The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber
Cast
Alec Su - Zhang Wu Ji / Zhang Cui Shan
Alyssa Chia - Zhao Min
Gao Yuan Yuan - Zhou Zhi Ruo
Zhang Guo Li - Cheng Kun
Zhang Tie Lin - Yang Xiao
Tsui Kam Kong - Xie Xun
Phyllis Quek - Yin Su Su
Tao Hong - Ji Xiao Fu
Storyline
Yin Su Su, the daughter of the Heaven Eagle Sect obtains the Dragon Sabre in a frenzy one day. During that frenzy, she is rescued by Zhang Cui Shan, a Wu Dang sect disciple, and his third brother, who insists on taking the sabre back to Mt. Wudang while Su is injured. Su escapes that day and stops Cui's 3rd brother, demanding the sabre and attacks him with her poisoned needles. Due to compassion, she hands him over to a bodyguard association and pays them to bring him to Mt. Wudang. The association is fooled by impostors and 3rd brother, in the hands of the evil villain Cheng Kun, breaks his 4 limbs and is paralysed for life.
The story continues until, on the quest for discovering the criminal and the young man Yin (Su disguised herself as a man when she went to the bodyguards), Cui meets Su again, only to discover the sabre is with her and she is the daughter of the Heaven Eagle Sect leader, the Heaven Eagle sect having been long time enemies with Wu Dang as H.E. sect is an ally of the Ming sect, whom every other sect look down on.
Su and Cui are kidnapped by Xie Xun, Su's father's godbrother and the three land up in Icy Fire Island. Su and Cui marry and give birth to Wu Ji. Wu Ji lives a love life torn apart by four girls, three of whom he met during his childhood. Zhou Zhi Ruo is the daughter of a fisherman who was rescued by Zhang San Feng, the sect leader of Wu Dang. Zhao Min is a Mongolian princess, daughter of Ru Yang Wang, who slapped him when he called her a villain. Zhu Er (real name Yin Li) is his cousin and the disciple of Golden Flower Grandma. He bit her to escape frm Golden Flower Grandma when she wanted him as her disciple. Xiao Zhao is Golden Flower Grandma's daughter and the personal maid of Yang Xiao's daughter Yang Bu Hui.
In the beginning, Wu Ji loves Zhi Ruo but gradually, he turns to love Zhao Min, although having secondary feelings to Zhu Er and Xiao Zhao. When Zhao Min stops him from marrying Zhi Ruo, she vows hatred for him and at that time, she has already obtained the Jiuyin Manual, which she stole from Zhao Min's Heavenly sword and Xie Xun's Dragon Sabre. Problems are starting to arise from this rivalry...
Comments
Alec Su
He is a cute, adorable Wu Ji but i wish they could get another actor to play Cui Shan. Since they look exactly alike, how is it that no one knows he is Wu Ji and only A Niu?
Alyssa Chia
She is cute and lively as the Princess Zhao Min and has a lovable chemistry with Wu Ji as they both look young. Plus, she looks feminine when she disguises as a man, so I don't doubt the fact why almost every male, including Zhang San Feng, knows she is a female.
Gao Yuan Yuan
This character suits her more than her character in "Shen Yi Xia Lu". She is both attractive as Zhi Ruo and she looks evil enough to be the evil Zhi Ru with hatred within her eyes.
Zhang Guo Li
He plays it off well, with his cunning and evil aura. He can laugh evilly, but what confuses me is how Xie Xun looks older than him and would pass for HIS teacher instead!! Plus, how come he never aged for 20 years? And there was this part where he disguised himself at the Killing-Lion event. It was so obvious he was Chengkun/Yuanzhen, yet Wu Ji argued he wasn't.
Zhang Tie Lin
He looks a bit old, but he is cute when he woos Xiao Fu. And the lip thing...he looks as if he is trying to tell Xiao Fu to be obedient to him. Actually he looks better with his moustache, as the old Yang Xiao. However, his acting exceeds that of Sun Xing of the 1994 Steve Ma Jing Tao version, although Sun looked younger than Zhang. Zhang's Yang Xiao showed a more disciplined character which would not easily rape a woman, in comparison to Sun's who kept on forcing Xiao Fu and resorting to mean ways, like kidnapping her and immobilising her.
Tsui Kam Kong
He looked as convincing as the 1994 edition's "Golden Mane Lion King". He roughens out his voice well, and expresses his paternal love for Wu Ji excellently. I liked how he kept the Dragon Sabre with him,and how he held it.
Phyllis Quek
At her age, she looked youthful (even at 30). Her Su Su was graceful and had the "intelligent" look.
Tao Hong
She looked a bit weird as an Emei disciple, and looked too mature for Ji Xiao Fu when she dressed as a married woman. I dont know but she reminds me so much of Kristy Yeung. I prefered how she looked in "Wind and Cloud I".
The actress who played Yang Bu Hui
She does not look like either Yang Xiao or Xiao Fu, but her acting is fine as a girl sweet towards her father, Wu Ji and Yin Li Ting. However, there is not much of an age difference between them.
Florence Tan - Xiao Zhao
She is not as pretty as Zi Shan Long Wang, her mother, but her acting paid for it. She is a cute girl who treats Wu Ji as her master.
Supporting Cast
They were fine, especially the Wei Yi Xiao actor,and the actor who played Hu Qing Niu. However, i felt pity for Song Qing Shu's character, as he was always treated as a tool by Zhi Ruo. In Miracle Healer, he was a tool to the Empress. I don't know if this is always the case, though.
I was disappointed Dong Xiao Yan only had a minor guest role here (Hu Qing Niu's wife), as she is a good actress. I was looking forward to seeing her with a more mature role, as in other series like "Hua Mu Lan" and "Miracle Healer". Zhu Yuanzhang's character was pretty minor. I heard stories about him making things terrible for Zhao Min, and this would have been interesting in the serial, as Zhao Min had feigned Wu Ji's identity to save Zhu's life, and this would make him a "wang en fu yi" guy.
The Miejue character appeared really evil that I couldn't stand her at times, especially when she killed her own disciple. I wished Zhao Min or Wu Ji had killed her, whether by accident or on purpose. She was really mean to Zhu Er, even though Zhu Er had no choice but to defend herself by poisoning her disciple (Mei Jun). Her disciple was also very irritating and greedy. I was glad that Zhu Er got her back and slapped her at the scene when Zhu Er and her teacher visited the Emei sect. Chen Shasha (Chen Zi Han) as Zhu Er was also a very convincing actress, unafraid of death and had an undying love for Wu Ji, though she had to give him up for Zhao Min. She was actually not bad-looking at all. I also like her ending with her father.
Overall comments
It was a wonderful series and I liked how Wu Ji, in the end, realised who meant the most to him - Zhao Min. Then there it was, Zhou Zhi Ruo trapping them, and so... Ijust loved the end, when Zhi Ruo became a nun. The yellow-clothed girl called Sister Yang was indeed mysterious, but there was something weird about her. Also, i thought Zhao Qiang's father, the Mongol King who wanted Zhao Min to marry his son was incredibly boring and did meaningless stuff - who in the world would capture his future daughter-in-law's father and send him to jail just because his daughter escaped marriage? And what was with the poem?
I would have liked to see more Wu Ji and Zhao Min scenes. The series ended too abruptly for me, despite being 40 episodes. I saw too much of Wu Ji and Zhi Ruo, who seemed more of a puppy love. The cast wore very simple single-coloured costumes. Especially that brown shirt of Wu Ji. Some of Zhao Min's costumes are weird (the pink one having a rose across her palm).
For some characters, they didnt bother to age all these 20 years. All I see is just a moustache and stuff. I'm doubtful if it is like this in the novel or the makeup artist can't bother to spoil the popularity of the celebrities until they are unable to be recognized in the later part of the serial. No wonder Bu Hui falls for Yin Li Ting despite his age.
Themesong
Xin Ai - Jin Xue Feng
The same singer who sang the themesong for "Miracle Healer". This song is a 'strong' love and martial arts song. I like the way the singer sang the song, beginning at a slow pace and finally reaching the part where he handled the song with more emotion and strength.
Ai Shang Zhang Wu Ji - Mao A Ming
The concept was similar to that of the main theme. I disliked the song at first as it contained too much love in it, but gradually, i realised this song meant a lot for Wu Ji and Zhao Min, and even mentioned the part in the end about Wu Ji promising to paint Zhao Min's eyebrows.
