Sorry that this news is kind of ‘old’ now (it’s from last
week) -- I’ve actually had this post in draft mode for a few days already but
only got around to finishing it today.
All BOGAE (TVB series Blood of Good and Evil)
fans need to read this post!!!
Last week, classic 80s/90s TVB onscreen couple Deric Wan (溫兆倫) and
Maggie Siu (邵美琪) got the chance to reunite on the premiere episode of
the Mainland reality TV show It Was You (原來是你). The premise of the show is that the invited
celebrity guest undergoes various “transformations” using Hollywood-style
makeup and special effects and then interacts with other celebrity friends to
see if they are able to recognize him/her. In this first episode, Deric was invited to
undergo the transformation and pull a surprise on his close friends Maggie Siu,
Benz Hui (許紹雄),
and BOGAE’s scriptwriter Chan Po Wah (陳寶華).
The show invited the 3 unsuspecting friends to attend the show’s
recording, telling them that they will be judges for a talent show competition -- Deric will interact with them in various situations, disguised as someone
else.
My mom was actually the one who told me about this show,
as she has taken to watching Mainland variety shows in recent years and, as a
long-time HK entertainment as well as TVB fan, she is always on the look-out
for any HK celebrities who appear on the shows.
When she told me about this one with Deric and Maggie (plus Po Wah Jie),
I was undoubtedly SUPER-EXCITED because 1) they are one of my all-time favorite
on-screen couples, and 2) BOGAE is one of my all-time favorite TVB series. Even though Benz Hui wasn’t in BOGAE, he’s
still one of my all-time favorite ‘green leaf’ actors, so I was excited to see
him on the show too.
Watching this show brought back a lot of nostalgia and
fond memories for me! From the opening
segment when Deric talks about his days working at TVB and series he filmed to
the 3 friends who have a special place in his heart (Maggie, Benz, and Po Wah
Jie) to the last segment where Maggie re-enacts the classic ending scene from
BOGAE with a transformed Deric (Maggie didn’t know it was him until he revealed
himself after the scene), I was absolutely ecstatic – at the same time though,
I also had tears in my eyes, especially during that later segment, which was
extremely touching, particularly for fans of the series like me.
The first friend that Deric “surprised” was Benz. To be honest, I also got teary-eyed at the
end of Benz’s segment (ok, well I started off laughing until my stomach hurt)
when Deric revealed himself and they hugged each other – Benz’s reaction was
priceless, as he hadn’t seen Deric in more than a decade and so was genuinely
surprised…Deric looked like he was about to cry, as he was so happy to see his ‘older
brother’ again after all these years.
The second friend was Chan Po Wah. Po Wah Jie was one of TVB’s former
scriptwriters who had left back in the early 2000s and currently writes for TV
series in Mainland China. Po Wah Jie is
actually Deric’s mentor, as she was the scriptwriter for BOGAE and wrote the
character of Chai Ho Nam, which was one of Deric’s most representative roles of
his entire acting career. Po Wah Jie’s
segment was actually quite funny, as they did a ‘discussion’ session with a
bunch of supposed contestants and she talked about the artists she most enjoyed
working with as well as a few other ‘tid-bits’ about the series BOGAE. It was obvious from what Po Wah Jie said that
she’s very close with Deric and knows him very very well – by the same token,
Deric obviously has a lot of respect for Po Wah Jie, which is heartwarming to
see, especially since it’s rare for scriptwriters to have such a good
relationship with artists who brought the characters they wrote to life.
The ultimate ‘target’ of the surprise was actually
Maggie. After Benz and Po Wah Jie found
out Deric’s identity, they collaborated with him to prank Maggie. Here I must applaud Jiangsu TV station’s seriousness
in putting together the ‘fake’ talent show, complete with 'fake' contestants and 'fake' performances in order to make the surprise more
impactful and poignant while still being able to tie in most of Deric and Maggie's past
collaborations such as BOGAE, Looking Back in Anger, Conscience….it
was a dream come true for Deric/Maggie fans!
At the very end, when Deric revealed himself, Maggie was genuinely
touched and so was everyone else – she kept asking Deric why he had to put
himself through so much suffering (6 hours of makeup plus he could barely talk
correctly or do much facial expression because of it), to which he replied that
he is honored to have her as a friend and is willing to do anything for
her. Awww, such a sweet moment – oh and
with BOGAE’s themesong playing in the background (one of my all-time favorite
themesongs by the way)….everyone was crying, including those in the live
audience as well as fans watching from home (I was definitely one of those fans
crying my eyes out)! Oh and great job to
Benz and Po Wah Jie, who knew what was happening during that entire segment and played along really well (honestly, Po
Wah Jie should be an actress – she was very natural in that segment!)
This was absolutely a fun episode to watch and chances
are I will watch it again very soon (especially since I miss Deric and Maggie
so much). It also made me want to go
re-watch BOGAE again (for like the hundredth time now)!
Thank you Jiangsu TV for such a great episode! I’m not really into Mainland variety shows,
but whenever there are HK celebrities invited on the shows, I will usually
watch. This episode is an absolute
MUST-WATCH for all BOGAE as well as Deric/Maggie fans!
The link to the entire episode is below (courtesy of
Jiangsu TV’s Youtube channel). Enjoy!!
Thank you for this post. It was definitely a treat for BOGAE fans to seen Ho Nam/Deric and Yee Ming/Maggie reunite. I cried when he revealed himself to Maggie. He has so much respect for her.
ReplyDelete@Cee Bee: You’re welcome!! J
DeleteIt was such a sweet sweet moment! I actually was most touched by Maggie sobbing and asking Deric several times why he put himself through so much for her – it shows how concerned she was for his well-being as well as how much Deric valued Maggie as a friend. And then when they hugged each other, oh man, I was crying so hard! For me, that segment between Deric and Maggie had the same level of emotional intensity as that last BOGAE scene with Ho Nam and Yee Ming.
The only part I didn’t like was that the clip excerpts from the series were in dubbed Mandarin (which of course makes sense since this is a Mainland variety show after all), so it wasn’t Deric and Maggie’s original voices….plus it was kind of weird hearing the dialogue spoken in Mandarin rather than Cantonese – it diminished the impact of those scenes in my opinion... (though it could’ve been just me, as I hate watching anything “dubbed” in another language…I prefer to watch in its original language).
@Cee Bee: You’re welcome!! J
DeleteIt was such a sweet sweet moment! I actually was most touched by Maggie sobbing and asking Deric several times why he put himself through so much for her – it shows how concerned she was for his well-being as well as how much Deric valued Maggie as a friend. And then when they hugged each other, oh man, I was crying so hard! For me, that segment between Deric and Maggie had the same level of emotional intensity as that last BOGAE scene with Ho Nam and Yee Ming.
The only part I didn’t like was that the clip excerpts from the series were in dubbed Mandarin (which of course makes sense since this is a Mainland variety show after all), so it wasn’t Deric and Maggie’s original voices….plus it was kind of weird hearing the dialogue spoken in Mandarin rather than Cantonese – it diminished the impact of those scenes in my opinion... (though it could’ve been just me, as I hate watching anything “dubbed” in another language…I prefer to watch in its original language).
I agree, it was very moving and probably more so than the final scene of BOGAE itself as this time Deric was doing it as Deric not Hou Nam. As an aside, I wonder whether he sees Hou Nam as his alter ego. I laughed and cried. Maggie's reaction was priceless, there was a range of emotions there and it was heart wrenching watching her cry as she lay on the floor, realising who was in front of her and what he'd done because of her.
DeleteI agree, that the dubbing is really annoying and does not have the same impact as the original dialogue in its original language!
Just imagine how different things would be if it had been Tony Leung playing Hou Nam!
Oh, I read the comments on Jayne Stars about this program but the disparaging ones are clearly written by a newer generation who were clearly not even born when BOGAE came out! Anyway, Maggie is classy now as she was back then. No wonder she gets called 女神 on Chinese social media.
Delete@Cee Bee: I read those comments on JS too and had the same reaction as you…didn’t bother responding though, since I knew it would fall on deaf ears anyway and figured it wasn’t worth it to frustrate myself. I would much rather discuss the series with those who have actually watched and/or were around back then and can truly share in the memories/nostalgia.
DeleteMaggie is still very beautiful and classy in my book and she looked absolutely stunning on the Mainland show – to the point that it was hard to believe 25 years had already passed since BOGAE was filmed/aired. I will always support her regardless!
Same with Deric too. I know he gets a lot of backlash nowadays because of his personal views on HK and Mainland China, but to be honest, why should we care about that and negate all of his past achievements in acting just because he holds opposing political views? Speaking of Deric, he clashed with the HK Media AGAIN just last week, as he had written some stuff on his weibo (general statement that he doesn’t like certain words commonly used by reporters in their articles because of the incorrect application of those words to what they are writing about – he didn’t name names and the post wasn’t directed to anyone in particular) – however, a certain HK media outlet with strong anti-China views (ahemnextmediaahem) immediately jumped on his post and published a nasty, disparaging article about him. Even I got pissed reading the article, so I can imagine why Deric would be absolutely livid….and now because of this incident, I can totally understand why he takes the extreme position he does towards the HK media and absolutely refuses to accept even a single interview with any of them.
Oh, as a means of follow up: Deric actually wrote messages to Benz, Po Wah Jeh, and Maggie on his Weibo thanking them for appearing on the show and reiterating what he had told them when he revealed himself to them on the show. One of the things I like about Deric is that he is very genuine in his friendships and personality-wise, he is straight-forward and also not afraid to show his true feelings – like Po Wah Jeh said, if you treat him right and Deric knows you are sincere in caring about him and wanting to understand him, he will pour his heart and soul into the friendship and consider you a friend for life (Po Wah Jeh’s relationship with Deric is testament to this, as it was very obvious during that discussion segment how much she admires Deric’s talent and respects him for who he is – not to mention she truly does understand him, as she was spot on when she described Deric’s personality and why he interacts with people the way he does).
DeleteLOL…yea, that was quite a revelation there when Po Wah Jeh mentioned Tony Leung playing Chai Hou Nam. Love Tony and no doubt he would’ve done a great job, but I’m actually glad it didn’t turn out that way because Deric truly was amazing in the role (plus more meaningful for Deric, since Tony was already a seasoned, established actor by then so it would’ve been just an ordinary role for him).
I've had a look at Deric's Weibo comments to Maggie, Po Wah and Benz. He really cares about his friends and I admire that he's so open about it.
DeleteI notice that Maggie is more reserved and doesn't comment so much on her Weibo account (yes, I am a little obsessed at the moment). She has always been very consistent in not revealing much about her private life and I love the way she deals with reporters by saying "Sorry, I don't answer questions about my relationship", while smiling sweetly at them.
A wonderful and touching scene from that Mainland reality show to 'reunite' famous on-screen couple of TVB hits BOGAE. Hou Nam-Yee Ming is definitely the most memorable Deric-Maggie couple. It's TVB pride to produce this flawless drama 25/26 years ago, a slap for their current so called grand series which only offer just easily-forgotten story...Sad to know that we only can digging their oldies to get high-quality drama.
ReplyDelete@jadul80: Totally agree!! And not only is TVB incapable of producing such grand, flawless series anymore, the whole “golden couple” thing no longer exists either. Majority of the pairings in TVB series nowadays lack chemistry and therefore very few “golden couples” emerged in the past decade, especially compared to the old days (70s, 80s, 90s). Such a shame that TVB has deteriorated to the point that they can’t even get the couple thing right nowadays.
DeleteOh and I definitely find it ironic that most of the TVB series cast / couple “reunions” and nostalgic moments have been taking place in Mainland China (on non-TVB affiliated shows) in recent years rather than in HK. There was the Dicky Cheung / Rain Lau reunion earlier on that Mainland variety show (they were such a sweet couple in Mystery of the Twin Swords 2 and Journey to the West), a partial TVB 5 Tigers reunion (only 3 Tigers were present) on a Mainland reality show that Kent Tong had participated in, the Legend of the Condor Heroes (1983 version) cast reunion on a Mainland variety show several years ago, etc. I think it’s sad that TVB can’t make such reunions happen yet other shows are able to….
It seems that TVB dumps and deletes their past hits, this HKG powerful TV station has bad realtion with several actors including Deric Wan. They're trying to erase all their golden days and build all hype current drama which is totally nothing but crappy production. Young gens have no matter to enjoy the declined quality TVB since they have different preference with us who growing up and spoiled to watch their 80's & early 90's prime TVB.
DeleteOff-topic : I wanna ask you about TVB old series titled A Friend In Need (1988), have you ever seen this drama? I saw the trailer and found strong cast like Jamie Chik, Jacqueline Law, Simon Yam, David Siu, Fiona Leung, Leon Lai.
@jadul80: It sure does seem like it, though my guess is that the current management probably has no clue, since most of them weren't around back then and didn't really contribute to that past glory. TVB Magazine is proof of this....I'm probably one of the few people out there who still subscribe to TVB magazine (of course that's not the only magazine I subscribe to) and when I read some of the articles in there, I get ticked off at the lack of knowledge that the editorial team has regarding the 'glory days' of TVB -- some of the information they publish is actually wrong and it's very obvious that whoever wrote it is from the newer generation who has never watched the older series and therefore has no business writing about those series. In comparisons, Mingpao actually has better articles about the old days of TVB and classic series / characters / artists (and no, MP is not associated with TVB whatsoever!)
DeleteYes, I've seen the series A Friend in Need. It's actually not a bad series and the cast is definitely very strong. Also, it's one of the few series where Jamie Chik actually plays a villain character. I watched this series a long time ago (and I believe I still have it on videotape somewhere) and since I've re-watched several times over the years (alot of the series from the 70s/80s/90s were definitely worth re-watching over and over), I still vaguely remember parts of the plot/storyline. From what I remember (don't quote me on this though, as it's been at least 20 years -- maybe even more -- since I last watched the series), Jacqueline and David are a pair in the beginning and Fiona is Jacqueline's best friend -- the two of them end up betraying Jacqueline by having an affair behind her back...she decides to end the relationship so that the two of them can be together. I don't remember all the details, but I recall that David and Fiona do get married and have a baby, but their personalities clash and they end up arguing all the time...I remember one scene where they are fighting and one of them accidentally drops the baby on the floor (I think the baby dies and that's how David and Fiona's relationship ends but again, can't really remember). After she ends her relationship with David, Jacqueline gets involved with Simon, who is some drifting but suave photographer or something like that (this is the series where Simon always wore a bandanna on his head, lol..I think it was because his hair hadn't grown back yet from filming wuxia series)....their relationship eventually incurs the wrath of Jamie, who is either Simon's ex or has a one-sided crush on him (again, the details are kind of fuzzy), so Jamie teams up with Felix Lok and I think Paul Chun to take revenge on Jacqueline's family. I actually don't remember much about Leon's role except that he has a crush on Jacqueline and the two of them end up together in the final episode (like literally the last few minutes of that episode). William So and Ellen Chen are also in this series (William plays Leon's brother or his cousin -- can't remember which, but I know their characters are related -- and Ellen plays Jacqueline's younger sister). Overall, the story is typical complicated love relationships + revenge + dramatic stuff so nothing too exciting or original, but the strong cast (which we'll never encounter again obviously) and the acting are well worth your time watching...if anything, watch the series for Jacqueline, as she gives a more mature performance in this series compared with most of her other series from around that time period (she's obviously one of my favorite actresses from back then and each time I re-watch her series, I can't help but feel saddened all over again that we lost such a good actress and overall great person...).
I vaguely remember this too. For a long time, I thought it was Leon Lai singing the opening theme but of course, it was Deric!
DeleteI also agree that today's drama series simply do not compare with what we had in the 80s and 90s. Not only that, but like llwy12 said, the current management at TVB does not seem to have a clue what they're doing and seem to be blind to the treasures of the past.
@Cee Bee: LOL! Coincidentally, I thought the same thing too! For the longest time, I thought Leon sang the theme song and it wasn’t until I started searching for the song that I realized Deric was the one who sang it. Definitely a great song (as almost all of the theme songs back then were) and one that I still remember even to this day.
DeleteThe thing that frustrates me the most about TVB management is that they are absolutely clueless about the treasures of the past, but yet, they are shameless enough to piggyback on the coattails of past successes (which they had no part in) to get them what they want or to promote current programs/series. Every time I hear their management ‘brag’ about such and such achievement from back in the day or how they helped such and such artist boost their career, etc., I feel like yelling at them “YOU DIDN’T HAVE A HAND IN THAT SO QUIT TRYING TO CLAIM CREDIT!!!!” A former TVB artist said something in an interview recently that I absolutely agree with (in fact, I’ve actually been saying the same thing for years): with so many artists leaving recently, many of whom had worked for TVB for years, there are bound to be some die-hard TVB fanatics who will paint those artists as “traitors” for leaving a company that helped build their careers and made them into the person they are today…in response to this sentiment, this particular artist said (very wisely) something along the lines of (I’m paraphrasing here): ‘It wasn’t TVB [specifically TVB management] who made me who I am today – rather, it’s the teachers who taught me acting, the producers who cast me in their productions, the scriptwriters who created the characters, the veteran artists who let me watch their performances and gave me pointers on how to polish my acting skills, and my own hard work as well as passion for the craft – all that combined made me into the respected artist I am today.’ When I heard this, the first word out of my mouth was: HALLELUJAH!!!! FINALLY, an artist is giving credit where credit is due – wish all artists thought that way!
Thank u so much llwy12 for the series info, you're TVB oldies expert :) I don't remember the current series that I watched completely full episode, even I skipped some eps of the high-rated Moonlight Resonance due to boredom as the storyline is dragging a lot and cheesy ending as usual, an evil character turns good in just 1 episode, LOL
DeleteWanna to watch A Friend In Need soon, looks like not bad drama ;) Talking about Deric Wan, there're some TVB dramas that I have not yet to watch : Friend and Enemies (1988), Lemon Husband (1988), One Step Beyond (1991) and his 2000's collection : A Legend of Love, Good Against Evil, The Vigilante In The Mask. I believe you have watched all his series :D
@jadul80: You’re welcome! Haha, I’m actually not sure why I remember so much of the older series – I’m thinking probably because I’ve re-watched the older series many times over the years so parts of the plot stick in my brain, whereas with the newer series, I barely finish watching even once so of course not going to remember, LOL. I did watch most of Moonlight Resonance, but it was essentially torture, as pretty much the entire series was people arguing and crying – each episode was the same thing, just rotating the characters…after like the 10th episode of the same crap, I felt like pulling my hair out. I barely made it through the series once (mostly to support the veteran artists in that series whom I liked) but of course never watched it again!
DeleteAre those the only Deric series you haven’t seen yet? Or there are more? I actually recommend his older TVB series (the ones from the 80s and 90s), as the later ones weren’t that good (not his fault really but the scripts pretty much sucked). I would have to say that the only “after 2000s” Deric series that I liked were Golden Faith and Good Against Evil, so if you’re going to watch his “after 2000s” collection, I recommend starting with those 2 first.
In terms of 80s series: don’t bother with Lemon Husband, as Deric only has guest-starring role in there and very minimal screentime (plus his role in there was forgettable anyway)….the “stars” of that series were actually Liu Wai Hung and Carina Lau and the focus of pretty much the entire series was on them. The other 2 you listed (Friends and Enemies, One Step Beyond) are pretty watchable and not bad choices at all (though not Deric’s representative works but entertaining nonetheless). Aside from his obvious ‘representative’ (and also more popular) works from the 80s/90s such as Looking Back in Anger, Blood of Good and Evil, The Breaking Point, Conscience, the other ones I would absolutely recommend are: 1) his first TVB series, the sitcom City Japes from 1986 (this was actually the first series I saw of Deric’s and started liking him already) – this is actually my favorite TVB sitcom of all time (I’ve seen it so many times that I actually have some of the dialogue in certain episodes memorized, LOL) and it was also the series where a few of my other favorite actors (such as Gallen Lo and Roger Kwok) debuted. Oh and the number of guest stars in this sitcom was amazing – so many familiar faces and famous names pop up in various episodes!! Good luck finding this sitcom though because it’s pretty much extinct now. 2) War of the Dragon (1989) is another series I would recommend – it’s actually from the same producer as Looking Back in Anger (award-winning scriptwriter/producer Wai Ka Fai) and it’s quite dramatic / intense (and, like most of WKF’s series, very very tragic) but the entire cast was excellent in this and the script was well-written. Deric’s role in this series was technically second male lead but he definitely held his own opposite Simon Yam (the main lead) – his portrayal of an undercover cop infiltrating the triads was quite convincing, not to mention his character was quite likable....one word of warning though – there are quite a few “The Greed of Man-style-you might want to close your eyes” dramatic scenes in the series, so it’s definitely not for the faint-hearted. Oh and one of Deric’s most popular / famous sub-theme songs was from this series (the song is called 沒有你之後 I'm sure you'd probably recognize it if you heard it)....
@jadul80: (response continued from above...) --
Delete3) On the Edge from 1991 was another great series (you’ve probably seen this one) where the cast was excellent (in addition to Deric, Francis Ng, Michael Tao, and Sheren Tang were also in this – all favorites of mine as well..LOL)...it was another intense series, sad, tragic, but very very well-acted (loved the theme song too, which was also sung by Deric) 4) Vengeance from 1992 was another popular favorite from that time, though focus was mainly on Irene Wan in that series (whom I’ve never really been too keen on as an actress but oh well). To be honest, Deric’s role was kind of ‘a walk in the park’ for him (meaning it was run-of-the-mill good guy / he could do this in his sleep type role) but hey, he’s the lead, the supporting cast did a good job, the story was engaging enough (though overly melodramatic and ridiculous at certain parts), so definitely still worth watching.
Those are the ones I remember most off the top of my head. There are probably more but I would have to go back and check my notes to jog my memory…
Thank you soooo much for posting this! I'll watch it later, already placed it in my 'watch list' on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! :-) Looking forward to hearing your comments on the show once you're done watching.
Deletewhy did they go and do something like this...I shipped them so heart and then let my ship sink after years of non interactions now this...
ReplyDeletethank you for bring this to us. It's great to see them together again.
Maggie and Deric have always been my favourite onscreen couple and they still are till this day! BOGAE is my all time fav TVB series! I have not seen another series like it! I just can't believe it's been over 20 years since that series came out!!! I still think they both have aged nicely, I mean yes Deric doesn't look as handsome and charming as back in the day but he's 50 and for a 50 year old I think he looks great! Maggie still looks the same as she did back then to me anyways... She's always been so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHello. I just stumbled across this post yesterday and just want to say a big thank you! That was most certainly a lovely trip down my childhood. The Blood of Good and Evil is my all time favorite TVB series and Deric and Maggie my all time favorite pairing. I don't know Mandarin :( but I've watched that reunion show for over 5x already! (Don't judge me hehe)
ReplyDeleteLuckily the parts of the Deric reveal, Maggie and Deric spoke in Cantonese. So touching and sweet. It's so lovely to know that they still treasure each others friendship. I guess when you're busy with your one lives, it's so easy to lose touch with friends. That's very true to life.
I don't understand Mandarin and I was wondering would someone be so kind as to translate what Chan Po Wah said about BOGAE, Tony Leung and Deric?
Also, close to the end did Deric say to Maggie to call him and she said that she would in Mandarin?
Thank you in advance!
--bogaefan
@Anonymous bogaefan: You’re welcome! BOGAE is one of my favorite series too and of course, Deric and Maggie are also one of my favorite onscreen couples, so this was definitely an enjoyable (albeit also very emotional) post to put together. LOL, hats off to you for watching this show 5 times despite not understanding the language – very impressive and admirable! All 3 ‘reunion’ segments were awesome and very moving in my opinion, but of course, for Deric/Maggie shippers like us, the last segment was definitely the most memorable and touching. Deric was basically telling Maggie that he cherishes her as a friend and if she ever feels like she needs someone to talk to, call him and he will be there for her. He also said he will always support her no matter what happens, which was also very sweet and touching!
DeleteHere’s a quick summary of Chan Po Wah’s segment – feel free to let me know if you need more details or need translation on any other segment.
The hosts asked whether there was a particular artist she liked, to which she replied Deric Wan, whom she had collaborated with in BOGAE. She said that she had watched his previous works and her impression of him up to that point was that he’s very good at portraying villain roles (similar to what most audiences thought at that time due to the phenoenal job Deric did in 1989’s Looking Back in Anger). She said that the role in BOGAE was important to Deric because, coming off his role in LBIA, this was his chance to ‘become good again’. She said she felt Deric was very sincere in his excitement for the role and whenever they talked, he would thank her repeatedly for creating Chai Ho Nam, as he really loved the character and felt that he WAS Chai Ho Nam. Then the hosts asked her who the character of Chai Ho Nam was originally written for, to which she replied it could’ve been Tony Leung (the people there -- all of whom knew that Deric was sitting there except for Po Wah Jeh of course -- tried to ‘rub it in’ by saying that they liked Tony Leung better, haha). Someone then asked her who she liked better, Tony or Deric (in the context of who she liked better to portray Chai Ho Nam)? Po Wah Jeh’s response was very touching – she said that both of them are different, so shouldn’t compare. She said that you guys like Tony better perhaps because of his personal charm and attractiveness, but with Chai Ho Nam, there’s no doubt that Deric absolutely captured the essence of the character – he did a great job and is truly an excellent actor. The hosts then went on to ask Po Wah Jeh want she thought of Deric as a person and she said that he is a good person who can be very sentimental – if you helped him out at any point in his life / career, he will remember it forever and is forever grateful. She said that even though they may not be in constant contact with each other (especially after Deric shifted his career to Mainland), she still pays attention to what he’s been up to and feels that he has changed quite a bit due to all the experiences (whether positive or negative) that he’s had over the years (meaning he has matured, both from acting and personality perspective), which she feels is a good thing. She said that Deric is very respectful of his seniors, though sometimes TOO respectful, lol – she said that when they would meet for dinner and such, he would hold her arm like he would his mother and he would tell her to wait there while he went to go hail a cab because he didn’t want her to have to walk too far -- Po Wah Jeh half-jokingly “complained” that Deric treated her like an elderly senior and she was like ‘hey, I actually walk faster than him!’ (haha, so cute!). Then came the ‘big reveal’ – you could tell that Po Wah Jeh was genuinely shocked and even when Deric said who he was, she still didn’t believe it until he told her where they went the last time they had dinner together. I was actually quite moved when Deric said that he was restricted by the makeup he had on otherwise he would have tears streaming down his face right at that moment….
hello llwy12 and thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteWow, so Chan Po Wah wrote Chai Ho Nam with Tony Leung in mind. I wonder if she wrote Sek Yee Ming with Maggie in mind too then? Has Chan Po Wah ever mentioned that about Maggie?
I love Tony too, and he and Maggie were really sweet together in the Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre.
However, there is only one Chai Ho Nam and it's Deric for sure! Deric not only captured the essence of Ho Nam, he embodied the role and all facets of the complex character.
After Deric revealed himself, and Maggie said in Cantonese why he put himself through the suffering and Deric answered it's been so many years since he's seen her. At any point do they say in Mandarin exactly how many years they haven't seen each other?
At the end of the "reunion" show when the credits were rolling, and Maggie was sitting alone facing the camera, what did she say in Mandarin?
Also, regarding the BOGAE DVD release, do you know if this DVD set of BODAE that was recently released is the uncut original airing of the series?
http://www.hmv.com.hk/product/dvd.asp?sku=843878
@Anonymous BOGAE fan: To be quite honest, I’m actually not 100% sure that Chan Po Wah truly did write BOGAE with Tony Leung in mind, as the way she answered the question was literally “could have been Tony Leung” (those were the exact words she used in Chinese)….could be that when she was writing the script she didn’t have anyone in particular in mind, but then when they started casting, perhaps she felt that Tony Leung would be a good choice? It’s possible, since BOGAE aired in HK in May 1990, which means the filming would have to have been completed a few months prior to that and the script and casting way before that (going back to 1989 when Tony was still at TVB). Either way though, I agree with you that there is only one Chai Ho Nam and Deric absolutely nailed it with his performance, which makes the question of who was possible ‘first choice’ for the role a moot point now. In terms of Maggie, I actually have not heard whether she was first choice for the role of Shek Yee Ming or not, but just like Deric, she nailed the role so to me, it doesn’t matter.
DeleteThe reunion segment -- Deric and Maggie didn’t mention how long they hadn’t seen each other – Deric only said it was ‘many many years’ and he missed Maggie dearly. Another touching part was near the end of that speech when Deric said that he will forever be by Maggie’s side, then he said in Mandarin that he will “wait for her to call him and confide in him what is in her heart”, to which Maggie replied in tears (also in Mandarin), “you always text me, wechat me to tell me to be careful, I know, thank you, but why do you need to suffer so much, please don’t”…..so sounds like Deric and Maggie did keep in touch over the years, but was mostly surface level stuff, since both were probably busy with their own lives…and Maggie is the type who doesn’t like to burden others with her personal problems, especially relationship problems – which, reading between the lines, is most likely what Deric was referring to when he said he would continue to wait for Maggie to “confide” in him (coincides with the intro segment where Deric said that Maggie was like a ‘brother’ to him while he was like a ‘sister’ to Maggie). Also coincides with what Deric said at the end when he embraced Maggie and said to the audiences that “I’ve known Maggie for many years, in my heart, she is always a very strong woman, someone whom I will always feel it is worth it to do anything for, without regret.”
The last part where Maggie is by herself, she said: “Wow, too many previous memories all came rushing back, ah, that’s how we were back then! Very good, very happy! Made me feel that our efforts were not in vain, the entire collaboration process was very happy!”
As far as that particular DVD release of the series – not sure, as I never purchased that version, so can’t compare with the original version that I’ve seen on videotape and also on TVB’s own channels/website. However, one thing I will say is that most of the DVD versions of TVB’s series have mirrored pretty closely with the originals (I’m talking about original, official releases from TVB themselves or via one of their licensed, approved distributors of course, NOT bootleg versions). Based on the info on the website, looks like this one is the full 40 episodes and released by TVBI, plus it’s the exact same cover as the videotape as well as the poster from back then…so most likely it’s safe (albeit the price is tremendously steep…though honestly not surprised, as I’ve noticed that a lot of recent DVD releases of TVB classic series have been VERY expensive).
DeleteI grew up watching tvb dramas but I wonder how I had missed this fantastic drama. Being an Indian but thanks to my addiction towards tvb dramas, I could grasp the basic dialogue but little especially when it came to hou nam's and yee meng's dialogues. I wish I could get a version with english subtitles.. Nevertheless, hoping to learn up more phrases in Cantonese and binge watch it again.. My memories of derics roles were always of antagonists roles. So apart fr vengeance, this has etched a new beginning to binge watch more tvb dramas from the 90s..
ReplyDelete@tar group: Sorry for the delayed response! I think the official DVD version of BOGAE has English subtitles so you might want to check that out when you get a chance (though I will tell you up front that the original DVD version is VERY expensive so that's something to keep in mind). But definitely, I agree that it's best to watch the series (and all HK series actually) in Cantonese, as I feel it makes a huge difference in viewing experience -- not to mention something always gets lost in translation, no matter how good the translation is.
DeleteI think I'm the opposite in that I was exposed to Deric's protagonist roles before his antagonist ones (most of his series from the 1980s era -- which is when I started following TVB -- were protagonist roles), so that piece didn't make a whole lot of difference to me. One of the reasons I love BOGAE so much is because the series from all aspects was so well-made -- from the script to the casting to the acting to production quality, etc., so much of it was near perfection. It's hard to find such a well-produced TVB series nowadays, so makes me cherish the ones from the 80s and 90s even more!