Wu Xia Recommendations?

[Surferket]

Ok I have Secret of the Linked Cities so time ago. I just didn't know it was written by JY since I don't read Chinese. It was so-so. The hero is so short he doesn't have screen presence.

To me, XAJH is definitely the best wuxia series.

Sorry for the late reply.

You can find the link and picture for Secret of the Linked Cities here:
http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/f/liancj/index.html

To choose between Secret of the Linked Cities (about 30 episodes) and Xiao Au Jiang Hu (about 40 episodes) , I would choose Xiao Au Jian Hu.

My top 3 recent wuxia series would be:
Legend of Condor Heroes (China) - great production values
Xiao Au Jiang Hu (China) - excellent fighting
Secret of Linked Cities (China) - Slow start but gets exciting after that

Not bad:
DGSD (China) - Could have been a great show but fumbled unnecessarily
Legend of Book & Sword - Can be slow at times
http://www.spcnet.tv/reviews/review.php?rID=193

I generally look for China wuxia. Taiwan wuxia tends to rely on Superstars but are generally draggy and weepy. And avoid Yang Pei Pei productions!

[xuelian]

Ok I have Secret of the Linked Cities so time ago. I just didn't know it was written by JY since I don't read Chinese. It was so-so. The hero is so short he doesn't have screen presence.

To me, XAJH is definitely the best wuxia series.

I thought XAJH was just average, largely because they butchered the novel (by Zhang Jizhong's standards!). Many of the moving scenes between Ren Ying Ying and Linghu Chong from the novel were left out/severely understated and that was quite astonishing. As a result, even at the end I still felt that RYY was a mere replacement for Yue Ling Shan. Definitely thumbs down in this aspect. However in terms of scenery, fighting, acting etc, it really set the standards for future wuxia adaptations.

I felt that the Zhang Jizhong production after that, LOCH, was much better. I loved the background music, artistic direction, chemistry, fighting, everything. Close to perfect, maybe because it was very close to the novel. Chemistry between Zhou Xun and Li Yapeng was the biggest plus point, though.

[JamesG]

I felt that the Zhang Jizhong production after that, LOCH, was much better. I loved the background music, artistic direction, chemistry, fighting, everything. Close to perfect, maybe because it was very close to the novel. Chemistry between Zhou Xun and Li Yapeng was the biggest plus point, though.

The chemistry between them was great and they were obviously having fun acting together. My western ears maybe weren't hearing the Mandarin words properly but it didn't seem to me that he was calling HR Rong-er but something else. Was it my ears not hearing it right?
Wizard

[Surferket]

I do not disagree with your comments. Reason why I rated XAJH higher than LOCH was because Li Ya Peng overacted the naive GJ in LOCH but was the perfect foil as LHC to RYY. Plus, RYY was absolutely beautiful in XAJH.

Your points about the technicals of XAJH setting the standards of all wuxia is true. Even by today's standards it is still the superlative series as most of today's series overdo on the CGI to the extend that they have no budget for large scale human scenes and end up looking like a cheap production. After TLBB, most of the China stuff were pretty much crap, imo.

I did like Wu Jing's Tai Chi Master series. Another good China production for those who love true martial arts.

ZJZ has always maintained a high standard in his series and that is why I will buy ROCH06 when it comes out.

I thought XAJH was just average, largely because they butchered the novel (by Zhang Jizhong's standards!). Many of the moving scenes between Ren Ying Ying and Linghu Chong from the novel were left out/severely understated and that was quite astonishing. As a result, even at the end I still felt that RYY was a mere replacement for Yue Ling Shan. Definitely thumbs down in this aspect. However in terms of scenery, fighting, acting etc, it really set the standards for future wuxia adaptations.

I felt that the Zhang Jizhong production after that, LOCH, was much better. I loved the background music, artistic direction, chemistry, fighting, everything. Close to perfect, maybe because it was very close to the novel. Chemistry between Zhou Xun and Li Yapeng was the biggest plus point, though.

[cybero]

have you tried any rochs? 83 and 95 are pretty good...i only saw like a couple of eps for those....i have the 99 taiwan version...and its not that bad....just the story line is kinda wack and xln's wardrobe seems to have everything cept white in it....and you have to get used to richie ren's protrayal of yang guo....

98 is really bad imo...fann wong and and christopher lee had like no chemstry...and fann wong was very annoying...she talked soooooooo slow sometimes....

[Surferket]

I have the ROCH of Andy Lau. After being addicted by the China produced XAJH, LOCH and TLBB I found TVB's ROCH very slow paced and the "fighting" terribly unwatchable. Stopped after 1/4.

have you tried any rochs? 83 and 95 are pretty good...i only saw like a couple of eps for those....i have the 99 taiwan version...and its not that bad....just the story line is kinda wack and xln's wardrobe seems to have everything cept white in it....and you have to get used to richie ren's protrayal of yang guo....

98 is really bad imo...fann wong and and christopher lee had like no chemstry...and fann wong was very annoying...she talked soooooooo slow sometimes....

[pure1]

Wow. =) so many people thinking XAJH is a good watch. Thanks alot for recommending it. I just might get it now. Hehe. But i have doubts about LYP's fighting skills and acting ones. Becuase i saw him in LOCH and it wasn't too good. He was sooo SLOW!! and dumb (too dumb). =(

and i have already watched 95's version of ROCH. Thought it was pretty good, carmen lee's acting was nice and so was louis's. =P

[Lady Zhuge]

Wow. =) so many people thinking XAJH is a good watch. Thanks alot for recommending it. I just might get it now. Hehe. But i have doubts about LYP's fighting skills and acting ones. Becuase i saw him in LOCH and it wasn't too good. He was sooo SLOW!! and dumb (too dumb). =(

Guo Jing isn't supposed to be a quick thinker or particularly intelligent. In any case, I didn't like LYP much as GJ. I prefer him as Linghu Chong. I hope you give XAJH 2001 a try.

[Li Nhi]

What kept me going for this series was the fighting choreography. Man, those were awesome! My favorite actor/actress in there was Xu Qing. She is the best RYY I've ever seen, although RYY isn't suppose to be that playful and lively according to the original story.

I thought LYP looked best in this series. On his acting? LYP was good, but he wasn't the "smiling proud wanderer" that he was suppose to be (more of). I remembere that one guy from TVB's 96 State of Divinity that played as LHC. Now, that guy was smiling non-stop, always drinking, always laughing, and alway seem to have a good time. He is LHC.

So what am I getting at? If you 1)like TVB series, and don't mind that they're kind of old 2)don't mind seeing old familiar faces of actors/actresses that were somewhat famous in the 90's 3)looking for a really good JY series which has all: love, hate, HUMOR, fights (wow! TVB didn't do much computer crap with this one!)

then TVB's '96 version of State of Divinity is the one.