The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (2003 & 2009)

The Heavenly sword and Dragon saber

The heavenly sword and Dragon saber is the final part of the Condor trilogy by Yin Jong (Louis Cha). The second part is about the child of Yang Kang and Nianci Mu and we get to know more of what happened to Gou Jing and Huang Rong.  In this final part the only thing that connects it to the other two parts is the manuals hidden in the two weapons.  This story is about a couple originating from opposing sects and the life of their son, once they are killed when they return to the mainland. 

2009 version

2003 version

I started watching the Heavenly sword and Dragon saber with the 2009 version because it was the one I could find at the time.  But I have to say, I did not get very far before I had to stop and started with the 2003 version.

2003 and 2009 version of Zhang Wuji & Zhao Min

The things I liked particularly about the 2009 version were Zhao Min's costumes, the fight during her first meeting with Zhang Wuji, some of the battles, some scenes, and the real under water scene.  But the reason I stopped watching despite it having things I liked was because it was confusing. My god was it confusing. From the very beginning, I had a hard time following, so I think it was made for people who are already familiar with the story and just want to see the memorable parts. I only realized how confusing after staring to watch the 2003 version.  

The 2003 version did the story so that one could understand it as a whole. So, it would cut to one group and go to another. So as to get an idea of the whole picture.  The 2009 version even the very next scenes and actions sometimes made no sense. Especially when it came to set up. I really loved the Wudan temple in the 2009 because it was a real temple and not a set and it was beautiful.  But how the temple was built made very little sense for how the action happened.  For example, Zhang Wuji was kidnapped then brought to the temple but then he suddenly appears coming from within the temple. But none of the kidnappers had been allow into the temple. So how did he get in?  There were many scenes like this.  

I also think the 2003 version of the villain was a little more menacing and scary to me. He just seemed like he had a hand in everything setup and that was scary. I also think both Zhang Wuji were good, though in some scenes I felt the 2009 actors portrayed more emotions.  Both Zhao Min were okay for me. I particularly liked the fight scene from 2009 when he comes for the antidote.  Though I still did not find it clear has to why Zhang Wuji fell in love with Zhao Min.
But the 2009 version had a few cute scenes between them that you could stretch to mean they were falling in love.

2003 and 2009 version Zhou Zhirou

Zhou Zhirou in the 2003 was a lot more menacing than the other one and you actually knew what was happening with her.  I also liked the design of the weapons better.  I also liked the relationship between Yang Buhui and the Sixth Uncle.  The show made sure to discuss all the questions that needed to be asked and I liked how it resolved between them . 

Though I loved the scene from the 2009 version, where the Sixth Uncle tried to killed himself and Buhui saved him. But what followed just seemed completely out of the blue and unhealthy, if I had not seen the scenes depicting their relationship from the 2003 version, I would have continued to think that their relationship was toxic.  

Another things I didn't like in the 2009 version was what happened with Xiaozhan it came off very like she was completely manipulated into becoming to new sect leader. This made no sense the sect had already accepted the return of her mother by bowing to her. Instead it being a decision she wanted to make so she could be with her mother and save her friends.  Also I did not like Ying Li because she seemed mentally unstable.  

2003 version Zhang Wuji & Zhao Min

I also like they that there were actual portrayal of affection. I always prefer to see more display of affection than the usual fare of head on the shoulder and occasional holding of hands.  Especially, since in most Ancient Chinese series there are always declaration of undying love.

I would recommend this series for the 2003 version because the story made sense and flowed better.

The Swordsman (2013)

The Swordsman

The swordsman is based on the novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Jin Yong. The original story revolves around the coveted Bixie Swordplau Manual belonging to the Lin family.  The story's main protagonist is Linghu Chong.  

I have not read or seen any of the previous adaptations of the Smiling, Proud Wanderer. However, from what I can read on line this adaptation had taken some liberties with the original story.  

Having started the story, I liked the scenery and colors although some of the CGI were not so great. The martial arts and fight scenes were also well done.  When the story starts off, I liked the chemistry and I thought most of the characters did a good job. 

Tian Bo Guang was made to have fun scenes and had good chemistry with most of the other characters. What I did not like was the attempted justification has to why he was a rapist and how he got off with hardly any punishment, though Dungfong Bubai turned him into a monk.  I thought he should have regretted more himself and want to repent for all the wrong he did.

Yi Lin was fun even though she was a typical quiet and reserve girl that is so popular in a lot of Chinese series not just the Ancient. 

DungFong BuBia was the most interesting woman in the series though her development sometimes was frustrating where suddenly she is in love with a man and has to give up everything for him, although they never really showed clearly has to why she wanted to be Leader and powerful.

Linghu Chong and Dongfang Bu Bai

Linghu Chong started off very likable since he seemed not to just judge people on the labels they were given but by their actions.  However his way of seeing things and judging were not consistent.   We see him kill two members of other sects with his own hands but showed no remorse for their death because they wanted him harm, but when Dongfung Bubai killed those sects members who were trying to kill her he suddenly was calling them innocents and her evil.  Also since their meeting Linghu Chong had never asked Dongfung Bubai what sect she was in and she had never done anything to harm him or cause him to harm others.  Yet when, Linghu Chong meets Ying Ying she takes him to the Plum Manor to use him to free her father and causes the death of the Four brothers, who had done him no harm, but he showed no emotion for their death.  Even when he finds out that Ying Ying is from the same sect as Dongfung Bubai, he doesn't blame Ying Ying but he does blame Dongfung Bubai.  That is hypocritical.   Many times Linghu Chong stated that just because Yi Lin was in love with him doesn't mean he should be in love with her, and is completely true but when he meets Ying Ying that is exactly what he does.  Also this idea that you should love someone no matter what and that is the only way that your love is pure is idealized bull. 

Ying Ying is introduced and I found her character a little boring and having little chemistry with Linghu Chong.  She is another of the quiet, kind and submissive female characters but I found Yi Li and even Ning Zhongke far more interesting than her.  Also this idea that you should love someone who is nice to you and or is in love with you that Linghu Chong was rightly against in the beginning gets thrown out the window.  Ying Ying said she just wanted to have a relationship with Linghu Chong but he didn't have to love her back.  But that is exactly what happens. An example is when Linghu Chong has already said he likes her and they go to help Yue Ling Shang who was stabbed by Lin Pin Zhi.  Suddenly Ying Ying is jealousy and mopey that he cares about Shna'er.  When she cuts her hand on the climb she becomes all depressed that Linghu Chong did not ask about it.  1. She is a freaking martial artist in a dangerous world and is crying over some cuts and 2. Linghu Chong did not know about it and she did not tell him. This goes to show that Ying Ying was not kind and just wanted to help Ling Shan who was hurt but was just doing it so she could be praised and Linghu Chong would love her more. After that she runs aways instead of talking about it.  Where she would find out that of course Linghu Chong cares about Ling Shan, they have a long history.  It's like one sibling growing jealous because the other got hurt in a car accident and the parents are visiting them in the hospital. She then runs away and when they come to find her, she hides playing the mistreated wronged one. This continued theme in Chinese series start to really get on my nerves. People shouldn't be together just because you decided to do something nice for them.  

Lin Ping Zi

Lin Ping Zhi was an interesting character because he starts of innocent and weak but after his family is murder he just wants revenge.  He first has a crush on Yue Ling Shan but decides to pursue her because her father could make him stronger.  I felt that along the way he did grow to really care about her but when he finds out that Shan'er father had actually stolen the Bixie sword manual he becomes paranoid and thinks she must have been part of the plan.  Even when he marries her, you see that it's a way to get back at her father but there were moments where he seemed like he felt hurt and guilt for what he was doing to her.  I think more of those moments should have been focused on because otherwise he came off quite heartless instead of someone who was consumed by the pain and frustration of feeling he was not able to accomplish his blood debt.  In the end he seemed to have completely lost his mind. 

Yue Ling Shan

Yue Ling Shan and Ning Zongze  were tragic.  They were both beautiful strong women but fell in love with the similar type of men.  Although, Yue BuQun who had been scheming and lying for decade and was  even jealous of his own student was far worse to me than Lin Pingzi in some ways. In the beginning Shan'er had spunk and would not be easily bullied by anyone but suddenly she fall in love and gets married and all her self respect went out the window.

One thing I found interesting was how if you have no male part like Ping Zhi and the Sect leader who castrated themselves to get power that immediately equals to becoming more feminine. Suddenly, they liking the color purple (which I assume from this series was a women's color) and had an aroma. 

Over all I think Swordsman was a good show. Though the final main romance and love interest seemed wasted. At the end I felt more sad towards Dongfang BuBai than happy for Linghu Chong being happy, which I think was not the intent of the show.  I also liked the songs from the show.  

Swords of Legends (Gu Jian Qi Tan)

Gu Jian Qi Tan

Swords of Legends is a fantasy Chinese series based of the RPG game Gu Jian Qi Tan.  The story is set in Ancient China, the young protagonist is Baili Tusu. When he is young, an unknown masked group attacks and massacred everyone in his village including his mother. Being the only survivor Tusu loses his memory. Tusu was saved by Ziyin, a Celestial Being from Tianyong City Sect. Tusu becomes his second disciple, but because of a terrible incident he has to leave.  As Tusu travels and learns more, he begins to discover the true relationship between him, the Sword of Solitude and a friend Ouyang Shaogong. 

Gu Jian Qi Tan Game

I am not really sure how I started watching Swords of Legends but once I did.  I did not want to stop. Not because I felt it was so great but I kept hoping it would get better, especially since some people seemed to like it so much.  It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It was an average good show. One thing I think they could have worked on was creating more intense cliffhangers at the end of each episode.

Baili Tusu

I liked Baili Tusu. I could understand the way he was and why he was that way. The only disappointing part was when he was being controlled by the sword.  This was a great opportunity to really show the difference between the two sides. Tusu that was always calm and hardly experienced any of his emotions and the one that just let go, felt and showed whatever he was feeling without restraint.  The only scene I really saw this was when he was fighting Ling Duan at the Mu Valley Village. Other than that there wasn't really much that could differentiate between regular Tusu and Sword Tusu.  

Qing Xue

I felt like I wanted to like Qing Xue more than I actually ended up.  I was excited when they mentioned that she was related to Nu wa, but this was never really addressed. She was from Youdu, who could summon and served Nu wa. But we never really found out anything more. I was disappointed by how her story ended, because she was of the view that death was a part of life and we should just accept it.  However, in the end she spend all her time searching for Tusu's memories (soul?) on her own, but not while she continued to live.  She just became like an observer.  Never contacting her friends or family. Plus it seemed like she was searching for Tusu, so he would remember and love her instead of being happy that he gets to be reborn and live again.  Which is why the way Ancient Chinese series's portrayal of love and "I will love you forever and not matter what" I find to be problematic.

Shaogong & Xun Fang

I could understand why Shaogong felt the way he did.  His pain from having to go from body to body, always feeling and knowing you were not complete and losing the little happiness you had finally found.   I could see why he could become so stubborn at going against heaven.  Because of all the suffering, I too would have a hard time just accepting, it's because heaven wanted it.  Plus his pain was compelling because almost everyone knows the pain of having lost someone you love and how much despair it can cause.

Xun Fang was a little boring and I did not like her character because of what she did that was revealed at the end.  We find out early that she did not die, but I was always wondering why she did not tell Shaogong. I just felt there was little reason for her to do what she did. Xun Fang and Shaogong were suppose care so much for each other that they wanted to grow old together.  But what happens shows a bit of how some aspect of Chinese culture might view love.  It seemed at times very attached to appearance and status. Because, all the women that are shown to be desirable are physically beautiful and have a measure of status, whether it be royals on earth or to the gods, usually both.  Since Xun Fang was a Princess of a land empire and had spiritual and magical powers. This situation with Xun Fang and Shaogong illustrated one of the reasons why I don't like the keeping of certain types of secrets and important information.  Shaogong started to search and became stubborn in his quest to bring back the dead because he thought Xun Fang was dead. Xun Fang decided to lie to him about being alive because her hair had turned white and her face was scared.   (we can debate whether she was truly old or just had white hair since most Chinese series rarely ever use actual old actors to represent older versions. Old as in elderly, not from kids to adult).  But here, I will say she just had her hair turned white. If their love was anywhere near as grand as was said, her face and hair would not have been an issue, they could not have resolved.  Shaogong was a genius Doctor.   There is a huge difference between the pain one feels when someone they love is hurt versus died and they can never see them again.  How could she make such a decision without really considering what it might do? It almost felt like she had little respect for him and bought into the views that of course he loved her only because of her appearance and status.  Not to say that Xun Fang was responsible for Shaogong's actions.  He made the decisions.  But her actions did contribute to the thought process and view point that he had on things. 

I thought this series was good, although I don't feel there are a lot of things that I liked very much. I neither extremely for or against special effects.  When done right they add so much and takes you deeper into the story.  Other times they take you out and there were scenes here where I was taken out because of the special effects. I liked some of RPG game inspired fight scenes, particularly, the quick speed strikes.  Also the show had some nice songs to listen to. Though the background music was very repetitive. If you had played the game and want to see the story told with some minor changes, then watch it.  Or if you like stories that tend to be cute, otherwise I don't think it's worth watching the 50 long episodes.  You can do a lot worse, but there should be better.