I think it's true!! Based on looks LYF looks youngest and most pretty. Though I still believe that she does not look as cold as Carman does. And that is the foundation to be a XLN, isn't it?
The way Idy Chan (83) protrayed XLN
The way Pan Ying Zi (84-Taiwan) protrayed XLN
The way Carmen Lee (95) protrayed XLN
The way Jacqueline Ng Sin Lin (98-Taiwan) protrayed XLN
The way Fann Wong (98-Singapore) protrayed XLN
The way Liu Yi Fei (06-China) protrayed XLN
I think it's true!! Based on looks LYF looks youngest and most pretty. Though I still believe that she does not look as cold as Carman does. And that is the foundation to be a XLN, isn't it?
Beautiful and deadly, she is a true descendant of dragon. Fighting for the forces of right and justice, she leaves a series of broken bodies and broken hearts wherever she goes.
Liu Yifei makes the best XLN in terms of looks, but ROCH 2006 was horrible, lol. Carmen Lee makes the best XLN in terms of portryal.
Even though ROCH1983 was from my Mom's time, I like Idy Chan's portrayal bcos her XLN can be nasty at times and not overly nice like the others, heheheh! I know it's not in the book, but I like the idea of a nasty XLN
Now that I've actually had a decent look at ROCH 1995 and a brief peek at ROCH 1983, I'm still going to say I like LYF the best so far. I do a have considerable amount of bias, but I reckon her performance is one of things that salvaged ROCH 2006 from becoming a scrap heap. Say what you like about her being too "emotional" to be XLN, but I personally like it. It makes the audience care about her more and is able to sympathise with her character more (I seriously hated the YG in this version, so I really needed a protagonist I cared about otherwise I'd stop watching). Even JY liked the performance, if her portrayal mustn't have been far off the mark.
Last edited by shrang; 02-07-11 at 04:48 AM.
carmen portrayal does follow the book but i think it's too one dimensional. The cold face works in the book but when you put it on the tv screen it's just too boring. So i am going to say Crystal is the best LXN!
to be honest, carmen and crystal both have done the best job among the rest. they are both gorgeous. carmen's beauty is more goddesslike while crystal's more fairylike. dunno if that makes any sense. in terms of acting wise, carmen did a better job being icy and matured but crystal has a more XLN aura. She can just stand there, look pretty and still stand out among the crowd. I voted for Crystal because she's my favorite but they are tied in my heart hehe
Carmen all the way for me. She's the exact XLN I imagine when I read ROCH.
I couldn't make myself to watch the entire '06 version because LYF turned me off in the first few episodes. I lost my interest when XLN acted like she was seducing the young YG and she smiled too much. I have to admit that LYF is the prettiest among the actresses playing XLN but she looks too young for XLN. Although XLN is supposed to look young, her expression is of a mature, calm person. LYF failed in this department for me.
I watched the Jacquelin version though (by some miracle). I would say she's a good actress but the script for that version is too stupid. How on earth XLN wears black? When I tried to forget that she was XLN, I enjoyed her appearance and her acting.
Watched a bit of Fann Wong version but couldn't remember much except that XLN had a weird hairdo.
I want XLN to have the personality of Michelle Chen (a smiling/giggling XLN) combined with the looks of Liu Shi Shi. Can't be too much to ask for...
Haven't had a chance to watch 83 version (couldn't find the good dub, the available dub is the worst even they're the first and ancient group) but I'm impressed with XLN 83 every time I see this pic
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98-Taiwan: nope, wrong character. Black wearing XLN, give me a break.
98-Singapore: looks not that bad but I don't remeber XLN to be this weak (cry a lot) and her weird hair.
14-China: wrong character. Her dress is not white enough and what with the funny hair style. Completely outshone by other actresses in the show. Nobody will remember this XLN.
06-China: wrong character, too, must be a certain fairy from Journey to the West and please come back to heaven. Her clothes are too luxurious, so as her hair, XLN can't be that rich and has better clothes than everyone in the outside world. Her acting is very weak. I admit she looks good but with just that, I will never consider her as XLN although her role still work with people hasn't read the book).
With all these bad examples, I think the directors and actresses seemed to underestimate XLN as a character. They must think XLN is a very easy role to act but from what I read from the novel, XLN is a goddamn hard role.
95-HK: have no choice but to vote for this version's XLN.
This XLN looks old thanks to the character's design but this actress was only 22 when she played this role (YG was 25 iirc). Yeah, her skin isn't smooth as other XLN, too but I think part of it's because the crappy video quality. What, YG's skin looks even better than XLN's. Adding to that, Carmen Lee's look isn't as good as current mainland China actresses.
Actually, I really like this XLN's character's design. A simple XLN as I imaged, isn't XLN is natural beauty and not because she wears good clothes and has heavy make up like 06-China version.
95 XLN has very little make up, she even rarely has lipstick or powder. The only worth thing she has is the cheap 1$ earrings (poor girl ). Her clothes must be the simplest XLN's clothes compared with other versions but still look elegant and fit XLN perfectly and it's 98% white (later, her outer wear got minor upgrade with some textures), her belts has about 3 colors (light blue, light purple and light yellow iirc). I especially like this XLN's fake hair, still simple but looks very cute from the back. Basically, not only this 95 version has the best XLN's design but one of the best character's design in wuxia shows. It's really hard to forget this XLN's design. "Simple is the best" is what I descirbe this 95 XLN.
95 XLN's acting is... too bad, very convincing. This XLN displayed a wide range of emotions and every of these emotions is really convincing. Old people in my country usually say this actress smiles like how XLN suppose to smiles and cry like how XLN suppose to cry, not too obvious like a normal person, XLN's styles, I guess. I can confirm it's goddamn her to spot her teeth whenever she smiles . Also, her acting makes this 95 XLN the cutest XLN, too. The actress knew how to use her eyes to act and this is the correct answer and that's one of the reason why 06-China version failed miserably. It's hard to believe this is the first main character's role of 95 XLN's actress.
Like people in my country say "you watch this 95 version ROCH because of this XLN" and I still do it from time to time, especially episodes with XLN (not many). Too bad this budget show has only 32 episodes (83 version has 50 episodes, come on ), not enough XLN for me . I love this XLN's chacracter since I read 1998 singapore's comic (not in 1998) and only love XLN more thanks to watching this 95 HK version recently.
cold
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sad/disappoint
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surprise/nervous
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happy/smile (only with YG, I know )
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