ROCH 2006: Now they're BOTH drooling blood...ew!
Bad sign. Very bad sign. Ok, that really was written in the book (I just double-checked). Some things need to be cut before they reach the screen, and this (IMNSHO) is one of them!
"Gu-gu!" "Guo-er!"
So, let's see. While searching for his Gu-gu (Little Dragon Girl), Yang Guo runs into more trouble. Surprise, surprise. It's Lu Wushuang and her cousin with the scary-looking human-skin mask. Li Mochou's back. There's the old crippled blacksmith. Some more fights. And we have a scene or two with East Heretic Huang Yaoshi (Huang Rong's father). From HYS's mentally handicapped martial granddaughter "Sha Gu", Yang Guo finds out that it was Huang Rong who caused his father's death.
This is a good time for a potty break, as Yang Guo goes into the throes of horrible acting and emoting on the screen. Good lord.
Right. I'd have quit watching by this point, but I've already paid for the damn series and now I want to see the train wreck. Yang Guo witnesses the cruelty of the Mongol invaders (more histrionics! Yes, it's a terrible thing, but they could have done the scene better), then meets up with the Golden Wheel monk again, and this time allies himself with him to kill Guo Jing (and Huang Rong). (Remember, these are Yang Guo's foster parents, his "Uncle" and "Aunt").
And we have the first appearance of Zhou Botong, the Old Urchin, at the dinner with Khubilai and the various recruited martial artists. The actor is unexceptionable. The strangest casting choice was for one of the "guest" heros: Ma Guangzuo. In the book, he's about 8 feet tall. In this version, he's a little dwarf! Very odd.
And here we have them going to Rivendell. Excuse me, the "Passionless Valley"... except they made it look like a cross between Rivendell and Lothlorien, with the trees, and the green-clad people dancing around with the flowers (what the hell?) and the airy-fairy music... And the vegetarian lifestyle...
We could have done without all the previous scenes of Little Dragon Girl meeting the lord of the valley and so on and so forth. That just kills the surprise of the scene where Yang Guo finds out. Ok, it wasn't that much of a surprise. When I first tried reading the book, that was where I quit in disgust. I hate those stories where the female love interest almost marries some other man, pretending for some reason not to recognize the male love interest. Well, you can pretty much guess what will happen. Up to a point.
This was never my favorite part of the books, and here it felt especially slow and draggy. And we have some cliches going: the daughter of the evil lord falls in love with the hero, etc. etc. But after the hero gets tossed with her into a pit full of crocodiles, the story gets more interesting. Even the crocodiles know martial arts (and lightness kung-fu!).
Magical "passion flower" poison. Heh heh. It sounds like the sort of thing that would be on a Doctor Who episode (the loveless planet where everyone is poisoned by the flowers! *cue spooky music and metaphorical discursions*). But there you go. Useful plot device.
This adaptation actually seems to follow the books pretty closely. If only they didn't drag everything out with such a heavy hand.
"Gu-gu!" "Guo-er!"
So, let's see. While searching for his Gu-gu (Little Dragon Girl), Yang Guo runs into more trouble. Surprise, surprise. It's Lu Wushuang and her cousin with the scary-looking human-skin mask. Li Mochou's back. There's the old crippled blacksmith. Some more fights. And we have a scene or two with East Heretic Huang Yaoshi (Huang Rong's father). From HYS's mentally handicapped martial granddaughter "Sha Gu", Yang Guo finds out that it was Huang Rong who caused his father's death.
This is a good time for a potty break, as Yang Guo goes into the throes of horrible acting and emoting on the screen. Good lord.
Right. I'd have quit watching by this point, but I've already paid for the damn series and now I want to see the train wreck. Yang Guo witnesses the cruelty of the Mongol invaders (more histrionics! Yes, it's a terrible thing, but they could have done the scene better), then meets up with the Golden Wheel monk again, and this time allies himself with him to kill Guo Jing (and Huang Rong). (Remember, these are Yang Guo's foster parents, his "Uncle" and "Aunt").
And we have the first appearance of Zhou Botong, the Old Urchin, at the dinner with Khubilai and the various recruited martial artists. The actor is unexceptionable. The strangest casting choice was for one of the "guest" heros: Ma Guangzuo. In the book, he's about 8 feet tall. In this version, he's a little dwarf! Very odd.
And here we have them going to Rivendell. Excuse me, the "Passionless Valley"... except they made it look like a cross between Rivendell and Lothlorien, with the trees, and the green-clad people dancing around with the flowers (what the hell?) and the airy-fairy music... And the vegetarian lifestyle...
We could have done without all the previous scenes of Little Dragon Girl meeting the lord of the valley and so on and so forth. That just kills the surprise of the scene where Yang Guo finds out. Ok, it wasn't that much of a surprise. When I first tried reading the book, that was where I quit in disgust. I hate those stories where the female love interest almost marries some other man, pretending for some reason not to recognize the male love interest. Well, you can pretty much guess what will happen. Up to a point.
This was never my favorite part of the books, and here it felt especially slow and draggy. And we have some cliches going: the daughter of the evil lord falls in love with the hero, etc. etc. But after the hero gets tossed with her into a pit full of crocodiles, the story gets more interesting. Even the crocodiles know martial arts (and lightness kung-fu!).
Magical "passion flower" poison. Heh heh. It sounds like the sort of thing that would be on a Doctor Who episode (the loveless planet where everyone is poisoned by the flowers! *cue spooky music and metaphorical discursions*). But there you go. Useful plot device.
This adaptation actually seems to follow the books pretty closely. If only they didn't drag everything out with such a heavy hand.
posted by Taisch @ 7:30 PM
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