During the first six years of the 1980s, TVB was on an epic roll in adapting Jin Yong's most popular novels into TV series. These series starred many of TVB's most popular actors at the time, and are now regarded as classics of wuxia adaptation. TVB seemed to have the Midas Touch in those days: DEMIGODS & SEMIDEVILS (1981), LEGEND OF THE CONDOR HEROES (1982), RETURN OF THE CONDOR HEROES (1983), DUKE OF MT. DEER (1984), and HEAVEN SWORD & DRAGON SABRE (1986).
And then, SMILING PROUD WANDERER (1984), which was a complete, utter, epic FAIL in terms of both production quality and fan response.
SPW is one of Jin Yong's most popular novels. One could even make a strong argument that it's Jin Yong's *most* popular novel. Between 1981 and 1986, TVB was at the peak of its prowess in successfully adapting Jin Yong novels for the small screen, but despite hiring one of its best actors (Chow Yun Fat) for the protagonist role of Ling Wu Chung and using many of the same cast, crew, and production values of its previous and later adaptations, TVB somehow completely, utterly, and miserably failed in this attempt to adapt SPW. Chow Yun Fat looked bored playing Ling Wu Chung; it was hard to believe that this was the same actor who, just four years earlier, had so masterfully portrayed the gangster Hui Mun Keung in THE BUND. The story was incoherent and made no sense (which should not have been a problem if TVB was even trying to adapt Jin Yong's story at least somewhat accurately). Worst of all, somebody decided to blow three years' worth of production budget on special effects, which got to the point that if some anonymous, low-level flunky of a minor sect sneezed, it'd come out with 13-rainbow colored laser lights and a wirefu flight across Victoria Harbor.
I cannot understand how this series FAILED SO HARD when it had so much going for it on paper. Talk about a choke job.