Please click on an image to go to that characters' profile

PIGSY

Also known as : Pig spirit, Stupid swine, Lord hog, Martial of the Heavenly host, Zhu Bajie in Chinese, Cho Hakkai in Japanese.

Address : Cloud Ladder Cave on Mount Fu-ling.

Features : Large, pointed pig ears, Pig-snouted on occasions, Able to consume vast quantities of food in mere seconds.

Weapon : Muck rake.

Skills : Bojutsu, Not being able to woo ANY female.

Favourite phrase : 'You're just my type, my type exactly... a woman!'

About me : My Chinese name, Zhu Ba Jie (or Ba Jie for short) translates as Pig or Piggy, but for the TV show they gave me the more catchy name Pigsy, which i quite like. I was once a General in Heaven, commanding the Heavenly armies. I must admit, i do have a penchant for beautiful women and made a big mistake by getting a bit too friendly with the Moon Princess, the little tease! The angry Gods punished me by throwing me down into the mortal world, re-incarnated as a beautiful, handsome, well mannered Pig Monk - though that ignorant Monkey will probably say i'm big, fat, rude and smelly...as will most other people.
But how could i possibly be all of those things and still be so attractive to the opposite sex? I..am..attractive...aren't i ?

Dislikes : Work, Monkey (only sometimes though), work, Journeys to India, bathtime, and ..erm.. work.

Reference from to Buddha : 'Pigsy symbolizes the physical appetites - lust and gluttony - a craving for physical pleasures such as sleep, food and...erm... Well, I’ll put it this way - White Bone Demon gets him into trouble by appearing as a beautiful village girl and enticing him away from his friends.. No prizes for guessing what he had in mind !! He is also a lazy swine !'

(Some reference.. Thanks for nothing Buddha! ..Pigsy.)

Work experience : Previously Commander of the Heavenly Host (God, i loved that job, boo-hoo..). Still, i mustn't grumble.. i'm now a full time Lothario and sex symbol ('what?'.. Monkey) - i have to beat the women off with a stick some days - it's true, as you can see.. I AM irresistable.

About the actor :
The original Pigsy was played by Toshiyuki Nishida. Born 14 November 1947 in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. He has, by far, had the most success since Monkey and is currently regarded as one of Japans greatest actors. He has received ten Japanese Academy Award nominations, winning twice, for Dun-Huang in 1988 (Best Actor) and Gakko in 1993 (Best Actor). Monkey aside, he is probably best known for his fishing comedy series, Tsuribaka Nisshi (釣りバカ日誌) (English literal translation: "The Fishing Maniac's Diary"), which currently spans eighteen movies.

Toshiyuki has quite a list of appearances under his belt, including :

2006 - The Uchōten Hotel ( 有頂天ホテル) - also known as Suite Dreams and Wow-Choten Hotel - a comedy film written and directed by Japanese director Koki Mitani. The film is set in a five star Tokyo hotel on New Year's Eve, and follows the misadventures of various hotel staff and guests in the run-up to midnight.

2002 - Get Up! (ゲロッパ!; Geroppa!) - a 2003 comedy film written and directed by the Japanese filmmaker and critic Kazuyuki Izutsu. It is about a James Brown-obsessed gangster's last day of freedom before he starts a 5 year prison term.

Mixing slapstick, soul music and tearjerking elements, the plot involves a kidnapped James Brown impersonator, a plot to discredit the Japanese Prime Minister, an adulterous hotel manager, and a daughter who hasn't seen her father for 25 years.

2002 - Hi wa mata noboru

1996 - Gakko II

1993 - Gakko

1992 - Kantsubaki

1992 - Tsuibaka nisshi 5

1992 - O-Roshiya-koku suimu-dan

1992 -0 Tengoku no Taizai

1988 - Dun-Huang

1986 - Uemura Naomi monogatari

1984 - Tengoku no eki

1981 - Hokusai manga

Major Tv appearances :

1972 - Shin Heike Monogatari, NHK Taiga drama, as Hōjō Yoshitoki

1977 - 花神, NHK Taiga drama, as Yamagata Aritomo

1978 - Saiyuki, Nippon Television, as Pigsy

1981 - Onna Taikō-ki, NHK Taiga drama, as Toyotomi Hideyoshi

1984 - Sanga Moyu, NHK Taiga drama as a fictitious character

1988 - Takeda Shingen, NHK Taiga drama, as Yamamoto Kansuke

1990 - Tobu ga gotoku, NHK Taiga drama, as Saigō Takamori

1995 - Hachidai Shogun Yoshimune, NHK Taiga drama, as Tokugawa Yoshimune

2000 - Aoi Tokugawa Sandai, NHK Taiga drama, as Tokugawa Hidetada

2003 - 武蔵 MUSASHI, NHK Taiga drama, as Yamanouchi Hanbei

2006 - Kōmyō-ga-tsuji, NHK Taiga drama, as Tokugawa Ieyasu

Website : You can check out Toshiyuki's website HERE

After the unexpected success of the first series of monkey, Toshiyuki was approached to make a second series. Unfortunately he had already commited to another project .

The ‘new’ Pigsy was played by actor Tonpei Hidari. Born 30th May 1937 in Tokyo.

He had big shoes to fill in taking on the Pigsy role, but lacked the charisma, humour and presence of Toshiyuki’s character and was generally considered ‘not as good’ - possibly one of the reasons why the second series was no-where near as popular as the first. As a young kid watching the show, I certainly felt that, after Toshiyuki left, it just wasn’t the same.

Uk tv voice-over : Peter Woodthorpe : Peter Woodthorpe (September 25, 1931 – August 12, 2004) was an English movie, television and voice actor who is best known for supplying the voice of Gollum in the 1978 Bakshi version of The Lord of the Rings and BBC's 1981 radio serial. He also provided the voice of Pigsy in the cult series Monkey and was Max the pathologist in early episodes of Inspector Morse.
In the summer of 1955 he played Estragon in the first British production of Waiting for Godot. He had then just finished his second year at Cambridge, and expected to return after a run of a few weeks. When the play was successful, faced with the choice of dropping out either from Cambridge or from the play, he chose to stay with the play and his acting career.
Before going up to Cambridge he served as a National Serviceman in the Royal Navy, training at the Joint Services School for Linguists as a Russian interpreter.
One famous cameo role was that of Reg Trotter, father of Delboy and Rodney in Only Fools and Horses. He appeared in the 1983 Christmas special "Thicker Than Water".

News

August 18th 2004 - BBC News.

‘Monkey voiceover actor dies at 72...'

‘The actor who was the voice behind animal spirit Pigsy in cult Japanese children's TV show Monkey has died. Peter Woodthorpe died on Thursday, less than a month after finishing recording the voice of Pigsy for 13 Monkey episodes not yet broadcast in the UK. The 72-year-old also did the voice of Gollum in the 1978 animated film of Tolkien's book, The Lord of the Rings. Monkey told the surreal story of the boy priest Tripitaka's quest to retrieve ancient Buddhist texts.’

Bookmark us | | | |

email it |

Facebook it

"I'm still not immortal yet! What's mortal must die and i hate that idea!" - Monkey