User Reviews

It is to the date my favorite of all times. I grew up with Captain Simian et the Space Monkeys. My love for philosophy and a big part of my identity comes from the character of Shao Lin, who was the only female monkey yet somehow adverted the token woman category by merit of being The Lancer, the Badass Preacher (and Technical Pacifist) and all round dispenser of wisdom you often find in the Mentor. She was still a romantic interest to the protagonist but not a character that was defined by that role any more than any of the aforementioned roles. Brownie points for adverting the weaponization of feminine wiles throughout the show, too. Instead she was the specilist and a tank on her own right. She would drop some very wise line every once in a while - that was later made fun of or subverted for laughs, or just in the interest of humanizing her. Her 'true wisdom comes from seeing things from all sides' still resonates with me as one of the most basic truths in my philosophy of life.

The show was more than this about Shao Lin's Eastern wisdom and character composition, though I find it's a good example of what made CSstSM such a nice and complete story. You can find similar attention to detail for all main characters, with some being more plot driven than others. Puns and references make the bulk of the shows dialogs, along character dynamics and development that was so rare to find in other shows back at the time. It parodied all kind of movies and series, even outside the sci-fi genre. Very intelligently written, humor and action packed, character-driven plots, it was never cheap. You have to love CSstSM. It rarely took itself all that serious. After all, they were monkeys in space. But it wasn't dumb by any stretch of the imagination.

I always got sore by the fact they weren't as popular as they should have been >.< If you haven't watched it, at least one episode, I recommend it whole heartedly.