One just can’t get enough of Jin Yong. So the last two weeks were spent devouring the entire 41 episodes of the new ‘Shen Diao Xia Li’ (Return of the Condor Heroes) on DVD.
After watching ‘Legend of the Condor Heroes’ in October last year , I couldn’t wait for the new adaptation of the sequel. Then one day while surfing channels on TV, I stumbled on 8TV’s nightly screening of this widely popular martial art epic. Well, couldn’t put myself through 9 weeks of slow unveiling of the series, so went out to get the DVDs.
I must say these made in China serials are quite impressive with amazing sets and backdrops (China’s natural wonders to the fore), talented casts (some reprising their old roles from LOTCH), artistic direction and clever cinematography (not your common martial arts flick), and lots of film reel spent on capturing the essence of the constant anguish of Yang Guo and the mushy romance between the two lovebirds. One complaint though, Xiao Long Nu played by Crystal Liu Yi Fei, though all pretty and innocent, doesn’t quite fit the age or have the presence of the venerable little dragon girl.
The Condor(yes,the big bird) has improved too as the creators try to imitate the walking reptiles from ‘Walking with Dinosours’. However other CGs like the the nine tail fox and aerial view of Xiang Yang looked like something out of an old PC Game.
Maybe now they will remake Heavenly Sword & Dragon Sabre to finish off the Condor Trilogy.
P.S : For all those banana people out there who doesn’t read Chinese, there’s a forum with an entire translation of ROCH, episode by episode.
The Condor Couple ...
6 comments:
I duno abt u, but I have read the books and saw the movies more than three times... I still dun mind doing it again.....
Yang Guo looks like he's wearing some really funky boots. I didn't realise they could mould rubber soles like that in the days a few generations before Genghis Khan.
Devoured most of JingYong's books between 95-96. Good times.
i was the biggest fan of ida chan back then and secretly tried to be her! ray & i were watching the 8tv episode the other night but thought it was corny when the heroin started sewing he hero's clothes in the middle of some crisis!
souplad, with fans like you they(the TV stations) can produce unlimited remakes and yet you'll still be coming back for more.
norman, China was pretty progressive then, either that or he forgot to change out of his boots for teh photoshoot ...
eternity, she seems to be bringing the sewing kit around. she does it again in a later scene. now,we wouldn't want heroes in torn clothings would we :P
rubber soles...haha v observant indeed.
Caught an episode of ShenDiao on 8TV at a friend's place. Yeah, XiaoLongNu is too young.
So many remakes of JinYong stuff. But didn't enjoy them all.
Caught most of Heavenly Sword Dragon Sabre, from more than a half decade ago. Liked that one a lot. Cos the 'villians' were extremely well done, and had a masterful presence. And it was perfectly believeable when WuJi united them all into a force of good.
LuDingZi from a bit later, the one starred by that idiot whose name I don't know... Enjoyed that one cos the director was creative and put in a lot of humorous 'hallucination' sequences.
XiaoAoJiangHu, the one that came out around the same time... other than the inappropriate idiot playing LinHuChong, I was completely put off after watching an interpretive dance sequence between LinHuChong and RenYiYi.
Interpretive dances are just wrong! Very very wrong.
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