1983 version Legend of the Condor Heroes Cast Reunion (中国梦想秀--83版射鵰英雄傳重聚) – PART 4

Photo’s credit: 中国梦想秀’s weibo

.>> The next segment can best be described as the ‘climax’ of the show – the introduction of the main leads of the series….before the main leads were introduced, a short montage consisting of clips from the series was played.

.>> The seventh cast member to appear was Sharon Yeung, who played Muk Nim Chi.

Wow, I must say that Sharon still looks really good – other than her age, she hasn’t changed a whole lot from 28 years ago in terms of looks (in my opinion anyways). She stated that she was really touched that so many fans still remembered them after 28 years. (The host said that it’s because the 1983 version of LOTCH was so well-made and such a classic – haha, he’s obviously a fan!) Sharon is actually a ‘sifu’ now and her own studio where she trains young men and women in various disciplines such as martial arts, tai chi, different elements of dance, etc.

The hosts commented how it’s interesting that not only did the character Muk Nim Chi know kung fu, Sharon also does as well in real life (they made it sound like it was a ‘big reveal’ thing, but actually most of us HKers already knew this about Sharon) – ironically, Muk Nim Chi couldn’t even defeat Au Yeung Hak (since Wong Wan Choi doesn’t know any kung fu in real life)…another funny moment…

During this segment, there was another surprise – turns out that the cast member who played Mui Chiu Fung (the blind, scary-looking woman in black) in the series, Wong Mun Wai, is Sharon’s good friend and they actually get together all the time (she takes Tai Chi lessons at Sharon’s studio). So the hosts were able to reach Wong Mun Wai on the phone so that she could also greet the audience.

.>> Next, the hosts gave Sharon a surprise by arranging for a group of her students to perform for her – that was nice of the hosts to do that! The performance, which incorporated both martial arts and dance moves, was excellent – obviously, Sharon has been working hard trying to train up the next generation of action stars!

.>> Ok, so by this point, I’m sure we can all guess who the next cast member will be – yup, Muk Nim Chi’s other half, Yeung Hong(Michael Miu)!

Of course, the audience went wild when Michael stepped onto the stage (and the first thing he did was hug the female host – haha, she was so flattered!). And yes, Michael looked as handsome as ever on that stage!

He greeted the screaming fans but also told them not to call him ‘3 Gor’ tonight because ‘4 Gor’ (Patrick) is here, so he (Michael) can only be ‘3 Dee’ (little brother). LOL – typical Michael humor!

Ok, I pretty much figured out that the female host (Chu Dan) must be a fan of Michael’s because she kept saying how ‘shuai’ (good-looking) he is. She then asked him if he had any regrets related to the series, to which Michael replied that one ‘regret’ is that his character Yeung Hong dies so early in the series and couldn’t be together with Muk Nim Chi in the end.

Michael also stated that in reality, Yeung Hong isn’t a villain – he’s actually a good person in that he only loves Muk Nim Chi (so he is very loyal when it comes to love), but he allowed the desire for power and fortune to get to his head and destroy him. The best way to describe Yeung Hong is that he is both good and bad – which, as the hosts aptly pointed out, is one reason why his character was so memorable (indeed, he was a character people loved to hate).


.>> So now that Muk Nim Chi has appeared and Yeung Hong has appeared, who does that leave? Of course, saving the ‘best’ for last (haha, well, I actually love the entire cast, but Felix truly is the main lead in the series)….the last cast member to appear was Felix Wong (Kwok Jing).

Omg, the audience REALLY went wild when Felix came out (they even did a countdown for him…5, 4, 3, 2,1…LOL!).

As soon as Felix came out, he walked all around the stage, all suave and cool, posing like a model (I’m surprised they didn’t play the Miss HK music…hahahaha), even buttoning up his jacket while he was walking – the thing that cracked me up the most though was that he had such a serious look on his face! Hehehe! (Also, you could tell Michael was trying hard not to laugh standing right there on the stage with him.)

Of course, when Felix was done with his ‘catwalk’, Michael just had to poke fun at him, saying that this is ‘China Dream Show’, not ‘China Fashion Show’…LOL! (Obviously, I’m a Felix fan – I just love his sense of humor! And of course, love his chemistry with Michael – those two together are just phenomenal!!). Felix said that he was just trying to fulfill his ‘dream’ of doing a ‘catwalk’ and having photographs taken (though the host jokingly said that they didn’t film that segment…hahaha).

Now that Felix was done with his ‘catwalk’, it was down to business -- though of course, he gave the female host a hug as well (boy is she lucky!) But then right afterwards, he hugged the male host as well (Michael looked jealous – hehehe).

The hosts asked Felix to greet the audience as Kwok Jing. He started to get into character, but then realized he had his glasses on (Michael was like – hey, Kwok Jing didn’t wear glasses!), so he had to “NG” and get into character again (LOL…). He puts on the ‘Kwok Jing’ expression (meanwhile the audience goes wild again) and says a few words – the funny thing is, Michael became Yeung Hong and the 2 of them started talking to each other (in Mandarin nonetheless) and acting out a scene together as though no one else was there (I laughed when Michael chimed in with “Kwok Jing speaks Mandarin?”). Awww, love these guys!! (I must admit though that Yeung Hong speaks better Mandarin than Kwok Jing…LOL...)

The host went on to say that the series LOTCH made Felix a household name and made him recognizable to millions of people – what were his feelings about this? (His buddy Michael replied that the series had a great impact on him – their interaction reminded me of their Green Room interview where Michael would sometimes answer for Felix – after all, they’ve known each other 30 years and are closer than brothers!). Felix replied that because of the series, he was ‘set’ for life – he became popular in the Mainland and was invited to do many stage performances, therefore earning lots of money (well, with his so-so Mandarin, he actually said ‘fired up’ instead of ‘popular’, but hey, he’s Felix, so who cares? I forgive him! HAHA).

Michael told the hosts that in addition to Felix demonstrating his singing skills, he was also going to perform his signature pose for everyone (the ‘bow and arrow’ pose that I’m sure all LOTCH fans are familiar with). Michael explained that back then, Felix spent 1 entire day practicing that pose and spent another day filming just that pose – so total 2 days! (the host asked whether it was really that hard?)

First, they showed video clips of Kwok Jing’s ‘signature’ moves, then Felix did his thing (he kept ‘NG’ing again – and Michael kept yelling at him to take off his glasses…LOL!). Finally, Felix did ‘the pose’ (with a serious look on his face again) – then he stood up and rubbed his legs (haha…he’s too old for this now…). Michael then says: “You see, such an easy pose, yet he took 1 day to practice and 1 day to film – he’s definitely the perfect person to play Kwok Jing – so dumb!” (Awww….but hey, Michael has got to be the ONLY person who can call Felix ‘dumb’ in public and get away with it..haha!).

Then, it was Michael’s turn to ‘perform’ – what was his signature move? Well, not really signature move, but remember that scene where Yeung Hong first meets Muk Nim Chi and fights with her, then pulls off her shoe? Classic scene! Michael says that he doesn’t pull off those types of shoes anymore – it’s high heels now -- implying that the host Chu Dan should play the role of Muk Nim Chi so he can pull off her high heels – haha…he was joking though (I’m sure Jamie was backstage watching him – how dare he flirt?…LOL!).

The host Wah Shao asked if he could make a special request (after all, he stayed to host even with an injury primarily because he wanted to make this request) – when he watched LOTCH as a kid, he was so in love with the series that he learned the entire ‘Hong Lung 18 Fists’ kung fu moves (copying that scene in the opening credits where Kwok Jing does the 18 Fists thing). So he asked if Felix could perform ‘Hong Lung 18 Fists’ for him (of course, they were going to make Wah Shao be the ‘target’ for Felix to hit – actually, I think that was Michael’s idea – LOL). They asked the rest of the artists there which of them have been ‘victims’ of the 18 Fists kung fu – of course Au Yeung Hak was the only one, so they made him go up there too.

The next scene was super-funny: it was Kwok Jing with his 18 Fists versus Au-Yeung Hak with his Ha Mo Gong, except the ‘mid-life’ version!! (LOL – so who wins this battle? It was a tie in my opinion!)

.>> After Wong Wan Choi returned to his seat, the camera panned to the audiences, especially to the front row, where quite a few fans were showing off all sorts of LOTCH memorabilia (lucky!). The hosts recounted how when they were young, they were crazy about the series as well and spent lots of money on buying whatever memorabilia they could find (stickers, cards, magazines, etc.), just like the fans here. (Felix tells Michael to return the money to them – Michael tells them to keep the memorabilia for another 30 years and it will be worth a lot. LOL)

.>> In the audience, there was one dedicated fan who even spent money out of pocket to have a special outfit made so that she could dress up as Wong Yung. Indeed, there were also many fans who held up Wong Yung (Barbara Yung) posters and banners.

.>> The show took on a more serious tone as the tribute to Barbara Yung began.

The hosts started off by saying that with today’s special reunion, unfortunately there is 1 important person who could not be present with the group – Wong Yung (Barbara Yung). They went on to show a video clip montage about Barbara that was sort of a recap of her career / life in like 2 minutes. The clip included scenes from the series as well as other events.

As the sad music from LOTCH played in the background, the hosts expressed the sentiments of many fans around the world when they talked about how much everyone misses Barbara and thanking her for giving us such fond memories.

The hosts then went on to ask the guests who were present about Barbara and their memories of her:

.—Wong Wan Choi talked about how the day before Barbara died, he had seen her at work – she was getting off the van after having finished filming and he was just getting on the van to film on location. He noticed how tired and skinny she looked. He told her that she needs to eat more and take care of her health. She replied “Choi Gor, thanks for the concern. I know, I will! Have a good time at work!” The next morning, he received news of her death. It made him realize how valuable life is and how no one knows what may happen the next minute, so be happy and enjoy life.

.—On a lighter note, the cast shared their memories of Barbara back when they filmed LOTCH together:

.> Patrick Tse – He and Barbara actually didn’t have too many scenes together, so mostly they saw each other at the studio. He said that Barbara was a little afraid of him, probably because he always had a ‘serious look’ back then, plus he was a senior, so sometimes he came across as intimidating.

.> Paul Gor – He said that he is even more senior than Patrick, so everyone was intimidated by him. He said that Barbara was a very lively and cute person and in reality, everyone doted on her. Her death was definitely a huge loss to the entire television industry.

.> Michael talked about his memories of Barbara (he knew her best, as both himself and Jamie were close friends with her). Even though the two of them weren’t paired together and were actually ‘enemies’ in LOTCH, they did collaborate on a lot of series together after that. Michael expressed that his relationship with Barbara was that of ‘brothers’ – he never treated her like a female because she was always so lively and active, so he treated her pretty much like a ‘brother’.

Michael’s fondest memory of Barbara when filming LOTCH was the one time when she accidentally hit him in the eye with her ‘da gau pang’ and he ended up spending 1 month in the hospital. Michael said the first thought that entered his mind when he fell to the ground was “Where’s my eye?” (he felt like his eyeball was poked out). The injury was actually pretty severe, but he recovered and never blamed her for the accident. In fact, after that, they became good friends.

.> Felix said that when he was watching the video clip earlier, it brought back a lot of memories of the time they spent together filming LOTCH. He expressed that Barbara was very intelligent and also a quick learner – when the senior actors would teach her some acting stuff, she would understand right away the essence of the acting. He also said that Barbara was very personable and therefore had a lot of friends – sometimes, when they didn’t have to work, she would teach him skills on how to interact with people, etc.

.> Both Michael and Felix expressed that Barbara is a very straightforward and direct person – whenever she saw injustice being done, she would speak out and stand up for what was right…she definitely had a ‘xia nu’ (chivalrous) personality.

.>> After the cast shared their memories of Barbara, the hosts stated that with this being the 28 year reunion of the LOTCH cast, the reunion would not be complete without Wong Yung. So they said that today, they were going to use a special method to have Wong Yung be a part of the reunion as well. It was something that they had specially designed for the event.

.>> A video clip was played with various scenes from the series, but modern dialogue was added so that it sounded like Wong Yung was talking to everyone 28 years later.

Wong Yung to Kwok Jing: Jing Gor Gor, I’m over here! So many years have passed, how come you are still as silly as before? But, you are getting cuter and cuter!

Wong Yung to Yeung Hong: Yeung Hong, are you still bullying my Jing Gor Gor, even now so many years later? Be careful – I won’t let you get away with it!

Wong Yung to AuYeung Hak: Au Yeung Hak, I heard that your singing is not bad now, but why is it that your physique is looking more and more like Lao Wan Tong (Chow Bak Tong)?

.>> The significance of the clip is that the organizers invited the woman who was the voice of Wong Yung in the Mandarin version of LOTCH 28 years ago to record the special video clip using Wong Yung’s voice. They also invited her onto the stage as well.

To be honest, this particular moment in the show didn’t have as much significance to me as it probably did to the audience, as I never watched the Mandarin version of the series (of course I watched the series in its original Cantonese version). But as the hosts explained, all of the Mainland China audiences could only watch the Mandarin dubbed version of the series and back then, 28 years ago, that was the exact voice of Wong Yung – so for Mainland audiences, hearing that voice again was very special for them. Some of the fans in the audience were actually crying because they were so touched by it. Even though there was less of an impact for me, I definitely appreciate the efforts of the organizers with this segment.

.>> Ms Liao (the voice of Wong Yung) came on the stage and shared her memories of working on the series (in terms of the voice over work) and also meeting Barbara Yung. As Ms Liao was speaking, Felix was using his hand to measure how tall she was and said she is very similar in height to Barbara – when the host asked about her voice, Felix replied that Ms Liao’s voice sounded better than Barbara’s (aww, come on Felix…LOL!).

.>> The segment ended with 2 Mainland artists singing the themesong to part 2 of the series, 射鵰英雄傳之東邪西毒.

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Ending

.>> In the last segment, the hosts talked about how big of an impact that LOTCH had on Mainland audiences, to the point that it even inspired some people to do have a ‘chivalrous’ attitude and do heroic works (they had a guy recount a story of modern day heroism)

.>> And the grand finale – Felix Wong and Mainland artist Yang Li sang the themesong for part 1 of LOTCH, 鐵血丹心.

Yay!! Felix did a great job with the singing (especially for a non-professional singer) – but then again, he’s had many opportunities to practice the song because it’s the same one he performs at his ‘Fai Wong Concerts’! Hahaha! Hey, even Michael commented at the end of the performance that it is this song that has given Felix his livelihood the past 30 years!

Also, I loved how Felix kept trying to pull Michael onstage to sing with him –Michael refused to, probably because he didn’t know the song as well as Felix (LOL). It was also fun to see the rest of the cast singing along with Felix.

.>> At the very end, the hosts invited all the guests onto the stage for a special cake cutting ceremony and also to celebrate Paul Chun’s birthday (which was in May). That was a very nice gesture! At the same time, they also took a group picture.

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Stay tuned for the final post related to this show – My Final Thoughts!