RilikesWux

That scene has always made me bawl too. I haven't reached that episode yet.

One of the themes of this story is growth. If Guo Jing were smart, there will be no character growth.

The theme of this story is not romance. It's patriotism so it doesn't need to focus on the romance. The second of the trilogy Return of The Condor Heroes is much more romance centric so you would probably like that more than the first.

I think TVB wuxia dramas have better written scripts than mainland ones. The other day I watched The Four 2008 (TVB) and The Four 2015 (mainland) afterwards. The 2008 is way much better than the 2015 despite seemingly much lower budget.

If the next chapters are more interesting, I guess Hot Blooded just serves as an appetizer not the main course lol. Any news when they will air these 4 chapters?

For mainland adaptation, I quite like Zhou Xun in 2003 version. I believe she used her own voice which is not cute and makes Huang Rong's intelligence more believable. Other than that, the other mainland version seem to use cute voice for Huang Rong which makes her sound like an anime character. I like Ariel Lin's interpretation of HR. I just wished they hadn't used cute voice for her. Was she dubbed?

The 1994 version is considered fast paced but not as fast as this one. It also manages to cover the whole story in just 35 episodes quite nicely. This one, not only super fast paced, it's also chaotic as some of the key events are inserted as flashbacks in such a weird way. For example in episode 9, when the identity of this mysterious master who's helping Mei Chaofeng is revealed, the scene is cut to a flashback where Guo Jing was born in Mongolia. The flashbacks have no function here and they put them in random places. That's how chaotic this version is. For LOCH, linear narrative is more suitable.

I agree. This version has no proper build-up. I also can't connect to this version. I don't feel connected to the characters.

In my opinion, what makes LOCH stands out is that it's both character driven and plot driven. Jin Yong masterfully crafted each character (main and supporting) with a purpose. That's why even the supporting characters such as Huang Yaoshi, Hong Qigong, Yideng, Ouyang Feng, Mei Chaofeng and etc are just as memorable as the main characters Guo Jing - Huang Rong, Yang Kang - Mu Nianci. A good adaptation of LOCH should be able to be both character driven and plot driven just like in 1983. I think that's why this version is still considered the best version till now.

Personally I think this is the most insipid version of LOCH. It's like watching an adaptation from a book summary rather than a book itself. I'm on episode 9 and in no rush to watch the next episodes 😁 I'm not sure if I want to keep watching.

Agree. For me because it's martial arts, I'm always curious how they create the martial art techniques described in the book such as 18 subduing dragon palm or nine yin manual. Every adaptation seems to have their own choreography.

Everybody has their own preference. I, myself, have a few, 1983, 1994, and 2017.
But here's the rating based on douban:
1976 (douban rating 8.0)
1983 (douban rating 9.2)
1988 ((douban rating 4.8)
1994 (douban rating 8.9)
2003 (douban rating 7.3)
2008 (douban rating 7.7)
2017 (douban rating 8.0)

Right? I mean whoa! Are we on F1 race or what. I like the cast and the overall look. But with this pace, the drama should finish in just 10 - 15 ep 😂

The narration is too fast and chaotic, making the characters two-dimensional almost like reading a comic. Luckily I know the story so no problem following it. But I like the visuals. It's not idol-ish. Also it's been a long time I don't see hand-to-hand combat in wuxia dramas these days so it's nice to see a lot here. Choreography is not as good as old wuxia dramas in 80's but it's ok. I will keep watching it bc it's my most fav wuxia.

//There are several editions of LOCH bc Jin Yong rewrote and moved things around at least 2 times.//
Oh wow, so there's several versions of LOCH?
Did Jin Yong really hate Guo Jing? 😂 Sorry just joking. To me personally, Guo Jing - Huang Rong story ends in LOCH.

I love Linghu Chong! I've watched 3 adaptations 1983 (great OST!), 2001, and 2013. Didn't like 2013 one but I managed to finish it. Watched the 2018 one but dropped after just 3 or 4 episodes. I've heard the 1996 is the best one . I've found it on YT but no English subtitle 😞

//If you read the Anna Holmwood translation, it is very flat and does not capture the characters and the spirit of Jin Yong's work. Besides making unforgivable changes to the character names, she also really mucked it up by moving a lot of stuff around for unfathomable reasons. Maybe that is why you think the 1983 drama did not follow the novel closely?//

I need to check again. Most people probably read the novel first then watched the drama/s but I did the other way around and I watched too many versions of LOCH. Watched the 1983, 1994, 2003, 2008, and 2017. I know, I'm obsessed with LOCH 😂

As for Yang Kang, I don't dislike him either. I used to when I watched 1983 for the first time because I was very young. But now I can see why he can't accept Yang Tiexin as his father. He also witnesses two deaths simultaneously. Naturally anyone who has experienced such a thing would be disoriented, traumatized, depressed and so on. I truly empathize with him.

//I don't dislike Guo Jing but I find his righteousness suffocating and it only got worse in Return of Condor Heroes.//
Well, one of the themes is imperialism and patriotism so at least a hero must be patriotic, right? As someone from a country which was colonized for hundreds of years, I can see why he's like that. During the colonial time, there were times when local kingdoms in my country fell despite ferocious fight against the imperialist. So I can see the parallel. Older Guo Jing just acts like any other parents who think they are doing the best for their younger generations though it doesn't always mean they're right. But his intention is good, I think. I maybe wrong. But yeah I much prefer young Guo Jing to older Guo Jing. Return of Condor Heroes is not my favorite among the three. None of the characters in it are appealing to me in comparison to LOCH. In LOCH there's so many interesting characters apart from the main ones. In fact my favorite characters are Hong Qigong, Huang Yaoshi, and Mei Chaofeng. I only watched Return of Condor Heroes 1983.

There are two tournaments on Mount Hua as I remember. The first one is when the five masters compete for nine yin manual. The second one is the later one. I'm curious as to which tournament they are going to tell in Duel on Mount Hua.

Michael Miu's Huang Yaoshi is my favorite too! And of course, Kenneth Tsang's my first favorite.

I think hot blooded will tell the story of young generation (Guo Jing - Huang Rong, Yang Kang - Mu Nianci), while the remaining parts are about the older generation. It sounds like they will start from the old generation's stories then the young one. The narrative structure would be in chronological order. As I recall, the other versions (1983, 1994, 2003, 2008, and 2017) use flashbacks to tell the backstories that involve old generation. It looks like this version expands those backstories in chronological order so they should start with 4 parts (I don't know which comes first) and then hot blooded. But I could be wrong.

You're welcome.

It's a wuxia. It's a classic wuxia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Condor_Heroes

I'm not sure what you mean but I think because Jin Yong's works are considered culturally important. Think about all the classics such as Pride and Prejudice, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn etc in the West. Legend of Heroes is adapted from Jin Yong's novel Legend of The Condor Heroes.