The Return of Monkey Island

If any of you spent hours in the early 2000's searching in vein on forums, blogs, and anything you can possibly get your hands on to see when, if, maybe, possibly, there might be another Monkey Island game in the works, then hold on to your pieces o'eight, here is some exciting news!

After years of quiet, we finally got a Monkey Island revival when LucasArts licensed TellTale games to make a series of short Monkey Island Games. The five-game "season" has now been released on one collective DVD, but is also available from the iTunes store. If that weren't enough (and it definitely wasn't), LucasArts released Special Edition versions of both The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge,featuring first-time voiceover from the voice actors of the Curse of Monkey Island (Dominic Armato, Alexandra Boyd, and Earl Boen as Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck respectively). I cannot praise these Special Editions enough. The artworks is extraordinarily true to the original, and the music is merely updated. Not surprisingly, the talented trio of voice actors also added a brilliant new layer to the game. LucasArts could not have done a better job on these special editions. If you're interested in playing them, they're available on for PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade as well as from the iTunes store.

As of yesterday, we have what I think could be the biggest news of all. When most people heard the news about George Lucas selling out to Disney, they thought about Star Wars, or Indiana Jones. My immediate thought was that Disney now owned the rights to Monkey Island. I wasn't sure what they'd do with it. My second thought was (seriously) that they might make a ride based on it! I was holding on to this delusion, as well as to the hope that they might reboot the franchise, when the DBTC editor-in-chief sent me an article from gamrReview.

Above, the Special Edition Secret of Monkey Island. Below, the original.

It turns out that Ron Gilbert, genius extraordinaire and creator of Monkey Island, is looking to buy back the rights from Disney, in the hopes of making another Monkey Island. In addition to teasing fans with this news, Gilbert revealed that he originally ripped off (his words, not mine) the idea for Monkey Island from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland. (I'm still holding out hope for a Monkey Island ride but I guess I can see where that isn't going to happen). Whether anything will pan out is anyone's guess, but I'll keep digging and if I hear any more news, you'll read it here first on Don't Blame the Controller!

Look! A three-headed monkey!