The original series, Saiyûki, was made by Nihon Television, and ran for two seasons of 26 episodes each. The first season ran from October 1978 to April 1979. The second season ran from November 1979 to May 1980. Both seasons had footage shot on location in northwest China and inner Mongolia.
The English-language version, Monkey, was produced by the BBC and debuted on British television screens in November 1979. It ran for 39 episodes (leaving out some episodes from the second season). The script for the dubbedbed dialogue was written by David Weir.
Monkey has also been screened in Australia and New Zealand, but not in the United States (for copyright reasons) — although Saiyûki was screened on a local Japanese-language TV station in California during the early 1980s.
Monkey is a cult favourite in the countries where it has been shown. Among the features that have contributed to its cult appeal are the catchy theme song, "Monkey Magic" (often the only thing people can remember about the series); the dubbed dialogue, spoken in a variety of over-the-top "Oriental" accents; and the fact that the young priest Tripitaka was played by a woman.
| Original Chinese name | Japanese name | Actor | English name | Dub actor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xuan Zang | Sanzouhoushi | Masako Natsume | Tripitaka | Maria Wahlberg |
| Sun Wukong | Songoku | Masaaki Sakai | Monkey | David Collings |
| Zhu Bajie | Chohakkai | s1: Toshiyuki Nishida s2: Tonpei Hidari | Pigsy | Peter Woodthorpe |
| Sha Wujing | Sagojo | Shiro Kishibe | Sandy | Gareth Armstrong |