try to see how dirty the Colonel is, to determine if he is deserving of Bolan's help.

However, when he goes to spy on the Colonel, he finds that the Colonel is dead, and embroiled in some plot with the local Mafia.  Somehow, this changes things, and Bolan is determined to figure out what happened and clearly establish the Colonel's involvement.

It was a pretty fun story, but a little silly.  See, the Mafia was using the Colonel to steal military radio equipment so they could set up a series of radio relays from Las Vegas to San Diego to Mexico in order to capitalize on horse race gambling.  I can't help but picture these radio relays set up like the fire beacons between Minas Tirith and Rohan in the Lord of the Rings movies.

To tell the truth, this seemed a lot lighter in tone than the Specialist did.  In the Specialist, the villain made people fight to the death with steak knives for his amusement, another mobster had a secret dungeon in his basement where he kept teens that he planned to sell into sex slavery, and the descriptions of inflicted damage seemed more visceral and gritty and generally stomach-churning.  

Now I'll admit that Bolan's family dying by murder/suicide is pretty dark, but you don't see it, you're only told that it happened.  The first guy Bolan kills gets shot in the head and you're told that his head exploded and he fell off the boat into the ocean where you didn't have to see it.  This was probably the most gory thing in the book.  Yes, a bunch of people were killed and others got hurt, but they didn't dwell on it.  Plus, these bad guys were really only after the goriesthorse track gambling market.  Mostly, it felt like an episode of the A-Team or some other 80's action show.  Except people died, and one girl spent two whole chapters wearing nothing but a bikini bottom so you knew this was "more grown-up" or whatever.

Maybe this is because this book came out in '72 while the Specialist came out in '84.  Or maybe it's just my own mindset and sensibilities.  Some things seem more serious depending on your outlook, after all.  But I think I liked this book better than the Specialist and I'm looking forward to reading the other books in my collection.

Of course, you can still get this physical book through Amazon or eBay, and a digital version from various places on the net if you want to check this one out.  Or perhaps you've read it already, if so, leave a comment below and tell us what you thought about it!  Well, I guess that's all I have to say for now, so I'll see you next time!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell