A
few days ago, HKTV started up a ‘movement’ on Facebook asking whether audiences
were interested in watching the first 5-10 minutes of the first episode of all
their series online. The response was
overwhelming, as within hours of their post on Facebook, they received over
5000 likes/comments from people (like me for instance) who were interested in
seeing what HKTV had to offer (and since they still don’t have their license
yet, releasing the clips on the Internet is pretty much the only option they have
at the moment).
So
far, they’ve released clips for 3 of their series (with more coming) and I must
say that I definitely like what I see!!
All 3 clips were very well made, both from a visual standpoint
(graphics, etc.) as well as storyline and acting (so far). Actually, now I’m wishing that HKTV would
just put the entire first episode of each series up instead of just the first
few minutes because honestly, a few minutes is really not enough (I was so
engrossed in the clips that I felt like I blinked and it was over already…LOL).
Great
job to the HKTV cast and crew! Watching
these clips was definitely a breath of fresh air for me – especially given the
dismal state of TVB’s series in recent months (gosh, I don’t think I actually
sat down and seriously watched a TV series since the year started!). For me, one of the highlights of watching these clips is that I don’t
have to keep watching the same artists / pairings onscreen all the time (when
you start seeing the same artists playing the same types of roles in series after
series -- as TVB has been doing -- it starts to get boring!) – plus I was super-excited to see artists
back on the small screen whom I hadn’t seen in a long time (William So, Liu Kai
Chi, Yu Mo Lian, just to name a few). It
was also refreshing to see some new faces pop up (well, they may be ‘new’ to me
because I’ve never watched their previous works but not necessarily ‘new’ to
the industry).
Lastly….below
are a few of my thoughts on the clips released so far (sorry, can’t say much
since the clips were so short…bummer…).
But hey, at least we get to see more than what was in the sales
presentation, so that’s definitely a plus.
P.S.: Damn HK government!!! Stop fooling around!!! Issue those darn licenses already, will
ya!!!! Argh!!
.*****.
Once Upon A Song (童話戀曲201314)
My
comments:
.—This
has got to be my favorite clip so far out of the 3 released! I love the upbeat nature of the opening
segment and the lighthearted humor that made me laugh without even thinking
about it (the natural kind of humor that doesn’t try to be funny but ends up
being funny because of the dialogue and interaction of the characters).
.—
In the short, few minute clip alone, Jason Chan already left quite an impression
on me with his performance as ‘Handsome Chan’ (still can’t get over that
name…haha). His interaction with William
So’s character ‘Da Wai Gor’ was absolutely hilarious (I actually miss William’s
acting – he always comes across very natural to me in his roles, as though he
is playing himself every time). I
especially enjoyed the scene where Da Wai Gor describes all the stuff that his
missing dog used to do for him and Handsome agrees to do all those things
despite not knowing what most of the stuff meant (LOL).
.—The
girls in the clip did a good job as well.
I’m actually not familiar with Evelyn Choi at all, but so far, her
performance as ‘Yan Tze Ching’ wasn’t bad at all (though of course I would have to watch more
of the series to really see). Lesley
Chiang also did pretty well with her role as ‘Kalie’ (so far) – her facial
expressions were pretty spot on, which is pretty impressive considering this is
her first acting gig (oh and her dialogue was pretty funny as well).
.—Overall,
definitely looking forward to watching this.
HKTV: Please release the rest of
the episode!!!
Brain
Opening Detective (開腦儆探)
My
Comments:
.—To
be honest, showing a mere 6 minutes wasn’t enough to really get the ‘feel’ for
this series. Unlike the other 2 clips, I
actually didn’t feel anything when I watched this (honestly, all I could think about was ‘Yay, Felix
back onscreen again!’ LOL!)
.—The
scene showing Felix’s son getting shot was interesting, but I kind of felt they
did the ‘kid getting shot’ scene better in Police Boundaries than they did here
– the one here was too ‘science fiction-ish’ (if that’s a word), especially
with the whole slow motion thing and such.
But I’m thinking perhaps that was done on purpose because according to
the plot summaries, this series will have a ‘supernatural’ element to it – if that’s
the case, then it explains why those scenes were shot that way.
.—By
the way….I’m trying to figure out who plays Felix’s wife in the series (her
appearance in the clip was way too brief for me to tell). I do like the ‘refreshing’ team of Sam Lee
pairing up with Felix to solve cases though – now that’s a collaboration we
haven’t seen before.
.—All
in all, I will probably still watch this because of Felix, but so far, the ‘premiere’
segment wasn’t really too exciting for me.
Police
Boundaries (警界線)
My Comments:
.—The
11 minute opening segment that they showed of this series was AWESOME!! I was at the edge of my seat practically the
entire time and felt like it went by way too quickly (honestly, it felt more
like 5 minutes than 11…). This has
actually been the number one anticipated HKTV series for me since it was
announced last year and sure enough, the opening segment didn’t disappoint.
.—Love
Liu Kai Chi (he’s one of my all-time favorite veteran green leaf actors), so I’m
definitely thrilled that he has such a heavy role in this series (he’s
definitely one of the leads and in most of the rundowns, his name is even
listed first! Yay!). He was witty and cool in the opening segment
and by the looks of it, his character is going to be a very interesting one
(and no, doesn’t look like he’ll be playing the villain this time).
.—The
‘funniest’ scene for me so far was the one at the convalescent home (yay, Yu Mo
Lian is back…haha!). Loved the
interaction between Mo Lian Jie (missed her acting too), Philip Keung, and Liu
Kai Chi in that scene (sorry, but I’m not sure who the other woman was in that
scene).
.—Too
bad that Leila Tong wasn’t in the opening clip (didn’t see Felix Lok or Annie
Liu either) – but ah well…she’s one of the main characters so most likely she
will show up in the first or second episode.
.—There
wasn’t a whole lot of scenes with Dominic Lam either, though he’s also one of
the main characters – but the few scenes he was in were definitely very intense…he
didn’t have any dialogue, yet just seeing those scenes play out was already
enough to give me a sense that there would be something up with his character
somehow (and we find out what that ‘something’ is at the end of the clip).
.—Oh
and I have to say that I absolutely did not recognize Lawrence Chou at all,
even though he had majority of the screen time in the first 11 minutes (not
surprising, since the last time I saw him in something was like over 10 years
ago!). He looks so much more mature than
how I last remembered him – in any case, he did a great job in the opening
segment and really brought out the emotional intensity of the first
segment.
.—As
for the woman who played Lawrence’s wife (girlfriend?) in the first segment, of
course I had no clue who she was (I know her name is Joman Chiang, but that’s
about it), but so far, I’m impressed by her performance (I think this is her
very first TV series…if so, then wow….)
.—
Lastly, I absolutely must give kudos to the filming techniques for this series –
the entire time, I felt like I was watching a movie rather than a TV
series. Oh and I definitely have to
mention the scene at the piano recital involving Lawrence, Joman, and the boy
who plays their son (he is super-cute!!) as well as the subsequent ‘flashback’
scene showing the ‘event’ (shootout) that happened ‘one year ago’ – those
scenes were very nicely transitioned (kudos to the editing team) and quite
clever (not sure about you guys, but when the scene cut back to the recital and
they showed what happened to the boy as a result of that awful event, I nearly
cried…and of course the ‘shock’ of seeing the ‘culprit’ sitting right there in
the audience – intense!) GIVE ME MORE OF
THIS SERIES PLEASE!!!
