Rent Tales of the Gold Monkey: Series (1983)

Strong similarities with Indiana Jones and... Star Wars - Tales of the Gold Monkey: Series review by RunDeckardRun

I had a decidedly vague memory of this programme from my childhood. The main thing that I had remembered was that the lead actor, Stephen Collins, was 'that actor' from Star Trek: The Motion Picture who was destined to be Captain Kirk's replacement. I had remembered the strong, more obvious, similarities with Indiana Jones but what I don't think I caught on to previously was just how much it replicates Star Wars at times.

The roguish, handsome, male lead (Han Solo) bickers with the better educated and well spoken female lead (Princess Leia) in the cockpit of his aircraft (the Millennium Falcon), whilst his cute, non-human, canine pal (R2-D2), does cheeky humorous things and communicates in barks (beeps). Meanwhile, his sidekick mechanic preps the aircraft for take-off (just like Chewbacca). There's no directly comparable C3-PO, although this could be the bar-owner perhaps, played by the always watchable Roddy McDowall (from Planet of the Apes and other fantasy programmes of this era). As for Luke Skywalker... I haven't spotted his counterpart here, but then I've not watched all the episodes yet. There's also plenty of airborne dogfights between Japanese and USA fighter planes (X-wings and TIE fighters).

It's fun, mildly fantastical, old-fashioned adventure with a cigar-chomping, fist-throwing leading man who gets into bar fights one minute before flying to an exotic island to rescue a band of 'primitive natives' the next. There's also a set of recurring Japanese characters, including a katana-wielding samurai. Ah, that'll be Darth Vader then.