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).


.--.

To be continued…..

TVB 28th Anniversary Gala (1995): The Top 10 Highest Rated Series of All Time (up to that point)

Retrotvb's post recapping TVB's 1997 Anniversary Gala (read it here) inspired me to write this post about a particular segment of the 1995 Anniversary Gala (though I will admit that I remembered the date wrong at first and thought it was the 1998 gala, but it was really the 1995 one – shame on me!).

The show itself was great, as up to that point (prior to the start of the awards thing in 1997), the galas were still grand, all-star events. (I echo retrotvb's sentiments regarding the pointlessness of the awards, which turned the anniversary galas into lackluster events, but that's another story). The true highlight of the entire show for me (and probably for other 80s/90s TVB series fanatics as well) was the segment near the end of the show when TVB did a 'countdown' of the 10 highest rated TVB series up to that point. Almost every single one of my favorites made the list and I would venture to say that all 10 series were deserving because they were classic, high quality, well-made series.

The most memorable moment for me in this entire segment was when the "winner" of the countdown -- meaning the series that made it to the top of the list as the #1 highest rated series of all time (up until that point) -- was announced. Not suprisingly, the series that came out on top was "Looking Back in Anger" from 1989. True classic and truly deserving of the #1 spot!!! But what really did it for me was when Felix Wong, Kathy Chow, Deric Wan, and Maggie Siu went up on stage and accepted the 'award’ on behalf of the entire cast (I wonder who got to keep it? LOL!). Even though they were only up there for a minute or two and didn't say anything really, it was just awesome to see that cast together again – especially Deric, since he had left TVB long ago and made a special appearance just for that moment. Of course, I wish that Carina would have been able to make it as well (because then the cast would truly be complete in terms of the main leads), but I guess it wasn't meant to be...

The countdown was prefaced with these amazing numbers: the 10 series combined garnered a total of over 2.2 billion viewers (households), with each series averaging over 80 million viewers (households). Those numbers may ‘pale’ in comparison to the numbers today, but considering the series were of a way higher quality back then (the ones nowadays pretty much suck), those numbers were definitely something to ‘rave’ about!

I loved the way the segment was done – after the number of viewers and the series was announced, they had singers perform parts of the theme song for each series on the list while clips from the series played on the screen (though the singers weren’t the original artists who performed the songs, I was ok with it because the songs themselves were such classics that they sounded good no matter who sang them).


Here’s the countdown:

10th place: Police Cadet ‘84 新紮師兄 (1984)
(88131000 viewers)

9th place: The Big Family 大家族 (1991)
(97,916,000 viewers)

8th place: The Two Most Honorable Knights 絕代雙驕 (1988)
(98,513,000 viewers)

7th place: The Challenge of Life 人在邊緣 (1990)
(106,987,000 viewers)

6th place: The Breaking Point 今生無悔 (1991)
(117,925,000 viewers)

5th place: Love and Passion 萬水千山總是情 (1982)
(233,674,000 viewers)

4th place: Blood of Good and Evil 我本善良 (1990)
(283,266,000 viewers)

3rd place: Legend of the Condor Heroes 射鵰英雄傳 (1983)
(356,163,000 viewers)

2nd place: The Feud of Two Brothers 流氓大亨 (1986)
(388,323,000 viewers)

1st place: Looking Back in Anger 義不容情 (1989)
(431,355,000 viewers)

.--.

My ‘quick’ recap:

.>> Deric and Maggie are the big winners in this countdown, as both of them had 3 series a piece (happened to be the same series) that made it onto the list (not to mention being part of the #1 series).

.>> Felix came in a very close second with 2 series in the countdown -- though he does have an advantage in terms of ranking in that both of his series were in the top 3!

.>> Tony, Alex, and Leon did pretty well too, with 2 series a piece in the countdown.

.>> I think that the only one I would disagree with is “Love and Passion” – I’ve seen that series and even though it’s much better than many of today’s series, I really didn’t think it was all that great compared to the other series on the list. But maybe it made it on the list because it’s such a classic (it is the oldest one of the list)? But then again, there are many other series that would fall into the ‘classic’ category….

.--.

For those who are interested, below is the link to the 2nd half of the 1995 Anniversary Gala – the countdown starts at 33:12.

TVB Anniversary Gala 1995 (part 2)

Feel free to comment on what you think of the countdown! :o)

Tianjin Web’s Interview with Jacky Cheung: “I'm not in a hurry to earn daughters’ dowries”

Here's an awesome interview that Jacky did with Tianjin web's reporters after his HK concert!


Enjoy!

*****
Original article posted 05/21/2011
Translated by: llwy12

Source: Tianjin Web

After completing the 20 show Hong Kong leg of his ½ Century World Tour concert at the HK Coliseum, God of Songs Jacky Cheung granted a rare interview with our reporter backstage, during which he talked about various topics that audiences have been interested in as of late, including his income, his family, and his feelings on his concert performances so far. As far as facing the upcoming ‘milestone’ of his 50th birthday, Jacky made the following birthday wishes: “The world is getting smaller and smaller, so I hope that there won’t be anymore wars or nuclear leaks….also hope that our children can grow up in a healthy environment.” At the same time, Jacky also expressed that he looks forward to returning to his hometown of Tianjin this year and performing for his fans there.

R = Reporter
J = Jacky Cheung

Income: “The amount I make for myself is very little”

R: Let’s start with a somewhat sensitive topic – everyone is very interested in the income that you are getting from each concert performance. An ‘industry insider’ revealed that on average, you receive 1 million HKD for each show, which would come out to a ‘rough estimate’ of 100 million HKD this year alone. Is that true?

J: Wow, if that were true, wouldn’t I be lucky! With regard to the income, I have not calculated it and I don’t even think about it. People only know the overall numbers related to the concert as a whole, but there are a lot of things involved in that ‘number’, such as manager’s commission, production expenses, team expenses, the huge travel expenses, etc. – at the end of it all, the actual amount that I make is very little.

R: Is it enough to cover the money you lost a couple years ago in the Lehman Brothers fiasco?

J: That investment failure occurred a long time ago – the money lost in the Lehman Brothers incident was hard-earned money and I’m honestly not sure when I will be able to earn it back. But now that doesn’t matter to me anymore because I’m in a comfortable spot where I’m not in need financially. The reason why I decided to do another World Tour is because I felt it was the appropriate time to do so. I’m not in a hurry to earn my daughters’ dowries – in fact, I believe that they should earn it themselves based on their own efforts. The most important thing is that I am able to give them a good learning environment and quality of life in their childhood.

R: The most ‘stunning’ part about your concert performance this time around is definitely the ‘splits’ that you do every show. In addition, your dance moves have received a lot of praises from the audience. Can you reveal a little bit about the physical regimen you went through to get to that point?

J: I’ve always had the habit of stretching and exercising, but getting to the point of doing ‘splits’ involved a lot of daily effort. Not sure if anyone noticed one particular small detail – in the past, my left leg would touch the floor first, but now, it’s my right leg. The first couple years when I entered the industry, I would feel depressed and worried about not really knowing how to dance, but now, through years of hard work, I don’t have to worry anymore. I believe that everyone is satisfied with my dance moves now, right?

R: Each show on your concert tour is approximately 3 hours and with an estimate of over 100 shows in a year, how do you maintain your voice?

J: A lot of people are interested in knowing this, but to tell you the truth – I really don’t have any special methods of protecting my voice. Compared to before, I now have a better understanding of the proper way to speak and control my voice so as not to damage it. In the past, accepting interviews after a concert performance would be very strenuous for me, but now, I can more easily do interviews – even at 50 years old, it is easier for me to handle.

R: Out of the entire show, what made you most nervous? Hitting the high notes? The complicated stage? Or perhaps having to act and sing at the same time?

J: It may be surprising, but I’m naturally afraid of heights, so I’m most nervous performing on very high platforms, especially moving ones. The stage for the HK Coliseum shows was at least 10 meters higher than the ones I’ve been performing on in Mainland China – I had never performed on such a high stage in my life.


Family: So touched by mother’s attendance that he forgot lyrics

R: For your concert, the organizers created a short animated feature that primarily recapped your childhood and young adult life. Have you seen it already? Is it pretty close to your childhood in real life?

J: It’s pretty much the same – the only difference is that the kid in the animated film is more handsome than me! I was very mischievious when I was a youth and did a lot of ‘bad’ things that I was a bit nervous about including in the film. The ‘bad’ thing that I did most often in my childhood was ‘stealing’ things – one time, I was standing in front of a fruit stall and spotted some lychees that looked really good, but before I had a chance to even reach out my hand, the owner of the fruit stall looked at me sharply and yelled in a loud voice: ‘What? You trying to steal something?’ I broke out in a sweat and immediately ran away.

R: Do your wife [May Lo] and 2 daughters purposefully go and watch your concert?

J: My wife only watched 1 show and it’s enough for her – my daughters watched 2 ½ shows. When I’m on stage and see my wife and daughters in the audience, I’m not nervous at all, but my mother is a different story. The week before Mother’s Day, my mom came to watch one of my shows and I was a bit nervous -- when I was singing "Just Want to Go Away With You Forever", I saw her in the audience and blew her a kiss. After that, my mind suddenly went blank and I had to re-sing the song again – with my familiarity of that song, it’s impossible for me to forget the lyrics to it, yet it happened!

R: With regard to the short film that played during the first half of the concert which featured a love story with you and Shu Qi as well as a few intimate scenes, was your wife upset?

J: That’s all acting! My wife is an actress herself, so she is able to understand it. My family life is of the utmost importance to me – I would not have been able to get to where I am today without the support of my mother, my wife, and my daughters.


Performance: Does not mind Nicholas Tse winning the award

R: Because of your concert, you were not able to attend the HK Film Awards ceremony this year. Any regrets about it?

J: Singing is my life – unless one day I am no longer able to sing, otherwise it will always be my most important career.

R: You were nominated for Best Actor with the film "Crossing Hennessy", but in the end lost to Nicholas Tse. Any sadness?

J: I’ve mostly been busy with my concert, so did not have a chance to watch all the nominated films. To be very honest, my character in "Crossing Hennessy" was very plain and did not stand out much, so to be nominated for it is already very good. Even though a lot of people said that Nicholas Tse beat out 4 ‘seniors’ for the award, but I feel that learning does not differentiate between seniors and juniors!

R: You already have the ‘God of Songs’ title – will ‘Best Actor’ be the next ultimate goal?

J: Acting requires a lot of time to fine-tune and my time is very tight. I don’t dare to plan what may happen in the future – to decide to do a film, it depends on fate, the character, how I’m feeling at that moment, etc.

R: Even though you say that you don’t have natural talent for acting, but you still gave a very relaxed, natural performance in the short film featured in your concert. How did you decide to invite Shu Qi and director Andrew Lau to participate in your concert?

J: Thanks for your acknowledgment! In my youth, I had a certain energy and vigor when it came to pursuing acting, but now it’s different – I’m already a ‘half century person’! Andrew Lau is a good friend of mine and when I decided I wanted to incorporate a short film in my concert, Andrew was the first person I called. At the time, Andrew was filming "A Beautiful Life" and when he found out that I had not yet thought about who the female lead would be in the short film, he immediately handed the phone over to Shu Qi, who was there next to him. Right at that moment, the decision was made.

R: Both of you gave passionate and emotional performances in the short film. The scene where Shu Qi slapped you on the face alarmed a lot of your fans – was it real?

J: Shu Qi is a fan of my songs and even came to watch my concert in Shanghai. She is a good actress and to perform with her is a blessing, as she makes it easy for me to get into character. That slap on the face was real – the first time we filmed that scene, she was a bit hesitant, so the result wasn’t as good. I encouraged her to put all her energy into it and so the second time around she used a lot of force, but the result was excellent!

.--.

Original version in Chinese:

张学友：不急赚女儿嫁妆

来源： 天津网-数字报刊 关键字：张学友;演唱会;女主角人选;舒淇;坏事 作者：翟翊 2011-05-21 07:42

结束了20天的香港红馆马拉松演出，横跨去年和今年、共计51场的张学友“二分之一世纪”巡演日前落幕。演出结束之后，记者采访了歌神学友，他也针对大家关注的收入、家庭和演出话题侃侃而谈。至于面对即将到来的五十岁生日，学友也许下愿望：“世界越来越小，希望不要有战争、核泄漏……希望我们的小孩子能够健康地成长。”同时学友也憧憬今年回到家乡天津，为家乡的歌迷放歌。


　　收入：我自己赚到的很少

　　记者：有个敏感的话题，大家非常关注你每场演唱会的收入。有“业内”人士称，你每场个唱薪酬是百万港元，粗略估算，今年将会挣1亿港元？

　　张学友：那我岂不是赚到了？关于收入我没算过，也没有去想。大家只是知道我演出整体的费用，但是这里有经理人的佣金，制作的费用，团队的支出，交通巨大的开销……我自己赚到的很少。

　　记者：能不能挣回当年亏掉的雷曼债券那笔钱？

　　张学友：那次投资的失败是很久前的事了，雷曼股票所亏的钱是辛苦钱，我不知道亏损什么时候才回得来，但是现在已经没关系，总之我不是等钱花，我出来做演唱会只是觉得这是适当的时候了。我不急着给女儿赚嫁妆，孩子要靠自己努力，我能给她们提供学习和生活条件就好。

　　记者：这次演出最惊艳的地方莫过于你的“一字马”了，你的舞姿也得到了观众的掌声，能不能透露下怎么锻炼的？

　　张学友：我本身有拉筋的习惯，但是练成“一字马”也需要每天的努力。可能大家没有发现一个细节——以前我都是左脚先着地，现在演出都是右脚先落地。当年出道的时候，我曾经为不会跳舞而自卑、头疼，但是现在我已经用努力打消了这些顾虑，我相信大家还能满意我的舞姿吧？

　　记者：每场演唱会三个小时，有时一年能唱到100多场，你的嗓音怎么保持？

　　张学友：大家一定都关注这个问题，但是我想说——我真的没有特别保护嗓子，现在我懂得了发声的合理方式和对声音的控制。以前做完演唱会接受采访会难受，现在我可以自如地接受你的采访，50岁的我应对起来完全没有问题。

　　记者：整场演出下来，最让你紧张的是什么？高声部的演唱还是高难度的舞台？抑或是表演？

　　张学友：其实大家都想不到，我天生恐高，所以最怕在直升飞机或很多高舞台上表演，这次红馆舞台的高度比内地高出至少十米，是我从来没到过的高度。


　　家庭：妈妈捧场激动忘词

　　记者：在演唱会中，主办方制作了一个动画片，主要就是你成长的回顾，你看了吗？和你童年一样吗？

　　张学友：基本一样，唯一不同的就是，动画片里的那个小孩比我帅。我小时候太顽皮了，干了很多“坏事”，都没好意思放到动画片中。我小时候最常干的坏事就是“偷”东西，有一次我在水果摊前对着美味的荔枝看了很久，还没来得及下手，便被摊主冷不丁一声吼道：“干啥？！想偷东西呀！”顿时让我冒了一身冷汗，灰溜溜地跑了。

　　记者：太太罗美薇与女儿会专门看你的演唱会吗？

　　张学友：太太看一场就够了，女儿则看了两场半。在台上面对孩子和太太的时候我并不紧张，反而母亲节前一周我妈妈来看，我有点紧张，我唱《只愿一生跟你走》时看到她，然后给了她一个飞吻，岂料之后脑内一片空白，结果要重头再唱一遍，其实这首歌我没理由会忘记歌词的。

　　记者：这次演唱会上放了一个爱情短片，你和舒淇有很多亲热镜头，太太会反对吗？

　　张学友：那是演戏呀！我太太自己也是演员，她是能够理解的。家庭生活是我现在最看重的，我能有今天的成绩，真的离不开母亲、太太和孩子的支持。


　　表演：不介意谢霆锋得奖

　　记者：为了演唱会，你缺席了今年香港电影金像奖颁奖礼，遗憾吗？

　　张学友：唱歌是我的生命，除非唱不动了，否则这肯定是我最重要的事业。

　　记者：你凭借《月满轩尼诗》提名影帝，最终输给谢霆锋，会难过吗？

　　张学友：我一直忙于演唱会，因此没有看所有入围的电影。我很坦白讲，自己在《月满轩尼诗》中的角色很淡，能入围已经觉得很不错了。虽然很多人说，谢霆锋赢了四位前辈，但我觉得学不分先后！

　　记者：你有歌神的称号，影帝会是你另外一个终极目标吗？

　　张学友：演戏是要花多些时间，我时间很紧。以后的事情我不敢打算，演电影也要看缘分、看角色、看感觉吧……

　　记者：虽然你说自己表演没有天分，但演唱会中的爱情短片表演得轻松自然。当初怎么想到请刘伟强和舒淇的呢？

　　张学友：谢谢你的认可，以前年轻，有那么一种冲劲，但是现在不同，我已经二分之一世纪了。生活中和刘伟强是好朋友，当我想到要拍这样一个短片时，第一时间就给他打电话。当时刘伟强正在拍摄《不再让你孤单》，当他得知我还没有好的女主角人选时就直接将电话交给了旁边的舒淇，当时我们就敲定了。

　　记者：影片中你们的表演非常动情，而舒淇打你那个巴掌令很多歌迷惊叫。当时是真打吗？

　　张学友：舒淇非常喜欢我的歌，而且她也在上海看了我的表演。她是一个好演员，和她演对手戏非常幸福，能够很快进入状态。那个巴掌就是真打的，第一次拍的时候她不好意思，后来我让她放开手脚使劲打，所以第二次她打得很重，但是效果非常好。

新报记者 翟翊 文/摄

POLL RESULTS: Barbara Yung and the 5 Tigers

On the eve of the 26th anniversary of Barbara Yung's death, I'm sure that there are many fans out there (like me) who would like to pay tribute to her memory. So together, let's take a trip down memory lane to the 1980s and look at a few of Barbara's most significant performances.

In answer to the poll question "From 1983 to 1985, Barbara Yung collaborated with 4 out of the 5 Tigers in all but 1 of the series she had participated in during her short career. Which of these collaborations is (was) your favorite?", here are the results (out of a total of 24 people who voted):

1) The Legend of the Unknowns 十三妹 (1983) – Barbara + Kent = 0 votes

2) Legend of the Condor Heroes trilogy 射鵰英雄傳 (1983) – Barbara + Felix + Michael = 20 votes

3) The Foundation 決戰玄武門 (1984) – Barbara + Felix + Michael = 0 votes

4) The Fearless Duo 天師執位 (1984) – Barbara + Michael = 0 votes

5) United We Stand 生鏽橋王 (1984) – Barbara + Michael = 0 votes

6) The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung 楚留香之蝙蝠傳奇 (1984) – Barbara + Michael = 2 votes

7) The Rough Ride 挑戰 (1985) – Barbara + Tony = 2 votes

Obviously (and not surprisingly), "Legend of the Condor Heroes" is the winner (yay!!).

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So who did I vote for? Just like with the previous poll, it was a VERY DIFFICULT DECISION. Except for "The Legend of the Unknowns", I pretty much liked all the series listed, so for me to have to pick ONE only -- well, let's just say that it was agonizing! At the end, it basically came down to a choice between "Legend of the Condor Heroes", "The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung", and "The Rough Ride". Even though I loved Condor Heroes, I purposefully didn't vote for it because I knew already that most likely, that would be the series to come out on top due to its immense popularity -- so that left me with 2 choices (still an agonizing decision nonetheless)...

In the end, I voted for "The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung", primarily because I loved the interaction between Barbara and Michael in the series (and because in "The Rough Ride", Tony and Barbara weren't the only leads and with the talented cast and the way the storyline was written, she actually had less screen time in that series than she did in Chor Lau Heung).

For those who participated in the poll, if you would like to share who you voted for and why, feel free to comment!

In case some of you are not familiar with the series in the poll, below is a quick recap that I put together as well as a description of Barbara's and the Tigers' roles in each:

1) The Legend of the Unknowns: 20 episodes (1983)

.> This was Barbara Yung’s first series after she joined TVB in 1982 (she was a finalist in the 1982 Miss HK pageant). Actually, Barbara only had a supporting role in this series, as the main female leads were Cecilia Wong Hang Shou and Sharon Yeung Pan Pan. The series is set in the Qing Dynasty era and Barbara played the role of Emperor KangXi’s little sister Princess Shuang.

.> The greatest significance of this series (other than it being Barbara’s first series and her performance really standing out) was that Barbara and Kent’s romantic relationship started because of their collaboration in this series. Ironically though, neither of them were paired together in this series: Barbara was paired with Simon Yam and Kent (as the male lead) was paired with Sharon and Cecilia (in a ‘love triangle’ of sorts).

.> To be honest, I don’t remember this series much, as I watched it once a few years ago when it was released on VCD. I just remember that Barbara was very cute in the series and even though this was her first ‘stab’ at acting, you could already tell from the way her performance stood out that she was a natural actress. Other than that, I’m not going to comment much on the series, since I don’t remember anything else about it.


2) Legend of the Condor Heroes: 59 episodes (1983)

.> Judging from the overwhelming number of votes for this series, looks like I don’t need to elaborate much about this series, since it’s obvious that everyone has seen it and love it!

.> This ‘classic’ version of Jin Yong’s will always be THE BEST version of Condor Heroes in the history of HK television. Barbara Yung’s portrayal of Wong Yung was absolutely perfect and to this day, her performance in this series has been unmatched and undisputed. I know that I certainly can’t imagine anyone else in the role now, which is one reason why I prefer not to watch any other versions / remakes of it.

.> Of course, the rest of the cast was awesome as well – both the leads as well as the supporting cast! Felix Wong as Kwok Jing, Michael Miu as Yeung Hong, Sharon Yeung as Muk Lim Chi, Kenneth Tsang as Wong Yeuk Si, Lau Dan as Hung Chuk Gong, Chun Wong as Chow Bak Tong, Lau Siu Ming as Yat Dang…..the list goes on and on!

.> This is definitely one of my all time favorite series – one that I can watch over and over again without ever getting bored of it! In fact, this is one of the few series that I actually own on video tape, VCD and DVD (talk about obsessed….hahahaha)!


3) The Foundation: 20 episodes (1984)

.> In theory, this should be another awesome and memorable series, as it reunites Barbara with her Condor Heroes partners Felix Wong and Michael Miu as well as her real life lover Kent Tong. This time around, Barbara is technically paired with Michael, though in the beginning she is paired with Felix and there is that infamous TVB love triangle thing that goes on. Kent isn’t associated with Barbara in this series at all (in fact, they don’t even have much screen time together) – I honestly think that they did that on purpose, because I don’t think Kent and Barbara’s romantic relationship was completely out in the open yet when this series was made (which had to have been in 1983, since it aired in February 1984 and it wasn’t until some time in 1984 that their relationship was revealed).

.> For those of you who may not have seen this series, the story is supposed to be loosely based on some true events that occurred in Chinese history – namely, how one of the most famous Emperors of the Tang Dynasty, Lee Sai Mun, came to power (Chinese history buffs will probably know the story). Note that the key word here is LOOSELY – because as is the case with most history-themed series, a lot of the events are changed around and characters are added / removed to fit in with the message that the scriptwriters / producer want to get across.

.> Barbara portrays a woman named Chun Sik Sik in this series and the character is the complete opposite of her famous Wong Yung role in Condor Heroes. Chun Sik Sik is an ordinary woman who just wants to live a simple life taking care of the man she loves. Her personality is very ‘womanly’, even to the point of being ‘fragile’, but definitely NOT weak. Felix plays a fictional character named Gong Fung, a ‘village boy’ whose goal in life is to be the best martial artist in the world and so becomes obsessed with perfecting the craft at all costs, even if it means sacrificing the love of his life (Barbara’s character). Michael plays the future Emperor Lee Sai Mun, who is portrayed as young, handsome, talented, and extremely intelligent. Kent plays Lee Sai Mun’s younger brother Lee Yun Kut (a villain of sorts, since historically, he was one of those good-for-nothing rich kid type people).

.> I don’t want to go too in depth about this series because I intend to re-watch it one of these days (since it has been years since I last saw it), so I want to save the detail for the review.


4) The Fearless Duo: 20 episodes (1984)

.> Another Barbara / Michael collaboration (the 3rd one in less than a year) – the difference here is that the other Tigers are not involved (no more Felix…awww) and Barbara and Michael are truly a couple in this series. Barbara’s character Lam Chor Yan is sort of loud-mouthed and obnoxious in this series, but definitely not to the point of annoying – in fact, her character is very well-written and very three-dimensional, which actually makes her a very likable character (or I could be biased too because I just love Barbara Yung’s acting). Michael’s character isn’t bad either (though he also gets obnoxious at times as well – I guess that’s why he matches so well with Barbara’s character…LOL!).

.> This is another classic series that I like a lot! The chemistry between Barbara and Michael in this series is absolutely awesome – whether it’s their constant bickering in the first half of the series (when their characters supposedly hate each other and don’t want anything to do with the other) or their moving declarations of love for each other in the 2nd half of the series (to the point that they are willing to sacrifice their own lives for the other).

.> Again, I don’t want to go into too much detail because I also intend on rewatching this one sometime soon and want to save the details for the review. But I will say this much: this series has one of the best and most memorable endings I’ve seen (and for those of you who follow TVB series, you know this is a huge compliment) – one of the few endings that I actually feel closes the loop perfectly, but at the same time, incorporates both tragic and comedic elements (when I rewatched the series a couple years ago, I almost cried during the ending).

.> Bonus: this series has the largest number of ‘recognizable extras’ I’ve seen to date (what I mean is that alot of today’s most popular film and TV stars were ‘ke le fes’ / extras in this series – names that you would probably instantly recognize: Sandra Ng, Lawrence Ng, Sean Lau, Francis Ng, Michael Tao, etc.)


5) United We Stand: 20 episodes (1984)

.> Ok, I will admit that I don’t remember much about this series at all because the last time I watched it was almost 20 years ago. All I remember is that Barbara plays 2 different characters in this series – twin sisters who are completely opposite in terms of personalities. I actually don’t remember Michael Miu’s character at all, though I do recall that Michael Tao was also part of the cast, along with a bunch of veterans (many of whom are still active today).

.> I’m not surprised that no one voted for this series because I actually don’t think that too many people have seen it (which also isn’t surprising because this isn’t a very well known series – and it’s a very hard to find series nowadays, whether on VCD, DVD, or even videotape).

.> Fortunately, I have this series on DVD, so I am definitely going to be re-watching it, since I remember close to nothing about it. So if you’re interested in this series, stay tuned….


6) The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung: 40 episodes (1984)

.> Aside from Legend of the Condor Heroes, this is probably the other Barbara Yung series that people are most familiar with. By this time, Barbara and Michael had already collaborated on 4 series, plus in real life, they were really close friends, so establishing the chemistry in the series was a piece of cake, in a sense. I loved how Michael and Barbara interacted in this series – so natural and so cute!

.> Barbara's role as Princess Wing Jing in this series is a perfect role for her, as she plays the part with such ease and naturalness. And Michael's portrayal as the charming, chivalrous, dashing Chor Lau Heung is absolutely brilliant -- I admit that I fell in love with him after watching this series! TVB surely knew how to utilize their artists' strengths back in those days, as both Barbara and Michael absolutely had that 'ancient / wuxia era' look and feel, so they were absolutely perfect for ancient series roles.

.> Similar to Condor Heroes, this series also featured a stellar cast with artists who were perfect for their roles (makes me lament the abundance of talented artists that we had back then in the 80s and makes the lack of talent at TVB nowadays even more apparent).

.> Again, I'm not going to go into too much detail on this series because it just recently came out on DVD (finally!) and I have every intention of re-watching it (for like the gazillionth time), so I'll save most of my comments for the review.


7) The Rough Ride: 40 episodes (1985)

.> What do you get when you take a gorgeous, talented leading actor (Tony Leung), a beautiful, talented leading actress (Barbara Yung), and a talented supporting cast (Ray Lui, Money Chan, Ha Yu, Lau Dan, Susanna Au Yeung, Kwan Hoi San, etc.) and put them together in a series? AN ABSOLUTELY AWESOME SERIES!!

Seriously though, this series may not necessarily be 'the best' and it definitely cannot compare to Legend of the Condor Heroes in terms of popularity, but it is definitely a great series that is worthy of watching over and over again. I mean, with the 2 main leads alone (Tony and Barbara), that's already enough to get me hooked on this series.

.> I've always felt that in this series, Tony's character is actually a modern life version of Cheung Mo Kei (the role he played in ancient series The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, another one of my favorites) – all the character traits are very similar when you think about it. Even the 'indecisive' nature of the character is the same! On the other hand, Barbara's character is quite unique in that the role she plays is a pretty huge departure from the roles she's had in the past -- she plays a tomboyish police woman in this series who is very assertive and has a bit of a stubborn temper. To be honest, even though Tony and Barbara's characters in this series were pretty much opposite ends of the spectrum, they were actually a very compatible couple (not to mention a cute, lovable one!).

.> This series will always be a special one for me because of several reasons:

First, it's one of the few 'modern' series that Barbara filmed (if I remember correctly, I think this was only the 2nd modern series of her career -- all the rest of the series she did were ancient / wuxia series). This is significant because her immensely popular role as Wong Yung in Legend of the Condor Heroes was so classic and so ingrained in audience's hearts that it's pretty much how most people probably remember her. But there is actually way more to Barbara than just Wong Yung -- and her role in this particular series definitely shows her depth as an actress.

Second, this was Barbara's last COMPLETE series that she filmed before she died in 1985. (She was working on another series at the time, but it never got completed because of her sudden passing). The significance of this series was that it aired from April to June 1985 -- before the series had finished airing, Barbara had committed suicide on May 14, 1985. I don't live in HK, so I wouldn't have been able to watch the series on TV like HK audiences and experience that moment for myself, but I can absolutely imagine how fans and audiences must have felt when the female lead to the series that you are currently watching dies so suddenly and tragically – it makes the series all the more poignant and memorable. I remember when I watched the series for the first time a few years later, I instantly felt an emotional connection to it -- a connection that has stayed with me each time I re-watch this series. Also, each time I re-watch this series, the thought that always comes into my mind is how great an actress Barbara was and if she hadn't died, how big her career would have been....

Third, this was Barbara's one and only collaboration with (one of) my favorite actors of all time, Tony Leung. Up until this point, Barbara had collaborated the most with Michael Miu (5 series) and Felix Wong (2 series, though technically 4 if you count Condor Heroes as 3 separate series), so it was refreshing to see her with Tony, who has a markedly different acting style than the other 2 Tigers. I will admit that at first, I wasn't sure if Barbara would be able to achieve the same on screen chemistry that she had with Michael and Felix (since they had collaborated so many times in the past), but it turns out that I had nothing to worry about, as the chemistry was absolutely perfect!

Review of “The Enforcer’s Experience" (優皮幹探)

I was really debating whether I should write a review on this particular series or not because even though I like the main cast of the series a lot, I wasn’t too fond of the storyline. To be honest, I first watched this series years ago and (as with most of the series from the 80s/early 90s) I may have re-watched it at some point in time after that, but it’s been so long already, I really can’t remember. This series aired recently on TV (in the U.S., on one of the channels that airs older series) and since there wasn’t much else interesting to watch on the other channels (the “new” TVB series that are currently airing in HK were on the other channel and those were absolutely boring me to death, so I gave up on them already), I decided to go with this one (hey, a so-so TVB series from the 80s/90s is still way more interesting to watch than the boring series they make nowadays!).

“The Enforcer’s Experience” is a short, 20 episode modern cop series from 1990 starring Eddie Cheung, David Siu, Frankie Lam, Sheren Tang, Angela Yeung, and a huge supporting cast consisting of mainly 3rd and 4th line artists.

Eddie and David are high-ranking police inspectors at the same police station, but overseeing different criminal investigation teams. Both men technically have the same titles and are on the same level career-wise – however, personality-wise, the two of them are extreme opposites:

Eddie is the mature, serious, reserved cop who comes across as ‘high and mighty’ because of his education and background. He doesn’t like to say much except when giving orders and doesn’t get along too well with his staff, probably because he doesn’t make the effort to get to know them on a personal level and instead always acts so ‘authoritative’ towards them. Eddie’s character is interesting because even though he acts very confidently at work, he is actually a very insecure person because he grew up with an overbearing father (played by the late Bau Fong) who had extremely high standards and demanded a lot of him. So in a sense, he is under so much pressure at home and in his personal life that he sort of ‘takes it out’ on his staff at work by being an overbearing boss. He’s definitely a good person in the series, but because of the pressures and the unhappiness at home, he sometimes does things that make him come across as a big jerk.

David, on the other hand, is the embodiment of the ‘impulsive cop’ who sometimes lets his feelings and emotions get in the way of objective judgement. Don’t get me wrong – he definitely takes his work seriously, but he has a suave, nonchalant personality in that he is more concerned about helping others rather than advancing in his own career. He gets along very well with his staff and they are like one big family pretty much. He’s actually good friends with Frankie and they often hang out together as drinking buddies and sports buddies. David knows Eddie as well, since they work at the same station, but they are definitely not close friends. Sheren plays his wife, a psychologist for the police squad, whose personality is more mature than his – her character is the epitome of reason and logic and deals with matters in a calm and collected manner for the most part (well, with that type of profession, she kind of has to be that way), which of course is opposite from David’s emotional impulsiveness. The two of them are a loving couple at first, but as the series progresses, Sheren gets more and more frustated with David’s ‘carefreeness’ and lack of ambition – she feels that she continues to mature (in terms of thought and action) and grow, but yet David hasn’t changed one bit from when they married. This causes tension in their relationship, to the point that Sheren eventually moves out (oh, and the fact that one of David’s staff – played by Eddie Ng Kwok King – has a crush on Sheren doesn’t help matters at all – in fact, it causes issues for him at work).

Frankie is also a cop, but his position is lower than both Eddie’s and David’s (though higher than the others on his team). Frankie’s personality is a little bit like David’s, except more reserved and less impulsive. He gets along well with everyone on his team except for Eddie, who is his boss – but he does try to remain cordial around him – that is, until they become ‘love rivals’ fighting over the same woman (Angela Yeung). Angela is Eddie’s distant cousin and even though they are relatives of sorts, Eddie’s father doesn’t like her or her family because he feels they are lower middle class and not ‘good enough’ to match with them. This is why even though Eddie likes Angela, he is afraid to pursue her because he knows his father would not approve. Angela meets Frankie at a car racing event (she has a little bit of a tomboyish personality) and they end up becoming a couple – much to Eddie’s surprise and dislike of course, but he knows he can’t say anything because he’s the one who chose not to pursue her. Predictably, the relationship between Frankie, Angela, and Eddie turns into a love triangle and soon, the conflicts in their personal lives spill over to their ‘work lives’ as well.

Though I absolutely love the main cast of this series, I have to admit that in terms of plot and theme, the series does not quite deliver. I actually hesitate to call this series a “cop series” because to be honest, the police / crime investigation aspect is more of a subtheme than a main one – sure, most of the scenes do take place at the police station and there are cases that they have to solve as well as the typical ‘villain’ characters (played by Felix Lok and Derek Kok) that they are tasked to defeat – but all of that seems to take a back seat to the various conflicts related to the relationship issues that each of the main characters encounter. So I guess you could say that the main theme of this series is actually about relationships – not saying it’s a bad thing necessarily, but it would have been nice if the writers / producer could have found a better balance. Plus I personally think that if they had made the police / criminal investigation part the main theme, it would have made the series more fast-paced and interesting (I definitely found some parts of the series draggy and unnecessary at times).

Of course, there is more that happens in the series than what I described above, but overall, those are the highlights. I don’t mean to give away the ending, but to be honest, I’m sure most of you have guessed by now how the series ends anyways (well, those of you who are experienced TVB series watchers probably have). Yes, you are correct – the ending is a “happily ever after” one in that the three main guys (Eddie, David, Frankie) become good friends and colleagues and each of them are in a steady relationship with the women they love -- David and Sheren get back together, and Frankie and Angela overcome their differences to remain together. So who does Eddie get paired up with in the end? Ready for this?......he gets paired with MAGGIE SIU at the end – yup, Maggie makes a guest appearance at the very end of the series as Eddie’s girlfriend (now, before Maggie fans get too excited, she only does a quick cameo in this series – she’s only in 1 scene and only has a few lines of dialogue). But hey, I have to admit that Maggie and Eddie do make a cute couple – even if it’s only for a few minutes…LOL!

.--.

A few additional thoughts…..

** As I said earlier, this series may not be one of the best and the script definitely needs some “cleaning up”, but I still feel that this is a series worth watching – especially if you like the cast as much as I did!

** David Siu – I think I may have said this before an another post…anyway, David is definitely one of my favorite actors from the late 80s / early 90s. He actually started at TVB in 1987 after he won the銀河十星接力賽contest – throughout that time, he participated in many series, both as supporting actor as well as lead (also as villain characters) and left quite an impression with his memorable roles. His most acclaimed role was of course as Adam Cheng’s oldest son in the classic series “The Greed of Man”. I personally feel that throughout the time that David was in TVB, he was very underrated – he’s one of the few rare actors who is able to play all types of roles well and make them convincing to the audiences – I’ve watched most of the series he’s participated in and enjoyed his performance in almost all of them. It’s really too bad that he left TVB in 1995 due to dissatisfaction with the way the company promoted its artists.

** Angela Yeung – Now here’s an actress who definitely had potential, yet she had a very short career in the entertainment industry. She was one of the few actresses of that era who possessed beauty, talent, smarts, and most importantly, good acting chops – to me, she always came across as very natural in terms of her acting and I always felt comfortable watching her performance. Take “The Enforcer’s Experience” for example – I didn’t particularly like her character in the series and to be honest, the character didn’t really “stand out”, but I still enjoyed her performance regardless because of the way she played the character.

Angela’s career at TVB actually began in 1988, which was the year she made it to the finals in the Miss HK Beauty Pageant (she didn’t win though). She entered TVB that year and in 1989, she participated in her first series – the sitcom “Everybody Loves Somebody”. Her most memorable and “representative” role however was in 1991’s “The Breaking Point”, in which she played Leon Lai’s younger sister Ching Hung (most of you who watched the series will probably remember her). She only participated in 6 series while at TVB and in 1993, she “retired” from the entertainment industry to pursue a career as a beauty consultant in the U.S. – which proved to be an extremely smart move because this became a wildly successful career for her…in fact, a few years ago, she was voted one of the top 1000 beauty experts in all of the U.S., receiving much praise and widely recognized for her work in that field.

** Eddie Cheung – another one of my favorites (yes, I admit that most of the artists from the 80s were on my “favorites” list – LOL). Eddie actually was quite a sought after actor in the 80s / early 90s and did his fair share of lead roles – unfortunately though, in the mid to late 90s, he was relegated to becoming a supporting actor, which I feel is really a waste of his talents! Needless to say, Eddie is no longer with TVB and has pretty much shifted his career to movies in recent years rather than TV series. Oh, and he still does do stage performances occasionally – in fact, every couple months, he travels to mainland China with his soccer buddy (and good friend) Felix Wong for their famous “Fai Wong” concerts….Haha – imagine Eddie and Felix singing the themesongs from some of the past series they starred in – and not just any themesongs, but THE SAME themesongs over and over again! LOL – gotta love it though! (Note: If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, please read the Mingpao interview with Felix Wong that I posted awhile back).

** Sheren Tang – what can I say? Sheren has always been a steady, talented actress back from the 80s up to now. Just like Wayne Lai, she is LONG OVERDUE for recognition for her acting (though she fared much better than Wayne in that she has pretty much been female lead this entire time whereas Wayne only started getting lead roles 2 years ago). She definitely deserved to be one of the top fa dans of the 80s and I’m glad that she is still going strong even now – to be honest, she is one of the few actresses that I watch nowadays (can’t stand most of the other ones!).

POLL RESULTS: Which of TVB’s 5 Tigers was (is) your favorite?

First of all, to all those who voted in this poll, thank you! I created this poll as a way of commemorating some of the most memorable HK entertainment events of the 80s and 90s.

For the first topic, I decided to do a poll on the 5 Tigers (Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Michael Miu, Felix Wong, Kent Tong) primarily because as individuals, they were the most definitive artists of the 80s, starring in many of the most popular and classic series of that era – as a ‘group’, they have been able to maintain a special brotherly friendship that has been able to endure almost 3 decades – definitely not an easy feat to be sure.

Each Tiger is definitely talented in his own right and even though each of them have taken different paths in life, I am sure that each of them have long-time, dedicated fans who continue to support them whether they are still active in the industry or not. So what are the 5 Tigers doing now? Well, just as a brief summary:

Andy is still active in HK as a singer and actor in film and has won many awards in both disciplines; Tony is active as a film actor and not only is he a multiple award winner, he can also be considered an ‘international’ film star with his award wins in several international film festivals; Michael made his return from the business world back to the TV world a couple years ago and is still active as a TV actor, though he is also back into the eyeglasses business again as well; Felix is ‘semi-retired’ and lives a leisurely life doing the things he enjoys (including playing soccer, tending his garden, acting as ‘chauffeur’ for his wife and daughter, and performing in mainland China), though he does still film TV series and/or movies whenever he feels like it; and Kent is a successful businessman in China who still occasionally participates in mainland TV series.

So back to the poll – for me personally, it was VERY hard to vote for just 1 of the Tigers as a ‘favorite’ because as a HK entertainment fanatic growing up in the 80s, I of course was a huge fan of the 5 Tigers and saw pretty much every single series these 5 were in (and continued to follow news about them going into the next 2 decades). I guess you could say that I like all 5 Tigers to some extent, so for me to pick a favorite is definitely not an easy task. If I were asked this question in the 1980s, I would probably choose either Tony or Michael, just because they filmed the most series in that era and also starred in many of the most popular ones (and yes, I will admit that I did have a little bit of a ‘crush’ on both of them back then because I was so mesmerized by the characters they played in the majority of their series). But after thinking long and hard, I actually voted for Felix this time around – I guess part of it is because I finished watching “Gun Metal Grey” a few months ago and was thoroughly impressed by his performance (it’s been many years, but he definitely still has the acting skill in him!).  But really, the main reason I chose Felix is because I’ve gotten to know him a little better these past few years since he has become more active and I really admire his work ethic as well as his personality. And he actually has a great sense of humor that, even though I knew he had since the 80s, I never really learned to appreciate until the past year or so.

Ok, now that I’ve done my ‘intro’ and given the reason behind my vote, here are the official results of the poll:

Out of a total of 15 people who voted...

• Michael = 1 vote
• Felix = 5 votes
• Andy = 6 votes
• Tony = 3 votes
• Kent = 0 votes

So the winner of the poll is……ANDY LAU (with FELIX WONG coming in a close second)! Congratulations!

Thank you to all those who voted – if you would like to share who you voted for and the reason behind it, feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Please stay tuned for the next 80s/90s poll, which will be posted within the next few days.