‘What could have been’ – an LOCH 1983 fanfiction

I had a very weird dream the other night. I saw Yeung Hong and Wong Yung in a fight, but YH wasn’t fighting WY. Instead, he (in his gorgeous orange white Jurchen garb) protected WY from something. I can’t think of anything permanent from his outburst of heroism, but I find it interesting that the scene appeared in my dream. Hence, this fanfiction. Hope you like it, and Happy New Year!

Source

Wong Yung lost count on how many times she and Yeung Hong had been head-butting since they knew each other. Surely at least 10 times? Fifteen times? The thought passed by uninvited, of course, as she flung her sword forward and then lifted it again to parry Yeung Hong’s slashing spear. To think that the spear once belonged to Uncle Yeung, Ching gor-gor’s adopted uncle...

“Why don’t you just give in?!” Yeung Hong screamed as he whirled and slashed low to target Wong Yung’s legs. Missed again. “I’m getting tired of fighting you!”

“Same here!” Wong Yung retorted. “It’s so boring to always defeat you!”

Yeung Hong’s dragon eyes flashed. He disliked being patronised, much less by Wong Yung. “Well, today you’ll know defeat!” He whirred and executed a series of close-range attacks before suddenly delivered a roundhouse kick. Wong Yung ducked, but a naughty protruding root from one of the many trees in the bamboo forest they fought in caught her. She tripped and fell on her back, just in time to avoid Yeung Hong’s roundhouse kick.

“Hah! I got you!” Yeung Hong lifted his sword high to execute a fatal, if not lethal, strike.


“You say!” Wong Yung reached for her fallen sword to parry again.

Yet a sudden roar froze both enemies to their own positions.

Yeung Hong singing, Huang Yaoshi in talk show

I'm going away for two weeks' business trip, so I might not have time to post something new soon. I certainly did not last week, but I will try to post something small by next weekend...

In the mean time, here's Michael Miu's Yeung Hong (LOCH 1983) singing "Iron Blood, Loyal Heart" and the second 1983 OST with Sharon Yeung Pan Pan. I like Sharon's sweet voice... and I totally am hearting Michael's voice. Like, TOTALLY. I'm a bit restless today, but just listening to his voice singing calm my heart just now. He's magical to me...




Then, after the break, we have Michael Miu, Li Yitong (2017 Huang Rong) and Chen Xingxu (2017 Yang Kang) talk show and TV coverage in Hong Kong. The news coverage was in relation to the LOCH 2017 airtime in HK, which reportedly receives good rating.

Jiangsu TV Chinese New Year TVB concert

It's nice to see some Mainland channels appraising the TVB oldies. A few years ago, the main crew of LOCH 1983 (except Barbara, sadly), were invited for an LOCH 1983 celebration by a Mainland channel (will add the name later). Now, for the Chinese New Year 2017, we had Jiangsu TV inviting Michael Miu, Felix Wong, Gallen Lo and Kenneth Joe Ma singing five TVB oldies songs, including "You're the Best in the World" (LOCH 1983) and "Shanghai Tan" (The Bund 1980).

Assisting the four main TVB giants are TK11 and Zero-G plus some all-men background dancers. I have no idea who Zero-G is other than they are six modern boybands. Nevertheless, the all-men configuration really gave the New Year positive fighting energy. Love the all-white suit that the background dancers gave (and that they actually backflipped! OMG, I thought no one in the Central Plains could do that anymore these days!)

Below the break I have the original clips of the TVB songs performed here. Thanks to Ian Liew, Sarafina and Mandred Skavenslayer from the SPCNet for identifying the other songs I had no clues about. 

Update 4 Feb 2017:

Thanks to TVBFan for letting me know about the first song (Triumph in the Sky) and fixing the identity of the actor singing with Gallen Lo. The actor should be Joe Ma instead of Kenneth Ma. 

Barbara Yung’s letters part 2: LOCH 1983

Barbara shooting her first LOCH scene with Felix Wong

Last month I promised that I’d post some letters of Barbara Yung regarding her experience with the Legend of Condor Heroes 1983. Apologies for taking so long, but I finally am able to sit down and copy her letters from Rob Radboud’s site.

Reading her letters again reminding me how beautiful she was, in and out. She was caring, loving and sensitive. The letters you’ll read below doesn’t only talk about LOCH 1983 of course, and there you’ll see how she cared for her family, in this case her mother, her uncle and Shela, her uncle’s partner (later wife). She also cared for her other friends, that they didn’t have enough money etc. I also found out that her family lived in Cambridge in 1982 (Letter 12 August 1982). Do they still live there now? For some reasons, I wonder whether they have moved out...

As for LOCH, Barbara did her audition on 13 August 1982 (Letter 12 August 1982). She had always wanted to do an ancient drama, so she was excited about her audience. However, since she had the audition for the most important role in the series, the announcement was not made until mid November (Letter 19 November 1982). She was of course very excited about it, but then she was also worried whether she’d be able to fill Michelle Yim’s shoes (Mie Shieh or Michelle Yim played as Wong Yung in LOCH 1976)(Letter 13 March 1983). 

LOCH 2008 final impressions

LOCH 2008 poster, from Crunchyroll

"A mixed bag" is what I'd call LOCH 2008. Another way would be "good in small details, bad in big pictures". I originally wanted to write part 2 of the review after part 1, but then I didn't have time (and now I lean towards the don’t care attitude, sadly). Hence, this is a compilation of thoughts while watching eps 16-50. I will also comment on some characters that attracted my attention. I've only watched the 1983 ver so far (not planning to watch other versions, thank you), so inevitably I will compare it with the 1983 ver. Spoilers below.

Storyline

I find that the pacing is better in this series than the 1983 version. If you read my episode recaps of 83, you'll know that I complained about the almost two episodes devoted solely for the Dali story. This pacing wastage didn't happen in 08. They only spent about 15 min to explain the whole story between Southern Emperor, Yinggu and Zhou Botong. Which is great, cos I cannot relate to this ZBT at all. I find him annoying instead of endearing the way I feel for the 83 ZBT.

However, the compact storyline also sacrificed some aspects of the series, some of them major. As some past reviewers have commented, Guo Jing's childhood was skipped entirely. I'm not a fan of the 83 ver of having the eight first episodes dedicated to GJ's life in Mongolian; two episodes would do, I think. But I don't advocate wiping it out altogether either. Also, some crucial elements about Huang Yaoshi wasn't shown here, e.g. we didn't see the adorable Huang Yaoshi (Anthony Wong) looking for HR after she left the island after the contest between GJ and Ouyang Ke. Hopefully in 2017, we will be treated with that scene, for we have  a photo of Michael Miu's HYS on the lookout for HR onboard of a boat, just like in 1983.

LOCH 2008 first impressions

LOCH 2008 poster from Clapanuelos

In preparation of LOCH 2017, I thought I'd better watch LOCH 2008 to acquaint myself with the 21 CE wuxia style, particularly that of Jin Yong. I watch LOCH 2008 through KissAsian Jianghu. This post is for episodes 1-15 and I posted it with my iPad, so please excuse the brevity and mistakes.

I find the 2008 version having an interesting story telling with flashbacks. Sceneries, the grand scale of Heng Dian studio and cinematography definitely win against 1983. However, I still prefer the costumes of 1983, although they would be recycled later for other series (e.g. The Foundation 1984). And most definitely, the original voice wins against any dubbed versions. This is not just for the Mandarin-dubbed HK series, but also for Mainland dubbed series. I really don't get it. What's wrong with using Ariel Lin's real voice? I can see and hear how Huang Rong's voice was dubbed, for it's just too cute (in an annoying way) and too high pitched oftentimes.

I still much prefer the old 80s with minimum cables and real fist fights, somersaults and backflips from the actors and actresses. Exceptional mention is the Temujin vs Jamukha fight in Ep 2 or 3 win just fists and wrestles; now that was pleasing to watch! The theme song for that scene was great too. When Brian Leung's North Beggar arrived on screen, we then start to enjoy the older classical fighting scenes, cos Brian had solid kung fu, like those of the old TVB era. They actually even showed a Hong Qigong double doing sommersault, to my glee! I also like YK/MNC and YK/GJ close-distance sparring/fighting. It seems when it's not involving flying off the roof scenes, modern wuxia series actually can pull quite good fighting scenes. But once it involves anything resembling rooftop or height, it paradoxically falls to the ground.

Huang Yaoshi, the East Heretic

Michael Miu Kiu Wai as the 2017 Huang Yaoshi

Since we have more photos of our Michael Miu as Huang Yaoshi (HYS) these days, I thought a post on Huang Yaoshi’s character is in order. I base this post on the English translation of the LOCH book, which can be found at the Wuxia Society. I also need to reiterate that I LOVE Kenneth Tsang’s portrayal as HYS in the 1983 LOCH, but since I have faith in Michael’s acting skills, I believe I will see another favourite HYS of mine next year. Photos of the rest of the Five Greats and the Old Imp are at the end of the article.

First, Huang Yaoshi is the Mandarin pinyin spelling for the real name of this character (surname Huang, "first name" Yaoshi). The Cantonese Yale romanisation is Wong Yeuk Si, the Hokkien version is Oey Yok Su. The traditional characters are 黃藥師 while the simplified characters are 黄药师.

HYS was first depicted as wearing a green robe. This depiction makes some Indonesian fans always asking why the 2017 HYS hasn’t been wearing a green robe. Well, fair point... but a man can change his wardrobe style. Plus, Jin Yong seems to like green. He dressed Yang Kang and one of the Freaks in green the first time we were introduced to them, and he also had Mu Nianci in a dark green clothing in the last chapter. Anyway, here’s the first appearance of Huang Yaoshi in Book 2 Chapter 13. 

“Bitter Enemies” - Wong Yung vs Yeung Hong LOCH 1983

"Bitter Enemies" - Wong Yung vs Yeung Hong LOCH 1983 from Icha74 on Vimeo.

A few months ago, I watched the Legend of Condor Heroes 1983 with trepidation. I love the pairing of Michael Miu and Barbara Yung, but I always watched their series where they were romantic couples. LOCH 1983 was a different story, because Michael played Yang Kang/Yeung Hong, the mortal enemy of Barbara's Huang Rong/Wong Yung. However, I recently learned that indeed during the making of LOCH 1983 that Barbara and Michael became friends, hence I now see LOCH 1983 as an important series that cemented their friendship for life. With this understanding, I have no qualm to make a movie about the mortal enmity between their LOCH characters. 

Laced with the rock beat of Line Walker's "Walker" (行者) by Justin Lo and Wilfred Lau, this MV features the mortal enmities between Wong Yung and Yeung Hong. As a classic, LOCH 1983 is always in the hearts of the 80s wuxia lovers. However, it was difficult for me to find a dedicated WY vs YH music video, hence this offering. Hope you like it. Traditional characters, Yale (I think) romanisation, and English and Indonesian translations are below the break.

Oh, and this MV is full of classical 1980s fighting skills. New wuxia lovers, watch this. This is how the fighting scenes in wuxia series should have been made! Click this category to check my other action-based MVs. For ballad/romance lovers who prefer to see Michael and Barbara romantic pairing, what about this latest CLH 1984 MV instead?

Iron Blood and Loyal Heart 鐵血丹心 LOCH 1983 OST part 1

Anticipating the Legend of Condor Heroes 2017 with Michael Miu as Huang Yaoshi, I thought some of us oldies would like to have some nostalgic moments with the OST of LOCH 1983. However, most LOCH 1983 theme songs have not been translated into English yet (CMIIW), hence I recruited my friend Li Qian to translate the first song for us all. The theme songs of parts 2 ("A Meaningful Life") and 3 ("You're the Best in the World") will be translated in due course. All LOCH 1983 OST can be found here as well. 





The translation in English and Indonesian are below the break, along with the Jyutping Romanisation. Input to translation is of course welcome. IMO, the theme of this song is very Guo Jing, or reflective of his life and struggles. The translation has also been uploaded to Kaypang Gallery's FB page. 

Update 9 January 2017: I have uploaded the Yale romanisation (without numbers) for easier pronunciation for non-Cantonese speakers. The Yale romanisation with numbers are after the Indonesian translation.

"Close To You" - an MV for Michael Miu's 58th birthday

Our darling Michael is 58 years old today (18 June 2016). Can't believe he's already 58 years old but still so young in my heart... 

To celebrate his birthday, I've made an MV above. The song is "Close to You" from the Carpenters (fell in love with the song when I watched Vicky Zhao's "So Close" years ago). The opening photo is from the Legend of Condor Heroes 2017 where Michael plays as Huang Yaoshi (Wong Yeuk See) the East Heretic. I'm so happy that Michael is playing as Huang Rong/Wong Yung's father... for we know how amazing Barbara was when she played WY back in 1982/3. I think she's very happy to know that her dear friend Michael is playing as the father of her famous character, weird as it sounds...

I'm also uploading the MV to Vimeo and Dailymotion. Hope DM isn't asking me to delete it, cos DM has been rather difficult these days. I also plan to write a piece on Huang Yaoshi for Michael's birthday, but not sure if I can post it before the weekend is over.

Meanwhile, enjoy the MV, and once again, happy birthday, Michael! We love you!

The historical accuracy of the 1980s ancient costumes

The pre-Tang Dynasty women fashion from Hujiang.com

After watching Langya Bang, I realised that some Mainland productions are improving, namely in the beautiful cinematography and historical accuracy in costume design. Of course I can complain all day long about the dubbing and the excessive use of CGI and cables during fighting scenes, but let’s stay positive this time. Particularly in the costume design part, I recall that the last few Mainland wuxia series that I watched had been quite accurate, though some has been a hit and miss as well. Granted, I don’t watch a lot of Mainland wuxia series, but I certainly can comment on those that I watched. To me, Bu Bu Jing Xin and Li Hou Zhu definitely joined LangyaBang/Nirvana in Fire in their costume design accuracy (although there might be some discrepancies that my non-expert eyes missed). In the previous decade, it seems the Treasure Venture 2001 (Nicky Wu and Vicky Zhao) was also accurate in their design. I can’t say that about Xiao Shi Yi Lang 2002 (Nicky Wu, Athena Chu) though, for Nicky’s hair and his earlier costumes were definitely not done in a traditional sense.

Having said that, how accurate was the 1980s Hong Kong productions in costume design? Since I have only recently watched the Michael/Barbara series, I can only comment on that, but that’s a good place to start. I’ll divide it into the early Tang Dynasty (the Foundation 1984), the Song Dynasty (LOCH 1983), the Ming Dynasty (CLH 1984) and the Qing Dynasty (FD 1984). I will compare it with the costumes of Nicky Wu and Liu Tao, my other favourite actors (I love Liu Shi Shi too, but I don't watch many of her ancient dramas). I’m still confused with the fashion terminology of Hanfu (Han clothing), so I will just simply refer to the parts as “trousers”, “jacket”, “skirt” etc. Do forgive me for that. Check this video for the fashion up to the Tang Dynasty and this video for the Song, Ming and Qing fashion styles.

GIFs for Michael/Barbara Behind the Scenes

Michael catching the falling Babs, CLH 84 BTS

Even though one does not have Adobe Photoshop, I now know that making GIFs is actually quite easy using free tools like makeagif.com. Hence, I created some GIFs of Michael and Barbara from their Behind the Scenes of CLH 1984. I also made a GIF from the Foundation 1984 promo and re-inserted the GIFs from the LOCH 1983 BTS here. All videos were sourced from Rob Radboud's website.

Enjoy!

Legend of Condor Heroes 1983 OSTs

While waiting for the full list of the major characters for LOCH 2017 (we know that our dear Michael Miu is the new Huang Yaoshi, yay!), I have been reminiscing on the OSTs of the LOCH 1983 where Michael was playing as our crooked but undeniably charming Yang Kang (Yeung Hong). YouTube has loads of the LOCH 1983 OSTs, but I thought I'd just put them here for easier access.

LOCH 1983 has three parts, each part has its own opening theme. My favourite is definitely part 1, which is the iconic opening theme for LOCH 1983 . The second favourite is part 3 OST actually, for it has that rushing adrenaline feeling to it. I also remember part 3 OST very well, for they played it as Yeung Hong (Yang Kang) read the goodbye letter from Mok Nim Chi (Mu Nianci) in Ep 47.

Enjoy! 

Oh, and I've changed the year for LOCH 1982 into "1983" for this series was first aired in Hong Kong in February 1983, not in 1982. And I made two new gifs of MB at the LOCH 1983 BTS. One is Michael hauling Barbara into the boat, the other one Babs glancing and grinning at Michael. Swoon...

Part 1 OST (Iron Blood and Loyal Heart, 鐵血丹心)

Click here for translation

Michael Miu as Huang Yaoshi for LOCH 2017

Click this for the characteristic of Huang Yaoshi

Michael Miu as Huang Yaoshi, the East Heretic for LOCH 2017

I might regret posting this later if this proves to be incorrect, (It is confirmed!!!) but at the moment some wuxia fans in the Indonesian Kaypang Gallery Facebook is abuzz with the news that Michael Miu has been cast as Huang Yaoshi for the Legend of Condor Heroes 2017 (thanks Wina for the news). The series will be directed by Gordon Chan Jeffrey Chiang (thanks Faira!). Huang Yaoshi or the East Heretic was the father of Huang Rong (Wong Yung), and was superbly portrayed by Kenneth Tsang in LOCH 1983. I have always loved East Heretic in LOCH 1983, and I love Kenneth's portrayal of this character. 

To see this beloved character played by the charismatic Michael Miu is like a balm for my heart... especially because tomorrow is the 31th death remembrance of Barbara Yung. Hence, my blue day has been soothed, somehow.

But let me not get ahead of myself. I will explain the news source etc after the break!

"Love is Beautiful" - an MV for Barbara Yung

A few minutes over midnight, but hey, better late than never! The third present for Barbara Yung and us her fans: an MV for Barbara's 57th birthday (7 May 1959-7 May 2016, if she was still with us). Song is "Love is Beautiful" by Tanya Chua, lyrics (pinyin and Chinese characters) are below the break. Will translate the song in due course.

Happy birthday, Barbara... thank you for your Wong Yung (Huang Rong), Song Siu Ching, Chun Sik Sik, Lam Chor Yin, and other characters you've brought to life because you were you. We miss you...

LOCH 1983 Behind the Scene

A blooper from LOCH 1983, from Rob Radboud's website

Rob Radboud has so many cool stuff in his website. One of them is the Behind the Scene for LOCH 1983. Click here for the full 44 minutes of the LOCH 1983 BTS. Good that they've done the BTS in those days. Hence, while waiting for my Barbara MV to be converted etc, tor Barbara's birthday I also selected some screen caps from the LOCH 1983 BTS from Rob's website. Mostly Michael/Barbara related, but I suggest you also check the video, cos Felix had done some cute stuff there too!

Barbara Yung's hair styles in her series

Today is Barbara Yung's 57th birthday. I almost missed it; I thought it would be tomorrow (8 May). Good thing I checked, otherwise I'd beat myself for missing it. 

I have three posts for Barbara and us her fans: her hairstyle (this post), an MV for her and a bit of LOCH 1983 Behind the Scenes with some Michael as Yeung Hong there. Let's see if I can post all before midnight, for it's less than 1.5 hours before midnight here in Australia. 

For the first post, I have some shots of her various hair styles, including the unused hair style from LOCH 1983. Which one do you like the best? 

The gorgeous costumes of Wong Yung and Yeung Hong (LOCH 1983)

Wong Yung's first appearance as a girl in a lovely light blue number (Ep 10)

Barbara Yung Mei Ling and Michael Miu Kiu Wai seemed to wear gorgeous costumes in almost every drama they played. In addition to the gorgeous costumes in the New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung 1984, they also donned some lovely numbers in Legend of Condor Heroes 1983. Tammy and I even think that the costumes Barbara wore as Wong Yung were cuter than those she wore as Song Siu Ching; and mind you, Siu Ching had lovely tunics! Michael as well; he had gorgeous garments in LOCH 1983. Hence, these are some of the numbers they wore in LOCH 1983. If any of you find me missing a particular number, let me know. I'll display Wong Yung's wardrobe first, then Yeung Hong's.

Also, I have added some screen shots of the last episodes of LOCH 1983 from ep 55 to 59, particularly during the Yeung Gor/Yang Guo baby naming scene.

Enjoy!

Sketches of Wong Yung and Yeung Hong

Wong Yung by 'Sweet'

Cynthia from the MB (Michael/Barbara) forum dug her vault and found these beautiful sketches of MB, this time as Yeung Hong and Wong Yung. The artworks are mostly about Wong Yung, though we have one beautiful Yeung Hong (so alike!) and one manga-style Chor Lau Heung. We haven't been able to identify the artists (the WY sketches were made by someone called 'Sweet'), but we will acknowledge them once we do. The CLH manga art seems to be drawn by a Vietnamese artist (the fashion is more of the Qing Dynasty, but still gorgeous).

Enjoy! And thanks Cynthia for keeping the artworks for so long!

'The Dragon’s Repentance' - an LOCH 1983 fanfiction

It was so difficult for me to watch Yang Kang’s demise. I know he was full of mistakes, but he still loved Mok Nim Chi tremendously and he was actually filial in his own ways. I’m also sad that he didn’t have the chance to at least mend the bridge with Wong Yung (he did though with Kwok Ching, which was such a relief). Anyway, to console myself, I wrote this piece. It was also difficult to finish for I never wrote Yeung Hong before. And since this is a hypothetical situation, I hope I got it right somehow. Legend of Condor Heroes 1983 is the property of Jin Yong and TVB Hong Kong; no copyright infringement intended. Also inspired by LOCH 2008 which gave Yang Kang the chance to be with his wife and son for a few months. Romanisation is Cantonese... Yale, I think...

Yeung Hong's final moments with his wife, Ep 52

The Dragon’s Repentance

Yeung Hong stirred in his sleep and stretched his arms. The space next to him was empty. Alert, he opened his eyes and immediately sat on the bed. The movement hurt his chest, but the possible reason of the empty space was more frightening for him. He looked around the simply furnished room to find his wife Mok Nim Chi. She wasn't there. Panic, he jumped out of the bed and walked out into the living room that also functioned as the dining room and weaving place for Nim Chi. She wasn't there. Hyperventilating due to his excessive movements, his heart cried as he ran outside to the back yard. He prayed to Heaven, to Buddha, to anyone who were willing to pity his wretched soul to keep his wife safe. To keep her with him.