Is this even a question. How can you not frequent WeTV (the website) if you watch dramas? Only dramas made/licensed by Tencent get shown on WeTV. There is a section on WeTV for upcoming dramas and surprise you find the teaser/trailer for Longest Promise!
Condor Heroes by Hark Tsui. You peeps should blame them for casting Xiao Zhan as the MC. That forces Tencent to delay the release of this drama to ride that hype wave for maximum effect!
Thank God the Condor Heroes is a movie so shouldn't take that long to make vs a drama series!
(Remember, they decided to release Three Body drama only in close proximity to Wandering Earth 2 screening in theaters so most likely the same marketing strategy will apply for this drama vs the Condor Heroes movie[s]...)
This is why Chinese entertainment industry, despite its huge potential, is never going to be taken seriously compared…
The heck are you talking about? Tencent is single handedly destroying the entire Japanese anime industry. Just go to WeTV every single anime series up there 10x better than the best the Japanese anime industry got. They got a clone of every popular Japanese anime IP like: FFVII -> Ditto Purple River. Dragon Ball -> Ditto Perfect World. Naruto -> Ditto A Will Eternal, etc. Plus the Japanese version the story goes no where after 200+ friggin episodes, while there is some semblance of a unifying story thread in all Tencent anime series!
This is why Chinese entertainment industry, despite its huge potential, is never going to be taken seriously compared…
The heck are you talking about? Tencent is single handedly destroying the entire Japanese anime industry. Just go to WeTV every single anime series up there 10x better than the best the Japanese anime industry got. They got a clone of every popular Japanese anime IP like: FFVII -> Ditto Purple River. Dragon Ball -> Ditto Perfect World. Naruto -> Ditto A Will Eternal, etc. Plus the Japanese version the story goes no where after 200+ friggin episodes, while there is some semblance of a unifying story thread in all Tencent anime series!
PROBABLY, this is what really happened, he was ready to shoot RETURN of the Condor Heroes, then Wu Jing offered to star and the script of Lake Changjing arrive at his desk. Something he simply could not refuse. For guys like him, it's all about the MONEY.
After done Changjing, he forgot the details about the project he shelved half-way (RETURN) that is y he decided to star over with LEGEND!!
Hark Tsui is a liar. He claimed he was making Return of the Condor Heroes several years ago. Rumors/news even leaked on Yahoo! news of casting call. Then no more news after that!
Anyways, I stopped caring about Wuxia. The only reason I may watch this movie is b/c of Xiao Zhan. I wanna see how Wei Wuxian gonna act out the character of Guo Jing. Xiao Zhan doesn't look like the idiot Guo Jing as portrayed in the novel. He smacks more of Yang Guo type intelligent character... So will bring fresh air to the duh-duh idiot MC as portrayed by past actors in TV series and movies!
THIS is how you go about making a clone, only in name and spirit of the cloned drama not the EXACT same story. This the primary reason y ALP bombed, it's the EXACT same (boring) story as 3L3W only with different character names. Often times you can produce a clone that is superior to the original drama like this one (which is a clone BUT a superior one than The Twin Flower Legend 4.3 vs 6.2 rating on Douban)!
I'm really lookin forward to The Last Immortal. It not a clone of anything (or at least I don't think so based on the synopsis alone) so Tencent got more leeway to be creative!
RoaTF’s twin storyline is to get this drama past the censorship otherwise I doubt they would have created it…
Of course it's not the "same story". Look at Digimon and Pokemon, the former is a clone of the latter. Can any1 say Digimon is "the same story" as Pokemon? That's how you go about making a clone, to avoid being sued in court for copyright infringement!
Tencent being #1 clever BUSINESS company in China, they already sourced all the potential stories for drama adaptations. BUT it doesn't make any business sense to adapt them all. The business is more likely to prosper if you wait for someone to make the Pokemon drama (Twin Flowers Legend), then you just go, "do we have another similar story in our archive of materials read by our staff, something like Digimon (Romance of Twin Flowers)?"
RoaTF’s twin storyline is to get this drama past the censorship otherwise I doubt they would have created it…
NO, this is another ME2 drama by Tencent. That's their modus operandi. They see something popular then attempt to make a clone. In the other series, the FL is the master of making money (learnt the SECRET business skills passed on by her Dad). THAT explains why in THIS drama, half of the drama is focused on the FL (attempting to) making money!
I mean when you think about it, what kind of drama is it when it's about the FL trying to run a face cream business? It becoz the drama THIS one tries to clone is also about the FL showing off her business intellect!
Tencent at it again. They saw how popular Twin Flowers Legend (another series not made by Tencent) was. That's why they made a clone --- this drama. BUT in the other drama, the twins are very much alive throughout the entire drama. Why did Tencent kill off one the twins in THIS drama from the get go? Is FL twin really dead? Or is Tencent saving her being alive for a later plot twist?
TOP 3 REASONS Y CHONG ZI SUCKS (besides the obvious very low Douban rating):1. FILLER DRAMA. Tencent needs this…
I hope you all know I'm just trolling here. I tend to bash Tencent a lot because I have high expectations from them. The only company I think highly of in C-ent. So it very easy for me to become upset for the slightest deviation from a high standard I hold for this company.
So, HERE ARE THE TOP 3 REASONS WHY CHONG ZI ROCKS:
1. Fabulous CGI, gorgeous sets and costumes. Really excellent stuff rivaling West made TV series.
2. WOW, beautiful OST. Especially the female vocal when a sad scene occurs. Tencent the only company puts so much care into Chinese ancient series with not much viewership or popularity. Every Tencent drama sountrack sounds so unique and worthy of being published in own album!
3. Tencent doesn't beat around the bush. They tend to tie up loose ends early because they know there are bigger fishes to fry. If some other company made Chong Zi, her Nanhua senior that wants to kill her in the ice prison... She dies in episode 41, heck even her protege senior 1k faces also dies in episode 41 not 2/3 of the way thru because other companies are clueless, tend to prolong unecessary loose ends because they think that provides for melodramatic effects!
When I watch a Tencent series, I know the story could suck and it could bomb critically. BUT, if anything the visuals and music and surprise factor will be enjoyable. The only Tencent series I ever dropped the one starring Liu Yifei simply becoz I don't like the actress. I always finish any other Tencent series I start even if I'm full of complains half way thru...
TOP 3 REASONS Y CHONG ZI SUCKS (besides the obvious very low Douban rating):
1. FILLER DRAMA. Tencent needs this kind of stuff to keep their business running. Great series like Three Body take time to make. So in between the great series releases, Tencent needs filler series to keep VIP subscriber interest.
2. TOO MUCH ME 2 SYNDROME. This typical Tencent behavior... OMG Croton has 3L3W. Me too! Presto ALP is made! OMG Love between Fairy and Devil became a top hit. Me too! Presto Chong Zi is made! When a company tries too hard to blend or mold an original story into something like LbtFaD, you're bound to encounter disasters like Chong Zi.
3. SAME ACTOR SAME ROLES. Didn't Jeremy Tsui also starred as some much older sage who became romantically involved with his very young "disciple" in Castle in the Sky 2? What irked me off more he wore the same clothes in both series (white hanfu costume). Not that I have anything against Jeremy Tsui, but every time he appears in Chong Zi, I'm like dude I'm watching CitS2 again. Can we please have a different story and atmosphere? BUT you already made CitS2, y are we being forced to watch it all over again.
I am really interested in this drama but it’s dragging too much. and If skip sth, I won’t know anything in…
Sucker! Sucker! Sucker! I hope u got VIP subscription to WeTV because when ep30 becomes un-VIP for free watching on WeTV, the WHOLE SERIES will be put under VIP again within 48 hours of the last episode airing for free viewers! You can try your luck on YT, but Tencent could make the series VIP-only on YT at any given time...
So... What good is taking a few months to finish it when u got to become VIP for missing the free viewing window?
THIS DRAMA WILL BE EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST ONE:
1. Zhao Lusi as FL. Tencent casts high profile stars like ZL only when they're aiming to make the drama a big hit or anticipate it to become one.
2. ALP is only a knock off of 3L3W. Yeah I know different authors different stories different characters, but it just a copycat/imitation of the Croton drama starring Yang Mi. 3L3W doesn't have a sequel like this so it's going into uncharted territories with lots of surprises in store. To be honest I hated ALP for being a copycat of 3L3W. No scene was enjoyable to me becoz I seen it all before. This series will b a bit different and a novel experience to me.
3. Tencent took in all the criticisms on Douban. I remember lots of viewers there were criticizing the series like how the FL doesn't even looked like a Goddess with ethereal beauty. So, now we have Zhao Lusi to make up for the bad casting of the 1st series.
4. I don't know, I think Tencent matured a lot in SFX/CGI technology between the filming of the first one and this one. Just look at Chong Zi, it a B/C-grade drama but the special effects looked like Tencent did all of that while asleep (meaning they became soo good, they could put together the effects with computer artists just using one hand). Just look at the swimming turtle scene in Sword Snow Stride, and also some of the stuff in 3Body. That the kind of level of quality we can expect in this sequel drama series.
5. NOT A HAPPY ENDING. Just look at The Untamed. A bittersweet ending where Wei Wuxian was left to wander alone in the vast wide world. I much prefer a non-happy ending becoz it's after all a drama, and dramas r supposed to have dramatic endings! When ppl watch a drama knowing full well in advance of the non-happy ending, it makes them appreciate all the dramatic events in between the beginning and ending even more!
I wonder if you have to watch the prequel to understand this one? I for some reason couldn't connect with the…
Yeah, me too, I never connected ALP. It just another high quality (BUT boring) drama. Anyways, it's not Tencent business model to require viewers to watch the prequel series. They will lose a lot of customers that way. At the least they will do a mini summary in the drama or some kind of flashback to explain things to new viewers!
It's not surprising. When you consider that Shakespeare only wrote stories with sad/tragic endings, you can see Tencent put a lot of effort into these kinds of dramas because Tencent wants to be the next drama adaptation Shakespeare!
ML looks so much like ML of Novoland: Castle in the Sky 2. I don't know if Tencent deliberately chose someone to look and act like that character or not but certainly better casting than Mirror Twin Cities ML. I swear when they filmed the ML from a far distance, I thought they hired the same actor as CitS2!
I just want to say, if this was a Japanese production, Shi Qiang would have smashed a few things during his fits of rage. The most we got in this drama was he nearly broke a pair of headphones but decided it wasnt worth it to have to compensate finance department for the broken headphones. The only other time Shi Qiang became violent was threw the autopsy report of Mu Xiang across the table. This is what separates Chinese professionalism apart from Japanese immaturity. I seen in Japan dramas the MC destroyed an expensive looking laptop during a fit of rage, smashed plant vases to relieve anger etc. Anyone who studied psychologic knows that lashing out (aka acting out) is an immature psychologic coping mechanism. Tencent certainly demonstrated in this drama Chinese high level maturity and 5000 years of wisdom thru this drama!
BTW, before anyone criticizes this post, Wang Miao did break a glass vase in his apartment when he thought Shen Yufei played a trick on him to get him to stop his research. BUT comon he threw a pillow and accidentally broke the glass. In a Japanese production, Wang Miao would have been holding that glass in his hand and smashed it to the ground or on a table. Pillow vs glass in hand, which is the more dangerous instrument and more immature psychological anger relief?
Thank God the Condor Heroes is a movie so shouldn't take that long to make vs a drama series!
(Remember, they decided to release Three Body drama only in close proximity to Wandering Earth 2 screening in theaters so most likely the same marketing strategy will apply for this drama vs the Condor Heroes movie[s]...)
You say his investor fled in 2017? Then, y did he announce casting call for RETURN of the Condor Heroes very late in 2018?
https://cfen.si/2018/10/11/casting-call-tsui-harks-condor-heroes-trilogy/
PROBABLY, this is what really happened, he was ready to shoot RETURN of the Condor Heroes, then Wu Jing offered to star and the script of Lake Changjing arrive at his desk. Something he simply could not refuse. For guys like him, it's all about the MONEY.
After done Changjing, he forgot the details about the project he shelved half-way (RETURN) that is y he decided to star over with LEGEND!!
Anyways, I stopped caring about Wuxia. The only reason I may watch this movie is b/c of Xiao Zhan. I wanna see how Wei Wuxian gonna act out the character of Guo Jing. Xiao Zhan doesn't look like the idiot Guo Jing as portrayed in the novel. He smacks more of Yang Guo type intelligent character... So will bring fresh air to the duh-duh idiot MC as portrayed by past actors in TV series and movies!
https://www.douban.com/search?q=%E6%98%A5%E9%97%BA%E6%A2%A6%E9%87%8C%E4%BA%BA
THIS is how you go about making a clone, only in name and spirit of the cloned drama not the EXACT same story. This the primary reason y ALP bombed, it's the EXACT same (boring) story as 3L3W only with different character names. Often times you can produce a clone that is superior to the original drama like this one (which is a clone BUT a superior one than The Twin Flower Legend 4.3 vs 6.2 rating on Douban)!
I'm really lookin forward to The Last Immortal. It not a clone of anything (or at least I don't think so based on the synopsis alone) so Tencent got more leeway to be creative!
Tencent being #1 clever BUSINESS company in China, they already sourced all the potential stories for drama adaptations. BUT it doesn't make any business sense to adapt them all. The business is more likely to prosper if you wait for someone to make the Pokemon drama (Twin Flowers Legend), then you just go, "do we have another similar story in our archive of materials read by our staff, something like Digimon (Romance of Twin Flowers)?"
Not yet allowed to be rated.
I mean when you think about it, what kind of drama is it when it's about the FL trying to run a face cream business? It becoz the drama THIS one tries to clone is also about the FL showing off her business intellect!
So, HERE ARE THE TOP 3 REASONS WHY CHONG ZI ROCKS:
1. Fabulous CGI, gorgeous sets and costumes. Really excellent stuff rivaling West made TV series.
2. WOW, beautiful OST. Especially the female vocal when a sad scene occurs. Tencent the only company puts so much care into Chinese ancient series with not much viewership or popularity. Every Tencent drama sountrack sounds so unique and worthy of being published in own album!
3. Tencent doesn't beat around the bush. They tend to tie up loose ends early because they know there are bigger fishes to fry. If some other company made Chong Zi, her Nanhua senior that wants to kill her in the ice prison... She dies in episode 41, heck even her protege senior 1k faces also dies in episode 41 not 2/3 of the way thru because other companies are clueless, tend to prolong unecessary loose ends because they think that provides for melodramatic effects!
When I watch a Tencent series, I know the story could suck and it could bomb critically. BUT, if anything the visuals and music and surprise factor will be enjoyable. The only Tencent series I ever dropped the one starring Liu Yifei simply becoz I don't like the actress. I always finish any other Tencent series I start even if I'm full of complains half way thru...
1. FILLER DRAMA. Tencent needs this kind of stuff to keep their business running. Great series like Three Body take time to make. So in between the great series releases, Tencent needs filler series to keep VIP subscriber interest.
2. TOO MUCH ME 2 SYNDROME. This typical Tencent behavior... OMG Croton has 3L3W. Me too! Presto ALP is made! OMG Love between Fairy and Devil became a top hit. Me too! Presto Chong Zi is made! When a company tries too hard to blend or mold an original story into something like LbtFaD, you're bound to encounter disasters like Chong Zi.
3. SAME ACTOR SAME ROLES. Didn't Jeremy Tsui also starred as some much older sage who became romantically involved with his very young "disciple" in Castle in the Sky 2? What irked me off more he wore the same clothes in both series (white hanfu costume). Not that I have anything against Jeremy Tsui, but every time he appears in Chong Zi, I'm like dude I'm watching CitS2 again. Can we please have a different story and atmosphere? BUT you already made CitS2, y are we being forced to watch it all over again.
So... What good is taking a few months to finish it when u got to become VIP for missing the free viewing window?
1. Zhao Lusi as FL. Tencent casts high profile stars like ZL only when they're aiming to make the drama a big hit or anticipate it to become one.
2. ALP is only a knock off of 3L3W. Yeah I know different authors different stories different characters, but it just a copycat/imitation of the Croton drama starring Yang Mi. 3L3W doesn't have a sequel like this so it's going into uncharted territories with lots of surprises in store. To be honest I hated ALP for being a copycat of 3L3W. No scene was enjoyable to me becoz I seen it all before. This series will b a bit different and a novel experience to me.
3. Tencent took in all the criticisms on Douban. I remember lots of viewers there were criticizing the series like how the FL doesn't even looked like a Goddess with ethereal beauty. So, now we have Zhao Lusi to make up for the bad casting of the 1st series.
4. I don't know, I think Tencent matured a lot in SFX/CGI technology between the filming of the first one and this one. Just look at Chong Zi, it a B/C-grade drama but the special effects looked like Tencent did all of that while asleep (meaning they became soo good, they could put together the effects with computer artists just using one hand). Just look at the swimming turtle scene in Sword Snow Stride, and also some of the stuff in 3Body. That the kind of level of quality we can expect in this sequel drama series.
5. NOT A HAPPY ENDING. Just look at The Untamed. A bittersweet ending where Wei Wuxian was left to wander alone in the vast wide world. I much prefer a non-happy ending becoz it's after all a drama, and dramas r supposed to have dramatic endings! When ppl watch a drama knowing full well in advance of the non-happy ending, it makes them appreciate all the dramatic events in between the beginning and ending even more!
BTW, before anyone criticizes this post, Wang Miao did break a glass vase in his apartment when he thought Shen Yufei played a trick on him to get him to stop his research. BUT comon he threw a pillow and accidentally broke the glass. In a Japanese production, Wang Miao would have been holding that glass in his hand and smashed it to the ground or on a table. Pillow vs glass in hand, which is the more dangerous instrument and more immature psychological anger relief?