Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre 2017

[yanfeng]

Baike has the HSDS 2017 page up!

Directed by 李慧珠 (he directed ROCH 2014 and Female Prime Minister)
Script by 于正 (A.k.a. Yu Mama, of somewhat dubious fame for rewriting wuxia with a spin e.g., XAJH 2013)

Lead actor for Zhang Wuji 张哲瀚 (Zhang Zhe Han see below)
Lead actress for Zhaomin 贾青 (Jia Qing see below)
Second lead actress for Zhou Zhirou is 袁姗姗 (Yuan Shanshan)

I'm interested in the new drama production and think the new faces look attractive (although I have not yet seen anything by either of them)- I have heard good things about both in their prior work, particularly Zhang Zhe Han seems (in a few trailers for other work) to be quite expressive, which would be a nice change to have a ZWJ who is so!

I'm most keen to understand Jia Qing's acting skills/range since Zhaomin is a critical character to nail for the series to work for me.

Also interested to see who are the actors for Wuji's Wudang 'uncles'- these are very significant if minor roles. They bring the "xia" to the "wuxia" and it would be a huge win if they could be acted by good veteran actors.

Half the reason why HSDS 86 was so spectacular was that HK at the time had a very strong host of veteran actors that gave us inspired prior-generation characters, starting from near-legendary Dodo Cheng and Simon Yam as Wuji's parents.

Of course I'm very wary of Yu Zheng being the writer- I suppose we can only hope for the best and know, if all else fails, that there are 6-8 other versions of this drama to rewatch otherwise!

Source: http://baike.baidu.com/subview/11113/15393187.htm

Zhang Zhe Han (to play Zhang Wuji)
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Jia Qing (to play Zhaomin)
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[hirobo2]

I might watch this. HSDS is my least favorite in Condor Trilogy. Don't care if YZ messes up the story. One thing that will cause me to abandon though is lazy/horrendous CGI. Swordsman had the worst CGI I ever saw in a modern drama. I will use Ice Fantasy as my CGI measuring stick.

[wkeej]

Jia Qing (Ah Zhu in DGSD?) as ZM? She may be better as XZ.

[whiteskwirl]

I might watch this. HSDS is my least favorite in Condor Trilogy. Don't care if YZ messes up the story. One thing that will cause me to abandon though is lazy/horrendous CGI. Swordsman had the worst CGI I ever saw in a modern drama. I will use Ice Fantasy as my CGI measuring stick.

I agree with that. HSDS 2009's CGI was already pretty bad. In general I don't think things have gotten better, I think these shows are relying on CGI way too much.

[yanfeng]

I think I'm mostly a fan of HSDS because of Zhaomin's character, so as long as they keep her a strong, cool character I can put up with a lot of other changes. (E.g., HSDS 2000 with Lawrence Ng was an actual win for me becasue Gigi Lai's Zhaomin was written to be pretty awesome!)

Fingers-crossed, I've heard good things about Zhang Zhe Han and Jia Qing, so we'll see how they fare, and whether the script gives them the space to shine.

[Verdiani]

OH my freaken lord, a new HSDS!!! And....again, Yuan Shan Shan??? Seriously? Yuan Shan Shan??? And Yuan Shan Shan as Zhou Zhiruo too??? Really?
I know, I know, she's not ugly and I'm not saying she's not pretty or anything, but she is just not up to taking lead roles. I thought there was enough ranting about that in Swordsman already, but oh well...lesson never learned.

Yes I am excited for Zhang Zhe Han and Jia Qin, just don't let YSS ruin it. Nothing against her, she doesn't match it, that's all. With 2009 being terrible, maybe this one might be better but probably not going to surpass the previous ones, especially if it's going to rely on CGI, which is for sure.

[nerine92]

if it is by yu zheng then forget it

[Verdiani]

if it is by yu zheng then forget it

True true, I thought Demon Girl was going to be a new genre thing he could own but then couldn't even go pass 2 episodes. Meaning I don't know how much I will like Li yitong in the new condor heroes as well. Most people just want to peek at the YZ work quickly then leave.

[wkeej]

Half the reason why HSDS 86 was so spectacular was that HK at the time had a very strong host of veteran actors that gave us inspired prior-generation characters, starting from near-legendary Dodo Cheng and Simon Yam as Wuji's parents.

Source: http://baike.baidu.com/subview/11113/15393187.htm

Jia Qing (to play Zhaomin)
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I belong to that generation. I also watched HSDS 86 because of Carol and Simon.
Jia Qing in the second picture looks good to be ZM.

Yuan Shanshan is quite pretty and sexy too. ZWJ will fall for her.

[hirobo2]

Oh I get it, since YSS is too pretty, in the YZ version Zhou Zhirou is the misunderstood good girl who happens to save Zhang Wuji's butt on several ocassions acting behind the scene. But, ZWJ misunderstood her and sees those actions as that from a scheming wicked person. But eventually, they will make up for one another and there might even be a kiss scene between the pair. Meanwhile Zhao Min is the pretentious good girl who justs wants to get closer to ZWJ b/c he seems to be a powerful/skilled warrior, and Zhao Min sees those skills as necessary to defeat her brother b/c she wants to inherit her father's throne. Sorry, just some made up fanfic I'm posting...

[Verdiani]

Well, YZ does like YSS very very much so that is very likely to be the case, ZZR ending up with ZWJ instead of Min Min this time. As long as he knows how to make the Jia Qin's Min min not a love pinning person but more competitive then that'll be great.

[yanfeng]

Hahaha... fanfics are the best- and Verdiani/Hirobo, I'm with you that I too would be game for a different HSDS like that with a cool Zhaomin!

Meanwhile, major spoilers below from the baidu site!

元朝末年，群雄纷起，武林动荡。江湖传闻，得到屠龙刀倚天剑者，可以成为武林至尊，号令天下，莫敢不从。一 时间风云四起，引发了武林中对屠龙刀倚天剑的争夺，几段姻缘和孽缘也由此产生。武当派张翠山与天鹰教殷素素 因屠龙刀相遇相恋，最后亦因屠龙刀被正派人士所逼迫，双双自尽。他们的儿子张无忌长大成人后，机缘巧合下练 成了绝世武功“九阳神功”和“乾坤大挪移”，成为了明教教主。张无忌性格优柔寡断，与元朝郡主赵敏、峨嵋派 周芷若、表妹殷离和婢女小昭都有着千丝万缕的爱意。

click to show/hide spoilers

然而，看似柔弱的周芷若，却是个十足的“腹黑女”，她为了获取倚天剑屠龙刀的秘密，不惜杀害殷离，陷害赵敏 。张无忌虽看清了周芷若真实面目，但仍割舍不下她。其后，张无忌化解了武林种种恩怨，辞去教主之位，与赵敏 寄迹蒙古，内心却仍希望与周芷若、小昭、殷离再续前缘[2] 。

The eye-rolling thing for me is that

click to show/hide spoilers

Zhaomin is only mentioned as a victim of ZZR's scheme, so that's not what I hope the overall impression of ZM is. Plus, alas, ZWJ is going to end up having second/third/fourth thoughts about his romantic end-game, as per the original book, which is somewhat exasperating.

[wkeej]

Who is acting as XZ? Hopefully, this time, our wishy-washy ZWJ will kick the butt of those Persians and save XZ.
(Ken, please don't comment or I will complain to s...)

[yanfeng]

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Li Xinai is Xiao Zhao

Hmm... XZ is Jin Yong's favorite girl in HSDS but she seems a little bland to me in most drama versions.

[krabs]

I remember that guy !
YeluQi who married Guofu in ROCH2014

[yanfeng]

Here's another list of actors for the drama:
http://movie.mtime.com/234099/fullcredits.html

Here YSS/ZZR is listed 2nd (so more of the female lead than JQ/ZM) Ouch!

[wkeej]

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Li Xinai is Xiao Zhao

Hmm... XZ is Jin Yong's favorite girl in HSDS but she seems a little bland to me in most drama versions.

Thanks. Even XZ looks so pretty.

[krabs]

Filming to begin March 2017 , to film for 5 months.

source
http://i.imgur.com/PSNNYLP.jpg

[Verdiani]

Forgot about XZ, in Jet Li's version he did kind of ended up with Chingmy Yau's Xiao Zhao... and ZZR was evil in there. All the ladies were so cute back then, unbeatable even till now. Kind of sounds like YZ version will follow this one?

[wkeej]

Forgot about XZ, in Jet Li's version he did kind of ended up with Chingmy Yau's Xiao Zhao... and ZZR was evil in there. All the ladies were so cute back then, unbeatable even till now. Kind of sounds like YZ version will follow this one?

The movie covers at most half of the story. ZWJ (Jet Li) looks and sounds much more ambitious in the movie.