kitty10

Yeah I think most adaptations tended to cast pretty actresses for Cheng Lingsu, so that kind of skews the perception. I've always been pro-CP in this story, since I've never liked Yuan Ziyi and am neutral towards Cheng Lingsu (but I really did like the 1985 actress for Cheng Lingsu).

Miao Ruolan, I think, gets a fair bit of the short shrift because of how her father forbids her to learn martial arts after the Hu Yidao incident and cuz she appears so late in the game, but she's smart and bright, and I can see why Hu Fei likes her. I think after his "adventures" with Yuan Ziyi, he needed someone like Ruolan.

Good thing though that doormat characters in Jin Yong aren't usually the FLs, lol. I'm all for Huang Rong and Zhao Min types, but Yuan Ziyi isn't that type of FL, for me at least.

Yes, I agree that Patrick Tse was probably the closest, thought he did well in the 1985 version.

I generally like Lin Yushen but he's not quite giving me the vibes I was looking for and I am not a fan of his line delivery here. I think they changed MRF to be more caring? Which to me is a bit ???

The Alex Fong version had so many terrible changes...

Fine if they want to write out Miao Ruolan, but if they make him end up with Yuan Ziyi, that's like wtf - it seems they're making her much nicer here. And I think they'll make Cheng Lingsu into some tragic heroine with a tragic unrequited love who dies in tragic circumstances, then welp...

They seem to have made a lot of changes, not only omitting the Miao Ruolan-Hu Fei romance. Miao Renfeng would never be friends with the likes of Tian Guinong. I personally think Lin Yushen is miscast as Miao Renfeng, he doesn't have that kind of aura that is befitting of a martial artist named Golden-faced Buddha, and this isn't Yang Xiao.

He's supposed to be 18 in the drama now, I think? But still, with her as a baby right now, it's like he'll be nearly 20 years older. That's just wrong... it's terrible they want to write her out as a love interest and make the age gap so huge.

In the book, Hu Fei is 10 years older than Miao Ruolan, so when they meet she's about 17-18, and he's around 27, as the incident with Miao Renfeng and Hu Yidao happened 27 years ago.

Miao Renfeng and Hu Yidao's story got more play in the other book.

No she isn't. Hers is a different character.

Yes, I like Hu Fei too, and also his dad Hu Yidao. So cool, ahhh~

Wasn't my fave of Jin Yong's stories, I think I found the whole politics bit kinda dull.

Yeah I was on the Ruolan ship but sadly she's not here. Wouldn't have minded Lingsu either, at least in the 1985 version.

Ugh, keeping Yuan Ziyi not-a-nun would be a major wtf for me, she's such an annoying character. Oh well, I guess we'll see how it turns out.

Haha I have no issues with how 雪山飛狐 ended and I think the 1985 version did it quite well. I was referring to 飛狐外傳 cuz it's kind of like... BE, and also I dunno if they're going to make up a love interest since they seem to have cut Miao Ruolan out. Don't tell me they're going to keep Cheng Lingsu alive? Or make Yuan Ziyi not be a nun? lol...

yes, both the face-offs (Hu Yidao-Miao Renfeng, and later Hu Fei-Miao Renfeng) are both in the 雪山飛狐 book, lmao, and not in this one. So I don't know what this version is trying to do. Most adaptations will combine both for a smoother telling, but this one opened with bits here and bits there... for me this is messy.

They'll probably make up the ending if they didn't buy rights, like make them duel but let Hu Fei win or some such (which ugh). Or they could just end it like how it was in the book (which I doubt - who knows, they might give Hu Fei a made-up love interest, lol).

Yeah, there's no sign of Miao Ruolan in the Chinese wiki/baidu pages either. I think they're just concentrating on 飛狐外傳 instead of the whole 雪山飛狐 universe. Which to me is a bit strange cuz then there's no need for that opening sequence about Hu Yidao and Miao Renfeng's face-off - that could have come when Miao Renfeng actually relates to Hu Fei what really happened. That face-off is badly done though, a bit wtf, and even though I already know the story, I found ep 1 pretty messy.

Edit: in the credits, I found that Liu Zhimiao is listed as the actress for young Miao Ruolan (probably teenage version or younger), and she is also playing young Cheng Lingsu. Huh? I don't see another actress for Miao Ruolan as yet.

Ray Lui is my favourite Hu Yidao/Hu Fei, and I love his portrayal even after so many years. So it's nice to see him here, albeit in the smaller role of Ma Xingkong.

Not sure why they didn't film both Fox stories for a more complete telling. They have 40 eps but Hu Yidao's story was so hastily done in ep 1...

No worries! There's bound to be overlapping material since the theme is the same.

Fun article, and well organised! Some solid dramas included, such as JIN and the Seirei no Moribito series, and also offbeat ones like Kishibe Rohan and Panda. A bit surprised not to see Nobunaga Concerto under the "go back in time" section, but overall, a good selection!

Yup, and the issues associated with people demanding subs... not a topic for this thread, but sometimes makes me feel this also helps weed out people who aren't interested in actually discovering jdramas.

Well, nothing beats that version then, heh.