Rewatching Old Chinese series...Miss those days

[spanky]

She is one of my Favorite from back in the day, too bad she didn't have more series.

She was absolutely beautiful (aura) in Against the Blade of Honor. LOVE her in there, so strong and serene. All the guys (who wanted revenge) on Louis is taken by her "beautiful soul." This is when Louis actually looks good, don;t know what happened to him...

Her and Patrick Tam make a good pairing as well. I think he was the only one she paired w/more than once.

I love when she was dress up simply in white and simple hairdo.

I miss when the series wasn't over 16 ep loooong....hahaha...

 

[HuabNag]

She was my favorite too. I love all the characters she played, like you my favorite of her was against the blade of honor and Revelation of the last hero with Aaron Kwok.

 

[spanky]

Yes, I just finish re-watching that. Ching Emperor is good as well w/Julian Cheng.

 

[Ms.Zoe]

I forgot when was the last time I watched a TVB HK drama & what drama I last watched.

Return of the Condor Heroes 95 is Louis's best performance for me. He looked so manly, drop dead gorgeous after waiting for his wife 16 years later lol. I read about AtBoH, didn't like its ending so I didn't watch it even though Louis looked manly in there as well lol.

 

[Ms.Zoe]

If we talk about our first Chinese, TVB or HK drama then I do remember lol.

The very first drama I watched was Journey to the West the 1986 version. Great childhood memories I had from watching it. I would try to hum its ost songs and back then when there were thunderstorms I would imagine there are super beings up above creating them lol. My second drama was Michael Mui as Chor Leung Heung! He was so charming. His version of CLH is my favorite. Every time CLH showed up, everyone was safe because his martial arts skills were unmatchable so I came up with the saying "Have no fear, CLH is here" .

 

[spanky]

I love him back in the day...Now LK looks odd.

ATBOH is a dark, angst and very mature lakorn and I don't really like ANGST lakorn. Not draggy. Although he did some selfish shit. At the end you knew how much he LOVES Ching Ching. I love Ching Ching relationship w/the other guys. Her serene nature won their hearts. Ting Hong and her were great friends. She always gave admiration and respect to all. P'k enemies (in love and p'k enemies) all respect her. Although they weren't together, I felt the love he had for her. He would follow her and watch her from afar. It tugged at my heart but yet it wasn't overly sad to me. It was a mature type of love that I can respect and appreciate, very unselfish of Ching Ching. Something about it was soo *Beautiful* to me. While the other girls chase him and did what they can to keep him. She didn't do that, her love was unconditional. She knew he follow her and watches her but she kept it together and let him be. I love when she played the instruments too.

 

[aiyaja]

TVB doesn't even make ancient series anymore. It's all Mainland China now but I'm not too big on Mainland China series because 1. They're wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too long and draggy and we have 20 stories crossing each other. 2. They don't fight anymore. It's all CG power. 3. They're all open ended endings....LIKE OMG!

 

[jeanie1]

Agree aiyaja! But I've fallen down a rabbit hole with hottie Wallace Huo. I managed to get thru Journey of Flower but all your points apply! I'm halfway with Love Me If You Dare which is awesome so far but its modern and only 24 episodes!

I've also started reading translated Chinese novels floating around but then I go try to watch the drama and its a no go exactly for all the reasons you listed. Really miss the good old days of 12-13 episodes of TVB's kungfu series.

The mainland ones are also more like soap operas than kung fu. Which you know is fine if it's a short like Ch3 lakorns are with bout 14 episodes but 40-60 episodes is too much. But then I can't find a lakorn to get into either right now.

 

[patesserie]

TVB series always had a standard 32 Episodes, if it was translated in another language then it was usually compressed in half, being 16 Vietnamese/Cambodian episodes. None of the major stations can make good wuxia series anymore. It'll never be like the golden 70's and 80's or even the gritty 90's. And I'm so darn sick of Mainland remaking all the Jin Yong and Gu Long novels. Just please no. The only Mainland wuxia drama that I thoroughly enjoyed in the recent years is Nirvana in Fire which I highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a good fighting series. Granted, it's not the same as the combat hand to hand fighting from the 80's but the plot and acting is superb!

 

[aiyaja]

^I know a lot of people disliked the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber with Lawrence and Gigi but I loved that version. Goshhh, it was sooooo good. It was 32 episodes, Thai dubbed, but EVERY SINGLE episode and story intertwined, made sense, and NEVER DRAGGED. Omg! That is goals!!!! Hahaha.

 

[jeanie1]

Well the Jin Yong series were always long but I was talking about most of the early 90s non Jin Yong ones, like the ones Noel were in. Against the Blade was 13 episodes in Thai, 1 hour each. Maybe some others had them cut up differently. The TVB official Cantonese version had 20 episodes but cut at 4o minutes per ep.

Thief of Honor, Revelation of the Last Sword, Lone Star Swordsmen, Heroes from Shaolin, were some of my favorites and they were all standard 13 Thai/20 Cantonese. Some others I like in that time period with the same short episode count: Romance of the White Hair Maiden, Mystery of the Condor, Last Conquest, Mystery of the Twin Swords, most of the series Ekin was in like Golden Snake Sword, Zu Mountain Saga, Rage and Passion etc.

Now I think about it, Noel and Ekin were probably my faves back then. I loved everything they were in.

But by late 90s TVB started getting draggy overly long series too. The ones Raymond Lam were in, that era had a longer episode count.

 

[aiyaja]

^Raymond Lam was always playing stupid characters, though. I didn't like any of his ancient series.

 

[spanky]

jeane1 you named maj0rity of my fav series....I can't do over 20 ep

There are more but I don't remem. the name. I remember N'k wore a bell hahaha

 

[patesserie]

^I know a lot of people disliked the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber with Lawrence and Gigi but I loved that version. Goshhh, it was sooooo good. It was 32 episodes, Thai dubbed, but EVERY SINGLE episode and story intertwined, made sense, and NEVER DRAGGED. Omg! That is goals!!!! Hahaha.

I actually liked that version but perhaps I'm being bias since HSDS is my all-time favorite Jin Yong novel. I think I've pretty much liked every single adaptation from the original 1978 to the 2009 one (the 1986 version still holds the most special place in my heart though haha). Generally people didn't like it because 1. it changed too much of the storyline which angered Jin Yong and led to him banning TVB from ever producing his novels and 2. A lot of people argued that Lawrence was too old and not suitable to be ZWJ/ZMK. I read all three revisions to the novel and yeah I agree that Lawrence does not fit the description and image of the role but his acting was not bad. His chemistry with Gigi Lai was what made it enjoyable.

 

[jeanie1]

^Raymond Lam was always playing stupid characters, though. I didn't like any of his ancient series.

Because his series were long and draggy? lol This is why the short ones are the best! It doesn't need to fill time with dumb material. Jin Yong adaptations can sometimes get away with a long series because his stories have a ton of characters in them and they all serve some purpose or fill out the world building.

I'm convinced p'eks and n'eks in lakorns would finally have about average intelligence with average common sense if they kept it short and sweet. And it wouldn't be filled with useless characters. I'll never forget Oil Thana's interview where he basically slammed lakorns because he said the characters are always so stupid. Granted the guy makes money off of them but he has a point.

 

[spanky]

I agree they are stupid, granted there are many ppl like that. There are also plenty of people who have common sense. "stupid" seem to be the norm. I understand the novel is detail w/lots of character but when it's rewritten in the script they need to adjust it to the screen to flow nicely and not drag.

This is why I don't watch many lakorn anymore, it's sooo long! I like 1999 Ngao Asoke, total of 11? 12 ep....It does show that goodness (karma) prevail.

 

[little22]

i for too missed those olds days watching tvb classic chinese. i want to rewatch it again but don't know where to find it.

 

[saobomp]

^I know a lot of people disliked the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber with Lawrence and Gigi but I loved that version. Goshhh, it was sooooo good. It was 32 episodes, Thai dubbed, but EVERY SINGLE episode and story intertwined, made sense, and NEVER DRAGGED. Omg! That is goals!!!! Hahaha.

do you have pictures of the actors/actress for these version? i'm looking for one series from back in the days with Lawrence. Not sure if these series are it or not. He and the actress had the matching swords so when they combine they are unstoppable. They had the same master but their parents/city were enemy. Thanks