TVB wuxia series made available on YouTube

[徐中銳]

Last night, browsing their uploads, I'd like to see Athena Chu in 射鵰英雄傳 '94 :


Because, in '95, she starred in A Chinese Odyssey Part Two : Cinderella…

[Ken Cheng]

They're starting the scrape the bottom of barrel now with BOOK & SWORD '88. I wonder...WHY? It's not like they've released all the good stuff already.

[Ian Liew]

They're starting the scrape the bottom of barrel now with BOOK & SWORD '88. I wonder...WHY? It's not like they've released all the good stuff already.

Maybe enough fans (although I can't imagine from where) asked for it. I think they have a little survey every few weeks with three options, and the one with the most votes wins or something

[Ken Cheng]

Maybe enough fans (although I can't imagine from where) asked for it. I think they have a little survey every few weeks with three options, and the one with the most votes wins or something

Who the hell could be a fan of B&S '88? It's nearly universally panned as the worst TVB wuxia adaptation ever.

[Ian Liew]

Who the hell could be a fan of B&S '88? It's nearly universally panned as the worst TVB wuxia adaptation ever.

Reading some of the comments there, I think it was meant as a tribute to the late Jacqueline Lo.

[_Kenny_]

Thanks for this thread, I didn't know that TVB was uploading their classic series. I was browsing their selection the other day and notice they put up the 1978 version of Heaven Sword with Adam Cheng. I have to say the main theme song is very memorable.

[tape]

Thanks for this thread, I didn't know that TVB was uploading their classic series. I was browsing their selection the other day and notice they put up the 1978 version of Heaven Sword with Adam Cheng. I have to say the main theme song is very memorable.

I've never watched HSDS '78 before, and it's weird Xie Xun's story is the first thing, but why is a clearly ~50 year old playing Yu Daiyan!

Edit: Of course I know him from other series! But don't know his name

[Ian Liew]

I've never watched HSDS '78 before, and it's weird Xie Xun's story is the first thing, but why is a clearly ~50 year old playing Yu Daiyan!

Edit: Of course I know him from other series! But don't know his name

That's Cheung Ying Choy. Cheung Ying Choy was leading man material for much of his earlier career, and so would be a worthy choice to play Yu Daiyan, I guess. If you think he is old, Cheung Wut Yau (who plays Song Yuanqiao) is even older - I think he's even older than Kwan Hoi San (who plays Zhang Sanfeng).

I just rewatched the whole thing - it was beautiful. A bit slow in parts (all the slow-motion action scenes are quite funny by today's standards, even if the fight choreography was entertaining) but the soundtrack is top class. Adam, Lisa, Angie were top-class leads in those days, and most of the supporting cast were pretty good (although due to lack of people, some of them played more than one role). The ending was terrible, though.

[mawguy]

thanks for pointing this channel out--wow, memory lane! just some random thoughts:

- agree that the choice of uploads is odd
- weird that not every series has a playlist
- the ones i glanced over are the abridged versions, so presumably all of them are abridged
- it's a lot of fun seeing the cameos from well-known stars in their early days
- i want to specifically mention that despite his age (and that was a huge criticism against him even at the time), lawrence ng was a very credible ZWJ/cheung mo kei
- my fave LXF/luk siu fung is still damian lau
- the ending of DGSD 1982 is still a travesty and unwatchable
- the greats from the 1982/1983 LOCH/ROCH are still my faves

[Doc Kwok]

The (modern) TVB kung-fu channel is in the process of uploading Duke of Mount Deer 1984, but the classics channel has already uploaded it months ago. Looks like one hand doesn't know what the other one is doing...

[徐中銳]

They're uploading The Other Side of the Horizon :


Skimming the scenes, I noticed Angie Chiu comes across as quite charming e.g. at 34 min 8 sec

[Mandred Skavenslayer]

Who the hell could be a fan of B&S '88? It's nearly universally panned as the worst TVB wuxia adaptation ever.

I wouldn't say it is universally panned. The supporting cast was topknot with Simon Yam's performance being particularly memorable. The big problem was that all three main leads were new actors and it really showed amongst such veteran actors.

[Ian Liew]

I wouldn't say it is universally panned. The supporting cast was topknot with Simon Yam's performance being particularly memorable. The big problem was that all three main leads were new actors and it really showed amongst such veteran actors.

All three were new, but thankfully two of them would go on to improve quite a lot. Nixon, on the other hand, really had problems with acting.

[Ken Cheng]

All three were new, but thankfully two of them would go on to improve quite a lot. Nixon, on the other hand, really had problems with acting.

According to HKMDB, BOOK & SWORD '88 is the only acting credit Nixon Pang has to his name. The poor guy's acting career was a total washout.

[tape]

Against the Blade of Honour up, not a very good series but Irene Wan is one of the sexiest women alive.

[Mandred Skavenslayer]

Against the Blade of Honour up, not a very good series but Irene Wan is one of the sexiest women alive.

I actually found it very interesting. It was almost like an anti-wuxia series with the various fractions portrayed more like Triad gangs, each looking out for themselves. And yes I agree Irene was very alluring. It is a shame she never played Madam Ma in DGSD.

[徐中銳]

Irene Wan is one of the sexiest women alive.

She was on this radio show last week :

[Ian Liew]

Against the Blade of Honour up, not a very good series but Irene Wan is one of the sexiest women alive.

Another saving grace was the beautiful themesong....

[Ian Liew]

According to HKMDB, BOOK & SWORD '88 is the only acting credit Nixon Pang has to his name. The poor guy's acting career was a total washout.

I watched an ATV serial which starred him as the main character, a rip-off of TVB's Blood-Stained Intrigue. It was a really nice serial, let down only by Nixon's main hero. My guess is his career in ATV fared no better than his career in TVB. He should have tried modern serials as a supporting character first.

[tape]

She was on this radio show last week :

Wow, and she's 51!