* Gigi Lai *

[TiffTiff]

Oh no! I will miss Gigi Lai dearly. She was one of the prettiest Zhao Min ever! She's pretty and sexy, it's sad that she's retiring. Maybe too much pressure/politic inside TVB too? I'm serious, there are too many below average actresses popping up in every series nowaday. Average from acting to looks.
Let's hope the best for Gigi & her family (i.e. her brother)

[LuNaR]

Oh no! I will miss Gigi Lai dearly. She was one of the prettiest Zhao Min ever! She's pretty and sexy, it's sad that she's retiring. Maybe too much pressure/politic inside TVB too? I'm serious, there are too many below average actresses popping up in every series nowaday. Average from acting to looks.
Let's hope the best for Gigi & her family (i.e. her brother)

u better hope flamer dont c this

[flamer]

u better hope flamer dont c this

Lol thx for bumping this up for me to see.

My turn to brainwash.

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[LuNaR]

u were going to see it regardless i knew u were going to post those pics tho

[flamer]

u were going to see it regardless i knew u were going to post those pics tho

Nah I don't actually visit Gigi Lai's thread. I only wanted to see what interesting stuff do you have to say.

Yea now its irrefutable that ALYSSA CHIA was the best looking Zhao Min.

[TiffTiff]

Flamer, you are too cute & funny, ahahahahha. No matter how many pix you post, I still think Gigi Lai was the prettiest, while Kitty Lai was the coolest. Can't wait to see Ady in action

[sunnysnow]

I think HSDS'00 was one of Gigi's best work too! I wont talk about who's the best-looking ZM since looks are subjective but till date, I still like GG's portrayal of ZM the best. And i thought she looked stunning in the series. Now if only ZJZ could take a leaf from her book for Ady.

As for her reasons for quitting, its pretty obvious that its because of her brother. I've noticed that his accident has a pretty huge impact on her. She probably took a break from filming for a year to see whether she could adjust to life outside the e-buzz and seems like she likes it, hence her plans to retire. It's just sad that we wont be seeing this gorgeous lady anymore. Anyway, I respect her decision and think she's one brave and determined lady. Afterall, its not easy to turn your back to wealth and fame, especially when you're at your peak. Gigi is afterall, one of the A-listers in TVB. I bet TVB's mourning over how they lost another cow to milk.

[LuNaR]

I think HSDS'00 was one of Gigi's best work too! I wont talk about who's the best-looking ZM since looks are subjective but till date, I still like GG's portrayal of ZM the best. And i thought she looked stunning in the series. Now if only ZJZ could take a leaf from her book for Ady.

As for her reasons for quitting, its pretty obvious that its because of her brother. I've noticed that his accident has a pretty huge impact on her. She probably took a break from filming for a year to see whether she could adjust to life outside the e-buzz and seems like she likes it, hence her plans to retire. It's just sad that we wont be seeing this gorgeous lady anymore. Anyway, I respect her decision and think she's one brave and determined lady. Afterall, its not easy to turn your back to wealth and fame, especially when you're at your peak. Gigi is afterall, one of the A-listers in TVB. I bet TVB's mourning over how they lost another cow to milk.

yea i think she is quitting cause of her bro too, which is sad

[flamer]

What happened to her brother?

[TiffTiff]

Her brother got into a bad car accident and was in critical condition for months? She took off a year to take care of him, now she's officially retired. He is a dermatologist.

[yanfeng]

I think HSDS'00 was one of Gigi's best work too! I wont talk about who's the best-looking ZM since looks are subjective but till date, I still like GG's portrayal of ZM the best. And i thought she looked stunning in the series.

Hooray another HSDS discussion... and about ZM!

I'm with your Sunnysnow, I think GG had the best portrayal of ZM... she gave ZM a fabulous streak of mean while still being very suave and cool (xiao1 sa3, in mandarin!) yet warm and loyal.

Best looking, personally I'd vote for Kitty Lai, though I admit Alyssa is a close second for me!

I still think Gigi Lai was the prettiest, while Kitty Lai was the coolest.

Hehehe Tifftiff, I'm the reverse!

Gigi the coolest, Kitty the prettiest... I'd add Alyssa the most adorable. Lisa the strongest, Cheung Man the naughtiest, Cecilia the weepiest (and weakest)- all entirely in my opinion of course!

Even though I think of myself as a HSDS fan, I actually have never seen the 80's Taiwan version starring Lau Tak Kai, nor the even older pre-Adam Cheng version (whose lead I cannot even name!) soooo... for a full ZM comparsion, someone else must take the lead!

But back to GG!

Dear Gigi,

Good luck and fare thee well! You will be sorely missed and always remember by at least a few of us as the truest ZM, one of Bowie's great onscreen loves and the ageless girl who could give us _attitude_!

So Long and Thanks for all the Serials!

One-of-your-many-fans,
Yanfeng.

[sunnysnow]

I havent seen Kitty's ZM and only a little of Cecilia's ZM so I cant really comment on them. I think the coolest ZM award has to go to Sharla Cheung (whose ZM comes in real close after Gigi's). She was naturally arrogant and dare-devilish, had that high-and-mighty air of a princess and looked absolutely suave in male disguise. I found her ZM really seductive as well; almost always taunting, teasing and outwitting ZWJ whenever she met him. A real pity they didn't manage to film the sequel for i would love to see how her ZM developed in the later bits. Sharla is a beautiful actress and i thought she gave a more matured and sexy portrayal of ZM which was really memorable!

Gigi's ZM fits the image I have of the character most and she managed to make ZM extremely likable even when doing mean and annoying stuff! I thought Gigi's looks was really fitting for the ZM i had in mind- beautiful but not the soft, elegant and demure type of beauty. Instead, she was a fiery beauty (like the sun, as described in the novel)- her ZM looked extremely sharp and intelligent though I have to say that the costumes, hairstyle and make-up helped alot (btw, I think her ZM had the nicest and most appropriate costumes till date). I also loved how Gigi was able to portray ZM as a calm, devious and headstrong character but at the same time, not neglecting the girlish, witty and fun side ZM had.

Anyway, I made a mistake in my earlier post: GG has been in the entertainment industry for 23 not 29 years. She entered at age 14 and is 37 this year. Here's a clip compiling her childhood pics and the classic movies/dramas she did. Watching it does bring back memories- I think im going to rewatch HSDS'00 all over again when I have time

BTW, the song is sung by her as well- soso voice but lovely song!
http://v.sohu.com/20081021/n260162850.shtml

[sunnysnow]

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[TiffTiff]

Those are pretty pix of Gigi as ZM, thank you sunny. Thank you for bringing back old memories of Gigi

The first wuxia series I've seen and remember was HSDS 86. I've seen other wuxia series back in Viet Nam but I was too little to remember anything. I've watch HSDS 86 when I first came to America and I like it very much. I thought Kitty Lai was very calm and seem like a mastermind behind all of her plots. I thought she was the know-it-all kind of girl. She was very tall too. I loved all of her outfits throughout the series, especially her Mongolian costumes. Kitty was sophisticated and matured at the same time.

When I watched Gigi Lai as ZM, my first impression was she was so beautiful! I agreed that she looked so good when she was mean . The thing that upset me was TVB added in a bunch of extra scenes/stories to that version. I was irrirating to watch Lawrence too. He was so old to pair up w/ a beautiful Gigi. Another thing, there were too many fake scenes/backgrounds, making it not as real compared to Kitty's version.

Alyssa was extremely cute, too cute to resist. I thought she was not mean enough. She was kind of funny too. She had an irrisitible chemistry w/ Alex, it was so sweet to see them together.

I did watch the Sharla Cheung's version. She was cool too. She's so pretty, I thought she looked the same as in male and female outfit. You're right, she did have some kind of royalty quality in her, making her so cool to look at. The storyline was change badly. so we didn't get enough of her.
Overall, Gigi Lai did have the best costumes/hairstyle. I likes all the actresses that played ZM, except for Cecilla though. I only watched part of that version, it was unbearable. Bad costumes, bad make-ups, Steven's eyes were widen all the time; like he was surpise at everything was going on. Cecilla was not even pretty compare to other ZM too

[LuNaR]

o come on we all know charmaine stole the show in HSDS 2000

[TiffTiff]

Lunar, you are too funny : I'm not a Charmaine fan, so I'm going to keep my opinion to myself. I've seen certain artists' fans get really crazy

[LuNaR]

Lunar, you are too funny : I'm not a Charmaine fan, so I'm going to keep my opinion to myself. I've seen certain artists' fans get really crazy

dont worry i never get mad charmaine was the best ZZR!!!

[yanfeng]

dont worry i never get mad charmaine was the best ZZR!!!

She was a good ZZR.

I'm not a Charmaine fan, and actually don't care for her recent work at all, but for me, her ZZR was her best role _and_ its possible her ZZR is one of my favorite ZZR's!

However, having said that, its hard to replace ZM in my heart and, I'm guessing, in the heart of many if not most HSDS fans!

Sunnysnow, you're right on the money about Sharla and Gigi in my books! I liked the sexy, sharp, disdainful and naughty Gigi by Sharla too... but I can't help being affected by the fact that 1) it being a movie she wasn't given much character development and 2) her ZWJ (Jet Li) was far too worldly and ambitious, resulting in what I thought was a very odd ZM/ZWJ dynamic.

On the other hand Lawrence's ZWJ, though not very inspiring an interpretation, was nonetheless the perfect gentle, down-to-earth, warm and muddle-headedly trusting foil to Gigi's sharply witty, glamourous, loyal yet scheming ZM!

You should watch a few scenes of Kitty's ZM for interest if you get the chance- her chemistry with Tony Leung, her father and even Fan Yao was fabulous!

Tifftiff, you and I are united on really being disappointed by Cecilia's ZM... I watched the whole thing years ago, and recently tried to rewatch it just for comparisons' sake, and couldn't stomach the melodrama. It was actually more weepy, full of very forced changes to the storyline meant to wring tears from viewers, than most Chun Yao serials I've seen... and that's saying quite a _lot_!

SS, thanks for the pictures, it does bring Gigi's ZM back to life! I _love_ her costume with the ruffles on the collar... makes her look regal yet soft and dramatically beautiful! She has certainly left a wonderful legacy in TVB! (Think Shades of Truth and Dance of Passion... two other memorable characters for her! )

[TiffTiff]

I thought Sheren Tang was the best ZZR. She was so calm when she's evil or thinking up of evil thing. She was so good at acting innocent and slowly turning mean. For Charmaine, she had to shake her head, shake her hair to be evil . Her face doesn't look mean for evil role, and b/c Gigi was so pretty in there, she outshadow all other actresses. For GYY, I thought she was sad most of the time, and that psycho sifu keep appearing to her was freaky .

Oh yeah Sunny, since I've watched the Kitty Lai's version, when I watched the Gigi's one, I saw a lot of changes and add on extra stuff to the story. I'm not sure which is correct, b/c I haven't read the novel, but I've always thought the 1986 was the classic. I thought many people agreed that it was very faithful to the novel too. After watching the 2000 ones, I wasn't surpise that JY ban TVB.

Have anyone notices that TVB doesn't have any good wuxia series anymore? Well, beside Twins of Dragons, or maybe I must be missing out something

Sunny, I've found this clip for you, too bad it's in Vietnamese, it show Kitty Lai(ZM) first meet ZWJ

http://en.sevenload.com/videos/cPuj7...gai-do-long-23

[Haruhi6]

Aww. I am sad that Gigi is leaving entertainment. I really like her as an actress and think that she is definitely one of the most attractive actresses if not the most attractive with TVB currently- I am not a fan of the newer TVB actresses at all- imo most of them aren't very attractive and they can't act.

I started liking Gigi when I saw HSDS, I like pretty much anyone who plays Zhao Min automatically because she's may fav character ever. The one exception was Cecelia Yi... I couldn't stand her Zhao Min, if I had watched that version first, my first and lasting impression of Zhao Min would have been hatred. But I definitely think that Gigi did a great job, she was gorgeous in the role and had nice chemistry with Lawrence Ng. Her Zhao Min was cunning, clever, beautiful, and felt like a princess. Her costumes were great too. I like Kitty Lai's portrayal a little bit better, her character seemed a little less all knowing which was nice because at times Gigi's ZM seemed more like a fortune teller, which I found sometimes irritating- but that was probably just the script.

I actually like her singing, her voice is very pretty I think, but I've only heard her sing one song. How sad though, I hope that she enjoys her retirement. I wish I could retire now, lol.