The Legend of Chu Liu-hsiang 2012 (TV)

I really enjoyed watching this series. The stories are like in the books. This TV series are based on 4 Chu Liu-hsiang books by Gu Long:  The Love Story of A Ghost and A Swordsman (1970), The Legend of The Bat (1971), The Legend of The New Moon (1978), and The Legend of The Peach Blossom (1972).

I read the first 2 books when I was in junior high school and that time I was mesmerized by them. They were much more interesting than Agatha Christie books. The Legend of The Bat, in particular, was quite scary; because the characters went into a cave where they couldn't see anything. So among the 4 stories, The Legend of The Bat is my favourite.

Only recently I found the first 3 Chu Liu-hsiang books: Lingering Fragrance in the Sea of Blood, The Great Desert, and The Thrush. These three books are a trilogy and must be read in correct order. The trilogy is, until now, one of the two best books I have ever read. --> the other one is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

I also have read the rest of Chu Liu-hsiang books, but I don't really like them. Perhaps it is the translation... Translators nowadays have different style than those in the old days.

But in The Legend of The New Moon, the mystery is not intriguing. And in the end, it is not Chu Liu-hsiang who solves the problem how to kill the enemy.

When you think about it, in the Legend of The Bat, Chu Liu-hsiang also doesn't have to fight the master of the Bat island. So there is no big fight in the end. However, they are many puzzles to solve in this story... and I really enjoy the conversations among Chu Liu-hsiang, Hu Tie-hua, and Zhang San.

The Legend of the Peach Blossom, I don't like it. I don't want to see Chu Liu-hsiang gets married...

But I'm glad they made series about The Legend of The New Moon and The Legend of The Peach Blossom, because when I read the books, I didn't really get the meaning. It was the translations.... And since this 2012 series are faithful to the books, I at last can see what are the books about.

I really want to see the team who made this series make a series based on the first 3 Chu Liu-hsiang books. So far, I think the closest version ever made perhaps the 1979 one. It was a pity that Adam Cheng fell sick during the making, so that the lead character had to disappear in several episodes, leaving the supporting cast doing the investigation.

The fighting scenes in this 2012 version are not many, but in the books they are just like that. We can see that Xue Yi-ren, the #1 swordsman, earlier killed his enemies with only 1 stroke only. Then we see Xue Yi-ren chases Chu Liu-hsiang in a fight and never gets him, so we can see that they both are very high skilled.

When I was watching the part of The Legend of The Bat, they were just talking and talking... When I read the book, I really enjoyed it. But when it's made into a movie... well, now I can understand why the other versions of The Legend of The Bat are changed so much. The producers usually want their money back, plus profits.

This 2012 version was perhaps made with low budgets. I wish they hired more beautiful actresses, and it would be great if a more good looking actor could play Zhang San. Zhang San is a fisherman, so I wasn't imagining an overweight guy. Zhang San in this version has eaten too many grilled fish. --> I hope the actor who played Zhang San never read this. He did well, anyway, with the dialogues, also with the gesture of imitating Chu Liu-hsiang rubbing his nose.

I think it was  also due to low budgets that they had to change some locations. Like when it should be in a river or a ocean, it was changed to a land or an island. Sometimes it worked, but sometimes not. In the legend of The Bat, after the ship was destroyed and they had to use coffins, they reached a land and met Yuan Sui-yun. They stayed in the land, in Yuan Sui-yun's, until the messengers from the Bat Island arrived. Jin Ling-zhi mentioned that she had spent 7 days with a ship before reaching the Bat Island, but after they left the shore, floating using those coffins and met Yuan Sui-yun, it had been only 2-3 days. In the book, they were picked up by Yuan Sui-yun's ship and continued the journey until they reached the Bat Island.

I love Ken Chang Tzu-yao here. In some parts, he looks older and thinner, but it's okay. This Chu Liu-hsiang is patient towards women (but not all of them). While Adam Cheng and Ti Lung were more humorous, Ken Chang is calmer. He often pauses before delivering his lines, though. [I don't like Michael Miu's Chu Liu-hsiang. He killed.]

I checked out Ken Chang's filmography to see if I had seen his works before. So he was in The Lost Tomb (with bristles) and in Lu Xiao-feng with Cheung Chi-lam. I didn't remember him in Sha Po Lang at all, until I watched a clip in YouTube. The filmography only mentions Inspector Lee Wai-lok in Sha Po Lang. Which one was Lee Wai-lok? It should be written like this: Good-looking cop whose throat slitted by Wu Jing.