#Journey to the West: The True and False Monkey King

[the-monkey-ruler]

hi, I don't know if you've heard about “Journey to the West: The Real and Fake Monkey King”, starring the actor of the monkey king from 1986? This year only the poster came out and from what I saw the project is somewhat controversial.

Oh yeah I've been hearing about this one! I think this might be part of the Monkey King 2014 verse but I'm not sure as the summary of the movie seemed to have changed.

I’ve only found websites that talk about the synopsis, do you mind telling me where you saw this? Unless you are talking about Liu Xiao Ling Tong himself as he is kinda seen as a.... purist I think is the right word to use. He has become kinda a meme in recent years as he is very judgemental of Sun Wukong adaptions that do not fit his mold of what he thinks the Monkey King represents, "Parodies should not be nonsense, adaptations should not be groundless recreations" and even advocated for laws banning parodies of classics.

"The sensation of Liuxue started when a cohort of trolls poked fun at Zhang’s years-long attempt to increase his relevance after starring as Sun Wukong 孙悟空, a.k.a. the Monkey King, in a 1986 television adaption of Journey to the West (西游记 Xīyóujì). The role is widely regarded as the pinnacle of Zhang’s acting career. Seeing generally tepid reception to his subsequent works, Zhang morphed into an objectively annoying celebrity who perennially dwells on his best-received performance, constantly boasting about his legacy and attaching his entire worth on the original novel and its variations, a cultural heritage to which Zhang only made a relatively small contribution.But unlike other sellout artists, Zhang went so far that people are now questioning his sanity. It’s documented that, at certain speaking engagements, he branded himself as the only person alive who can offer definitive interpretations of the original Journey to the West. At the funeral of Yang Jie 杨洁, director of the 1986 TV adaption, Zhang filmed a video promoting an upcoming movie where he plays the character again."

In any case, he does seem to be extreme in his views but I can't say if he is considered to be controversial moreso eccentric. While I don't agree with him and I do like the advocacy of laws banning parodies is borderline ludicrous, I can't say that he actually has any power or persuasion to make these realities. I can see why he is treated more as a joke/meme as what he is saying is impossible as there have been more adaptions than ever before. I hope that if he does get this movie made then at least his actors are paid well and that the movie production itself goes smoothly.

If this wasn't what you were talking about please let me know what you hear! Would love to know what’s going on!

[sketching-shark]

I guess he did.

[reginleif-valkyrie]

True and False Monkey King

I feel bad for these women. Their sole purpose is to die so Wukong can come to some epiphany. Or is it Wukong? 🤷 The plot is all the demons want Sanzang’s staff because if he takes it to X place all the demons are reborn and if a demon takes it to X place they take over? Also we have Six Ears pretending to be Wukong. The movie makes you question which one is which because when you think you know the answer, you’re wrong. Or are you? Wukong may not be monkey man, but he looks more so than the others. Bajie is only a pig man for like a scene and why did the villagers give the Buddhist monks meat? Pig meat to boot. 🐷 why was the big baddy a giant version of Gorro?

It’s an entertaining enough movie on IQIYI.

We need more Sanzang hiding behind Wukong.

I have to give the writers props. The woman talks about Six Ears lovingly and Wukong immediately says ‘like the relationship between my master and me’ they really did just slip that line comparing their relationship to the Het ship you’re rooting for.

I will say this. The ending pissed me off. I can’t believe it ended like that. They set it up perfectly and then don’t give you the ending you expected.

I’ll leave you with this cute dog thing I want.

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 42

Bull Demon King (Sun Wukong) warning Redboy about Sun Wukong:

And you stole his Master. And Pigsy to I guess.

This week on Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest we continue our adventures with the fiery Redboy. So let's get into it shall we?

We start back up with where we left off, with Monkey eavesdropping on Redboy telling his minions to go invite the Venerable Great King to dinner. So Monkey hedges his bets and takes a gamble that he must be talking about his father, the Bull Demon King. And luckily for Monkey he knows what the guy looks like since they were buddy's 500 years ago. I guess Monkey is counting on the Bull Demon King not getting a new haircut in the last 500 years. Anyways Monkey skedaddles from the cave and plops himself ten miles up the path before transforming himself into the Bull Demon King.

Sure enough, as soon as the minion demons spot the 'Bull Demon King', they invite him to dinner and leads him back to the cave. Redboy is like 'Well that was quick', but quickly goes to respectfully greet his father. Anyways Redboy excitedly tells him all about the tasty monk he has acquired for them to eat. The 'Bull Demon King' asks if this monk happens to be the master of one Sun Wukong- scourge of heaven itself. Redboy confirms it, and 'Bull Demon King' recommends he just send the monk back, because Sun Wukong is far to dangerous to mess with, and if they eat the Monk he will definitely flatten this whole mountain.

Redboy however isn't worried, after all he's managed to chase him off with his True Fire of Samadhi twice now. The false Bull Demon King warns him that Sun Wukong is very tricky and transform to look like anything- like say- something as tiny as a fly- or even something as large as say- a Bull Demon King. Redboy however just scoffs and says that he would definitely be able to see through Sun Wukong's transformations! Anyways seeing that scare tactics aren't going to work on Redboy, Wukong switches to stall tactics. He says that while he would love nothing more then to have some tasty monk meat he unfortunately can't today. He's trying this new diet where he goes vegetarian once a week, and today is the that day, but he'll totally be up to it tomorrow.

Redboy however finds this suspicious since the Bull Demon King is always down for chowing on humans. So Redboy asks his minions where they found this Bull Demon King, and they say they found him on the way, not at his actual house. Redboy is fairly certain that they've been deceived, but can't be to hasty just in case it really is his father, so he resolves to question him first. So Redboy tells his minions to be ready to jump the fake king when he gives the signal, and he goes to question him. So Redboy asks him to tell him the exact time and date of his birth. Sun Wukong sweats nervously at the question because how the hell is he supposed to know that? However he gives what I consider to be a perfectly adequate dad response in: "I don't know, I'll ask your mother." Apparently unlike most fathers though, the Bull Demon King actually does know the answer, and apparently never shuts up about it. So Redboy gives the signal for his minion demons to attack. Sun Wukong of course reverts to his original form and blocks the attack before pulling off his vanishing in a flash of light trick. But not before mocking Redson for being a bad son and attacking his own father though of course.

Anyways Monkey is jazzed from his victory over Redboy and wastes no time in going to brag to Sandy about it. And while he hasn't rescued Tripitaka yet, he's feeling well enough about his victory to go fetch Guanyin himself now. So Monkey quick travels to Guanyin's place and has her secretaries announce his arrival. So Guanyin gets right to the point and asks what he's doing here, and Wukong also wastes no time in summarizing the current arc for her. Guanyin listens to the story calmly until he gets to the part where Redboy disguises himself as her in order to fool Pigsy, where in she throws her vase into the water in an apparent fit of rage. Which Monkey thinks is a shame and that she should have just given him the fancy vase instead of smashing it.

Turns out however, that the vase isn't smashed, since it quickly reappears on the back of a tortoise. Guanyin asks him to bring it to her, but it turns out he can't lift it. Monkey tries to defend himself saying he's wounded at the moment, but Guanyin just explains that the vase is currently filled with and oceans worth of water, and even Wukong isn't that strong. Unlike an unlicensed thunderstorm the water in the vase does have the power to put out the true fire of Samadhi, but unfortunately he can't pick it up to take it with him. And since Guanyin doesn't trust him to not try and hoodwink any of her attendants to steal the vase, she asks him to leave behind one of his belongings as insurance. Personally I find this slightly unfair since Guanyin is one of like three people Sun Wukong actually respects and is therefore unlikely to steal from her. It's a moot point anyways though since Sun Wukong doesn't really have anything of value that he can give her that he doesn't need. Of course he is more then willing to give her the gold fillet, if she wants to recite the loose fillet spell and take it though.

In the end however, Guanyin simply resolves to go with Wukong herself in order to save Tripitaka. So after a bit of cute 'after you, no, no, I insist after you' banter, the two head out on her lotus platform. On their way she has Moksa borrow the Swords of Constellations from his father, which she then uses to transform into the lotus platform. Once they arrive at the demon mountain, Guanyin summons all the local gods and tells them to evacuate the mountain. Once they are done with that, Guanyin pours out the vase, resulting in an ocean of water leaving Guanyin quite at home in a place that now reflects the appearance of the south sea. Monkey also comments that Guanyin is rather merciful, since if he was the one with that power he would have just drowned the whole mountain without a care.

Guanyin has Monkey giver her his hand so she can write the word 'delusion' on his palm. She then tells him to pick another fight with Redboy and lure him back to her. So Monkey does what Monkey does best, and breaks down the demon's front door and uses his taunting ability to draw in some agro. So Monkey fights him for a while, and with the help of Guanyin's power of 'delusion', he successfully lures him to where Guanyin is waiting, and dives into her divine aura. Redboy yells at her, asking if she's supposed to be Monkeys reinforcement or something, but she doesn't reply. And when Redboy tries attacking her, she simply vanishes.

Guanyin and Wukong watch from above as Redboy decides that he must have defeated Guanyin and decides to take her fancy lotus platform as his prize. As soon as he takes a seat however, Guanyin reverts it back to it's true form: a bunch of pointy swords. When the demon tries to pull out the swords, Guanyin has them hook into him so they can't be pulled out. Once the demon starts crying and begging for mercy, Guanyin once again reveals herself and asks if he will become one of her disciples. The demon of course agrees, but since Guanyin didn't specify 'no take backs', Redboy tries to attack Guanyin as soon as she removes the swords.

Wukong of course moves to defend her, however there is no need. Guanyin pulls out the final gold fillet entrusted to her by Bhudda, she throws it at Redboy and it transforms into five fillets that encircle his head, hands and feet. Once they are on the demon, Guanyin recites a similar yet different spell from Wukong's, in order to subdue the demon. And with that we have reached the end of yet another chapter.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years. Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction and vanishing in a flash of light. Demon Kill Count: 9+ Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1006 God's Defeated: 22 + Unknown number Defeats: 5 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat and animal abuse. Cry Count: 7 + 2 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization and Heart Sutra. Cry Count: 20 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 31 Paralyzed by fear: 5 Bandit Problems: 2 Kidnapped by demons: 5 Falling Off Horses: 8

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, and Sword Dancing. Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 2

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement and CPR Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 2 Kidnapped by Demons: 2 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 3 Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson and defamation.

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater and Cloud soaring. Demon Kill Count: Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 2 Human Kill Count: 1 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, and desecration of a human corpse.

[jedineedlove]

LMK VS Ledgend

Lady Bone Demon:

LMK:

Lady Bone Demon had a recurring vision in which she saw herself destroying the Mortal Realm, a dream whose significance she could not understand at the time. To end the suffering of the Mortal Realm and its inhabitants because of its imperfections, Lady Bone Demon took on the guise of a human advisor named Ivory Lady and guided a mortal Emperor to become a better person for the world and his people.

However, as she observed the ruler and his advisors neglecting the plight of the innocent, Lady Bone Demon became disappointed with the mortal realm's ability to effect change. Ultimately, she made the choice to obliterate the Mortal Realm, replacing it with a brand new one, as she deemed the existing realm's flaws to be irredeemable. The presence of Lady Bone Demon in the Emperor's court had a profound impact, causing the Chief of War to succumb to her influence. In a gesture of her immense power, she bestowed upon him a portion of her own abilities.

It says on her wiki page that there have been misconceptions about Lady Bone Demon serving the Celestial Realm but there are several implications of this being false some being: The Mayor mentioned that Lady Bone Demon's plan was limited to the Mortal Realm prior to her confinement, corroborating her account in the flashback sequence in "Time to Be Warriors". Lady Bone Demon did not harbor any animosity towards the Celestial Realm. Her objective to remake it as well was to prevent immortal entities from obstructing her plans for the Mortal Realm, which would enable her to rectify her error, as she had not anticipated the intervention of celestial beings during her first attempt.

Although her original plan to recreate the world only involved the mortal realm, Lady Bone Demon was met with opposition from immortal beings since she had ill will toward them. Monkey King was able to defeat her, and while he intended to destroy her, Tang Sanzang insisted that Lady Bone Demon should be locked up until she could learn the error of her ways. 

JTTW:

Baigujing / White Bone Spirit / White Bone Demoness, Lady Baigujing A Demonic Skeleton and Ruler of the White Bone Mountain

She is presumed to have once been a human turned into a demon after death which if is true, would make her unique among the Journey to the West demons, whose original self is either a magical animal or an ordinal animal or occasionally a deity or at least a servant of deities.

She disguised herself as a village girl and offered him and his disciples poisonous fruits. Baigujing appeared as a beautiful woman with a voloptuous body, pale skin, and long pure-white hair that reached her heels. She had no eyes and in her hollow eye sockets were ghostly white flames, which extinguished upon her death  and her lower face was hidden by a veil, behind it was the lower jaw of a human skull. She wore very VERY revealing clothes. Having survived the attack from Wukong, she dug underground to recover. She returned a second time disguised as an elderly woman. She lied to the group, causing them to believe that the village girl from earlier was her daughter. She returns a third time as an elderly man who lies about having a daughter and wife. She taunts Sun Wukong, provoking him, and engaging him into attacking her by using his powers, and only he can hear her. he finally beats her with his staff and kills the demon, revealing that she was just a skeleton spirit. Tang Sanzang, who initially believes Wukong, but Zhu Bajie convinces Tang Sanzang that Sun Wukong transformed the corpse into a skeleton to evade the Band-tightening spell. He cuts his ties with Sun Wukong and sends him away. 

Legends:

Her early years are described as being like any other Alpha Daemon created by the original demons since antediluvian times and pent her youth in the underworld making mayhem and becoming acting least of the gashadokuto. Some say she was older than the planet in the Solar system over 4 billion years old.

Gashadokuro literally "rattling skeleton", also known as Odokuro are mythical creatures in modern Japanese mythology.

She left the underworld like other demons to earth but due to the gods she and the rest of the gashadokuro first resided in Japan and adapted as youkai there she abandoned her army and moved back to China by herself so she could leave her responsibility. It says that after her death by Wukong, she went to Diyu and seduced Yanluo Wang and became his secret concubine. She basically took control over him and ruled the underworld herslef.

She was a master manipulator whose demonic charisma allowed her to wrap others around her fingers like marionettes, with centuries of experience in planning, which allowed her to always be several steps ahead of her opponents. She had no problems surrendering or even dying if it meant she could avenge herself in the future or destroy her enemies alongside her.  She was a sadistic trickster who enjoyed taunting her victims before killing them, tormenting them with mind tricks she truly believed herself to be greater than the rest of them, with no exceptions. Her true form was that of a giant skeletal daemon much like other gashadokuro and was as high as, if not even higher, than the Shanghai Tower

With spirits of ghostly white flames hovering by her side and acting as her minions in combat. Dripping from her eye sockets and jaw was viscous black blood that disintegrated anything it touched, as well as transforming any human into new gashadokuro.

Fun Facts:

In the Movie, The Monkey King Conquers the Demon, Baigujing is the main antagonist and there were some changes to the novel. One major one I wanted to share was that LBD was the daughter of the Nine-Tailed Vixen aka making her related to Jin and Yin.

She is also the main antagonist from my favorite Monkey King movie: The Monkey King 2

Thoughts

There was a scean in LMK that interested me.

In the image, we see of course in the center LBD herself, and on either side is a young beautiful woman and an older woman most likely meant to represent her old lay and young women design we see in the novel. But the two all the way in the back could be disguises but they do look like her minions from the Monkey King 2 Movie.

I am not saying this is true this is just an observation.

Also maybe her mega mech might be a representation of her full tower-sized skeleton form from her legends and we see in Monkey King 2

Also with her connection to the Kings of Death in the Underworld and season 5's antagonist who knows she may make a comeback in away.

Hope you all Enjoyed: :)

[wildwitche]

Films and animated films about Monkey King

(I once made a list of movies about the Monkey King and decided to update it and add links to each movie)

Please read the warning below the list before you watch the movie!

The Monkey King 1 (2014)

The Monkey King 2 (2016)

The Monkey King 3 (2018)

Wu Kong (warning. I could not find a free version of the film in English, but if you understand Russian, feel free to watch)

Monkey King (2020)

Monkey king reincarnation

Monkey king: The one and only

Monkey king: Uproar in Dragon palace

Revival of the Monkey king

True and false Monkey king

The Monkey king: The true Sun Wukong

Journey to the West: Demon Chapter

Monkey King: The Volcano

The Monkey King: Demon City

The Forrbiden Kingdom (2008)

Journey To The West ( tv series 1996 )

Journey to the West ( tv series 1986)

Animated films:

Monkey king Reborn (2021)

Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2015)

New Gods: Nezha Reborn (2021) ( Sun Wukong appears there)

Journey to the West - Legends of the Monkey king ( series)

Havoc in Heaven (1964)

Alakazam the Great (1960)

The Four Monkeys: The Return of Sun Wukong ( trailer only )

The Monkey King: The Demon Monkey ( trailer only )

Warning!

Finding a site where you can watch for free and with subtitles is very difficult. Some sites have a lot of advertising, so be careful when you include.

On other sites, when you start the video, you may be redirected to another site before uploading the video, don't worry, just close the tab and return to the site where the movie is

If you know another site better than the one I suggested, please email me, I'll change the link

if the site knocks out an error, it is likely that this site will not open in your area

Sorry for the inconvenience, I hope for your understanding

P.s There is a site where I watched most of the movies in October 2021. I enjoyed watching it and the site itself is very convenient. However, when I decided to look again in 2022, it turned out that now everything is paid and you need to buy a VIP. If you want to watch without unnecessary ads, etc. I will leave a link here

[winterpower98]

Have you seen any film adaptations of the Monkey King? If so, which ones?

Oh, I have seen a lot of Monkey King and JTTW adaptations! Most of them were Chinese, one of them might have been a Korean one I don't remember, and then there's the only American-made one, which ........... we don't talk about that one

But! Here's a list of the movies I watched with links to them if anyone wants to check them out (fair warning, almost all of these are sub and not dub):

There is ovbiously the most recent ones

Monkey King Reborn

Monkey King Hero is Back SUB  DUB (if you’re like me and you don’t like poop jokes and fart jokes watch the dub, they were cut out of that version)

Journey to the West Conquering the demons 1 & 2 (the first one is so bad and you don’t need to watch it to understand the second one, my advice is to skip that one and just watch the second movie)

True and False Monkey King (this is the only movie that has Six Eared Macaque and he’s not the villain)

Monkey King (yeah that’s, that’s it that’s the title)

Monkey King 1 & 2 & 3 (this is a completly different movie than the one above)

Uproar in Heaven SUB  DUB (Which is one of THE BEST animated Monkey King and it’s also THE FIRST animated version)

Ginseng Fruit (unfortunally this movie doesn’t even have subtitles so you kinda have to guess what is happening)

Monkey King Conquers the Demon (this one had subtiltes when I watched it, but now they were removed for some reason)

Wu Kong (This one has Erlang Shen in it and the story is really entrataining)

Son Gokku (this is another really good one and one of my top favorite. If you like ghibli you’ll love this one)

[journeytothewestresearch]

Hey sorry to bother, hope you're having a nice day! I would like to ask you if macaque and Sun wukong are brothers, I've read they may have been sworn brothers in the past but some people are saying they were actually biological brother which I've read nothing about! It would mean the world to me if you could clear this up, thank you so much for making this blog❤️

There is no textual support in Journey to the West for Six Ears and Sun Wukong being actual brothers. They were sworn brothers, though. At that time, Six Ears was known as the “Macaque King” (Mihou wang, 獼猴王). I show in this article that he is actually Monkey’s darker half. There is a concept in Buddhism called “two minds” (erxin, 二心), which entails the battle between the true, natural mind and the false, delusional mind within a person. Sun Wukong represents the former and Six Ears the latter. My article reads:

In Chapter 58, the Buddha gives his congregation a sermon on nonduality (Sk: advaya; Ch: bu’er, 不二), discussing existence and nonexistence, form and formlessness, and emptiness and nonemptiness. Just as the battle between Monkey and his double erupts on Spirit Vulture Mountain (fig. 3), the Buddha tells his congregation, “You are all of one mind, but take a look at two Minds in competition and strife arriving here” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 113). “One mind” (Sk: ekacitta; Ch: yixin, 一心) is a high-level philosophy and core tenet of many Buddhist schools that refers to a tranquil, immovable mind that encompasses nonduality (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, pp. 1031-1032; Huang, 2005, p. 68). “Two minds” (erxin, 二心) refers to the dichotomy of the “true mind” (zhenxin, 眞/真心), “the original, simple, pure, natural mind of all creatures, [or] the Buddha-mind” and the “illusionary mind” (wangxin, 妄心), “which results in complexity and confusion” (Soothill and Hodous, 1937/2006, pp. 24-25). A poem in chapter 58 specifically associates two minds with confusion. The first two lines read: If one has two minds, disasters he’ll breed; / He’ll guess and conjecture both far and near” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 113).

It’s important to remember that Wukong is an embodiment of the “Mind Monkey” (xinyuan, 心猿), a Buddho-Daoist concept denoting the disquieted thoughts that keep man trapped in Samsara. [8] As his double, the Six-Eared Macaque is also a Mind Monkey. Therefore, I suggest the battle between these twin primates is an allegory for the struggle between the true and illusionary minds within our hero. After all, Wukong is the true Monkey, while his double, the fake Monkey, lives under the fantasy that he can take the Great Sage’s place and finish the quest on his own. Furthermore, given chapter 58’s emphasis on nonduality, I argue Monkey killing the Six-Eared Macaque in the end represents the blossoming of one mind/true mind by extinguishing the illusionary mind. This fits with Sun’s (2018) suggestion that the killing “is an action of eliminating the monster in him [Wukong], indicating that he is getting closer to achieving Buddhahood at this point in the journey” (p. 25). [9]

[dorkshadows]

True or False Monkey King

Reporting on another JTTW animated film slated for 2021! The full title is 齐天大圣之真假孙悟空 | Great Sage Equaling Heaven: True or False Sun Wukong (official Eng. title still TBD). 

According to Douban the leading voice actors are Liu Xiao Ling Tong and Ma Dehua, which is pretty big name casting in the world of JTTW! LXTX is Sun Wukong’s original actor from the 1986 JTTW series, the most popular/influential jttw adaptation in the mainland (and the first Chinese television serial based on jttw), and Ma Dehua was the original Zhu Bajie from 1986. 

Summary: 齐天大圣孙悟空保护唐僧西天取经，一行历经磨难，此次却遇到一个和自己一模一样的孙悟空，更匪夷所思的是，这个猴妖神通广大，旨在取代孙悟空。真假美猴王斗得昏天黑地却没人能分辨。这个假悟空到底是谁？他不吃唐僧反要取经？孙悟空跟小白龙一路追查真相，疑点重重，到底是悟空自己幻化出的邪恶一面，还是悟空精神分裂……孙悟空遭遇前所未有的危机与巨大挑战，当所有疑惑解开之时，悟空却无法直面事情的真相与自己。我是谁？谁是我？ 出乎悟空意料的是，这个挑战自己的猴妖并非普通妖怪，而是在花果山共患难的小兄弟六耳猕猴，兄弟情深，小六耳猕猴崇拜悟空，为悟空境遇及花果山愤愤不平，极度崇拜及模仿悟空过程中越陷越深，最终走火入魔迷失自我，试图取代眼前颓废无力的悟空，誓言自成一佛。面对兄弟之情与取经大义的生死抉择，他又将何去何从？

Here’s my rough translation (and yes it sounds like a psychological thriller for some reason LMAO). It’s extremely long in English:

Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, protects the Tang Monk on their pilgrimage to the west, facing many hardships along the journey. This time, however, they come across another Sun Wukong who looks exactly like himself. What’s even more unthinkable, is that not only does this powerful monkey demon want to replace Sun Wukong, but when the true and false Monkey Kings clash, nobody can tell them apart. Who is this fake Wukong? [Who] wants to join the pilgrimage instead of eating the Tang Monk’s flesh?

Sun Wukong and Xiao Bailong search for the truth, doubting every step. Is [the impostor] the evil side of himself that Wukong expelled or is Wukong splitting personalities? Sun Wukong has never encountered such danger and such a great challenge. But when the answers become clear, Wukong is unable to face the true relationship between himself and the truth: I am who? Who am I?

Wukong never expected the monkey demon challenging him not to be a normal demon, but instead a younger brother from Mount Huaguo, the Six Eared Macaque. A bond of brotherhood. The young Six Eared Macaque worshiped Sun Wukong and was greatly aggrieved by the injustices done towards Wukong and Mount Huaguo. Lost in his jealousy, admiration, and imitation of Wukong, the Six Eared Macaque lost himself in the process. Now he wants to replace the “defeated, weak” Wukong in front of him, vowing to become a buddha himself. Faced with choosing between brotherhood or enlightenment [from the pilgrimage], what will he do?

The teaser is out on bilibili, and not gonna lie, the art/design looks... mediocre. But it might still be worth watching just for LXLT and Ma Dehua’s voices.

Teaser Transcript:

Wukong: Liuer (Six Ear), wake up!

Six Ear: You’re the one who needs to wake up! I’m going to win back everything that was lost!

[the-monkey-ruler]

Journey to the West True and False Monkey King (2030) 西游记之真假美猴王

Starring: Liu Xiao Ling Tong / Ma Dehua

Genre: Fantasy

Country/Region of Production: USA / Mainland China

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Duration: 90 minutes

Also known as: The Return of the Monkey King: The True and False Monkey King / 猴王归来之真假美猴王 / Dare to Ask the Way /  敢问路在何方 / 3D Journey to the West / 3D西游记 / Dare to Ask the Way: Apprentice Chapter / 敢问路在何方之收徒篇 / Dare to Ask the Way Part 1 /  敢问路在何方第一部 / Journey To The West

Type: Retelling

Summary:

Sun Wukong followed the Tang Monk to the west to learn scriptures, and protected him from demons and demons all the way. But the appearance of the Six-Eared Macaque aroused his heart demon that had been dusty for a hundred years. Should he let go of his demon thoughts and travel westward to become a Buddha, or be forced to become a demon by the Six-Eared Macaque? Everyone is waiting for the moment when the Monkey King returns...

Source: https://movie.douban.com/subject/25884685/

Link: N/A

[earl-of-221b]

Pilgrims, there’s another Journey to the West-related live action movie - The True or False Monkey King. Looks like another cgi filled romp, this time with the Six Eared Macaque in a main role. 

[sketching-shark]

Dunno if someone has asked this before. But Wukong and Macaque are the same person, and they are seen like this, but why Macaque dies if they were the same? Wukong is immortal so, if they had the same powers, knowledge and stuff, Macaque had also the immortal thing, right? But why he dies? Or how is this?

A good question anon! So from what I know the short answer is that in the True and False Monkey King arc, this is really more about the Monkey King metaphorically killing the monstrous side of his own nature as part of his journey to Enlightenment. It pays to remember, after all, that besides SWK being the "monkey of the mind," LEMH had managed to finagle himself into a position where he could be both a yaoguai warlord AND a religious pilgrim, i.e. he was potentially living out all the lives SWK wanted but couldn't have, but only achieved that by well being a selfish monster that treated others as tools or obstacles (and sometimes snacks) in his path towards personal glory. In this manner, and even though it's explicitly said that the six-eared macaque is a different species than the intelligent stone monkey (which SWK apparently drove to extinction by killing his doppelganger lmao), LEMH is very much acting as SWK's evil clone/almost Jungian "shadow self"/ the other side of the Buddhist two hearts/minds metaphor that the Monkey King must overcome in order to cultivate a true Buddhist nature in himself.

That's my little ramble, but the scholar Hongmei Sun has answered this question far better than I ever could. As such, here's her words on the subject of how Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque act as doubles & what's behind the death of LEMH at the hands of SWK:

"In the case of the second ‘exile,’ the episode of the ‘double-mind monkey’ (erxin yuan), a fake Wukong commits a series of monstrous crimes in his name. While one ‘mind monkey’ is staking with the Bodhisattva, the other ‘mind monkey’ goes to strike the master Tripitaka unconscious, takes his travel documents, returns to the Flower-Fruit Mountain, and sets up another pilgrim band, ready for his own journey to the West. The resemblance of the two ‘mind monkeys’ deceives everyone except the Buddha, who sees through the fake Wukong and recognizes him as a six-eared macaque (liuer mihou). The use of a double of Wukong enables the narrative to literally grant the monkey the facility to be self-contradictory, with one Monkey being a pious follower of Tripitaka, and the other a monster who is even capable of beating his master. At the culmination of this episode, Sun Wukong uses his rod to kill the six-eared macaque despite the fact that the macaque had already been captured by Buddha’s golden almsbowl—a constraining weapon—and submitted to Buddha’s control, which seems out of character for the ‘good’ Monkey. One feasible explanation would be that it is an action of eliminating the monster in him, indicating that he is getting closer to achieving Buddhahood at this point in the journey. However, this explanation does not negate another one: that he kills the six-eared macaque because the latter has copied him too closely, the best demon among the ones that Monkey has conquered. By killing his rival who resembles himself, he plays the norm of self-contradiction to an extreme...”

“At that very moment the actual smallness of the monkey’s bloated self is demonstrated in the shadow of the Buddha’s fingers, the overblown ‘mind monkey’ is reduced to finite proportions, and his rehabilitative imprisonment under Five Phases Mountain begins. The lesson demonstrates to him that, however far the ‘cloud-somersault’ can reach, it would also represent his own unbreakable boundary. The Buddha’s fingers serve as an index, revealing to the monkey that what beats him is how own self. Later this indexing role of Buddha’s hand is taken over by the Five Phases Mountain, and after that the headband. Whenever Tripitaka recites the spell, Monkey is reminded of his own limits and the impossibility of breaking them, even with his rod. In the case of the six-eared macaque, one can reach an opposite explanation as to why Wukong chooses to kill him: to free himself. Just as in the submission of Wukong, Buddha beats the six-eared macaque at his forte. Although the fake Wukong is strong in taking forms of others and had succeeded in confusing everyone else, the Buddha is able to exactly identify this monkey’s original form: someone belonging to none of the ten categories in the universe, neither the five immortals (wu xian) nor the five creatures (wu chong). There are four kinds of monkeys who ‘are not classified in the ten species, nor are the contained in the names between Heaven and Earth,’ among which was the first, ‘the intelligent stone monkey (lingming shihou), who knows transformations, recognizes the seasons, discerns the advantages of earth, and is able to alter the course of planets and stars,’ and the fourth, ‘the six-eared macaque, who has a sensitive ear, discernment of fundamental principles, knowledge of past and future, and comprehension of all things.’ This recognition announces the six-eared macaque’s failure as one who has been trying to use his disguise to erase the boundary of his self while taking up the identity of Wukong. It also announces once again the failure of Wukong, who although not belonging to any of the ten species between heaven and earth, still falls into one of the in-between types that the Buddha names: the intelligent stone monkey, indeed a peer of the six-eared macaque. Therefore by killing the six-eared macaque, Wukong not only kills a monster who has tried to cross proper borders, but he also kills a self whose boundary has just been pinned down. This action of self-annihilation is in this sense an effort in defiance of any classification.”

[jadethest0ne]

In need of Refueling, Chapter 2 - Silken Web

Summary:    “You?! Why would I trust you? You have brought me nothing but failure. Time and time again; nothing but disappointment!”

His father’s words might have been a result of his possession by the White Bone Spirit, but whether or not they were his true thoughts, Red Son vows to prove them wrong. To do so he seeks to attain a power strong enough to destroy his father’s immortal enemy. After all, he’d much rather throw fire at his problems.

Word Count: 1384

Ratings/Warnings:  Teen and up; injury, burns, angst and hurt/comfort, toxic thoughts caused by toxic parents

Notes: Time for another villain to appear! Big thanks to @painted-arachnid and @simplyfornardo  for helping me bounce ideas off of them. And also thanks to @lemonsqueazie for providing me with “Journey to the West” lore. I don’t know much about the original novel or other iterations, but I still tried to keep some things compliant with the lore. You should check all of them out, since they’re really great content creators with neat ideas!

Read on AO3

———-

Red Son stands in front of a decrepit market stand. Shriveled brown excuses for vegetation dust the bottom of containers labeled as produce and cooking ingredients. But the demon he is looking for is nowhere to be seen. He peers into the tented area covered by curtains with an unimpressed glare. Still, the spider insignia on the stand’s sign is unmistakable, so he calls into the gloom with a demanding, authoritative voice. “Spider Queen! I have come to have some words with you. I am looking for something and I think you have the information I seek!”

At first there is nothing. But a soft wind picks up around his ankles and a sultry whisper drifts out of the stand. “Come in…” it says.

Red Son glances around the area, then slips inside the curtains.

“Farther inside…” the voice calls.

Red Son knows a trap when he sees one, but he continues on without fear as he looks around for any traces of trickery. It is dusty and the area seems untouched, except for the circular disk that he just stepped on.

“Right there…” says the voice, and Red Son can hear the smile in it as the disk drops down revealing a trap door.

Red Son gives a tired sigh as he falls and activates flames underneath his feet, slowing his descent on his way down the sudden hole in the floor.

He lands smoothly and kicks up flames around his feet in a circle to push back any potential enemy waiting for him below. It is dark, and he can hardly see anything. He hears some drip of water echo, giving a hint of a cavernous area. A scuttling noise bounces around him.

Red Son holds his palm upward in front of him and brings a ball of flame to life, lighting up his surroundings. He is indeed in a cave, as he thought, and it is covered in spider webs. The webs rustle and bounce as a result of quick movements that Red Son forces his eyes to follow despite them still adjusting to the light. The scuttling and the web movements sweep around him, and he twists around adjusting into a defensive stance as he prepares for what is facing him.

As he turns around he finds who he is looking for directly in front of him. If one weren’t paying attention, one might mistake her as an attractive human woman with long black hair and sparkling green eyes. But her greyish-purple skin and sharp fangs reveal a more demonic nature. Her spider-like body, complete with eight spindly legs with sharp ends come into the light, and she lifts herself high above Red Son, looking down at him with the ease of someone who knows how much power she holds.

“Spider Queen,” Red Son says with as much control as he can, despite an uptick in his heart rate. He takes a bow.

“My, what a polite boy,” the eight-legged spider demon drolls amusedly in an earthy accent. “To whom do I owe the pleasure of visiting me down in my Silken Web Cave?”

Red Son straightens himself up and introduces himself. “I am Red Son - the son of the Demon Bull King and Princess Iron Fan.”

“Yes, and a fire demon it seems,” she says eyeing the flame in his palm warily. “Spiders like us do not take kindly to fire like that…” Her mouth twitches in a hint of a grimace, but the smile never leaves her eyes.

“I did this so I can see, not so I may harm you… as long as I don’t have to…” Red Son says keeping his expression cool, but a smile of his own twitching at the corner of his lips. “I have come to request your assistance.”

“Assistance?” Spider Queen says with a tittering laugh. “That is amusing! What would I be assisting with?”

“Information. I want to know of any artifact or power source strong enough to kill an immortal.”

The Spider Queen quirks an eyebrow. “Might you be looking to destroy the Monkie Kid? I hear he has been causing you trouble. But I also hear that he is not indestructible. Your flames or a good enough whack should do the trick, I’d say,” she says clicking one of her legs harshly against the ground for emphasis.

“Not the Monkie Kid. The Monkey King!”

“Oh, is he still wandering around these parts!? I suppose that makes sense given that the Monkie Kid has been giving us demons a hard time.” She crosses her arms and looks up, tapping a finger to her cheek. “Well… I don’t know of any specific artifact that could destroy someone as powerful as that…” She again, eyes Red Son’s flames. “Buuuut… I do know of a way to power up your fire in a way that might allow you to gain the upper hand in a fight against him.”

Red Son’s eyes light up and the fire in his hand flares with his excitement. “Really!? Magnificent! Tell me! I must know!” He grins widely and wickedly, barely containing himself.

“Hahaha, you lose your manners so quickly when you are excited it seems,” Spider Queen laughs without joy. “Why would I give you such information without anything in return? What do you have for me?”

Red Son’s grin doesn’t falter, spreading further to show his teeth. “Oh, I hear that you’re looking for rare and powerful ingredients, and I have some for you right here.” Red Son pulls a pouch out of his pocket and opens it to reveal dark hairs sticking out of it. “The Monkie Kid’s hair, leftover from his defeated clones. I’m sure that's worth a little bit of information, now isn’t it?”

Red Son can tell he’s got her interest by the way that her eyes glimmer with no help from the flame he wields.  She stretches out a hand, and two of her all too sharp legs reach toward him as well. “Yes!” she says, as if entranced by the sight of the hair.

“Uh, uh, uh!” Red Son tuts as he brings the bag close to the fire in his other hand, causing the Spider Queen to stop her advance. “I want my information first.”

Spider Queen’s smile tightens, and this time it doesn’t reach her eyes. “You’re a shrewd little boy. But yes, I will tell you.”

Red Son smiles and listens intently.

Her posture straightens and with a flick of her wrist she spools out a strand of thread that begins to take shape into an abstract picture of a flame. So skilled is the puppetry of her silk webs, that the false flame seems to dance. “The power you are looking for is called ‘The True Fire of Samadhi.’”

As she weaves her story, so does she weave pictures into her web. She creates the image of a ring of mountains around a taller one. “You must seek out the Flaming Mountains surrounding the Monkey King’s own Flower Fruit Mountain. He knows not that his own weakness lies within the very fires that seemingly protect his solitude.” The abstract map-like picture shifts to a mountain to the left, with an opening about midway up. “In the tallest eastern mountain, there is a cave that leads to a shrine that can only be revealed by the rising sun. In there, you will find the power you seek.” Spider Queen releases her webs, letting them dangle, lifeless. She shifts her stance and her speech from storyteller to businesswoman in a second. “Is that enough information for you, sugar?”

Red Son nods enthusiastically and hands over the pouch. “I will be on my way, now.”

Spider Queen picks her finger through the hairs in the pouch as if counting gold coins. She certainly handles the pouch as if it were just as precious. “Oh, and one more thing, sweetie,” she says, waving an errant hand over her shoulder. “A warning, since you seem like quite the impatient type. The power there is as old as the mountains themselves. It has the power to overwhelm if found in the wrong hands.”

Red Son scoffs, barely giving her words a second thought. As if there were any fire that he couldn’t handle. He leaves, having gotten what he came for.

<-- previous // next -->

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 5

I think Sun Wukong might have made a few people mad this chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest

So this chapter, Sun Wukong managed to gain another three levels to his immortality stat with the good old, tried and true method of stealing.

First up, we got the Peaches of Immortality, which the Jade Emperor had put him in charge of in order to give him something to do so he wouldn't get bored. And Sun Wukong took to sending the staff away from the garden so he could nap and eat the peaches unimpeded. I also get to add a slightly new crime to his rap list for this one since this is his place of employment: Employee Theft. We also get a case of False Imprisonment, when Sun Wukong immobilizes the Seven Immortal Maidens who come to collect peaches for the peach festival.

Next up, for his second gained level of immortality we got the Heavenly Wine. Where Sun Wukong gains yet another new crime for his rap sheet, Impersonating a Government Official, when he runs into the Great Immortal Naked Feet, and sends him to the Hall of Perfect Light for a 'rehearsal' so Sun Wukong can take his place. So Sun Wukong makes his way to where the Banquet is being held and his attention is grabbed by the smell of wine. In order to try some, Sun Wukong uses magic to put the wine carriers to sleep.

For his third level of immortality, Sun Wukong realizes that he'll probably get in trouble for stealing the Heavenly Wine and tries to go home, but instead drunkenly wanders into Laozi's lab. Where he spots some pills of immortality. Which he of course immediately eats- which while making him now five times immortal also sobers him up.

Now that he's sobered up, he decides to head home to Flower Fruit Mountain to avoid the consequences. The monsters of Flower Fruit Mountain are ecstatic to see him again, especially since he's been gone for over a century now since he spent a half year in heaven this time. He gladly tells them everything that happen, but finds that he no longer has a taste for regular food after having grown accustomed to divine food and wine. So Sun Wukong sneaks his way back into heaven to steal some more wine to share with everyone. Making some of his monkey's doubly immortal at this point.

Meanwhile, word has gotten back to the Jade Emperor about Sun Wukong's exploits so he sends what seems to be the entire heavenly army out to arrest him. And so the battle between Heaven's army and Sun Wukong and his demon army begins! Sun Wukong manages to personally beat the Nine Luminaries and then sends out his army to help him battle the Four Great Devarajas and Twenty Eight Constellations. Most of his army is captured, his four commanders and monkey troop all manage to escape. Meanwhile Sun Wukong manages to beat back The Four Great Devarajas, Li the Pagoda Bearer, and prince Nezha with some duplicates. Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), and The Great Sage Equal To Heaven. Immortality: 5 Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, and the ability to put others to sleep. Demon Kill Count: 1+ Unknown Number of Minions God's Defeated: 17 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, and Impersonating a Government Official. Cry Count: 2

[movietvseriesfreeme]

True and False Monkey King

True and False Monkey King

Another story from Journey to The West. Monk Tanzang’s nine-ring tin rod absorbed countless demon souls and became the key to the survival of the demon race. In the battle for the tin rod, Monkey King was accidentally severely injured by Six Ears and left the team, losing his identity. In order to prove his innocence, he had to go to heaven and earth to pray for God to worship Buddha, only to…

[wildwitche]

Finally, I set about it. I want to do it 2 months ago, but there was no time for it...So I present the Monkey King in various adaptations of Journey to the West (namely the actors who played this role) and my assessment

1. Monkey King (1,2,3)

If I'm not mistaken, this is the most similar original from the novel. At first I didn't want to watch the movie because I didn't really like what the Monkey King looked like, but over time I realized that the design was pretty good

My assessment: 7\10

2. Wu Kong

OH YEESSS YEEEEESSSS, THIS MAN IS IN 1 PLACE, I like everything here, the appearance, when he uses his power ... I LIKE EVERHING XDDDD ( it seems to have been the first movie I watched)

100000000000000/10

3. Monkey king: The one and only

I don't like the actor as much as the clothes that were chosen for him. But the image of Sun Wukong is quite good )

6/10

4. Monkey king: Uproar in Dragon palace

OOOOOOOOO YEAH I ALSO LIKE THIS MAN, THE SPECIAL CHARISMA THAT WAS IN THE MOVIE, I SERIOUSLY, I JUST FELL IN LOVE WITH HIS CHARISM. AND APPEARANCE AND THE ACTOR HIMSELF JUST BEAUTIFUL

1000000000\10

5. True and false Monkey king

This man is also good. The actor is handsome and played his role perfectly (sorry, the picture quality is not the best)

8/10