I do not do many upcoming anymore as there is just too much content. It really is a struggle to choose things these days. However, the teaser and recent trailer for 金庸武侠世界 (The Legend Of Heroes) have really gotten me amped up. Even though I have watched and re-watched all the Jin Yong stories over and over again, they never seem to get boring or old. The Condor trilogy is the gold standard of his adaptions. And even in this trilogy, people have their favorites. I am very partial to 倚天屠龍記 (The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber).
I was getting emotional seeing the trailer just now and really really want to watch it. If Viki doesn’t get this within a week of release, I may have to figure out how to order WeTv.
In the 1990s, TVB made pre-quels based on the 5 pillars. Although they were not always good, they were entertaining. 金庸武侠世界 looks to do the same with adding the pre-stories of the 5 pillars of Hwa Shan.
射雕英雄传之降龙十八掌 (The Dragon Tamer) is an 2021 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Eddy Geng and Lin Yan Rou. The rest of the cast are a bit of a who's who of the old Hong Kong era movie stars, including Alex To and Eddie Kwan. The movie is losely based on the The Legend of the Condor Heroes novel from Jin Yong.
Gou Jing runs into Huang Rong disguised as a begger. As Gou Jing is the only one to come to the aid of Huang Rong and they become friends. Huang Rong reveals herself in female clothes to Guo Jing's surpirse. They than head to the Peach island to stop Ou Yang from asking for Huang Rong's hand in marriage. Can Guo Jing stop Ou Yang and get Huang Rong's hand in marriage?
I caught this via iQIYI recently. I also see it available via Hi-yah. I have not tried Hi-yah before. The movie was a very shortened version of The Condor Heroes. It is near impossible to to put all the storylines into one movie. With that in mind, I just had to figure out what was missing and make it go away in my head. From that side, I actually liked the movie a lot. It was well made in my opinion. This movie is borderline B-movie as it was not released to the theatres but direct to the web for iQiyi. But it is of better quality than then most of the other b-movies from iQiyi. Give it a watach and see how you like it.
Starting Monday, March 8th, CTS will be broadcasting 射鵰英雄傳 (Legend of the Condor Heroes 2003).
This version is still my favorite version of the 4 out. Li Ya Peng's turn as Guo Jing was spot on for me. Zhou Xun is serviceable as Huang Rong. But it was the drama as a whole that keeps me liking it years after. I'll have to put it on again someday.
Unfortunately, I have the VCD version. Imagine having to change the disc for every episode. I'll have to pick up the Taiwan version one of these days.
The Brave Archer (射鵰英雄傳) is 1977 film from Hong Kong. This is the first of a 4 films in the series based off the Condor Heroes storyline. The film stars the late Alexander Fu Sheng (傅聲) and the Venoms make appearances throughout. This is also a Chang Cheh directed film.
I think this was the first screen adaption of the 射鵰英雄傳 and it was one made for the big screen. Which meant you couldn't take a 6-7 volume novel and spread it across 50-60 episodes. Which meant a super condensed version of the novel. And that's exactly what you get. If I hadn't recently seen Hu Ge and Ariel Lin's version last summer, I would have been completely lost.
I liked it and while watching, never forgot that the context that this was made in 1977 and was the first visualization of the 射鵰英雄傳 for the masses.
Fu Sheng and Tien Niu (most recently in Fatal Move) were a cute couple and saw their chemistry.
As for the title, The Brave Archer. A bow and arrow is only used in the title section of the movie. As well as a cast and character introduction, which helped a lot. The title can be translated as "shoot condor heroes adventures". So, the Brave Archer is based on this and not the actual use of a bow and arrow.
If you're a fan of wuxia, Jin Yong, Condor Heroes, and old Shaw Bros. classics, this is one for the ages.
There were 4 official Condor Heroes movies from Shaw Bros. This is the first. A fifth is not normally recognized as part this as it has a different cast.
I was a little disappointed that this was not a Dragon Dynasty release. Tokyo Shock's version is probably the straight Celestial Pictures remastered version. The extra's were weak and did not add any value. I was only patient enough to listen to a few minutes of the Expert commentary. Very informative, but I can't set around for another 2 hours. I need a condensed version!
Here's the info page for The Brave Archer from Celestial Pictures website.
2008 was one crazy year. I started to really blog in June of this year. I haven't had as much time these last few weeks and for good reason. I recently welcomed another addition to my family. Sleepless nights do not translate to more blog entries.
This was the year of the Olympics. The build up to it was quite something.
But the characters and elements of this story from 金庸 was quite amazing. Even with the deviations, the story turned out ok.
Ariel Lin was a great 黃蓉. I thought was both cute and devious at the same time. 楊康 was actually correctly cast as opposed to the 1994 and 2003 ones. I really bought into it that he was evil but had that tint of wanting to reform.
This drama really played up the "soap opera" parts. 歐陽克 and 歐陽鋒's father/son relationship was played up the maximum and helped drive some of the emotional aspects of the serious. I was actually sad for 歐陽克 and was pulling for him at the end.
In all, this was a memorable drama that I'll watch again in the future.
I've seen all 3 of the major adaptions since Felix Wong and Barbara Yung's 59 episode epic in 1983/1984. I remember just trying to rent the drama back in the 80s was a major pain. Since there were few video rental stores, it took months to get our hands on it. And because of the demand, we had to return it by a certain date or risk surcharges. Outrageous! Its not like that today. Once the series is over, within a couple of weeks, its on DVD and you can purchase it.
I wasn't all that fond of the 1994 remake featuring Julian Cheung and Athena Chu. Even though Athena is one of my favorite actresses, I didn't think she fit the part.
I did however like the 2003 one featuring Li Ya Peng and Zhou Xun. Maybe because I didn't really have expectations and the series was on VCD, it sorta blew me away. It was annoying to have to change a disc every episode, but I got over it as the series went on. The ending was a little weak beacuse everything seem to end so abruptly.
I was actually quite surprised that they were making the current verson due for release in 2007, but postphoned to 2008 due to an injury to the main make protagonist, Hu Ge.
It would have been less than 5 years if released in 2007. Being released in 2008 roughly gives it 5 years. I don't now, I forget the Jin Yong stories within a few years. Might take me 2 or 3 years to completely forget parts of the stories. That's why I put them on in the background to refresh myself. I did that a couple of years ago for the 2003 series. But once I found out of the 2007 series, I stopped. Just so I would be murky and not completely know the story as I watch it again.
Anyway, search for it on youtube and you'll see many many clips, trailers, MVs, etc about it. I can't wait for it to come out. From what I've seen so far, it's going to have the best production value of any of the Jin Yong series I've seen. I hope it lives up to the hype and people's expectations.
