The Jade Taoist from TVB' s LSF III series an evil Cheung 3 Fung?

[Ken Cheng]

When TVB adapted Gu Long's LUK SIU FUNG novels in the 1970s, it was initially very fastidious about duplicating the novel to the smallest detail. Details and dialogue from the novel were preserved with an exactitude that has seldom been seen in subsequent TV adaptations of wuxia novels.

By the time of the third LUK SIU FUNG series (1978), however, TVB had abandoned pretenses towards novel accuracy and began to make significant modifications. An adaptation of the fifth novel (THE HAUNTED VILLA) of the LUK SIU FUNG series, LUK SIU FUNG III: THE BATTLE OF MO DONG, created a heavily modified version of the villain from the novel. In the novel, the villain Lo Do Ba Tze (the Old Sabre Tyrant) was, in fact, the Wooden Taoist, who had been introduced as a friend of Luk Siu Fung's in the earlier novels and was genuinely a surprise when revealed to be the villain of the fifth novel. TVB, however, decided to preserve the Wooden Taoist's original status as a friend and ally and made the other identity of the Old Sabre Tyrant its own creation...the "Jade Taoist."

The Jade Taoist, however, was not an altogether original character even though TVB created him. I felt that the Jade Taoist was essentially an evil Cheung 3 Fung. Consider these facts:

1. Both characters were the leaders of Mo Dong Sect.

2. Both characters were over 100 years old.

3. Both characters were acknowledged as the top martial artist in the stories in which they appeared.

4. Both characters spent great amounts of time in seclusion training in the martial arts.

5. Both characters were played by veteran actor Kwan Hoi San (in the same year, no less: 1978).

Essentially, the Jade Taoist WAS Cheung 3 Fung...if Cheung 3 Fung had been evil. The thought is quite terrifying. Imagine Cheung 3 Fung as an evil character in HSDS. With the power he commanded, both through his personal skills and his sect, he could have caused great chaos and ruin in wulin. We got a taste of that possibility in TVB's LSF III series.

[hyoyatika]

I think it is a pity we never saw stronger villains.

In XAJH, DFBB never really disrupted the wulin by the time the main story rolled around as he was more concerned about sewing and stuff.

In LOCH, I never felt that was a singular villain (just different villains stepping up at different points). The strongest villain was OYF and he was always matched by H7G so our hero was protected in that sense.

In ROCH, Golden Wheel Monk was one of the strongest (on paper), but he faced two issues-he was written to be so bad in actual combat and unlike the person he was trying to bring down, he had no military command.

In HSDS, the supposedly evil cult leader Yang DingTian died and we never witnessed him terrorizing the wulin. In fact, he seems like a pretty chill guy with the whole Silver Leaf thing.

I think the only time we saw villains stronger than our heroes was in DGSD (although eventually our heroes grew stronger).

[CC]

I think the only time we saw villains stronger than our heroes was in DGSD (although eventually our heroes grew stronger).

Not really. DCQ and MRF were weak compared to the DGSD elites. And JMZ, XYS, MRB (the last 2 didnt even appear in 1st person until late, by that time, XZ was tanking direct hits from JMZ) were roughly at best equal to XF.