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Thread: Loch 83

  1. #1
    Junior Member chardonnay's Avatar
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    Default loch 83

    i know that this is considered a classic/masterpiece/seriesstraightfromgodalmighty, but i really don't get what all the fuss is about. imo, the dialogue was corny and predictable, the plot didn't make sense in some places, (too rushed in the begining), scenery and costumes sucked (what's with huang rong's clothes? most of the stuff she wore was just the same white coverall thing with different colors of lacy material over it. most of the other characters were dressed like beggars!) the actors were ranged from nothing special to horrid (what's with this whole barbara yung thing? sure she was cute, and made her huang rong likeable, but seriously, not an oscar-worthy performance!), etc, etc. this may be because i don't understand cantonese, and had to watch the dubbed mandarin version; maybe that failed to capture the essence that everyone raves about. anyways, i thought the series was slightly above average, but nothing really wonderful. i'd give it a 3.1415926535897932/5.

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    Senior Member Shirley's Avatar
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    People have different tastes. I think it was great. Not everyone likes Barbara's HR. I think HR was very very annoying in there, and Barbara is not pretty enough to play the character. I just don't like the fact that it is not very faithful to the novel, but overall it did get me hooked.
    Beauty is not in the face;
    beauty is a light in the heart.

    -It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart.

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    the dialogue (+plot) was actually one of the main reasons why i love LOCH 83. When i first watched LOCH 83 i hated everything acout it- costumes, actors + actresses, dialogue etc. I thought that LOCH 94 [the first one i watched] was better because it was shorter and the actors were better looking. But then when i rewatched LOCH 83 a few years later, i liked it better and since then the more i watch it the more i love it. I guess if you're used to modern TVB series, it's hard to like the series from the 80's. Maybe you find the dialogue cliche because it's been reused in modern adaptions and you watched those adaptions first.

    I agree that Barbara Yung isn't pretty but she has a certain onscreen charm that makes her Huang Rong unique. No Huang Rong i've seen [and i've seen pretty much all the LOCH adaptions] stands out as much as Barbara Yung's. But my favourite performances are Kenneth Tsang's Huang Yao Shi and Chun Wong's Zhou Bo Tong. Don't tell me you hate them too!

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    Senior Member Thai guy's Avatar
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    Yes, I also admire Kenneth Tshang and Chung Wong in the series. Regarding Barbara Yung, despite some criticisms, she is definitely the most reputable Huang Rong so far. It is hard for other actresses to match her performance.

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    I agree that Barbara Yung isn't pretty but she has a certain onscreen charm that makes her Huang Rong unique. No Huang Rong i've seen [and i've seen pretty much all the LOCH adaptions] stands out as much as Barbara Yung's.
    That's because LOCH83's HR departed so far off Jin Yong's book version that she was unique by default. LOCH94/03 both kept JY's version of HR, so they can't be unique.

    Personally, I find Barbara's HR(not Barbara's acting, which I thought was great) pretty annoying. But my mom love her to death. So it's just a preference thing.

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    I think that the scriptwriter took the 'unique' characteristics of JY's HR and expanded upon them to create Barbara Yung's HR. I found loch 03's HR likeable but her character wasn't really developed like Barbara's so naturally Barbara's HR would stand out more.

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    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Also, bear in mind that most of us watched LOCH 83 in 1983, when series were mostly filmed in that way, and it was the norm to have the show drag on. I agree it hasn't aged well, but it was the first, it was great, and for its time it was the best, even when compared against the other wuxias in the 80s, when it seemed TVB could do nothing wrong (until Xiakexing came).

    The 80s were amazing for Jin Yong fans, we had
    DGSD
    LOCH
    ROCH
    XAJH (Chow Yun Fat)
    Duke of Mount Deer (the only one which is still absolutely excellent and classic even by today's standards, and beats all competitors hands down, imho)
    Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain (another 'best version', but mainly due to lack of decent competition)
    HSDS (Tony Leung's excellent version)
    Crimson Sabre
    Linked City
    Book & Sword
    Xiakexing

    Crimson Sabre and Linked City were a bit slow, while Xiakexing was completely and crappily rewritten. Book and Sword was nice, but let down by some very poor casting for the major characters. All of the others were pretty good in many ways, and virtually all of them had decent (some excellent) soundtracks. The 80s were a legendary decade for wuxia, and it takes a LOT before most of us will acknowledge that a newer version of a series was 'better than the 80s'. The 80s were what made many of us as wuxia fans, and we will always remember them fondly.


    Ian

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    I still think '83 beats all the other adaptions hands down. I watched it after i watched the '94 version so i am only biased towards it because i think it is really good!

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    I fully agree with Ian. We are in the same period with TVB Golden 80's, the era with full of the talented actors and actresses. The matching of Tony Leung and Andy Lau in the Duke of Mount Deer was perfect as well as the matching of Andy Lau and Idy Chan in ROCH 84. The casting of Tony Leung as CMK was impressive as well as the casting of Barbara Yung in LOCH. I can say, without any hesitations, that TVB series during this period had great influences upon my life. They made me crazy of wuxia series until now. Unfortunately, I am disappointed by the recent adaptations.

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    yes, the scneneary is nothing compared to now...and the costums too

    after i watched the 83 version, i read some of the book. they really changed alot. i really like the adpation but not so much some of the changes they made.
    but i thought the HR then was better than the 03 HR...more unique in personality
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  11. #11
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    I'll probably get flamed for this but I really didn't think Barbara was as great an actress as some people make her out to be. She portrayed a cute HR quite nicely, but that's probably because she brought her own attitude into the character. It's not quite the HR in the book.

    If I analyse most of her other roles in her short career, I find that most characters follow the same style, with a few exceptions (the soft-spoken twin in the King of the Rusty Bridge, for instance, but she also played a HR-esque twin). Some of those shows were memorable, but her performances weren't particularly great. I personally think somehow the fact that she died tragically and prematurely sort of immortalised her greatest performance in our hearts and we still cling on to her. I accept that opinions differ, and that some people do genuinely like her performance as the best ever, but my own personal opinion is that her HR portrayal was good, but I prefer Zhou Xun and Athena Chu. I'd marry HR played by Zhou Xun. I'd marry HR played by Athena Chu. I wouldn't marry HR played by Barbara - she'd drive me insane.

    As for 80s casting, Sam Lui as Hu Fei, Felix as Guo Jing, Miu Kiu Wai and Yang Kang, Tony Leung as WXB and Andy Lau as Kangxi were perfect. My opinion is that Barbara wasn't (although I can't think who else in that period would have been suitable). I personally didn't like Idy Chan as an actress that much either, but she was a very good XLN.


    Ian

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    Senior Member junny's Avatar
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    I like Barbara's HR. I also like Athena's HR. I can't stand Zhou Xun's HR or the LOCH 2003 version. I'm not in awe of Barbara, but between her performance and Zhou Xun's, I'd pick Barbara's.
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    from all the HR's i've seen, to say the truth...i'm not completely satisfied on any of them. I'm not able to just pick one and say dat she's the perfect HR. unlike some other shows...where i can say there's a perfect actor/actress...

    Barbara's HR is TOO off from the book while ZX's HR is just.....there's just something about it dat's not rite. mabe the way she talks. there's definatly room for improvment.
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    LOCH '83 was a product of its own era, you have to watch it back then to appreciate it. Admidtely, when I went back to watch a few episodes, it just so outdated, but I must say that LOCH '83 still have the best Yang Kang, Zhou Ba Tong, the four greats, and messmerizing music.

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    Senior Member Thai guy's Avatar
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    Yes, Chun Wong seems to be forever best Zhou Bo Tong. Miu Kiu Wai is also the best Yang Kang. Sadly enough, Miu Kiu Wai quitted the media business otherwise we might be able to see his great performance again.
    One prominent factor of both LOCH 83 and ROCH 84 seems to be the very strong supporting casts that left the impressive performance in the mind of the audience. These casts cannot be replaced my the modern casts in this era. We lost these people.

  16. #16
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    *nods*
    In the 80s, when u watch it, even though the sceneary is beyond fake.(and there's no blood), u luv it. U seem to like all the character(well, at least not dislike anyone strongly.) but now, it always seems u can pick out some actor dat did a bad job, and effected the show negativly.
    ...almost like the good actors and bad actors taken to the extreme.(extremely good, extremely bad) not saying there arn't any average ones, but....i donno wat i'm talking about.

    overall, it was good! good actors, interesting(but unloyal) plot good enough scneary to get u through the show. The thing dat bugs me most is the dubbing of voices. It never(unable) to match up and they sound differendt in every show the actors act in.
    How I feel about you doesn't matter. It's you who has to live with yourself.

  17. #17
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Actually, despite Chun Wong being unofficially accepted as the perfect Zhou Botong, Zhou Botong was one of the strongest characters in LOCH 03, and probably the only one of the greats able to match the LOCH 82 greats. In fact, I'd say in certain scenes he was even better - I think it was the hat and those silly plaits in his beard =)

    Zhou Botong in LOCH 94 was terrible, though... absolutely terrible.


    Ian

  18. #18
    Senior Member junny's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Ian Liew
    Zhou Botong was one of the strongest characters in LOCH 03, and probably the only one of the greats able to match the LOCH 82 greats. In fact, I'd say in certain scenes he was even better - I think it was the hat and those silly plaits in his beard =)
    I thought the 03 version of Zhou Botong was terrible. He looked anal, stupid and irritating. Probably more the problem of the stylists than the actor himself, although he had no great acting chops to show off. I cringed everytime he appeared on the screen. Felt like giving him a few hearty slaps.
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    Normally, I would agree with Ian's view, but not in this issue.
    Personally I think those costumes on the new Zhou Bo Tong made him look like a clown, not very funny clown at best!! Besides, he tried too hard to be a comedian, and it just didn't do it for me. In contrast, Chun Wong had the natural expressions that made him so adorable and funny without trying. In fact, I think he was even better in ROCH 85, because of the excellent on-screen chemistry with Andy Lau, any screens with the two of them together were just heartwarming and hilarious

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    Senior Member chungieboy's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Ian Liew
    Actually, despite Chun Wong being unofficially accepted as the perfect Zhou Botong, Zhou Botong was one of the strongest characters in LOCH 03, and probably the only one of the greats able to match the LOCH 82 greats. In fact, I'd say in certain scenes he was even better - I think it was the hat and those silly plaits in his beard =)

    Zhou Botong in LOCH 94 was terrible, though... absolutely terrible.


    Ian
    it was hilarious when he had those braids...it added to his playfulness

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