# Another "ID this TV show please?" thread

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-id-this-tv-show-please-thread/633372>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 1, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-id-this-tv-show-please-thread/633372 "2012-09-01T15:39:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-id-this-tv-show-please-thread/633372/1 "2012-09-01T15:39:21Z")

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The show featured a pre-WW2 American civilian pilot flying a seaplane around the south pacific. Part time transport/charter service, part time smuggler, all purpose smiling rogue, he constantly managed to get into typical scrapes with various authority figures and criminal elements.

I’m not sure of the year but it was definitely pre-1985. I’d bet money that the show was part of the TV industry’s reaction to the 1981 success of _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ as I remember the character having a very “Indiana Jones” nature.

Any guesses?

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-id-this-tv-show-please-thread/633372/2 "2012-09-01T15:44:19Z")

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_Tales of the Gold Monkey_

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-id-this-tv-show-please-thread/633372/3 "2012-09-01T15:48:55Z")

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Got it in one! Many thanks kind sir.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-id-this-tv-show-please-thread/633372/4 "2012-09-01T15:54:12Z")

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Well, it was either that or _TaleSpin_ but since you didn’t mention cartoon bears…

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-id-this-tv-show-please-thread/633372/5 "2012-09-01T19:57:46Z")

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As an incidental note, Bruce Boxleitner (who’d starred in _Bring 'Em Back Alive_, a show that ran around the same time as _Tales of the Gold Monkey_ and had a similar 1930s South Pacific adventure setting) took another shot at the genre in 1989’s _The Road Raiders_, a movie about a bunch of A-Team-ish misfits hassling the Japanese as the Pacific War gets underway. It had the look of a pilot movie, but no television series resulted.