Jake Cutter

This was a cool show! I'm surprised it didn't last longer, I mean this seems like perfect fare for the early '80s, with Indiana Jones and all. I guess it was a big hit with kids, but not so much with adults. It was awesome to me, but then I was only 9 at the time, so what did I know??

. . . was an absolutely fantastic show. I was only twelve when it aired, and given my age it holds the same place in my heart that movies like "Indiana Jones" hold (and yes, I know the former did not derive from the latter). It was fantastic in the true sense of the word. At the same time, it was light-hearted and fun and adventurous. I have ever since wanted to visit Boragora, and was disappointed to find that the place didn't exist.

I searched for hours on-line looking for the name of this show. For whatever reason, the image of it popped into my head a few months back, and I could not for the life of me remember it. Hours on-line cured that.

For all you Gold Monkey fans out there, you can now purchase the season on DVD.

Contrary to popular consensus, TotGM was not an Indiana Jones knockoff, although the popularity of those movies was probably responsible for Gold Monkey getting its shot on television. No, Gold Monkey was much more in line with many older adventure movies, and creator Donald Bellisario insisted it was inspired mostly by the 1939 movie Only Angels Have Wings.

Regardless of where it came from, though, this was a very enjoyable series. As a boy of 9 at the time it originally aired, I was absolutely enamored with it (so much so, in fact, that my father still calls me "Jake" to this day). Now, as a man of 30, I have managed to find copies of all the episodes, and I find that I still love it. I may love it even more now that I'm older and more able to appreciate the historical references in the show, which is set in the Pacific in 1938. Spies and political intrigues abound in every single episode, and provide the perfect backdrop for an adventure story.

This series is clearly a product of early 80s American television, showing quite a bit of similarity in structure and production values with nearly every other series produced at the time. Gold Monkey, though, was far from formulaic, and very original. How many shows can you name that had an intelligent one-eyed dog that was regarded in every respect as an equal member of the cast?

I will never understand why it didn't last more than a single season, but at least I can enjoy what little there is. "Tales of the Gold Monkey" will always have a special place in my heart and on my video shelf.

I remember seeing this show as a kid, and loved it. My parents were into the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, and this was just an extension of those 1930's serials.

And when, less than 10 years later, Talespin aired, it brought the memories flooding right back for this show.

Comparisons:

Jake had the Cutter's Goose, a sea plane.

Baloo flew the Sea Duck, also a twin-engine sea plane,

The bar where Jake used to frequent was called Louie's; so was the bar where Baloo frequented.

Wildcat was Baloo's absent-minded mechanic; Corky was Jake's absent-minded mechanic (albeit, Corky suffered from too much drinking, while Wildcat was just absent-minded and something of an idiot savant when it came to repairing things).

Tales of the Gold Monkey was just 10 years too early. It was a great show, a great premise - constantly going on treasure hunts, getting in and out of scrapes with the Japanese and Nazis that were starting to come to power, and of course, the American and German spies going back and forth.

Sure, some of the scenes were re-hashed over and over (scenes of the Goose taking off and landing, or of the Goose flying somewhere over land), but that's to be expected to cut costs. Flying an old air boat like that probably wasn't cheap, and they wanted to keep production costs down...I miss this show. Maybe it's time for a resurrection, as long as it doesn't leave a bad "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" taste in our mouths.

I noticed when looking up this show, that most of the reviewers were just kids when this show was out. I was about 30 when this came out, & granted I may have just been a big kid, but I liked this show quite a lot.

The broad natures of the characters was a nice use of clichés to set up a pretty cool little world. Evil Nazies, great side kick, beautiful babe, comic dog & iron jawed hero. I was always surprised when it went off after one season. Seemed like it had a nice world with lots of angles left to explore.

Eh, well, lots of shows I've liked were one season wonders. I guess I'm not a good demographic model for advertisers.

I'm looking forward to getting the DVD. The Web has been a wonderful thing for finding rare gems like this.