Secret of the Linked Cities

[Yon]

I am pretty sure he ended up with SS. Also if i remember correctly, SS was waiting for him and meets him at the end of journey from the book.. so.. yeah.

[Ian Liew]

Originally posted by flyingfox2002
It's not a given that DY will end up with SS romantically. It's very likely, but then you never know with DY. I was annoyed the way he just dumped the girl on her and basically said go back to the snow valley and wait. Is that a way to treat anyone?

Ya, Di Yun was a bit of an insensitive pig in this series. Even if he loved Ci Fang totally all the time the cold shoulder he gave Shui Sheng was way way uncalled for after everything she had done for him. I mean she was probably as close to him as Ding Dian was, but he would never treat Ding Dian that way (although in Ding Dian's case, he didn't feel any unwanted romantic vibes, obviously). I think it's all to do with the casting - back in 1988 I disliked Shalin Tse's Shui Sheng so much that I was hoping that she'd die and Di Yun would end up with Kitty's Ci Fang again. In this series Shui Sheng is much better, and hence the same ending becomes a happy one.

[Trinie]

That's one thing I didn't like about DY's character. But then again, he loved Ci Fang very much so it is hard for him to accept SS's love. But I am glad that they did end up together. Or was it only implied that they did?? gosh, I hate that.... Why can't JY just straight out say that they did??Did that one guy that married Ci Fang die too??I forgot his name... Oh yea, who played SS in this version? I know that Ho Mei Tian plays Ci Fang. Who is that other girl you are talking about? I only remember SS and CF.

[Ian Liew]

Sorry about the confusion.

Ding Dian was not a girl - Ding Dian was the other guy who got the Shen Zhao Jing at the beginning from Mei NianSheng, and who taught Di Yun his martial arts while in prison. I used DD as a reference because DD was the only person outside CF who DY cared about.

I think JY did say they ended up - it's just that the serial adaptation lacked that one ending scene with them together, and instead chose to end it with him riding towards the mountains where she was.

Shui Sheng was played by Shu Chang, who also played Tianshan Tonglao in TLBB 2003.

[Trinie]

Thanks for the clarification Ian! I forgot the name of the one who taught him martial arts in prison, but I know who he is. I remember now.... I am glad that JY said they ended up together. Too bad they didn't have a scene where we actually see it.
I didn't watch DGSD 2003 since I got sick of remakes. I heard that she did a good job as Tian Shan Tong Lao.How did she do in this series?? I think you liked her performance right?

[Yo Kang]

Sooooooooooo.... How's the fighting scene?

[flyingfox2002]

Originally posted by Ian Liew
Ya, Di Yun was a bit of an insensitive pig in this series. Even if he loved Ci Fang totally all the time the cold shoulder he gave Shui Sheng was way way uncalled for after everything she had done for him. I mean she was probably as close to him as Ding Dian was, but he would never treat Ding Dian that way (although in Ding Dian's case, he didn't feel any unwanted romantic vibes, obviously). I think it's all to do with the casting - back in 1988 I disliked Shalin Tse's Shui Sheng so much that I was hoping that she'd die and Di Yun would end up with Kitty's Ci Fang again. In this series Shui Sheng is much better, and hence the same ending becomes a happy one.

I don't care about stupid Qi Fang. I'm glad Wan Gui killed her. The series actually made her character more likeable on the show. The one in the novel was even more annoying.

Shu Chang was great in the series. SC the actress has come really far from being an orphan. I hope she makes it big as a star.

Even in the novel, all we know is that SS was waiting for DY in the valley, it's even unclear what DY's reaction to her is. It just ends with SS saying with joy "I knew you'd be back!" And in the novel they weren't as close as they became on the series.

Come to think of it, the only likeable character on the show was probably SS. DD + Ms. Ling too. And I liked the Grand Master too hehe.

[Yon]

I like Qi Fang's daughter most.. THAT GIRL IS WAY TOO CUTE!

[Ian Liew]

Originally posted by flyingfox2002
I don't care about stupid Qi Fang. I'm glad Wan Gui killed her. The series actually made her character more likeable on the show. The one in the novel was even more annoying.

Shu Chang was great in the series. SC the actress has come really far from being an orphan. I hope she makes it big as a star.

Come to think of it, the only likeable character on the show was probably SS. DD + Ms. Ling too. And I liked the Grand Master too hehe.

Yay.. we should start a Shu Chang fan club - you just cannot not like her after watching the series. I don't like Qi Fang much even in this series, but for some reason when Kitty Lai played her in 88 I liked her a lot - probably because I didn't like Shalin Tse's Shui Sheng one bit. Shalin just couldn't act.

DD was very likeable, but more so when he had that beard. Without the beard he just looked very.. Chow Yun Fat... almost like he wasn't suitable for wuxia serials. He had very modern features and looked very out of place. With the beard and scruffy hair he became instantly cool =) Grand Master was Mei Niansheng or Xuedao Laozu? Laozu was hilarious, especially when he placed that hair on Shui Sheng's nose and told Di Yun "You try!" - I burst out laughing, literally. I think he completely enjoyed himself in this serial to compensate for not being able to open his mouth in the whole of TLBB 2003.

Despite very short screen time, I also liked Liu Chengfeng (monkey's third brother) a lot. Being able to take on Xuedao Laozu head on, one on one, and actually look like winning, was just awesome. Even though he wasn't using the weapon he used in the book, that spear fight was just amazing, and after he died, and after Laozu managed to beat Lu Tianshu and Shui Dai (and scare Hua Tiegan) you just appreciate Liu for being such an effective vanguard - and he was probably the strongest of the four. Of course, Laozu actually giving him a fair fight probably helped, as he wasn't desperate enough to try his dirty tricks yet.

Another small part I liked was Bao Xiang - Laozu's eldest student, the one who Di Yun cooked a rat for. The conversation between Bao Xiang and Di Yun was just so funny.

Originally posted by Yon
I like Qi Fang's daughter most.. THAT GIRL IS WAY TOO CUTE!

Ya.. Kong Xin Cai was cute. She also got her mother killed, and in the process give Di Yun to Shui Sheng. That's always appreciated.

It's also very sweet that in the end there's going to be this family of three, effetively father, mother and daughter, and none of the 'parents' actually have any blood relation to the girl.

I don't remember there being a Kong Xin Cai in the 88 version, but then again it was a long time ago, and it was TVB. If I remember correctly, Di Yun saves Qi Fang after Wan Gui stabs her, and keeps her alive by giving her a daily dose of Shen Zhao Jing. Finally she dies when she shields Di Yun from Qi Changfa's attack from behind, and then she's too far wounded for even Shen Zhao Jing to save her. Poor Kitty. Shalin actually shields Roger first, then Kitty jumps in front of Shalin. Bugger.

[Ian Liew]

Originally posted by Yo Kang
Sooooooooooo.... How's the fighting scene?

Fighting is done fairly well, although the Lian Cheng Swordplay is very heavily Matrix-style. Certain parts are overdone with the spinning, but I actually like the bits where Mei Niansheng and Di Yun slide across the ground with their swords behind their backs, pinning their opponents' weapons between their sword and back.

The most awesome fighting scene in my opinion was Xuedao Laozu versus the Jiangnan Four Weirds Luo Hua Liu Shui. No Matrix, just a lot of brutal exchanges. Liu Chengfeng had the longest fight, and it really was awesome watching the sabre and spear come together. Lu Tianshu didn't really get to fight that much, but what was there was pretty good. Hua Tiegan's spear actually looked very deadly (while he still had courage to fight). Only Shui Dai of the four didn't really have much opportunity to show off some lovely strokes.

Wan Zhenshan has this ball and chain like the one Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill has, and uses it fairly well against Di Yun towards the end, although he was nowhere near as cool (or beautiful, obviously) as Gogo. It was choreographed quite well, though.

I also like the part where Yan Daping decodes the Lian Chengjue secret, and uses his Tang Prose Swordplay to cut out the relevant words from all the prose hanging around him - very well done.

All in all the fighting scenes are very well done - the Matrix-style is quite evident, however, and if you absolutely hate it then, well, there will be a few scenes which annoy you, but Lian Cheng Swordplay isn't used in every fight, thankfully.

[flyingfox2002]

Originally posted by Ian Liew
Yay.. we should start a Shu Chang fan club - you just cannot not like her after watching the series. I don't like Qi Fang much even in this series, but for some reason when Kitty Lai played her in 88 I liked her a lot - probably because I didn't like Shalin Tse's Shui Sheng one bit. Shalin just couldn't act.

DD was very likeable, but more so when he had that beard. Without the beard he just looked very.. Chow Yun Fat... almost like he wasn't suitable for wuxia serials. He had very modern features and looked very out of place. With the beard and scruffy hair he became instantly cool =) Grand Master was Mei Niansheng or Xuedao Laozu? Laozu was hilarious, especially when he placed that hair on Shui Sheng's nose and told Di Yun "You try!" - I burst out laughing, literally. I think he completely enjoyed himself in this serial to compensate for not being able to open his mouth in the whole of TLBB 2003.

Despite very short screen time, I also liked Liu Chengfeng (monkey's third brother) a lot. Being able to take on Xuedao Laozu head on, one on one, and actually look like winning, was just awesome. Even though he wasn't using the weapon he used in the book, that spear fight was just amazing, and after he died, and after Laozu managed to beat Lu Tianshu and Shui Dai (and scare Hua Tiegan) you just appreciate Liu for being such an effective vanguard - and he was probably the strongest of the four. Of course, Laozu actually giving him a fair fight probably helped, as he wasn't desperate enough to try his dirty tricks yet.

Another small part I liked was Bao Xiang - Laozu's eldest student, the one who Di Yun cooked a rat for. The conversation between Bao Xiang and Di Yun was just so funny.




Ya.. Kong Xin Cai was cute. She also got her mother killed, and in the process give Di Yun to Shui Sheng. That's always appreciated.

It's also very sweet that in the end there's going to be this family of three, effetively father, mother and daughter, and none of the 'parents' actually have any blood relation to the girl.

I don't remember there being a Kong Xin Cai in the 88 version, but then again it was a long time ago, and it was TVB. If I remember correctly, Di Yun saves Qi Fang after Wan Gui stabs her, and keeps her alive by giving her a daily dose of Shen Zhao Jing. Finally she dies when she shields Di Yun from Qi Changfa's attack from behind, and then she's too far wounded for even Shen Zhao Jing to save her. Poor Kitty. Shalin actually shields Roger first, then Kitty jumps in front of Shalin. Bugger.

The TVB version actually holds a lot of nostalgic value for me because it was the very first series I watched when I immigrated to the US when I was little. I still know both theme songs by heart - sung by Sammi Cheng and Lui Fang. I don't remember the plot from the series though except for the major actors/actresses.

That's making QF to likeable if she died like that. Doesn't DY have that protective vest on so no shielding was necessary?

GrandMaster is Xiedao Monk.

That daughter was funny when she tried to look mean while doing the kungfu with grandpa. hehehe the actress must be around 8 or so.

I am still stuck on ep 7 of DGSD, it's been almost 3 wks since I've seen an ep, I think SC shows up around ep 27... a while to go.

[Trinie]

Thanks for all the info guys! Su Chang was an orphan? I feel so sad for her. I am glad that she has the chance to be in so many JY series. I hope she will make become successful in her career.I am glad to hear such good comments about this series. I may give it a try if I have the time and chance since I did not like the TVB version.

[flyingfox2002]

Yes, fight the Matrix, stay away from TVB.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, TVB sucks.

[tinac]

I finally got the series ... but the first ep is draggy. Does it get better?

[Dlord0]

It's draggy alright, in order to expand the relatively JY novel into a 36 episode series, there was quite a bit of extra scenes, dialogue and characters added that I somewhat disliked when watching the show. The tea-shop owner and his wife are completely original characters who got screen time to the point of annoying me, but they managed to tie it up into the ending with the didactic message of the evils of greed quite well.

Then again, the story was slow in itself to start with. In the typical JY tradition, Di Yun gets to go through hell for the first half of the series before he gets to be a master of martial arts and kick some ***. He was probably the hero that JY make suffer the most in my opinion... punctured clavicles... gives me the chills just thinking about it...

[Ian Liew]

The story picks up a lot once our two heroes Di Yun and Ding Dian finally meet and become friends. That shouldn't be too far away. =)

[tinac]

Thanks! I finished the series in 2 days (entire weekend). The fighting is good and Shu Chang is very cute and pretty here.

Wonder why most Si Mei (who are always nice, naive, and pretty) in wuxia series always marries the wrong guy and have a tragic ends?

[Ian Liew]

That's really impressive!

Ya, the parallels between Ci Fang and Yue Lingshan are quite numerous - but as long as they don't cast a Shimei who is prettier than the female lead it's okay with me (something which the 80s XAJH and LCJ didn't do, and which made me feel very sad while watching).


Ian

[flyingfox2002]

In my opinion Yue Ling Shan is a more sympathetic figure while Qi Fang is just purely idiotic and deserved her fate. Lin Ping Zhi is inherently not evil, whereas Wan Gui has always been evil. LPZ was driven to madness, I can understand why YLS stuck by him. However, WG had shown his true colors, he had chosen treasure over the lives of his wife and child, and he had caused the man QF supposedly loved to bear tremendous suffering.

The parallels between YLS and QF ends with ditching their childhood companion, marrying a better looking guy, and getting killed by the husband. The circumstances beyond that are different.

[tinac]

Originally posted by Ian Liew
That's really impressive!

Ya, the parallels between Ci Fang and Yue Lingshan are quite numerous - but as long as they don't cast a Shimei who is prettier than the female lead it's okay with me (something which the 80s XAJH and LCJ didn't do, and which made me feel very sad while watching).


Ian

Well, I scanned thru scenes that I don't like ... a bit cheating 8-) I don't like to waste time on things I don't like ... he he