Demi Gods And Semi Devils 2003 《天龍八部》

[inv4zn]

how bad is it compared to chinese ghost story ....?
cos i find some of their effects really really bad......
but since its about devils as such more cgi needed..... but since dgsd is a jinyong story shouldnt need to much cgi....

[LiYuanZhi]

Originally posted by flyingfox2002
I see no problem with Hu Jun's portrayal.

I didn't say there was a problem with Hu Jun. I just said that that scene felt wrong.

I can very safely say that no one who likes and watches Wu Xia is there for the 'realistic element'. Because it simply just doesn't work that way. We all agree on that, right?

But you see, I believe that there is a line between what is highly imaginitive and absurd. And that line separates good Wu Xia and bad Wu Xia. That scene in the SERIES, I think, crossed the line.

In the book, QF did stab himself in the non-important areas, like his shoulders. But in the series, he stabbed himself in his chest, where either his heart or lungs were located, and both, obviously are VITAL. So what I'm saying is that, he should have stabbed himself, but in different areas, and it would have been less 'fake' and more 'real'. That's all I'm saying. I loved the series, but there were quite a few annoying flaws in it.

The special effects weren't bad, but they weren't spectacular either, not like XAJH.

[skywise]

Hi guys , been following the discussion. It's been quite interesting. I think most of you guys have expressed more or less my thoughts on this new version of DGSD. Ultimately, i do think the 97 one was better. But each version had their own strong points.

The current debate on the scene with the knives...well...i didn't actually notice QF's unrealistic reaction to having been stabbed five times but i did notice that this scene did lack a lot of intensity or for more of a better phase, it just wasn't as tense as it was described in the book nor portrayed in 97. Perhaps, it was the very first episode that spoiled it. What do you guys think.....?

[immakiku]

I think in DGSD03 QF only stabbed himself four times, once for each of the four elders (unless you're talking about a difference scene which I've yet to watch). It looks like he just missed, respectively, his kidney, heart, right lung, and right kneecap.

[skywise]

Yes, you're right it was four times, my mistake. Haha It looks like QF is quite the surgeon, knowning exactly where his vital organs are!!

[-NSX-]

This is nothing compared to HSDS 2003. The effects in HSDS was lame and cheap. Not only that, the dude that played ZWJ looks like a 12 years old kid.

[inv4zn]

Originally posted by -NSX-
This is nothing compared to HSDS 2003. The effects in HSDS was lame and cheap. Not only that, the dude that played ZWJ looks like a 12 years old kid.

lol serious..... i heard that the HSDS main casts were good...??

[LiYuanZhi]

Originally posted by immakiku
I think in DGSD03 QF only stabbed himself four times, once for each of the four elders (unless you're talking about a difference scene which I've yet to watch). It looks like he just missed, respectively, his kidney, heart, right lung, and right kneecap.

URGH!!! I'm such an idiot!!!! (Where's the bang on wall smilie when u need it??!!!!) I just kinda assumed it was five... *grins sheepishly*.

and NSX- YOU"VE GOTTA BE KIDING!!!! HSDS '03 ROCKED!!!!!!!! It was REALLY good, WAAAAY better than DGSD!!!!!!!!!!!

Alec Su wasn't the BEST for ZWJ, I agree, but he was still impressive. And Alyssa Chia (Jia Jing Wen) was the PERFECT Zhao Ming, being both really cute and evilish. The Zhou Zhi Ruo was also very convincing. Basically the whole cast was well chosen.

The special effects weren't totally spectacular, but it was still pretty damn good. I'd like to see you do better.

[-NSX-]

Originally posted by inv4zn
lol serious..... i heard that the HSDS main casts were good...??

OH YEAH! The girls were red hot , but I don't like the dude that played ZWJ.

[inv4zn]

Originally posted by -NSX-
OH YEAH! The girls were red hot , but I don't like the dude that played ZWJ.

haha yeah i can see.... hahah maybe ill watch hsds after all x)

[flyingfox2002]

As practitioners of kung fu and inner power, the kung fu folks are all familiar with where the body's organs are. QF being a prodigy is obviously no exception. Plus people with high inner power can move their muscles to protect their vital organs, like LWC did when NBK ambushed him in SOD (His muscles deflected the swords trajectory so it missed his kidney). Thus, there's no doubt QF avoided his vital organs. They were just flesh wounds.

[alecforever815]

keep in mind that the title is dgsd 2003 is terrible, not hsds

i thought hsds was realllllly good...and alec does not look like a 12 yr old kid....his portrayal of zwj was really good too, cuz zwj is just like that nondecisive kinda person

but i do agree that the effects weren't that great....and so many ppl were saying how dgsd's effects and fighting were so great and everythign, well it got me very disappointed cuz the effects and the fighting in here are pretty cheap too

[inv4zn]

ive heard many ppl say that loch had bad effects... i thought they didnt overdo it 2 much apart from the swordslash.... i have yet to see hsds xajh and dgsd..... all i heard have *overdone* their effects... i guess u guys havent seen a chinese ghost story yet....

[babybunny]

I'm on disc 7. Have 3 more to go before I finish this series. So far I like it a lot. Only the beginning of disc 7 was boring. Ah Zhi tortured the iron mask man. Is that even relevant to the story later on?

I hope the ending is good!

[LiYuanZhi]

out of LOCH, HSDS, SoD (XAJH) and DGSD, my favourite would have to be SoD (because of the special effects) and then HSDS comes closely after it and then DGSD (which was not spectacular but still pretty good to watch) and lastly LOCH, which in my opinion, is one of the flops.

[CassL]

Did anybody see that little ferret that Duan Yu was trying to catch at the beginning of the novel" The CGI for that was terrible, just terrible. It looked like it jumped straight out of some bizarre cartoon. It simply did not look real.

Still, this series was heaps better than that crap, LOCH03.

[WangDang]

Originally posted by CassL
Did anybody see that little ferret that Duan Yu was trying to catch at the beginning of the novel" The CGI for that was terrible, just terrible. It looked like it jumped straight out of some bizarre cartoon. It simply did not look real.

Still, this series was heaps better than that crap, LOCH03.

so what would u suggest? a lil hand puppet running around the set?

and the chess part.... adding some graphics doesnt hurt.... this is mythical people....

and you people think they have billions of dollars like LOTR to make some expensive graphics... cmon, these are series, they arent MOVIES in the US.

[GiftOfForesight]

Originally posted by CassL
Did anybody see that little ferret that Duan Yu was trying to catch at the beginning of the novel" The CGI for that was terrible, just terrible. It looked like it jumped straight out of some bizarre cartoon. It simply did not look real.

Still, this series was heaps better than that crap, LOCH03.

I agree the CGI was flat out terrible. However, I liked the series. The CGI and certain animations (like the fight w/XF vs like the entire world at the Manor, when XF breaks the wine bowls, they used the same animation of the bowls breaking maybe 3 times) were pretty bad, but I shrugged it off, mostly because those were minor tidbits in the series that was 40 episodes long.

The computer grid chessgame did it for me.

Not that it matters because this is months old, but I didn't like the grid either. However, like the CGI, I moved on. You forget about it after an episode or so, and if for some reason, it really bugs you, you'll definitely forget about it around Episode 17 or 31.

[Mengda3chow]

besides the ferret thing, i saw no big probelm wit the show. the effects may have been too much but it still looked pretty real.
(the fighting looked kinda matrixy)

i didn't like this seires mainly cuz i dun like the plot....(which is JY's fault) i thought there were too many characters with tiny, non-important roles. (maybe cuz i didn't watch very carfully) Jimmy Lin was pretty good in the first few epis...but then he turned all silly and stupid after he met dat girl.

i still think XAJH's the best. everyone important could actually act!


oh yes...LOCh absolutely sucked.

[NextNoName]

I agree generally with hermit but...

Originally posted by hermit
I prefer that they do it like Crouching Tiger Hidden dragon and use CG for special skills like 6MSJ or something.

THAT is a bad example. Remember the duelists standing on bamboos?? That plus the scene at the beginning where they were chasing the masked woman in black. However, that movie was before XAJH01 (?) so it isn't fair to compare it with something coming later.

DGSD03's CGs are overly and slightly poorly done. Examples are already mentioned: ferret and chessboard scenes. In LOCH03, exaggerated scenes appear in recalls, when ZBT was telling GJ his past exploits. GJ first told ZBT a story and after it was done in a couple of sentences ZBT replied "...what? That's all? ARggg, let me show you how to tell a story!" After that and towards the end the fightings are more exaggerated. Another comparison: XAJH01's CGs are so subtle that I can barely recognize them. They are that good, partly because they are used fittingly. To make myself clear, 6MSJ effects in DGSD03 are ok to me because they are done during tense moments and believability is suspended during those times because we are like we are there with them at the duels and our perceptions are colored like they normally do in first-person accounts. Other than those times for example during light-hearted or jocular moments our credulity-senses rush back up.

Haha I'm dissing DGSD03....