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Thread: ROCH '83 mini review

  1. #1
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Default ROCH '83 mini review

    Quote Originally Posted by IcyFox
    B.T.W, I've heard that RoCH '83 starring Andy Lau and Idy Chan was outstanding. What do you say, Ken?
    It was Jin Yong's favorite version for many years (maybe it still is; nobody has asked him recently). Of course, at that time, it was one of the ONLY versions around (there were a few attempts in the 1960s and 1970s, but those were pretty forgettable).

    Casting: A.

    Acting: A for most of the lead actors. No worse than B+ for anybody.

    Martial Arts Choreography: A for the standards of the time.

    SFX: B. TVB had its limitations.

    Costuming: A-. Nothing looked historically accurate, but for the most part, the costumes looked good...at least on the main characters. Some villainous characters wore some inexplicably shiny stuff, however. It was the 80s.

    Locations and Sets: B. Again, TVB could only do so much about its sets. There were a few beach scenes that were *very* well shot, however, and made great use of camera, lighting, and (both the presence and absence of) music to create very moody effects. There was some interesting camera work done in non-action scenes that really stuck out (gave us some gorgeous views of Hong Kong's rural territories as well).

    Accuracy to Novel: B. As is typically the case with TVB productions, they got the general strokes right, but some of the details wrong. There was no wholesale rewrite like DGSD '81, however. DGSD '81 drastically rewrote the ending of the story; ROCH '83 basically kept the original story.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by IcyFox
    To Ken : Thanks for the review for RoCH '83.
    The final battle scene of ROCH '83 is infamous for its horrendous use of sets. For reasons that aren't clear to this day, they kept switching back and forth between outdoor daytime shots of Gwok Seung on the tower and the various heroes fighting Mongolians to try to rescue her and shots of the same battle that were obviously done in a television studio...with a stark, black background offset by colored spotlights. WTF was that all about?! They should have just shot the whole thing outdoors.

    So Sets and Locations was B overall, but D- for the final battle.

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    Senior Member IcyFox's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng
    The final battle scene of ROCH '83 is infamous for its horrendous use of sets. For reasons that aren't clear to this day, they kept switching back and forth between outdoor daytime shots of Gwok Seung on the tower and the various heroes fighting Mongolians to try to rescue her and shots of the same battle that were obviously done in a television studio...with a stark, black background offset by colored spotlights. WTF was that all about?! They should have just shot the whole thing outdoors.

    So Sets and Locations was B overall, but D- for the final battle.
    LOL that's interesting.


    Back to the 9 Yin / 9 Yang issue (and we're off the road again ) :

    He (Z3F) started and stared into Zhang Wuji's face. Only to see that his eyes did not shine brightly but had a soft, crystal-like layer in them. This meant that his inner power had reached the ultimate level. Except for his master Reverend Jue Yuan and Hero Guo Jing and a few others (including YG), he has never seen the same in anybody else.
    Excerpt taken from HSDS Chapter 24, translated by Dgfds01.

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    Yes the last scene was QUITE unimpressive...disco lights, garbage bag backgrounds, Huang Yaoshi standing there waving two miniature flags around...dramatic everyone runs into one scene to scream "Xiang-er!"...ughhh

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    Haha. I agree. It's pathetic and amusing at the same time!

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    My pet theory on this is that TVB originally shot the entire final battle scene outdoors, but something went amiss in the tape editing room and parts of the battle were lost. Since they were only days from broadcasting the episode, the station had no choice but to summon the actors back for some hurried shooting of replacement shots for the scenes lost in the damaged sections of the original tape.

    I just imagined all of that happened, but who knows? Maybe that's more or less what happened.

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    Banned darknight123's Avatar
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    Whenever speaking of ROCh83, one word that is: EXCELLENT for everything.

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    Senior Member Ghaleon's Avatar
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    One thing that stands out about ROCH 83 is that they made YG powerful at the end. He outshone everyone (except for maybe GJ himself).

    I think the series was really boring. LOCH 82 was extremely fun. I almost enjoyed every scene because of the lead actors/actresses and the supporting cast.

    But with ROCH, Andy just barely carried the show. The storyline itself wasn't that interesting at all. I watched it mainly to see the connections with LOCH. I thought they did those LOCH-connectoin scenes really well.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ganryu View Post
    One thing that stands out about ROCH 83 is that they made YG powerful at the end. He outshone everyone (except for maybe GJ himself).
    Mostly because they didn't let him fight Gwok Jing.

    Of course, neither did Jin Yong, which I think is telling...if you want to make the main character of a wuxia story look good, then you need to show him kicking the butts of all the other stalwarts in the story. Well, Yeung Gor got to do that with East Heretic Wong Yerk See, Chow Bak Tung, and the Golden Wheel Monk, but against Gwok Jing...?

    Right.

    I think the series was really boring. LOCH 82 was extremely fun. I almost enjoyed every scene because of the lead actors/actresses and the supporting cast.
    It wasn't boring, per se, but I got really, really annoyed by how this series "Gary Stu/Mary Sue"d the characters of Yeung Gor and Little Dragon Girl. Their romance was so overcooked on this series that you really get irritated with them and wish they'd just get a room and leave the rest of us alone.

    But with ROCH, Andy just barely carried the show. The storyline itself wasn't that interesting at all. I watched it mainly to see the connections with LOCH. I thought they did those LOCH-connectoin scenes really well.
    There were a few inconsistencies (many of which were created by re-casting LOCH actors in different roles in ROCH), but overall, the two series hung together reasonably well.

    I thought Leung Ga Yan's (Gwok Jing) performance in this series was underrated because he successfully carried over many of Felix Wong's mannerisms as Gwok Jing from LOCH '82. When you watch ROCH '83, you get the sense that Leung was trying not only to capture the character of the mature, adult Gwok Jing, but establish continuity with Felix Wong's earlier depiction of the younger Gwok Jing from LOCH '82. For one actor to capture another actor's idiosyncrasies and not have it turn out as parodic is not an easy feat.

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    Senior Member Ghaleon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Batman View Post
    Mostly because they didn't let him fight Gwok Jing.

    Of course, neither did Jin Yong, which I think is telling...if you want to make the main character of a wuxia story look good, then you need to show him kicking the butts of all the other stalwarts in the story. Well, Yeung Gor got to do that with East Heretic Wong Yerk See, Chow Bak Tung, and the Golden Wheel Monk, but against Gwok Jing...?

    Right.
    When I first watched the series back in the days, I was wowed by GJ. I was even rooting for him in ROCH. But by the end of ROCH they made YG so powerful and I wondered how he would do against GJ. I have to admit that YG was pretty cool after the 16 years. With that mask and white hair and everything. Andy Lau did a good job there. I remembered being pissed that they didn't show the final combat between GJ and YG. to have 2 superheroes of equal caliber, developed over many episodes, NOT fighting each other at the end was such a WASTE i thought (at the time).

    It wasn't boring, per se, but I got really, really annoyed by how this series "Gary Stu/Mary Sue"d the characters of Yeung Gor and Little Dragon Girl. Their romance was so overcooked on this series that you really get irritated with them and wish they'd just get a room and leave the rest of us alone.
    I remembered it was good when i first watched it. But upon further viewing (especially after the release of the VCDs/DVDs), i found it extremely boring. We no longer have Felix or Barbara carrying the show. Those 2 played off each other so well. They kept me entertained in EVERY scene even if the scene itself is pretty boring. Also the great supporting cast doesn't have as much screen time in ROCH compared to LOCH (with the possible exception of ZBT). And the supporting cast did AMAZING in LOCH. So for most of the series it's mainly Andy carrying it. yawn.

    I thought Leung Ga Yan's (Gwok Jing) performance in this series was underrated because he successfully carried over many of Felix Wong's mannerisms as Gwok Jing from LOCH '82. When you watch ROCH '83, you get the sense that Leung was trying not only to capture the character of the mature, adult Gwok Jing, but establish continuity with Felix Wong's earlier depiction of the younger Gwok Jing from LOCH '82. For one actor to capture another actor's idiosyncrasies and not have it turn out as parodic is not an easy feat.
    The adult GJ and HR were good but definitely some of the *magic* is lost. I guess aging does that, but still...

  11. #11
    Senior Member jiang bao's Avatar
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    Andy Lau is a pretty scrawny guy. He looks very physically weak as YG, particularly in that white short sleeve short that I see bits and pieces of him in.

    I never watched the series, but I have come across short clips of it from different sources.
    What are you fighting for? Just mix them into pissing beef balls, stupid.
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    I think Andy and Idy did an excellent job but the storyline of ROCH is just not as great as LOCH. ROCH83 is still the best ROCH to these days but the series itself is not that great. I am disappointed that the cool costume and his two wheels of the GWM were gone in the last battle. Why did he replace it with the cheap stick and cheap white costume?

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    Junior Member namix's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post

    but I got really, really annoyed by how this series "Gary Stu/Mary Sue"d the characters of Yeung Gor and Little Dragon Girl. Their romance was so overcooked on this series that you really get irritated with them and wish they'd just get a room and leave the rest of us alone.

    omg, i couldn't agree with this comment more! Also, the familiar cycle of 'an event or situation occur causing the dragon lady to runs off' was repeated 3 times during the course of the series....3 damn times!! It was very annoying. Like ghaleon said, my main source of entertainment was to see the story/character crossover from LOCH, because i...SERIOUSLY...found myself fastforwarding all scenes involving Yeung Gor and Dragon lady!

    To me, this series was very mediocre...not nearly as great as some are making it out to be.

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    Senior Member leorio's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    It was Jin Yong's favorite version for many years (maybe it still is; nobody has asked him recently).
    It seems it still remains his favorite version:
    http://v.ku6.com/show/1AxT7tGO_U8Xnltg.html

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