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Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra
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Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra is a Hong Kong/Taiwanese television series adapted from the novel of the same title. The series had Dicky Cheung reprising the role of Sun Wukong as he previously did in the 1996 adaptation. The series was first broadcast on TVB in 2002. The cast are as follows: Dicky Cheung as Sun Wukong, Edmond Leong as Tang Sanzang, Eric Kot as Zhu Bajie, and Sam Lee Chan Sam as Sha Wujing. The Twins (Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung) also feature prominently as heavenly fairies that either aid or hinder the main protagonists.This adaptation is very, very loosely based on the novel, even the title itself doesn't really use the original title of "Journey to the West". The series focused on comedy and devote a huge portion of the storyline to establishing love relationships between the disciples and female characters they met during the journey.Sun Wukong was a monkey demon whose birth was from an ancient yet magical stone egg. His charisma allowed him to become the new King of Monkeys, and he sought to enter a training school for Immortals which he gotten into by merely befriending and offering Patriarch Subhuti a banana to eat. He also befriended a Judge from Hell and the Dragon Emperor of East Sea, such that they removed his name from the "Book of Life and Death" and gave him a Magical Cudgel as a weapon respectively. He was soon summoned to heaven to become a Protector of Horses.During his time in heaven, Sun Wukong met a senior fairy named Zilan, who is notably a significant character here who doesn't appear in the novel. She was originally a flower next to Wukong's stone egg that gained sentience. She heard a prophecy that she and Wukong will be romantically involved, and she fell in love with him and vice versa. Wukong later won a horse-racing competition and was awarded the title of "Great Sage Equal to Heaven". He also stole and ate the peaches of immortality but due to Queen Mother being a secret sympathizer, he got off relatively lightly. Good fortune doesn't last forever, and due to mischief caused by Zimei (Zilan's sister), Wukong fell further out of favour with the Jade Emperor and other deities. He surrendered after his kingdom of monkeys were mostly wiped out in the conflict. Repeated attempts to execute him failed, Wukong eventually loses his temper yet again and wrecked havoc on heaven, and was then imprisoned by Lord Buddha for 500 years. He was released to serve Tang Sanzang for his Pilgrimage to the West, and the two of them recruited the Dragon Horse, Sha Wujing, and Zhu Bajie to aid them as well.Note this twisted adaptation summarized so far is the most faithful this series has to the novel, and when the actual journey begins the various story-plots are completely different from the novel. Even the original purpose of retrieving the scriptures has gradually evolved into a save-the-world plot dealing with a universal evil threat named Heavenly Demon (Tian Mo). As a result of these deviations, it was seen as the worst adaptation of Journey to the West when it was airing, through opinions towards the series have significantly warmed in more recent years.Not to be mistaken with Journey to the West (1996) version. They do not share any continuity. | |
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Canon Foreigner | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_113480b7 | comment |
Canon Foreigner: Tian Mo, Dream Demon, Zimei, and Zilan do not exist in the novel. The Dream Demon is likely directly lifted from the character of the same name in the 1996 adaptation. There are fairies in the novel but none of them are named nor do they have any noticeable friendship with Wukong. | |
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The Millstone | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_121476bd | comment |
The Millstone: Zimei's mischief in the early part of the show triggered or contributed to the downfall of the protagonists Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie. She's partly responsible for Marshall Tianpeng's banishment to the earthly plane, and then she made yet another mistake by messing with the Books of Reincarnation, causing Tianpeng to reincarnate as a pig. Finally, she accidentally killed the peach trees Sun Wukong had planted, pushing him further out of favour with the Heavenly Courts and therefore setting up Wukong's eventual rebellion. | |
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Brainwashed and Crazy | |
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Brainwashed and Crazy: A few examples or so. Nezha was corrupted by Tian Mo due to his anger against his father Li Jing for causing his mother's death. He got better in time to fight Tian Mo in the finale. White Bone Demoness obtains a power (By consuming a magical flower) that can bewitch males to do her bidding. She tried using her new power on Wukong so that he can slap and humiliate Zilan. Wukong turned out to be immune to her charms. Bull Demon King was also brainwashed in a particular plot made by the Immortals of Tiger, Elk, and Antelope Power to fight Sun Wukong, although he snapped out of it when Wukong tries the "I Know You're in There Somewhere" approach. | |
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The Worf Effect | |
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The Worf Effect: When Tian Mo finally makes his return to the universe, he sent Buddha, Guan Yin, and Taishang Laojun flying back. This is probably the first time in a Journey to the West adaptation where Buddha/Guan Yin were defeated in a fight. | |
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Failed a Spot Check | |
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Failed a Spot Check: So, the protagonists were shown to have finally fetched the scriptures from India, returned back to China, and are rewarded by Heaven for their services rendered. Strangely though, who's that random silver haired monkey next to the protagonists? The scenes felt somewhat off even before Wukong found out they had been put under an illusion spell and there is still massive chaos in mortal world. | |
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Adaptation Expansion | |
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Adaptation Expansion: New stories that never happened in the novel replaced the bulk of the series. Most notable was Sun Wukong falling in love and in a love triangle between senior fairy Zilan and White Bone Demoness. | |
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Aborted Arc | |
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Aborted Arc: One notable early part of the story was the fairy Zimei being in love with Nezha, as a parallel to fairy Zilan in love with Wukong. It was quickly dropped, perhaps cut due to length reasons, after Zimei and Nezha had their memories relating to the romance erased. | |
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Anachronistic Soundtrack | |
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Anachronistic Soundtrack: The opening credits is a rap song, performed by Dicky Cheung himself. In a show set in the Tang Dynasty. Which plays in the background of several episodes. | |
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Adaptational Heroism | |
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Adaptational Heroism: Certain supporting characters in the series like the Bull Demon and White Bone Demoness are portrayed as less villainous when compared to their novel counterparts. Unlike the novel, Bull Demon remains a friend of Wukong while the White Bone Demoness never sought to eat Tang Sanzang. | |
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Secret Test of Character | |
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Secret Test of Character: As part of a plan to save Zhilan, Wukong was supposed to meet the Goddess of Nine Heaven at a specific time and place in order to retrieve a magical artefact from her. He was required to go through several hardships without the use of magical powers. During this period Wukong repeatedly helped others in need, and as a result missed the meeting with the Goddess at the specified time and place. But the Goddess revealed that from the very beginning she was impersonating those people asking him for help, and from those interactions she judged that Wukong is indeed worthy of the magical artefact. | |
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"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight | |
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Bull Demon King was also brainwashed in a particular plot made by the Immortals of Tiger, Elk, and Antelope Power to fight Sun Wukong, although he snapped out of it when Wukong tries the "I Know You're in There Somewhere" approach. | |
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Bittersweet Ending | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_40cc0c7e | comment |
Bittersweet Ending: Sun Wukong and Nezha: They successfully saved the entire universe from Tian Mo. In the aftermath, Nezha was left tearfully regretful that during his brainwashed state he had killed his own father Li Jing. Wukong finally expressed his love for Zilan and proposed marriage, but it was too late as Zilan sacrificed herself to help the heroes. Eventually, Zilan was reborn as a flower while Wukong quit his post in heaven and willingly turned back into a stone egg to accompany her. Wujing: His love interest Seven Treasure Umbrella was killed off, but he eventually moved on to a new relationship with someone else, apparently a mortal who looks just like his former love interest, and together with her they make a living selling umbrellas. She may or may not be Seven Treasure Umbrella's reincarnation. | |
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Informed Attractiveness | |
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Informed Attractiveness: Fairy Zilan was described to be one of the most beautiful fairies (and also the most physically aggressive) on heaven. | |
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Road Trip Plot | |
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The novel is on the surface, a fantastical journey to India to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures for the Tang Emperor and China. Deeper analyses pointed out that its a satire of contemporary corruption with pro-Buddhist/anti-Taoist themes. This adaptation is more of a Road Trip Plot Comedy with guest companions during the journey and the purpose of the journey is changed into some Saving the World cliche. | |
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Adaptational Attractiveness | |
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Adaptational Attractiveness: Sha Wujing looks like a normal human and isn't ugly looking at all. This is in contrast to the novel's description of the original Wujing. Same goes with Sun Wukong, who simply looks like a human covered with long fur instead of the novel's description of an ugly demon who looks like Lei Gong (Thunder God). | |
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Big Eater | |
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Big Eater: This adaptation made it clear that Bajie is a glutton AND a pervert. Ironically, this version of Zhu Bajie is (relatively) more faithful to the novel as compared to the 1996 adaptation, which only focuses on Bajie's Casanova Wannabe. | |
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Heel–Face Turn | |
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Heel–Face Turn: After being spared twice by Sanzang, the Snake Demoness attempted to pay back his kindness by saving him from getting cooked alive by Six Eared Macaque, at the cost of her own life. Eventually, Six Eared Macaque himself repented as well. | |
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Heroic Sacrifice | |
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Heroic Sacrifice: Fairy Zilan and Seven Treasure Umbrella spirit in the finale. | |
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Brought Down to Normal | |
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Brought Down to Normal: Wujing's ending. He choose to become a normal human and pursued a relationship with someone who looked exactly like his former love interest. | |
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Achievement Test of Destiny | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_6841afbf | comment |
Achievement Test of Destiny: Towards the end of the series, the 4 major protagonists are sent into an alternate universe to live alternate lives (individually) that feels very convincingly real. The purpose of the test is to bring out their true character. If they prove to be unworthy of the quest to save the universe, they would be stuck inside that alternative universe forever. Zhu Bajie's test was arguably the most notable given that he had the weakest moral character. In that universe, he became The Casanova but over the years he grew to regret his life, and admitted that if he had a choice he would prefer the hardships of the pilgrimage over his ultimately doomed love life. This admission is enough for him to pass the test. | |
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And the Adventure Continues | |
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And the Adventure Continues: In the future, a second Journey to the West is required to save the world again, so Wukong, Sanzang, Bajie, and Wujing had been reincarnated as Wujing, Wukong, Sanzang, and Bajie respectively (You read that order right) to take on the mission. | |
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Adaptational Badass | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_736d791f | comment |
Adaptational Badass: Sun Wukong was almost never defeated in any fight shown in this series. The number of times where he suffered an unambiguous defeat can be counted with one hand: His failure to escape Lord Buddha (Which is the case for all adaptations) and his initial defeat by the final boss aka Tian Mo. Other ambiguous situations: 1) Wukong lost to Nezha in a fighting competition early on in the show, but in reality he threw the fight just to spite someone else. 2) Wukong was incapacitated by the Black Spider Demoness, to whom he let his guard down. 3) A couple other encounters he was unable to overcome the opponent of the day and had to seek outside help, but he was never actually shown defeated. The novel's Nezha was defeated by Wukong and sent running. In this adaptation, Nezha is portrayed as Wukong's equal and rival. | |
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Spared by the Adaptation | |
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Spared by the Adaptation: The Immortals of Tiger, Elk, and Antelope Power were spared, and so was the Six-Ear Macaque. Then again, the original plot featuring them was greatly altered here. The Bull Demon King was even involved in this story, when he wasn't supposed to be in it at all. | |
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Establishing Character Moment | |
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Probably the noblest and friendliest live-action adaptation of Sun Wukong to date. The early part of the series focused on emphasizing Sun Wukong's character as a Nice Guy. Before his 500 year imprisonment by Buddha, this version of Wukong befriended numerous deities: Notably Nezha, Queen Mother, Planet Venus, Zilan, Zimei, and Wukong's own subordinate. His conflict with the Heavenly Courts was portrayed as a matter of cultural difference and misunderstanding. Nezha befriended him and they helped out each other outside of their rivalry, Queen Mother never gave up her belief that Wukong is inherently a good guy and secretly helped him even in his times of trouble, and Planet Venus remained as genial and helpful throughout. As for the guest star encounters Subhuti (Eric Tsang), Chung Kwai (Nicholas Tse), and Ao Guang (William So): Sun Wukong being a Nice Guy to Subhuti was what convinced the latter to teach Wukong the magical arts of being an immortal. Chung Kwai himself erased Wukong's name from the registry of life and death after Wukong proved to be an honorable guy, as opposed to the novel where Wukong did it by force. Wukong befriended Ao Guang and in return he gave the Ruyi Jingu Bang to Wukong. Most (but not all) of his morally questionable acts like killing harmless people/demons were left out of the adaptation. Not only that, his mischievous ways was also toned down a little compared to the 1996/1998 HK Adaptation. | |
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Informed Deformity | |
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Informed Deformity: Downplayed with Fairy Zimei. Marshall Tianpeng (who eventually became Zhu Bajie) showed absolutely no attraction to Zimei, and pointed out her "underaged features" is a massive turnoff. The other characters also tend to see her as an annoying brat. While Zimei is Zilan's younger sister, in real life, Gillian Chung (Zimei) is actually more than a year older than Charlene Choi (Zilan). | |
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Adaptational Nice Guy | |
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Adaptational Nice Guy: Probably the noblest and friendliest live-action adaptation of Sun Wukong to date. The early part of the series focused on emphasizing Sun Wukong's character as a Nice Guy. Before his 500 year imprisonment by Buddha, this version of Wukong befriended numerous deities: Notably Nezha, Queen Mother, Planet Venus, Zilan, Zimei, and Wukong's own subordinate. His conflict with the Heavenly Courts was portrayed as a matter of cultural difference and misunderstanding. Nezha befriended him and they helped out each other outside of their rivalry, Queen Mother never gave up her belief that Wukong is inherently a good guy and secretly helped him even in his times of trouble, and Planet Venus remained as genial and helpful throughout. As for the guest star encounters Subhuti (Eric Tsang), Chung Kwai (Nicholas Tse), and Ao Guang (William So): Sun Wukong being a Nice Guy to Subhuti was what convinced the latter to teach Wukong the magical arts of being an immortal. Chung Kwai himself erased Wukong's name from the registry of life and death after Wukong proved to be an honorable guy, as opposed to the novel where Wukong did it by force. Wukong befriended Ao Guang and in return he gave the Ruyi Jingu Bang to Wukong. Most (but not all) of his morally questionable acts like killing harmless people/demons were left out of the adaptation. Not only that, his mischievous ways was also toned down a little compared to the 1996/1998 HK Adaptation. Just like Wukong, this adaptation's Tang Sanzang is easily the nicest live-action incarnation of the Holy Monk ever portrayed, so much so that his disciples tend to walk all over him. The original Sanzang's usage of the magical headband curse on Sun Wukong are mostly due to foolishness on Sanzang's part. This adaptation's Sanzang's usage of the magical headband curse mostly acts as a communication signal for Wukong to realize that the party is in danger. The only time it was used to discipline Wukong was when the two met for the first time and even that was played for comedy. He never actually forced Sun Wukong to leave the party. For the two times that Wukong was sent away, it was partly due to Wukong's refusal to serve him anymore. He specifically gave orders to Wukong to spare the life of a snake demoness - Twice. She had made 2 attempts to eat Sanzang only to be foiled by Wukong. | |
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Straight Man | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_83b464fb | comment |
Straight Man: Sun Wukong, Sanzang, and Wujing are this to the buffoonish Zhu Bajie. | |
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Interspecies Romance | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_8485d41a | comment |
Interspecies Romance: Notable ones below. Sun Wukong (Monkey) with either Fairy Zilan (Flower), or White Bone Demoness (Skeleton) Zhu Bajie (Pig) with Spider Demoness (Spider of course) Sha Wujing (Former immortal) with Seven Treasure Umbrella (Magical Artefact) | |
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Overly Long Name | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_8f900ccd | comment |
Overly Long Name: Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing loved to recite the "long version" of their names. Sun Wukong especially. | |
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Betty and Veronica | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_94e4c8ab | comment |
Betty and Veronica: With Sun Wukong as the center!!! Fairy Zilan is Betty, while White Bone Demoness is Veronica. | |
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Big Bad | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_970c790a | comment |
Big Bad: Tian Mo, or Heavenly Demon. He's an original character, a universal-level threat that had Buddha, Guan Yin, and Lao Zi team up against him, with Sun Wukong and other top fighters leading the fight. | |
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MacGuffin | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_a6c69bd | comment |
As part of a plan to save Zhilan, Wukong was supposed to meet the Goddess of Nine Heaven at a specific time and place in order to retrieve a magical artefact from her. He was required to go through several hardships without the use of magical powers. During this period Wukong repeatedly helped others in need, and as a result missed the meeting with the Goddess at the specified time and place. But the Goddess revealed that from the very beginning she was impersonating those people asking him for help, and from those interactions she judged that Wukong is indeed worthy of the magical artefact. | |
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Casanova Wannabe | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_a806691d | comment |
Casanova Wannabe: Zhu Bajie, especially his relationship with the Spider demoness. | |
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Achilles in His Tent | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_b333f02e | comment |
Achilles in His Tent: Sun Wukong, twice in the series. He himself chose to quit the quest instead of being forced to. | |
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| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_c5249b29 | type |
Nice Guy | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_c5249b29 | comment |
As for the guest star encounters Subhuti (Eric Tsang), Chung Kwai (Nicholas Tse), and Ao Guang (William So): Sun Wukong being a Nice Guy to Subhuti was what convinced the latter to teach Wukong the magical arts of being an immortal. Chung Kwai himself erased Wukong's name from the registry of life and death after Wukong proved to be an honorable guy, as opposed to the novel where Wukong did it by force. Wukong befriended Ao Guang and in return he gave the Ruyi Jingu Bang to Wukong. | |
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Everything's Deader with Zombies | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_cb643ebb | comment |
Everything's Deader with Zombies: The zombie apocalypse plot, which doesn't even appear in the novel and is most likely inspired by the contemporary Zombie media entertainment trend. | |
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| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_ce6555f0 | type |
Lighter and Softer | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_ce6555f0 | comment |
Lighter and Softer: Definitely so compared to the novel. There are loads of gags in the series, and even some of the specific deviations from the novel (E.g.: The order of recruiting the disciples) are done so for laughs. It's even more light-hearted than the previous adaptation starring Cheung. | |
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What the Hell, Hero? | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_d39e327f | comment |
What the Hell, Hero?: Tang Sanzang gave this to Sun Wukong for killing some demons-in-disguise passing by, whom haven't even attacked them. | |
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Adaptational Wimp | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_d500b978 | comment |
Adaptational Wimp: Zhu Bajie. While in the novel he regularly needs help from Wukong to defeat demon kings, he still does demonstrate a certain level of competence in the areas of fighting. In this adaptation, he became a complete pushover just like Sha Wujing. Wukong: If you didn't lose I won't be able tell that you are the real deal! note For context, Bajie was fighting his impersonator, and Wukong just sat by and watch till the fake Bajie won. Erlang Shen. In the novel he's seemed to be a better fighter than Nezha but in this series he was defeated by Nezha instead. | |
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Vitriolic Best Buds | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_d7fc9fd0 | comment |
Vitriolic Best Buds: Sun Wukong with Zhu Bajie, of course. | |
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Reasonable Authority Figure | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_dca70c44 | comment |
Reasonable Authority Figure: Believe it or not, this adaptation's Tang Sanzang fits this trope much better than the original did. | |
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Ship Tease | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_dcb9c541 | comment |
Ship Tease: There are moments of this between Tang Sanzang and Susu, and even the disciples pointed it out in-universe. The ship sank when Susu announced that she is leaving the group to pursue Buddhism elsewhere, and Sanzang did not stop her. | |
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| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_f1492605 | type |
Redemption Equals Death | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_f1492605 | comment |
Redemption Equals Death: The Snake demoness' actions after she was spared a second time by Tang Sanzang despite attempting to eat him again. | |
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Would Hit a Girl | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_f42f96fa | comment |
Would Hit a Girl: Sun Wukong strikes White Bone Demoness three times, effectively spurning her thrice too. | |
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Earn Your Happy Ending | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_f64a9cf7 | comment |
Earn Your Happy Ending: Sanzang: Remains a teacher of Buddhism, he couldn't be any happier. Bajie: Rewarded as an altar cleanser and he also gets to play with children. | |
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Love Makes You Evil | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_f788b2c5 | comment |
Love Makes You Evil: White Bone Demoness was repeatedly spurned by Wukong. She was brainwashed by Tian Mo as a result. | |
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Friendly Rivalry | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_fbd5fda1 | comment |
Before his 500 year imprisonment by Buddha, this version of Wukong befriended numerous deities: Notably Nezha, Queen Mother, Planet Venus, Zilan, Zimei, and Wukong's own subordinate. His conflict with the Heavenly Courts was portrayed as a matter of cultural difference and misunderstanding. Nezha befriended him and they helped out each other outside of their rivalry, Queen Mother never gave up her belief that Wukong is inherently a good guy and secretly helped him even in his times of trouble, and Planet Venus remained as genial and helpful throughout. | |
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Adaptation Inspiration | |
| Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra / int_ff74ef12 | comment |
Adaptation Inspiration: One of the biggest criticisms of the Quest for the Sutra is that the changes to the source material are often completely unnecessary. There wasn't a single story and plotline that wasn't modified and twisted to near-unrecognizable. The novel is on the surface, a fantastical journey to India to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures for the Tang Emperor and China. Deeper analyses pointed out that its a satire of contemporary corruption with pro-Buddhist/anti-Taoist themes. This adaptation is more of a Road Trip Plot Comedy with guest companions during the journey and the purpose of the journey is changed into some Saving the World cliche. In the novel, Wukong was made the guardian of the Peach trees and rebelled against Heaven by stealing and eating the Peaches of Immortality. In this adaptation, he became the Peach trees' gardener as punishment for stealing and eating the peaches. His rebellion only happened later on. Sun Wukong striking White Bone Demoness three times was left in, but the motivation for that was due to a lovers' quarrel (!!!) note See the In Name Only trope in this page rather than Wukong's desire to protect his master. Not only that, Sanzang was barely involved in their quarrel. In the original story where Lord Buddha subdues Wukong after his havoc in heaven, it was done by placing a bet that Wukong can't jump out of Buddha's palm. In this adaptation, it was the reverse, where Wukong tries to keep Buddha on his palm but failed. ... Overall, massive liberties were taken with the source material, and so there are way too many examples to list. | |
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Series of the 2000s / int_a1778c48 |
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