1982: TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY STORYBOOK

From 1982: A fairly rare (at least in the UK) piece of TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY merchandise: The storybook adaptation of the feature-length pilot episode.

I really liked this show back when it aired on BBC ONE and I still think it is one of the better shows to emerge out of the Universal Action Factory of the 1980s.  A great premise (not really just an Indiana Jones knock-off... although the network was trying to push it in that direction), good cast and characters and - of course - the Goose.  Plus one of the all-time great theme tunes.

Despite the exotic locale, only this pilot episode included any principle photography shot somewhere tropical: Hawaii.  The rest of the series used the Universal backlot, carefully disguised with clever camera angles.  Occasional off-lot filming took the cast to locations like the Queen Mary.  

The really surprising thing is that the show latest only a single season before it was axed.  It had the look and feel of a long-runner. It aired on primetime BBC ONE here which - I think - always magnifies our perceptions of success because an imported show always seemed like a much bigger deal.  Look at the UK vs. US success of the POTA weekly series a decade earlier.  Or the relative high profiles of MANIMAL, AUTOMAN and STREETHAWK over here.  Although no-one other than me seems to remember the weekly series version of FREEBIE AND THE BEAN.  Sigh.

Merchandise related to the show is limited.  There is an excellent UK DVD release which is well worth getting and finally allowed me to dump my long-held bootleg copies.  It's worth getting not least for the very good new documentary, although the relationship between Stephen Collins and Faye ('V') Grant has - ahem - taken a turn for the worse since it was made.  Revelations about Collins may also mean this show is even less likely to get any TV exposure in future.

There was also supposed to be a UK annual but - to be honest - I have never seena copy 'in the wild' so i can't be 100% sure it was ever published.  But I will keep looking.  UK comics rights went to TV COMIC, which is always hard to find.

1985: SFTV MAGAZINE Issue 3

From February 1985: The cover of SFTV magazine issue 3, boasting a ludicrous looking Faye Grant publicity still from "V".

 Grant hit the headlines again recently when she leaked a recording, made covertly several years earlier in a therapy session, of her then husband Stephen Collins confessing to inappropriate sexual activity with children.  As recounted on the documentary that's part of the DVD set, she met Collins whilst appearing as a guest star on an episode of the really rather good TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY which mustered a single solitary season in 1982-83. 

1982: BRING 'EM BACK ALIVE in LOOK IN

BRING 'EM BACK ALIVE was that other 1982-83 US thirties adventure series inspired - at least in part (and, in the eyes of the network mandarins, probably entirely) by the success of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in the summer of 1981.

ABC offered-up the more fondly remembered TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY whilst CBS took a punt with this show about real-life big game hunter (but not - as the title suggests - killer) Frank Buck.  

The show was set in Singapore but shot entirely in California.  

Everyone remembers Gold Monkey (Kirk's replacement from ST:TMP, flying boat, dog with an eye patch and a cracking theme) but Bruce Boxleiter's (latterly of BABYLON FIVE fame) improbable moustache (MAGNUM premiered in 1980, the beginning of the crime-fighting-facial-fuzz trend that also dragged in RIPTIDE and SIMON & SIMON) has been all-but-forgotten.

This is a cover and pull-out centre spread from a November 1982 issue of the UK kids weekly LOOK-IN, showing that ITV was airing the show only a few weeks behind the States (the first episode aired over there on 24 September).  It doesn't say in the article but I think the show may already have been on-air a couple of weeks when this piece appeared.  ITV was networking the show in the 8.30 slot on Friday nights (Jungle fans take note: Biggins' campy kids game show ON SAFARI was running on CITV a few hours earlier).

ALIVE only managed 17 episodes before cancellation in 1983.  GOLD MONKEY fared little better, clocking-up only 21 episodes of flying time before being permanently grounded.

Neither shows generated much merchandise although both mustered the obligatory Grandreams annual.

GOLD MONKEY has enjoyed a belated release on DVD (and stands-up well today) but ALIVE has been entirely overlooked, allowing bootleggers to fill the gap with (generally shoddy) off-air recordings.  Neither series have been seen on British TV since their initial outings.

Happy Birthday Alison!

1984: THE BATTLE FOR GALACTICA at UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

This is something I picked-up from a secondhand book store: a 1984 guide to the UNIVERSAL STUDIOS TOUR (which was celebrating its 20th anniversary that year).  It was bound to catch my eye anyway but the thing that made it a must-have was the two page spread devoted to the legendary (and now - sadly - long since defunct) BATTLE FOR GALACTICA attraction on the tour.

The tour segment opened in 1979 (just as the TV show was being cancelled, something that must have been a considerable frustration to Universal who clearly thought they had a cash-cow on their corporate hands) and finally shuttered (replaced by a BACK TO THE FUTURE ride) in 1992.

The ride involved the tour tram (see the cover picture below) being intercepted by a large Cylon craft.  The tram is taken aboard and menaced by some animatronic Cylons (led by an decidedly off-model Imperious Leader) and Ovions (a pricy, high-profile, alien menace that the TV show - surprisingly - never resurrected for a return engagement).  Just as the Cylon vessel is about to take off, a lone Colonial Warrior bursts in (in a hail of laser fire) and the tram escapes.  The whole encounter only took a few minutes (the tour had a strict timetable to keep).

Centurions also wandered the tour to entertain the punters.  The famous Dirk Benedict improvisation from THE A-TEAM (originally from the episode Steele before it became a title sequence fixture) happened whilst filming on the backlot.

The KNIGHT RIDER episode Fright Knight also makes extensive use of the backlot.  It's possible to spot a decidedly past-its-prime Colonial Viper (possibly the one that was used whenever a wrecked Viper was required... or the full-sized version in a terrible condition) and the Monkey Bar from TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY.

Many (MANY!) Universal shows used the Universal lot on a regular basis and even, on occasion, cheekily used attractions on the tour as cheap sets.  Famously, THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, used the ice tunnel for the two-part 1976 story The Secret of Bigfoot.