I know so many people who can date themselves by which drama version of a Louis Cha (Jin Yong) novel adaptation they consider the best, which is usually the first one they watched and couldn’t stop watching thereby becoming a fan for life. Someone born in the 70’s grew up with the TBV iconic 80’s versions, those born in the 80’s remember the TVB 90’s updates, then there were the rather odd Taiwanese drama attempts in the mid-90s, and the last two decades have been all about the Mainland Chinese adaptations. I’m an 80’s TVB classic girl though those versions were a bit earlier than my time but it was the first I watched starting with Legend of the Condor Heroes, onward to Return of the Condor Heroes, finishing with Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, and then forever spoiled by the different but equally awesome epics of Smiling Proud Wanderer and The Duke of Mount Deer. It’s not just the stories alone, everyone always has their favorite castings for the iconic characters, usually way more opinionated about the female leads because Louis Cha wrote some highly memorable female leads. My personal faves – Barbara Yung as Huang Rong, tie of Idy Chan and Crystal Liu as Xiaolongnu, and Yang Mi in a small but career changing turn as Guo Xiang. Rest in peace good sir, thank you for giving the world such incredible stories to last forever. Continue reading →