Friday, June 6, 2008

The Duke of Mount Deer aka Royal Tramp

Originally posted on xanga.



I recently finished watching the Chinese wuxia drama The Royal Tramp starring Huang Xiao Ming.  Of the 50 episodes, I really didn't start fast forwarding until around episode 42 or so.  The last 8 episodes takes such a shift from the 20 or so that preceded it.  I was bored and fell asleep watching.  The first 6 episodes featured Wei Xiao Bao as a pre-teen.  That was quite annoying and I kept thinking, when are they going to turn into "adults".

Also, the Mandarin the children were speaking was much different than the rest of the cast.  I have a rough time deciphering slurred Mandarin.  It was a double blow of annoyance.  Kids and slurred Mandarin.

But once the "adults" came about, the series took a turn for the better.  I like Huang Xiao Ming and think he has star quality.

Cherrie Ying plays a "love" interest of Wei Xiao Bao and is suppose to be the most "beautiful" of the 7 wives.  I also liked newcomer He Zhou Yan.  As I've written in past blogs, Cherrie Ying is one of my favorites.  Looks like Cherrie Ying is making a transition to Dramas.

I was a big fan of Tony Leung's The Duke of Mount Deer series in 1984.  I think I might have watched it like 4-5 times by the time I started high school.  I haven't seen the 1984 one since the late 80s.  Maybe in a few years, I'll get the remastered TVB series.

I also enjoyed the Stephen Chow Royal Tramp movies from 1992.  In many ways, he may have been the very best Wei Xiao Bao there has ever been.



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