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[CN] Legend of the Condor Heroes 2008

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Temujin

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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 2175

Post subject: [CN] Legend of the Condor Heroes 2008	Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:49 pm

射雕英雄传 (Shè Diāo YīngXióng Zhuàn) Legend of the Condor Heroes 2008 Alternate Title : The Legend of the Eagle Shooting Heroes Genre: Wuxia Episodes: 50 Country : China Opening theme song: Ying Xiong Mo by Ronald Cheng (鄭中基) Ending theme song: Wu Yun Ran by Hu Ge Insert songs: Wo Zhi Neng Ai Ni by Peng Qing (彭青) Ying Xiong Dao (英雄道) by William So Cast: Hu Ge as Guo Jing Ariel Lin as Huang Rong Yuan Hong as Yang Kang Kathy Chow as Bao Xirou Liu Shi Shi as Mu Nianci Li Jie as Ouyang Ke Kong Yi Shan as Mei Chaofeng Xie Na as Hua Zheng Liang JiaRen as Hong Qigong Tsui Kam Kong as Ouyang Feng Zhang Guo Li as Duan Zhixing Ru Ping as Li Ping Guo Liang as Wanyan Honglie Weng Jia Ming as Yang Tiexin Ba Yin as Temüjin[/quote]

Temujin

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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 2175

Post subject:	Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:59 pm

« LiarLiar » wrote: I have watch till episode 18 and would like to express my opinion. This is just my opinion and I am sure this is not going to be a popular opinion. First of all, I don't know Chinese and I watch this show RAW. I used my knowledge of previous adaptations as well as the translated novel as base to watch this series. First of all, I knew this adaptation will not follow the book closely and I accept that. I don’t mind change if they make for good storytelling. I base my opinion on how much I enjoy the series and how the story unfolded. After watching 18 episodes, my opinion is this is not a good series. I did not enjoy it as much as I have hope. Don’t get me wrong I still find the series watchable and okay. It is just not good. For starter, the whole first episode compress around two or three worth of stories into one. GJ’s childhood is gone. I understand these aren’t the exciting parts of the story, but compress it doesn’t mean you are doing a good job especially since the previous adaptations does it so much better. The Mongol scenes lasted 2 episodes. Genghis Khan is barely shown. Again this not the most exciting part, but it doesn’t mean you should gloss it over. LOCH doesn’t get good until HR come out. I guess the director decided to do that as quickly as possible. HR came out at the end of episode 3. This was supposed to be a sign that the story is about to pick up. The exciting parts are coming, but in this series the excitement did not happen. Instead we got mind-numbingly slow. The advancement in the story went into a standstill. Barely any advancement is made. By Episode 18, H7G had only finish teaching GJ 15 out of the 18 Dragon Subduing Palms. The slowness is taking lots of fun out of the story. When the director said he will make YK an equal lead character along with GJ, he was not kidding. In fact one can argue YK is the main character in this series. The story at this point revolves around YK. GJ just happen to be there. YK gets all the development as a character and GJ is at a standstill. You don’t feel anything from GJ. This is a first for me, but the couple of GJ and HR isn’t fun. I just don’t feel anything for the couple. I have always love GJ and HR together, I just don’t love them here. YK and MNC made a better couple than GJ and HR, and I thought this can never happen. Building the YK character had it plus and minuses in this series. Through I did like some of the change in YK’s character, but it made for boring storytelling. Building YK’s character did not make the story better; it made the story boring. Okay that is it for now. I would like point out once again this is only my opinion. I don’t know Chinese and I am sure I would like this series lots more if I can understand what the characters are saying as they say a lots. The series does a whole lot of talking. This is just an opinion and I’m sure many people will disagree. « LiarLiar » wrote: Finally finish all 26 episodes of the first half, and would like to again share my opinion. The remaining episodes of the first half are much better pace. It is no longer as slow as before. This makes the series much better. My major complaint about the earlier parts was slowness, so I enjoy it much more. I’m also pleased that the series had shift the focus back to GJ. YK still gets shown, but not as much. Through YK’s character in here is interesting, but LOCH is still GJ’s story and the focus should be on GJ. I have high hope that the series will be more enjoyable as we go along. I have a question. Is YK good or bad now? I don’t understand Chinese, so I can’t be sure. Sometimes he seems good and sometimes he seems bad. « LiarLiar » wrote: Wow, I just watched epiosde 50. I changed my mind now, I like this series. Right after the focus went back to GJ and the pace pick up, the series got better. I have not finish this series yet. I skips from 32 to 50, so I'm missing quite a bit. I just wanted to comment right after seeing episode 50. The changes the director made at the end of this series will have a major impact on ROCH. I hope the director makes ROCH just to see how he handles the consequences of making these changes. I'll give you a hint on what the change is: what does YG have to be revengeful for now? « LiarLiar » wrote: Okay, I finally finish this series. I can honestly say I have no idea how I feel about this series. I went back and forth many times. I started out not like it, to like it, and finally to I don’t know anything anymore. There are enough good things about this series that I can see why people would like it. The majority of the cast was very good in their roles. Ariel was cute as HR through I still feel she is the weakest HR I seen to date. I still like her through. Hu Ge was not a bad GJ. Yuan Hong was strong as YK as I dislike him a whole lot. Liu Shi Shi is not a good actress, but had the look and demeanor of MNC. The Greats were good, but I would have like for them to be shown more as this series was long. The action was a mix bags sometimes good and sometimes bad, but I still consider it a plus because it was better than average. For people who liked a lots of love stories, this series offer that. I thought the original story was enough as is, so I’m not in love with this change. There is more character development, mainly for two characters YK and OYK. These two characters change the most from the novel to the series. First of all for YK, I didn’t like the change. At first, I was okay with the change, but as he did all these bad things at the end I can no longer accepted it. All his action was made worst because the series change him into a good person in certain parts of the series. The novel YK was never good, so when he does bad things it is expected. They change OYK into a pitiful villain. He is still a villain, but he had a heart in this series. I thought it was an okay change. I felt bad for him when he died. I just wanted to point out an episode I truly disliked, episode 42. It was so disgusting. The last thing you should be doing after killing someone is making babies. I heard many people say how passionate that scene was, but to me it was just sick. That scene is the main reason why I can’t say I like this series. All in all, I didn’t feel I wasted my time. It was enjoyable in parts, but there were certain things I can’t get over to fully enjoy this series. I know my opinion is not very helpful because I said nothing. I’m sure someone else will come along to give a better view to be more helpful. Maybe they can also help me form a better opinion. I post this to vent after I finish the series; hopefully no one minds. « JWalnut » wrote: I just finished all 50 episodes, so here's what I think of the series... I've watched all adaptions so far, so I'm going to try my best not to compare. Firstly, I felt that all the main actors portrayed their characters well. I know there was a lot of talk of Hu Ge looking to smart to be GJ but I felt he brought out a different side of GJ that hasn't really been emphasized in the past. Instead of focusing on GJ's slowness at learning and understanding, this adaption emphasized his willingness to keep trying, and this made me more attached to the character when he started getting quicker. Ariel's HR was also different then the past 3 I've seen. I felt that her portrayal of HR didn't emphasize or focus on one aspect of HR, but she tried to show everything equally. She wasn't exceptionally bratty, witty, spoiled, cute, or all the other traits HR has. Instead I saw glimpses of these traits all throughout the series, but what I felt really defined this HR was the maturity of her loyalty to GJ. Overall, I felt these two did a good job and I was especially impressed with their serious scenes. Actually, it was the serious scenes in this series that really left an impression on me. In regard to the plot changes (I won't say which ones) I didn't mind them as much. At first I was very weary of this because I really don't like it when adaptions stray too from the book, but I felt this time it was executed fairly well. I liked how YK and OYK was explored more in this adaption, and I'll be honest; OYK was a REALLY interesting character. I was impressed with how they developed him, even though they needed to stray from the book in order to do so. In general, I was weary of some of the plot changes, but all in all I felt the directer thought it out well so the adaption still had the atmosphere and feel of the book. Some general comments about this adaption would be that the characters are developed and more complicated than previous ones (especially OYK and YK). The fight scenes aren't bad, although near the end I felt the special effects were overused. This adaption felt a lot more serious to me, and there are a lot more sad and emotional scenes. The acting was good and the series was edited well. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and I strongly recommend it, but if you value the loyalty to the book, then I'm warning you before hand...you'll be surprised by some of the changes. « JWalnut » wrote: On Ariel Lin. It was the depth of her character that impressed me the most. She portrayed a more mature HR, so all her emotional and personal scenes were done really well. I can see why people think she's just cute though, because when the witty, bratty, and spoiled HR is supposed to come out, Ariel holds it back a bit. I felt her scenes when she was in Mongolia were done really well though...very heart wrenching. « j2 » wrote: So I couldn't take it anymore and decided to start watching. Here's my impression so far (up to episode 5. 1. The editing is really good. Does Lee Kwok Lap (the director) do his own editing? Because it's paced extremely well. Even though so much happens in the first episode I wasn't lost at all. The flashbacks and voiceovers were very effective in telling the story. No offense to Zhang Ji Zhong but he could learn a thing or two 2. The characters are decently casted I didn't really have an opinion of Ariel before but I still doubted that she could pull off this role. I was afraid she would be too "cute" for Huang Rong, but she's actually doing a decent job so I'm quite impressed. A question though, is that her real voice? Or is she being re-dubbed? As for Hu Ge I had a bad first impression of him because my gf made me watch Chinese Paladin with her and let me tell you, that is one sappy series. But after seeing him in Young Warriors of the Yang Clan he started to grow on me. And as Gou Jing he's also doing a pretty good job. The rest of the characters are all performing nicely. Weng Jia Ming as Yang Tie Xin is classic! (and so funny because of his character in Yang Warriros). Yuan Hong is doing an excellent job as Yang Kang. In fact I think he's the best Yang Kang so far because just seeing him I'm starting to dislike him---but I'm not sure if that's because I'm carrying over my animosity to his Yelu Xie character! Haha And both Kathy Chow and Liu Shi Shi are great as well. I haven't gotten up to Anthony Wong's appearance yet but I can't wait. 3. Nice emphasis on side characters I like how the side characters have a bit more depth. Like Gou Jing's mom was given a few more scenes here and there. There also seems to be more animosity between Yang Kang and Ouyang Ke. So overall my impression of this series is pretty good. Hopefully it'll remain that way. Also, it's not as "epic" as Duke of Mount Deer 2008, but the story development and pacing is much better. Too bad we can't get both! * ETA 1: After reading LiarLiar's reivew I do have to agree that the pacing is starting to slow down after episode 5 ( I'm now on episode 8 ). But so far it's still bearable. We'll see how it is once I watch more. And even though I think Yuan Hong is doing a good job as Yang Kang I still dislike him, so I really hope I'm not turned off by his screen time. * ETA 2: I'm on episode 10 now and yeah, the pace has really slowed down. But the character development is nice. At first I was a little turned-off by how Huang Rong was treating Gou Jing (e.g. she'll insult him and call him stupid), but then if someone else tires to inslut him (i.e. Yang Kang) she'll protect him and start talking smack to the offender. I see their relationship more like she's testing him and trying to push him a little to see how much he cares. Also I am a little... disappointed by how much screen time Yang Kang is getting. I just really, really dislike him! Haha « j2 » wrote: I'm on episode 18 now and woah... woah... woah...they sure are changing the story! Not sure if Mr. Jin Yong is going to be happy with it... # SPOILER - HIGHLIGHT TO READ Basically Yang Kang is a "good" guy and his plan to go back to Wanyan Hong Lie is actually a plan to kill him! Not sure how I feel about this development... and yeah, it almost feels like Yang Kang is the main character this time around or at least co-main character. Ha! It seems like I'm watching The Proud Twins. ETA: Ok, Yang Kang is starting to show his true colors. He's starting to get jealous of Guo Jing and he's starting to get more greedy... so he is turning into the Yang Kang we know. Except, the "turn" is a bit unexpected because they really didn't show what triggered it. It's like all of a sudden he's jealous because Guo Jing knows better kung fu. Weird. /END SPOILER Update #1: I updated the spoiler a little bit to add more info. « j2 » wrote: I'm up to episode 39 now. Just some more thoughts... It's definitely a lot better now since the focus is back on Gou Jing and Huang Rong. As for the character and plot changes... SPOILERS . . . . . . . Ouyang Ke's change is interesting. He's still evil but there is a bit more depth to it. He's a pitiful character and yet at the same time he blames others for his misfortune. As for making him "love" Mu Nian Ci that actually seems reasonable. He knew that there was no way he could get Huang Rong, and he readily accepted that he wasn't as good as Guo Jing. But I'm sure he felt he was at least equal to (if not better than) Yang Kang. So he transferred his "need for love" on her. * I'm still a bit frustrated with Yang Kang's change though...because it doesn't make sense. First, after he finds out who his real father is, it doesn't seem believable that he would automatically turn on his step-father. But let's accept that he did change to good... then his change back to evil is even more unbelievable. I mean, he was willing to "lower" himself and perform kung fu for money, and yet all of a sudden he's jealous of Guo Jing? I think the script writers dropped the ball on this one. But for what it's worth Yuan Hong is giving a stellar performance. . . . . . . . # END SPOILERS * « MikeL » wrote: I am watching it slowly, too many alterations and added scenes. Bao Xirou and Yang TieXin's romance just go on and on and on There are some scenes that will absolutely upset the JY purists. I know it for sure. Yang Tiexin couldn't hold a candle in the novel and in previous adapation, in LOCH 2008 they made him too powerful and too much emphasis on the Yang spear techniques. Come on, the Yang spear techniques were great for soldier but not in world of LOCH where crouching tigers and hidden dragons with fantastic martial arts and inner power can blast you to the afterlife with ease. « JWalnut » wrote: ..on the OYK and YK changes....I liked OYK's alterations more than YK's. I felt it made his character very interesting and complicated. Suddenly, the audience is supposed to feel sympathy for these two villains!! « MikeL » wrote: Moving on to LOCH 2008 discussions, I am not satisfied with Mei Chaofeng in this series. Somehow there's too much reliance on CGIs in her white bone claws, and she doesn't seem powerful enough with the visual effects used in LOCH 2008. I like how they stuck with the novel by showing her with the whip. LOCH2003 ignored the whip in order to show the white bone claws more artistiscally. « Mei Mei » wrote: I started watching it i realy like it ^__^ Zhou Xun i like, she has that certain air of gentleness that Barbara Yung, Athena Chu, and Ariel Lin don't. Zhou Xun was effortlessly gracious and tactful in all the social interaction they were with, she showed the intellegence of Huang Rong assuredly. Ariel Lin has the perfect youth, a combination of cuteness and brainpower ^_^ Ariel got the fun, impulse playfulness i think people underestimated Ariel ^_^ because she's just a cute actress, not pretty like athena chu. « Wuliner » wrote: I am not at all impressed with Ariel Lin and Hu Ge so far. Only Lie Jie, Yuan Hong, Kathy Chow, and the actress who played Hua Zheng are more impressive. Even Liu ShiShi is better than Ariel, who I felt was like too giggling, cutsey tootsie doll. « Wuliner » wrote: OK as I go further into the series, I have to say Kathy Chow as Bao Xirou stole the show in every scene she's in. What a beauty she is, she still has that classic Chinese beauty look at her current age. Mu NianCi was cute, she holds the spear fight well, but nobody can outclass Shui Ling in the 2003 version yet. Ariel Lin served the purpose of the series, she's the new poppy, upbeat, always cute always giggling type of Huang Rong, obviously the main audiences here are the younger viewers. On the guys, I think Ouyang Ke and Yang kang stole the show from Guo Jing. Yuan Hong could very well be the next best Yang Kang since Miu Kiu-Wai in 1983, he has the Prince look, the attitude to support the role as the Prince of Jin, he's got the playfulness of an 18 year old too. This Ouyang Ke has everything the character should be, suave, good looking and charismatic. He was equally as excellent as Lin PingZhi in XAJH 2001. Clearly I must warn any newbies to LOCH story that this is not the adaptation to watch to know why LOCH is such as an epic masterpiece by Jin Yong. Now to have fun with a loose, fun adaptation of LOCH then you can try this series. Just my two cents until I get further with the series. « Wuliner » wrote: I am not at all impressed with Ariel Lin and Hu Ge so far. Only Lie Jie, Yuan Hong, Kathy Chow, and the actress who played Hua Zheng are more impressive. Even Liu ShiShi is better than Ariel, who I felt was like too giggling, cutsey tootsie doll. « Wuliner » wrote: Throw loyalty out of the door. Throw adult situational drama out of the door, be receptive to pop idol drama, but then again Guo Jing was supposed to be only 18 and Huang Rong 16 year old when they first appeared in the novel so maybe it was not that bad after all when you look at it from this point of view, the series has the teenage looks closer to the novel's accuracy. Of course Hu Ge and Ariel Lin are hardly teenagers anymore, yet any previous series were played by those who are much older than Guo Jing and Huang Rong in the novel. Last edited by Temujin on Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:20 pm; edited 6 times in total

Temujin

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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 2175

Post subject:	Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:11 pm

« Temujin » wrote: I watched the first 1 1/2 episode last night. My thoughts so far ... I really liked the different spin on this series so far, Everything was done in fast pace leading to the first appearance of Guo Jing. They pretty much skimmed through the parent's story, but they kept the 7 Freaks vs QCJ confrontation intact. I just hope the flashback style will work this time without problem seen in Zhang Jizhong's ROCH 2006. The fight between Qiu Chiu Ji vs 7 Freaks are great, a long fight, almost similar to LOCH 2003 ... although I have to say, the fights don't exactly follow the book, they are missing wine drinking contest between QCJ vs 2nd Freak again (only LOCH 94 did it right so far). I understand why though, they want to keep it exciting and fast pace. The temple fight that involves Burnt Wood monk + 7 Freak vs QCJ again was another great fight, too bad the CGI was underbudget. Unlike Zhang Jizhong's series with huge budget, this series does have some budget restraint and you can just tell from the CGI technology, the CGI throwing darts used by Flying Bat Ke Zhen E was pretty bad... Still the fights were enjoyable to watch, it did not take my enjoyment from watching it. And boy ... ouch... when Hu Ge finally appeared... he appeared with a bang!! Shooting the condors by stretching the bow from his back ala Julien Cheung in LOCH 94 of course. « Temujin » wrote: I'm only up to episode 4 now. My thoughts on the fighting choreography/scenes thus far ... Not too bad, but nothing too impressive either, it's enjoyable though, a mixture some fast pace moderately quick cuts (but you still can see what's going on) and CGI to enhance the visual, to make it simple, it's the new style without going to overboard (yet... I'm still on eps. 4) and no matrix freeze-in-the-air martial arts yet). Too bad the CGI is rather amateurish, we can't blame them though, the budget is not as generous as Zhang Jizhong's series. Please note that in Legend of the Condor Heroes (the novel) there are a lot of "chi" or energy blast martial arts and internal power contest, so expect to see some visual enhancement with CGIs to make them look more powerful. This is not Kungfu series. keep that in mind. I made some comments on the first two major fighting scenes in the prior page you can check it. The fighting scenes are not too artistic like Zhang Jizhong's Legend of Condor Heroes 2003 or Return of Condor Heroes 2006, especially the later who went overboard and made wuxia looks like some fairy fantasy series. I think this is a good sign to me « Temujin » wrote: I just finished eps 12 last night. It has not been an easy ride to bear through all the extra side stories they inserted into this version. Too many family drama going on between the Yang family. I must agree, when you want the pure unadultered adaptation of LOCH "the novel" then stay as far away as possible from this version. I am a Purist, LOCH is one of my favorite JY novels of all time. And I have to be honest, I was rather petrified by some of the changes done so far. (I will list the whole nine yards later) On the other hand, some of the changes were quite fun to watch as a stand-alone series inspired by LOCH novel. It still follows the novel storyline but the added scenes every 10 minutes were so out of characters that sometimes it drove me insane. Now that Yang TieXin and Bao XiRou are finally dead, LOCH should get more exciting with the appearance of Hong QiGong soon. HL18Z is on the way I'm keeping my fingers crossed. More later ... work in on the way « YeungGor4ever » wrote: based on my observation watching some eps, i'm not too impressed with the new LOCH, the character Wong Yung was a juvenile in looks, her acting skills looked unnatural, she was just a cute face. weak Wong Yung compared to past actresses like Athena Chu, Barbara Yung. « Temujin » wrote: Don't even mention the first fight between Hong Qigong vs Ouyang Feng on Peach Blossom island, the CGIs there was just too much, and it really made it worse that they used low budget CGIs. It felt like a cheap production. Modest budget is ok, the visual effect team didn't have to overdo it. That friendly duel could be a much easier to watch without the excessive CGIs. I thought we were in out of space somewhere. Given these drawbacks, I must say the series actually kept some details from the novel like no other series before, among others that I can remember at the moment : 1. During Round 1 of the Marriage competition, they really made GJ vs OYF and OYK vs H7Q fought on top of the trees. No other series actually showed it. 2. Ariel Lin's performing Huang Yaoshi's signature Peach Blossom move,Luo Ying Shen Jian Zhang, it was described as complicated, elegant, yet exquisite and powerful at the same time, once you see it you know it was created by Huang Yaoshi. They really did a good job making Ariel Lin doing all these moves. 3. When Guo Jing first met Huang Rong (the girl), she sang. LOCH 2008 had this done right. 4. Great jobs showing Guo Jing practicing his XL18Z days and nights, so we actually see some progressions. 5. Hong Qigong taught Huang Rong his signature moves called Xiao Yaoyou, a martial arts to fight in melee. They really showed it while the other series never bother to show it (maybe just a few seconds). « JiangNan JianKe » wrote: I personally think it's crap when you treat it as an adaptation, watch it as a vehicle to waste your time. I am not a true JY hardcore fan. I mean I don't mind altering the storyline as long as it doesn't go out of hands. Li Guo Li just went overboard with so many scenes, Yang TieXin was made more powerful than he is in the book. « JiangNan JianKe » wrote: Anthony Wong had the best potential to outclass Kenneth, but he lack the weirdness of Dong Xie. Anthony is too calm, like he just went through the script without too much fierce attitude, he is missing the understanding of Dong Xie character. Last edited by Temujin on Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:22 pm; edited 1 time in total

Temujin

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Post subject:	Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:21 pm

« vodaniel2 » wrote: my review thus far (I just got up to 4 and I don't understand most of what they are saying. On the four main characters, I think the cast were acceptable. I like Ariel Lin's performance; she's so spunky and cute, which I think the director is going for. Yuan Hong (sorry for the mispelling if i make it) was a terrifying Yang Kang when he was bad. Unfortunately, I think he and MU Nianci may have had more screen time than Guo Jing. Hu Ge's Guo Jing didn't seem too spectacular or out of the ordinary. However, there are times when Guo Jing does something dumb, he gets on my nerves, just like when he gets on Huang Yaoshi. Still, he's more handsome than the 2003 version and not as annoying. Mu Nianci, the actress (forgot her name), looked almost like Liu Yifei at certain angles. It was almost strange to watch her performance. However, it was pretty well done. In additon to Guo JIng storyline, I was extremely disappointed with the second episode. I was expecting to see more of Guo Jing's flashbacks and his childhood with his friend Touli (think I spelled it wrong) and Princess Hua Jeng. I wanted to also see his relationship with Genghis Khan and Jebe also and how they first met. I think that scene is like a foreshadowing of what's to come near the end. Ba Yin as Genghis Khan was interesting but it might have been a miscast. Perhaps I didn't see enough of his character in the beginning caused me to think this way. As for the three Greats the best performance are Brian Leung as Hong Qi Gong and Elvis Tsai as OYang Fung. However, Elvis steals the show. He so evil yet he has this human quality almost like Shylock or Richard III. This guy is actually embaressed when he is forced to admit his evil doings (at least that's what I got from listening to his voice). The weakest was unfortunately Anthony Wong as Dong Xie. He must be the most light-hearted Huang ever. He doesn't seem to have too relaxed and happy (although I think there is a better word for this). I think, like Ariel Lin, his voice was dubbed (saw the Mummy 3; his voice there was very different from LOCH). That's my brief thought. I won't write about the plot twist until almost everyone has seen it. « vodaniel2 » wrote: On CGI. I watched that scene last week and it was not well done, in my opinion. I wanted to see the dog beating stick techniques themselves without the CGI background. With the CGI, it seemed cheesy for me. (Spoilers below) In addition, I thought the duel on Huashan was also cheesy. It lacked any natural setting and feel, which disappointed me. There were way too many CGI renderings there, especially the mountain peaks. The XL18Z were a bit too stylized. It wasn't as ferocious as it was in the 2003 version or Condor Hero 2006. I think future adaptations should be advised to reduce of showing the dragon cuz I think it's been overused. Aside from the CGI, I didn't like Huang's clothes; they looked like bathrobes, at least the upper portion. At least his flute didn't look like a plastic toy; I wish have his flute and his mask! The skin mask didn't work out for me in the 2003 version. It just seems very out of place. Huang's mask may have been plain but it was frightening and mysterious. OuYang Fung's snake staff was oversized and I was thinking "When did Jafar from Aladdin come in?" The dog beating stick was decent but the way it looks-- it looks almost like Darth Maul's lightsaber. On the positive note, I love Elvis Tsui's OuYang Fung. He's evil but when he goes mad, he has a comical expression. Of course, not all the CGI scenes were so bad. I actually like the CGI during the duet between Evil Huang and Western Poison. That was wonderfully done in my opinion. I also like second test when Huang was testing Guo Jing's inner strength. It is almost exactly like the book. Anthony Wong's Huang Yaoshi may not be the best interpretation but I love his expression when he said to Guo Jing (after the second test) "You are very good. But why do you still call me Chief Huang?" Of course, Guo Jing didn't catch what Huang meant and Huang's expression changed from proud to frustration. I thought that scene was brilliant. Hu Ge may not be as annoying as the 2003 actor (forgot his name) but there are times I want to spank the character for being so naive! Ariel Lin is fine as Huang Rong; she seems to be the right age, at least physically. She's spunky, bubbly, crafty and spoiled. « Dimsum » wrote: I agree that even some of the previous series (LOCH 83, LOCH 94, LOCH 02/03) did not show those scenes you're talking about TMJ. Even a classic like LOCH 83 and an epic like LOCH 2003 skipped or changed some of these scenes. But you see... these are minor, eventhough LOCH 2008 retained these specific scenes properly, the series just had too much extra scenes going despite staying true to the major plot of LOCH novel for the most part. I am saying what It takes to get from one scene to another scene, when it takes 20 minutes in a loyal series like LOCH 94, it takes about 60 minutes in LOCH 2008, because of the made up scenes ... another 40 minutes . Evidently, LOCH 2008 also had its shortcomings for missing two major scenes, it is absurb to delete these important scenes from any proper LOCH series ... - The battle of wits between Huang Rong vs WYHL lackeys during the night attempt to steal some medicine. Anyone who have read the LOCH will tell that is a very important scene to show the quality of Huang Rong's intelegence. But no, Li Guo Li decided that the scene is no longer important. - The mission to find Wu Mu Yi Su (Yue Fei's manual) was initiated by WYHL, but the series changed the plot and retorted the meeting to be headed by Yang Kang. - The series totally eliminated the scene where Mu NianCi came to rescue Yang Kang at the Lu's manor. « JWalnut » wrote: I also agree that the scene where HR deals with WYHL's lackeys was an extremely important scene, and I was disappointed that it was cut out too. But they did make up that scene where HR dealt with OYK, and from the emphasis that they wanted to put on OYK, I'm guessing why they chose to use that scene instead. Also, all the scenes that had HR in them had to run on very tight schedules since Ariel couldn't get to the filming until later. This LOCH did have a lot of plot deviances, and I had problems with them at first too. Near the end of the series though, I could see the development in the characters, and I started to understand the plot changes that needed to be used in order to facilitate that development. By no means did I like all the changes; in fact, I was quite weirded out by some of them, but after I watched the last episode I wasn't thinking about the changes, but rather I was in tune with the emotions that the ending of LOCH was supposed to leave. And this feeling was what made this series worthwhile for me.

Temujin

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Post subject:	Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:26 pm

« Xia Nu » wrote: As a new interpretation of She Diao Ying xiong Zhuan, the series was entertaining to a certain point, until Li Guoli started to make overblown changes, He prolonged the romantic scenes between Yang Kang and Mu NianCi Made Ouyang Ke fell in love with Mu NianCi Prolonged Yang Kang's life until the last episode Made Huang Rong met Li Ping Made certain characters too powerful Made Bao Xi Rou and Yang Tian Xin's long lost love story too long Added cheap visual cgis Made Huang Yaoshi uninteresting, he was too one dimensional Destroyed the entire plot with Ouyang Feng, Yang kang and Ke Zhen E at the temple Made Duan Tian De's life longer Skipped some necessary parts like Guo Jing's child story in Mongolia What saved the story were the inserted love song played whenever the characters get very touchy bitsey, the chemistry between Hu Ge and Ariel Lin, despite displaying different Guo Jing and Huang Rong, and the excellent performance by Li Jie as Ouyang Ke. Only Liang Jia Ren, the Older Guo Jing was the best as Bei Gai. Yang Hong started great and tailspinned into a melodramatic confused character. Li Shi Shi was unimpressive, she was crying and crying and too weak as the character. Some people have said it, I guess I will repeat... as a She Diao Ying xiong Zhuan adaptation it's a failure. On the flip side of the coin, as a new spin of She Diao aimed toward younger generation who never read the original story, it will score some positive points. « Pingu4u2 » wrote: Ah, been watching this online . There's one thing that's been bugging me about this series a lot... is it just me, or is the themesong for this heavily influenced by the first themesong for the 1983 LOCH ? I mean, it's pleasant to hear, but... they could have at least deviated from the other song a bit more... this is kind of a bit too close XD. I made a comparison clip of the music from the 1983 LOCH and the music from this 2008 LOCH... it's not just me, right? XD XD http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V58V9JYT (The first song is from the 1983 LOCH, the second song is from the 2008 LOCH, the third song is from the 1983 LOCH, and the fourth song is from the 2008 LOCH.) Hmm, let's see... I don't really like Ariel Lin's Huang Rong... I think she was too cutesy-cutesy for my taste, unfortunately . She just didn't have the edge and offbeat wit and humor that I imagined. I guess her really high-pitched dubbed voice didn't really help my feelings, either XD. I also don't think she has very good chemistry with Hu Ge... their interactions are just... not as cute and funny... it's kind of disappointing. They just didn't really seem to play off of each other as well in this version, in my opinion. And this Huang Yaoshi kind of bugs me... he just seems too serious in a... straight-laced way, if that makes sense. He was also a really pleasant host 0__0. He just doesn't seem quirky enough or hot-tempered enough. One example that stood out to me: The part where Huang Rong was at Peach Island and pretended that she was going to suicide with the knife, and Huang Yaoshi took her really seriously, and seemed all scared, quickly hitting the knife away... the way he did it just seemed really un-Huang Yaoshi-like. It just seemed like he didn't know his daughter very well. (And whoah at the picture Tian Xia Yi Dao plugged of Anthony Wong recently - I totally thought he had a beer belly too until I saw that! Those robes didn't really do him good 0__0...) I did like this version's Ouyang Ke though (minus him falling in love with Nianci... okay, that wasn't so good... but... other than that! ). I actually thought he had a lot more chemistry with the ladies . It's kind of sad that Huang Rong seemed to have cuter interactions with him than with Guo Jing, but anyhow... good acting on his part! XD And... I don't think I need to mention anything about the atrocities of the graphics XD. Those screencaps back a few pages say everything... « Qinghua » wrote: I have to say (even with all the cuts on important parts) the drama was somewhat enjoyable, until they started to drastically change the storyline. I'm okay with cuts, as long as the drama stays true to the original story. Major NOT minor changes with the story IS A DEFINITE NO. Which (to me) loses the 'favor' of the story. For example: ~Yang Kang was SUPPOSE to die BEFORE Yang Guo was born, NOT AFTER. And wasn't he suppose to die of poison from Huang Rong's vest. ~Ouyang Ke was NOT suppose to 'fall in love' with Mu Nanci, and he was SUPPOSE to die when Guo Jing was 'healing'. Those are two examples (I hope these facts are correct), I don't want to spoil the rest for others. And I agree with Xia Nu, I mean what's up with the graphics. I'm pretty sure they could have done MUCH better. I must also confess if it wasn't for Yuan Hong (Yang Kang) I would have already given up the series entirely. Pathetic right? Committing to a series just because your favorite actor is in it, but that's what happens to series like these... or at least that's what I do. >.<

Temujin

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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
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Post subject:	Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:28 pm

« CondorXu » wrote: I just watched Legend of Condor Heroes 2008 recent, I want to share my review @ wuxiasociety... I am honestly still in disbelief I managed to finish the series now. Condor Hero is my favorited JY novel and I understand every tv version has always their pros and cons and this one both just like all the old ones. Now after finishing this series, I am giving the tv series a 6 out of 10, 7 is like pushing my limits and to make it a final score I am just going to divide it by 2, so the Final score is 6.5. All these new adaptations just seem change the story more each time a new adaptation is made. Characters Guo Jing Hu Ge was surprisingly not bad for Guo Jing, just that his face doesn't fit what Guo Jing should look like. I don't know maybe because I saw the previous series, the 83 Condor Hero, the 94 Condor Hero and the bad 03 version. Even the guy in O3 fit the description better than Hu Ge. I gave him credits for making a good but different version of Guo Jing, he did the dim-witted part pretty ok. The guy in Condor Hero 83 was still the best overall but Hu Ge was unique in his own way without deviating too much of the characterization set by the book. Huang Rong Ariel Lin is a good actress. I was never a fond of her before I saw Condor Hero 08. When I heard the buzz about the series before I wasn't really all that satisfied with the choice of actress. Simply said I think I was fascinated by Ariel Lin’s portrayal of Huang Rong. Comparing Ariel Lin's Huang Rong to the previous actress, and especially Barbara Yung’s Huang Rong, Ariel successfully brought out girlish nature of the character, she was fun but not too calculating like an adult which you would think a runaway teenage girl would do in the crazy jiang hu world, Barbara Yung was more wicked, she was way playful and loved to play pranks on people, Ariel is more of the subtle type but not lacking in creating that vigorous teenage spirits. and both were extensions of the actresses’ own core personalities. She brought the punkish young nature wuxia style, I was growing to like her Huang Rong as I watch more of Condor Hero 08 eventhough she doesn't look too pretty to be Huang Rong. She was close, actually she brought out the eccentricity of Huang Rong's character, the Huang Rong we knew in the book. She made a clever Huang Rong with enough fiesty attitude to make her Huang Rong enough and this fact says a lot about Ariel's overall performance. Yang Kang Too much concentration on Yang Kang, Yuan Hong is a decent actor, and in fact I personally think he would have made a good Yang Kang with the right scripts so all the complaints about his Yang Kang being different is really not his faults. Let's be fair to him. I am going to judge him based on his take on Yang Kang's characters. Was he successful enough in bringing out the Yang Kang we know in the book in our eyes in this tv series ? I think, after I watched 20-30 episodes. He was alright, he was probably the second best after Miu Kiu Wai in Condor Hero 83. I thought the Zhou Jie's one was ok but the actor just never made me like him because he look so different than the Yang Kang we knew in the book, I am giving even Yang Kang in 94 version better than Zhou Jie. Mu Nianci Liu Shishi is a new actress so I want be too hard on her. On the other hand, I guess playing Mu Nianci is not as easy as it seems. Liu Shishi was trying hard and she was given a lot more screen time than she should have been by the the Director. I am not satisfied with the combination of several things, her acting and the script and the both don't do her well in bringing out Mu Nianci to life. What's making it worse is Mu Nianci seems really weak as she never stood her principles when she deal with Yang kang and in fact some of the scenes made her a very annoying character to me. What got me is eventhough when she knew she's doing something bad, she still did it with that weak look on her face. Ou Yangke He was in the only actor who stole the show, Li Jie did a fantastic job as a multi layered villain, making Ouyang Ke a character with more depth and complex personality with emotion, personal family problem to deal with and his own ambition and love motivation. So he is my favorite character in Condor Hero 08. He was really giving Huang Rong some competition with his intelligence. I liked him much more than I liked Yang kang in Condor Hero 08, because despite his schemes, we can relate with his characters more than someone like Yang Kang. Ouyang Feng He was disappointing when you know he played all these bad guy roles in the past. Somehow he's just not evil enough. Huang Yaoshi Anthony Wong looked like he's sleeping most of the time. Lacked the complexity and eccentricity we are supposed to see for Huang Yaoshi's characters. I don't think Anthony was taking the role too seriously. Yi Deng He was ok and he's never a character I liked so nothing too memorable to me. Hong Qigong He's the best out of the 4 greats that is not to say he's better than the 83 Condor Hero. Zhou Botong the actor tried to be funny but failed miserably. Wan Yan Hong Lie Good actor with good acting, too bad they changed the character too much by making him too powerful. He defeated Yang Tiexin and Chiu Quji. I was not happy with the changes, Wan Yan Hong Lie was a weak fighter, it really bothered me Bao XiRou Kathy Zhou is perfect for the role, she tends to exaggerate by being over-dramatic in some scenes but I can live with it. Series overall Overall about the story, I've concluded that the scriptwriters have changed too much of the story. The role of Yang Kang was too much extended. Their love story sometimes took more screen time than Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Sometimes I was thinking they just wanted to promote both Yuan Hong and Liu Shi Shi with all these added scenes, and it discrupted the story flow of Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Some of the changes worked to make Condor Hero 08 different but some like the ending, how Wan Yan Hong Lie met his demise, how they made Yang Kang's fate concluded could be troublesome to Jin Yong fans. I don't think they're planning to make a sequel Return of Condor Hero in the future but when they do some things will have to be changed to continue where Condor Hero 08 and these changes won't be acceptable to us. I enjoyed its fresh look of Condor Hero 08 when I managed to throw away my thoughts on the story we know in the book and the previous tv versions. I won't recommend it to fuzzy Jin Yong fans who expect some consistencies with the book.

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