Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 32

Thread: CHOR LAU HEUNG '84 (Michael Miu)

  1. #1
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default CHOR LAU HEUNG '84 (Michael Miu)

    Started the 1984 TVB adaptation THE NEW ADVENTURES OF CHOR LAU HEUNG tonight. Story is just getting underway, so not much to say about that yet, but Michael Miu is a worthy successor to Adam Cheng as the charismatic and dashing Chor Lau Heung. Oddly, Chor's three attendant ladies (Soo Yung Yung, Hung Ling Jau, Sung Teem Yee) seemingly have more to do, but also paradoxically lesser roles this time around compared to the 1979 adaptation. Additionally, Wu Teet Fa, so prominent in the 1979 adaptation, is nowhere to be seen yet and I believe he doesn't come in until considerably later.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    496

    Default

    I really enjoyed this version

    Looking forward to your views when you finish it.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    822

    Default

    I think Michael Miu is a better looking CHOR LAU HEUNG than Adam Cheng.

    However, Adam Cheng is better overall for the character, plus his songs are mesmerizing.

  4. #4
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    The first week so far has been kind of fun, but it's odd to start off with this inconsequential little story about conspiring to get two couples whose wulin families disapprove of their relationships together. Kind of a lightweight start, but I assume things get more involved later.

  5. #5
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    Things finally began ramping up with Chor Lau Heung accused of committing murder with a snake-shaped sword that he's also been accused of stealing. Nothing new for him.

    Not sure why it took nearly a week of a fairly irrelevant ROMEO AND JULIET story to lead into it, though. The story could have started right here with a few adjustments. I doubt we're going to be seeing those other characters from the first four episodes again (half of them are dead). The first four were fun, but kind of pointless.

  6. #6
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    Soo Yung Yung, Lee Hung Jau, and Sung Teem Yee really help Chor Lau Heung get stuff done in wulin as investigators and combat support. He doesn't just keep these girls around for their looks. His operations in wulin wouldn't go nearly as smoothly without their contributions, and in this version especially, Chor Lau Heung appears keen on allowing them to act independently and then capitalizing on the results of their groundwork.

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    Indonesia
    Posts
    1,054

    Default

    this version of adaptation has the most pretty women i think

    i edit this image, so only show the playboy and the women

    chuliuxiangandwomen5.jpg
    Best Wuxia author of all time : master Jin Yong

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    496

    Default

    It's also what i imagine CLH should look like. A manly handsome guy.

  9. #9
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by a_tumiwa View Post
    this version of adaptation has the most pretty women i think

    i edit this image, so only show the playboy and the women

    chuliuxiangandwomen5.jpg
    I'm really liking the girls in this adaptation...not only because they're easy on the eye, but because they're quite resourceful and helpful. Even without Chor Lau Heung present, the three girls are a force to reckon with. They're all like top-level operatives with great disguise, detective, and martial arts skills who set things up so that Chor Lau Heung can do his thing.

  10. #10
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    I have this idea that the antagonist of this particular chapter of the CHOR LAU HEUNG saga, the Bat Prince, was loosely inspired by the famous superhero Batman. Think of the premise: rich, influential playboy (Yeun Chui Wan) secretly dresses as a bat, but instead of being a hero who terrorizes criminals and villains, *this* "Batman" is himself a menace to wulin. His given name "Wan" even echoes the surname of the much more famous Batman (Bruce *Wayne*).

  11. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    496

    Default

    Hi Ken,

    I never saw Chor Lau-heung (1979).

    How does this version compare?

  12. #12
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Stance View Post
    Hi Ken,

    I never saw Chor Lau-heung (1979).

    How does this version compare?
    CHOR LAU HEUNG '79 was 65 episodes long, and the first 92% of it was great. The final 8% took a weird, depressing turn, and Chor Lau Heung was utterly out of character for that final week of episodes. It was a weird, pointlessly downer ending to what had been, up to Episode 60, a very solid series. I'd better wait until I finish '84 before passing comparative judgment on it.

  13. #13
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    Michael Miu's depiction of the title characters is certainly one charming rogue: it's easy to see why all the ladies swoon over him and the guys all admire and respect him.

    For some reason, though, Chor Lau Heung seems almost like a supporting character in his own series. There are so many supporting characters and they get so much screentime (nothing wrong with that; they're interesting, cool characters in their own right) that Chor seems like an important member of an ensemble rather than the star.

  14. #14
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    Last night's episode was great. It showed a more human side to Chor Lau Heung: though highly intelligent and capable, Chor Lau Heung is nevertheless only human and thus, is capable of making mistakes. In this case, he came to the wrong conclusions and as an indirect result, implicated the Kam Family. Chor was upset at himself for screwing up and inadvertently causing good people to suffer, but he bounced back quickly, recognizing that the best way to make up for his error was by finding the real perpetrator, who turned out to be an old friend who had betrayed him. The story of how a well-respected wulin figure and good friend of Chor's could have turned traitor after being faced with an unsolvable dilemma...and the themes of honor, friendship, and justice...were on full display. A lot got accomplished in just forty minutes of showtime.

  15. #15
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    As well-written as this series generally is, it does have one glaring flaw: the depiction of Wu Teet Fa. This isn't the actor Chan Wing Chun's fault at all (he's no Ng Man Tat, but he's OK in the role); it's how the character is being written. This series writes Wu Teet Fa like a lovesick puppy. That ISN'T the character at all. While I can understand the desire to show a different side of a familiar character, it shouldn't be so out of character that you kind of wonder if it's even the character said to be portrayed.

  16. #16
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    One thing this series is doing surprisingly well, however, is meshing the world of political intrigue and wulin activities. Though many wuxia stories dabble in or are immersed in political intrigue, not all of them do it well or convincingly link the affairs of wulin to the affairs of government. This series is, thus far, managing to accomplish this feat. Wulin finds itself embroiled in a rogue prince's attempt to overthrow his emperor brother and usurp the throne, and our heroes are discovering that they are embroiled in something of much greater scope than their usual wulin intrigues.

  17. #17
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    So much works so well in this series that the one thing that does not is glaring: the writers got Wu Teet Fa's and Kao Ah Nam's characters so completely wrong. This is not the actors' fault: Chan Wing Chun and Sharon Yeung did the best they could with the scripts they got, but the two characters they're portraying are only Wu Teet Fa and Kao Ah Nam in name. While I cannot speak to how they were portrayed in Gu Long's original novel (unlikely like this, however), they are unrecognizable as counterparts to Ng Man Tat's and Rainbow Ching's depiction of the characters in the 1979 series.

  18. #18
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    I must say that I feel kind of sorry for the series' antagonist, Yeun Chui Wan/the Bat Prince. Even though he's a diabolical psychopath, he did get screwed over by his adoptive mom, Priestess Goo Mui.

  19. #19
    Senior Member Athena's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Mount Olympus, sipping nectar and eating ambrosia
    Posts
    2,074

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    I must say that I feel kind of sorry for the series' antagonist, Yeun Chui Wan/the Bat Prince. Even though he's a diabolical psychopath, he did get screwed over by adoptive mom, Priestess Goo Mui.
    Fun fact….. or maybe not fun but more twisted…

    In the novel, Gu Long never gave a clear reason why Kumei was involved with Yuan Suiyun. He wrote that possibly they could have been mother and son, as for generations the Yuans and Huashan were friends.

    Then, Gu Long wrote that maybe the only one who can love an old bitter Taoist priestess, who once deep fried her own hand, was none other than a blind handsome man who probably didn't care about outer beauty as he was blind.

    ‘The truth what the true relationship between Yuan and Kumei will remain buried.’ Gu long wrote. However, with him writing that, he is hinting at the kinkier possibility.

    All adaptations including the recent one from 2015 from China, obviously, didn’t want to put this possibility out there.


    With this, I have written 2000 posts on this forum. Time well spent
    Last edited by Athena; 07-21-21 at 05:59 AM.
    So huge, so hopeless, to conceive
    As these that twice befell
    Parting is all we know of heaven
    And all we need of hell.

    Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

  20. #20
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    24,367

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Athena View Post
    Fun fact….. or maybe not fun but more twisted…

    In the novel, Gu Long never gave a clear reason why Kumei was involved with Yuan Suiyun. He wrote that possibly they could have been mother and son, as for generations the Yuans and Huashan were friends.

    Then, Gu Long wrote that maybe the only one who can love an old bitter Taoist priestess, who once deep fried her own hand, was none other than a blind handsome man who probably didn't care about outer beauty as he was blind.

    ‘The truth what the true relationship between Yuan and Kumei will remain buried.’ Gu long wrote. However, with him writing that, he is hinting at the kinkier possibility.

    All adaptations including the recent one from 2015 from China, obviously, didn’t want to put this possibility out there.
    TVB's 1984 adaptation also declined to portray him as blind. Not even a hint that that was a part of his original characterization in the novel...though I suppose it fits ("blind as a bat"). The 1984 series pretty much portrayed him as Chor Lau Heung's evil doppelganger.


    With this, I have written 2000 posts on this forum. Time well spent
    Felicidades. Only 18,000 more to 20,000.

Similar Threads

  1. Michael Miu Kiu Wai
    By cbale456 in forum Actors
    Replies: 235
    Last Post: 06-17-16, 12:13 PM
  2. Replies: 5
    Last Post: 11-26-10, 01:46 AM
  3. Replies: 30
    Last Post: 08-26-09, 02:53 AM
  4. Chor Lau Heung - Miu Kiu Wai
    By CLEU2005 in forum TVB Series
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 12-15-05, 12:44 AM
  5. Chor Lau Heung v. Yang Guo
    By Thai guy in forum Wuxia Fiction
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-09-04, 02:36 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •