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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

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…..

8 comments:

  1. Holy cow, I didn't even know about this thing. How exciting it must have been (minus the part about Barbara Yung - she is dearly missed!).

    I agree with you on Chan On Ying being the best Sor Gu - I also think she was the best Chu Yee from Tony Leung's version of HSDS. It probably also helped that the series made her more memorable and pitiful by not bringing her character back like they did in the other versions. She had a lot of good roles in the 80's. Do you know what she's up to these days?

    And thanks for answering my question about Ng Wing Hung the other time. :D

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  2. @Clair: Thanks! Hope you enjoy the posts!

    Yes, definitely agree that Chan On Ying was the best Chu Yee as well.

    Chan On Ying is still active in the TV industry -- in fact, she is still working for TVB and still films series for them now. But most of her roles have been 3rd / 4th line or less, so she pretty much only has small parts in series now.

    No problem regarding the question about Ng Wing Hung! Hopefully it was helpful!

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  3. OMG! I can't believe I had to back-read since miss so much good stuffs here. Glad found time to catch up anyway.

    Chan On Ying was one of the main leads in 'Being Rich', can't believe that she's being tossed aside so soon later. (Not sure since I don't watch every TVB series, but it's a shame...)

    Back to LOTCH - Wong Wan Choi had to use stunt doubles for all his moves back then? Like seriously? I meant I know they had to use stunt doubles at one point or another for safety - among other things, BUT like every?

    Anyway, I think some of us don't know all the details so can't really fault the host for making the comments. I'm glad to know about it now too or get some sort of recap.

    Maybe the girl wants to be sworn brothers with Chow Bak Tong more? JUST KIDDING...(He loves to pull those, remember with Kwok Jing and then YG later?)

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  4. @DTLCT: LOL! Glad you found the time to catch up, as there was definitely alot of great stuff in the show!

    Hmmm...I actually don't remember "Being Rich" so not sure -- but to my recollection, she rarely played leads -- most of her roles were supporting or less than that....but she has stayed with TVB all these years it seems, as she has been in at least 1 series (if not more) almost every year since the 80s...

    Haha...I think Wong Wan Choi was kidding about the stunt double thing -- I mean, they probably did use stunt doubles for some scenes, but not all of them. I think what he meant was that unlike Sharon, the other actors didn't know how to do martial arts in real life, so if you ask them do those moves now, they most likely wouldn't be able to.

    Yup, true -- that's why I tried not to be too hard on the hosts either -- plus thinking about it now, I think that some of the stuff they said was probably scripted and they probably did know what the answer was, but still had to ask the question because the audiences may not know or because they had to create a lively atmosphere, since that's their jobs as hosts.

    Hahahaha....that's true! I forgot about the sworn brothers thing -- that WAS his specialty after all! HEHE....but it was so funny seeing him 'become' Chow Bak Tong when talking to the little girl -- it reminded me of those scenes in the series when he would take on a soft tone with Wong Yung because he wanted a favor from her. LOL.

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  5. @llwy12: Oh yeah, his sweet, child-like tone (or something like that) when he was trying to get something. I love those scenes. He's just like a kid and funny that he and Wong Yung were getting into those deals at times. Man, talking about this makes me want to go re-watch again.

    On the side note, I was talking to my mom and my sister about this, I realize a lot more of people are missing. BUT I guess we'll have to take what is there and how they did the best to organize already.

    Wong Wan Choi and stunts - Yeah, I guess so since I remember watching it that only some scenes seen to show obvious signs of stunt doubles but the others were like mostly them? It was funny that most of the cast won't be able to beat Sharon outside though.

    Getting side-track, but talking about Sharon, did she mention other things? Aside from her studio? Just wondering. AND I need to stalk on Weibo for her now.

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  6. @DTLCT: Haha -- I already had that wanting to rewatch feeling back when I was watching the reunion show....if it weren't for my "to watch and read" list already being a mile long, I would probably give in to the urge too!

    It's true that so many people were missing -- come to think of it, only having 9 or 10 people attend out of the cast of like 100 is not a huge statistic at all -- but again, I was grateful for the organizers putting in the effort.

    Haha -- yup! Actually, they did a pretty good job with the martial arts sequences in the 80s. But then again, that's when they had all the 'big name' martial arts coordinators (i.e. Ching Siu Dong) and producers, writers, etc. It's no surprise that the 80s was the decade in which TVB released the most ancient / martial arts series.

    In terms of Sharon -- no, she actually didn't mention too much outside of what I recapped in my post. That's why I was a little bit disappointed in that I was hoping to hear more from her onscreen (cuz I know she had alot of interaction with the other cast members backstage)...ah well -- I guess there's always Weibo!

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  7. OMG, I'm so sad I missed this. I can't find it anywhere now as Tudou seems to have deleted it. But I'm definitely reading the rest of the blog. This is so funny! I can picture it all in my head. My heroes since 30 years ago. hahaha.

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    1. @Kerobus Reed: Thanks for commenting and welcome to my blog! I’m so sorry to hear that you didn’t get a chance to view this before Tudou deleted it -- I’ll check around and see if I’m able to locate it elsewhere (if I find it, will definitely let you know).

      The Felix Wong/Barbara Yung version of LOTCH is my all-time favorite version of the adaptation as well, so of course, when I happened to stumble upon this ‘gem’ of a reunion show, I was definitely very excited. I’m sure my ‘play by play’ summary doesn’t do justice to the actual show itself, but hopefully it helps give a little bit of idea.

      Edit….you got lucky…looks like someone uploaded the full version of the show onto Youku as well. Here’s the link:

      http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjcxNTA1OTc2.html

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