I'll definitely buy & watch Zhang Jizhong's HSDS. I can foresee a time when China sadly goes the way of the West and these 40+ episode wuxia TV series become financially unviable, so we should enjoy them while we can. I thought ROCH06 was a disappointment, but I like to think that this was ultimately caused by bad production management (itself prompted by increasing commercial pressures), which is a business thing. Artistically, ZJZ has nothing to prove to me. I have a feeling that the reception given to LOCH03 (and, I hear, XAJH) convinced him that he shouldn't bother to waste too much effort on the mainstream/pop audience, so he's only trying to give people what he thinks they deserve.Originally Posted by bruzlee
Regarding HSDS, commercial considerations don't make it an easy novel to adapt. This is a 40-chapter book in which the main character isn't born until chapter 7 (and doesn't appear as an adult until chapter 16); as for his two main love interests, one makes her first appearance in chapter 23, and the other is mostly a bit-part character until chapter 31. It's the most cleverly-written book in the Trilogy but almost the entire first half of it is pretty unmemorable, plot-wise. ZJZ & co. are going to have to do some serious script-doctoring - not just to minimise the less interesting bits, but also to introduce Wuji and the girls (and to expand the roles of the latter) as early as possible, in order to justify the expense of hiring well-known acting talent. This is one novel where an absolutely faithful adaptation may not necessarily be a desirable one. Most of the changes to the story in HSDS03 were for these reasons.
As for casting, how about Meng Guangmei (LOCH06's Li Mochou) as dismemberment fetishist Miejue? (Jin Yong actually describes Miejue as being quite beautiful, but with scary eyebrows.)