Sunday, October 10, 2004

Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre

Tonight Ch8 aired the last episode of the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre. It is a show that I had been faithfully following for the past couple of months, to the extent that I altered my churchgoing schedule to Sunday and brought forward my grandmother's birthday dinner to lunch just to catch it. (Don't think I'm mean, coz my gran loves that show too!) This show has deep significance for me. As a child, I used to follow the 1986 Hong Kong version of it, starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Zhang Wuji (the protagonist). I loved that version because I thought Tony Leung made a good Wuji and it was the very first time I was watching that show. Being someone who is biased against remakes and sequels, all I can say is that this 2003 CCTV version of Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre has beaten its predecessors hands-down. The bevy of beauties who were cast in this show superceded the earlier versions of this Jin Yong novel. The attraction for me this time wasn't only the eye candy, but the elusive romance between Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min. The chemistry between Alec Su and Alyssa Chia is AMAZING. She is so cute as Zhao Min and that childish childhood desire I had to be the female protagonist in every show I watch instantly came back. I wish I am Zhao Min!!

Anyway, contrary to many of the tv series these days, this show made sense. It had a proper beginning and ending. However, there were several questions which I felt remain unanswered. Firstly, how did Zhao Min know that the carvings behind the Buddha statues had disappeared (3rd last episode)? Secondly, if Zhiruo had the broken pieces of the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, why were the Xuanming Elders killed by the broken pieces of the Heavenly Sword (last episode), presumably thrown by Zhu-Er? Thirdly, even if the cuts on Zhu-Er's face drained her of the poison in her blood, she would have suffocated to death after being buried on Snake Island. How did she get out?
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

1) Right after Wuji had first fought the three old Shaolin monks and spoken to his godfather in the night, he left and Zhao Min appeared in the forest, apparently waiting for him. Wuji noticed some shiny paint on her hand and when he asked what that was, Zhao Min just said it was nothing and changed the subject. She had actually sneaked into Shaolin to remove the carvings behind the Luohan statues.
2) As Zhiruo could not carry the broken pieces with her when she left Snake Island with Wuji and his godfather (they were still in the dark), she supposedly left them on the island. Thus Zhu-er was the one who brought them back to Mainland.
3)In the novel, Wuji could not dig a tomb deep enough because of the island's soil content, so he had to use stones and rocks to cover her up in the shallow hole. He did not want to damage her face with the stones and thus placed branches across her whole body to protect her features. Thus air could enter and she managed to live.

This remake is at most only 60% true to the novel whereas Tony Leung's version is maybe 90% or more true.

In the novel, it was the soldiers under one of the Five Flags of Ming Sect (the Five Flags are hardly mentioned in the series!) who dug tunnels into Shaolin to remove the carvings behind the Luohans. And it was Yang Xiao who gave the order. But in the serial, Yang Xiao was not even present at that time anymore. Probably payroll problems.

Also from the novel, the broken pieces of the sword and sabre WERE with Zhiruo. Supposedly, she must have sent people back to Snake Island to retrieve them. Mongol troops attacked Shaolin right after Cheng Kun was exposed. Emei people were trapped by the troops when they were leaving Shaolin and Song Qingshu, who was still with Emei and injured and on a stretcher, was saved by Wuji. The sword and sabre were found to be on the stretcher. Xuanming Elders were not killed too; they were left to fight among themselves due to Wuji using QianKunDaNuoYi to fool them into attacking each other, and Zhao Min verbally inciting enmity between them.

I have never liked China-Taiwan productions because they focus so much on love plots and destroy the original story. But I like this version as it is in a class of its own even though the plots are simplified. It is like a Zen version. There is a severe lack of real fighting scenes. But I guess the eye-candies make up for that. Lol.

Anyway I came across your blog when I was searching for this remake's resources online. You have a very nice blog going.

3:35 PM

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