1983 version Legend of the Condor Heroes Cast Reunion (中国梦想秀--83版射鵰英雄傳重聚) – PART 1

Picture (courtesy of Hubei.com)

A couple days ago, Zhejiang Satellite Television in China arranged an awesome 28 year reunion show for the cast of the classic TV series Legend of the Condor Heroes (1983 version). Though not everyone who was part of the cast was able to make it (there were over 100 artists in that version and even the supporting characters had memorable roles), the ones who did really brought back great memories of the series!

Here is the link to the show courtesy of Tudou: 1983 version LOTCH reunion

Overall, the show was awesome! In addition to having the cast members come on the show to talk about their memories from filming the series, their were also some special performances as well (such as dancers from Sharon Yeung’s dance studio doing a special kungfu-themed performance). The tribute to Barbara Yung was also very poignant and well done.

Here are a few highlights from the show – due to the length of the show, I will be doing a multiple part post based on the segments from the show:

.>> The show started with 2 Mainland artists dressed up as Kwok Jing and Wong Yung who came out to sing the theme song to Part 1 of the series (射鵰英雄傳之鐵血丹心).

.>> After the opening number, the first segment of the show featured 4 cast members who were introduced individually with video clips from the series and some commentary, then each one came out behind the big screen to greet the audience.

.>> The first cast member to appear was Wong Wan Choi, who played Au-Yeung Hak in the series.

When Wong Wan Choi came out, the host said he looked like he was going to a concert. He replied that the past few years, he’s become a “singer” and has been performing at various places in China. He says that he is no longer Au-Yeung Hak, but rather Au-Yeung ‘Bak’ now (haha…he was basically saying that he is no longer a villain and was re-born, so he’s a good guy now). He gets to show his ‘singing’ skills later on in the show by performing one of the LOTCH theme songs for the audience.

.>> The second cast member was Chan On Ying, who played Sor Gu (she was the best Sor Gu – none of the other actresses from the other versions even came close to capturing the essence of the character as she did).

Chan On Ying stated that she played Sor Gu so many times that at one point, she was opposed to playing the character anymore, however after she saw another actress play the part, she changed her mind. Also, a lot of people (naively) thought at the time that she really was mentally challenged because the way she played the part was so convincing and memorable for audiences.

.>> The third cast member was Andy Dai, who played Tolui (Genghis Khan’s son and Kwok Jing’s buddy when he was growing up in Mongolia).

Andy was so funny…he came out and did some kungfu moves (Kwok Jing’s signature kungfu moves) – when the host asked him if those were Tolui’s kungfu moves, Andy said those were moves he learned growing up from Kwok Jing. A couple minutes later, he mentions something about Kwok Jing again, to which the host said that he must be very fond of Kwok Jing, since he mentions him so much (haha…of course – Felix and Andy are part of the Celebrity Soccer Team in HK and play soccer together all the time….I guess the host didn’t know that…hehehehe).

One thing I didn’t know was that LOTCH was actually Andy’s first series after graduating from the Acting Class – and an ancient series too, which was way challenging than doing a modern series.

.>> The fourth cast member to appear was Chun Wong, who played Chow Bak Tong.

Chun Wong is just a funny guy (well, his physical stature itself already lends himself to being comedic). When he came out, the host asked what he’s been up to lately and figured he must be living a good life since he gained so much weight. He said that he’s been working hard (very true – he’s still working for TVB).

The host mentioned that Chun Wong must have been the more playful one in the group as well, but maybe too ‘playful’ to the point that he gave everyone a scare several years ago when he almost lost his life (referring to the incident when he was drunk and lost his footing when stepping onto the ferry, falling into the water instead).

.>> After the first 4 cast members came out, the host asked if they could be judges for a kungfu segment, as the series LOTCH had such an impact that many youth took to learning the signature moves of many of the characters, so they had some people come up and perform kungfu moves, then asked the 4 what they thought.

I didn’t really care for the kungfu segments because I thought it was kind of cheesy, but the commentary from the artists afterwards was pretty funny!

After the first guy performed “Ha Mo Kung” (the kungfu of the Au-Yeung clan), the host asked Au-Yeung Hak (Wong Wan Choi) to comment – he told the guy that his performance was amazing…but he couldn’t comment how close it was to the Au-Yeung clan’s “Ha Mo Kung” because back when they filmed the series, they used stunt doubles for most of the kung fu moves. Then Wong Wan Choi showed off some dance moves instead (since he is a singer now). Everyone laughed at the ‘big secret’ being revealed – that Au-Yeung Hak really doesn’t know kung fu but only knows dance moves instead! LOL! It was definitely a funny moment!

Andy Dai was asked to comment on the next guy who performed what looked like karate moves, including using his hand to push nails into a wooden board. ‘Tolui’ was amazed at the performance and said that his clan (the Mongols) only had to know how to ride horses and fight with arrows – they never had to do anything like that. Then he made an attempt to remove one of the nails from the board using his hands and his mouth (haha…that was just for show) – that part was funny!

The last performer was so cute – a 6 year old girl came out and said that she knows “Gau Yam Jun Ging” – everyone thought she was going to perform kungfu, but actually, she had memorized the GYJG kungfu manual and so recited it for everyone. Chow Bak Tong (Chun Wong) asked the girl if he could be her apprentice and said he would carry her backpack to school for her if she would accept him (awww, Chow Bak Tong was so cute – he’s always been one of my favorite characters!). The little girl kept saying ‘No Way!’ (she seemed a little intimidated by his size).


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To be continued…..