Duke of Mount Deer, or Royal Tramp is Jinyong's last wu-xia novel series. It is the most special and the best wu-xia novel so far. I haven't read it yet, but from the latest TV drama adaptation of it, I know that claim is not wrong.
The very first version of TV drama stared Tony Leung, and I watched when I was a kid, not much memory of it. The second version stared Jordan Chan, although it is still a budget TVB production with boring set and location, and heavily butchered plot and characterization, I kind of enjoy it. The third one from Dicky Cheung, never watch it, hate it. Heard that that plot is s fucking different the producer have to change the title of the drama.; and Dicky will always act in his annoying Dicky style, which is fun to watch when you watch it the first time in Fong-Sai-Yuk series, but getting boring and irritating with subsequent repetition if all his drama.
Now the latest is a big budget production from China. Well, to be frank, I don't quite like the producer. He is the one making Guo Jing sounds like Crayon Shin Chan in the 2003 production of the The Legend of the Condor Heroes. He is those that spend a lot of money for nothing, and like those cheap Matrix imitation gimmick. But he improved since then, I like his version of The Demi-gods and Semi-devils; his The Return of the Condor Heroes I did not finished, but heard that he hit the jackpot with it. And it is also the drama that give rise for Huang Xiaoming who played Yang Guo and later, Wei Xiaobao in Duke.
It is said that this new version refers to the book a lot, even the dialogue suffers little change. Well, this is a good thing. I always have trouble adapting to watch those known wu-xia drama in Mandarin, since I used to the Hong Kong production. But for this series, I have not problem, or should I say, I am cured.
The special thing about this novel is, the protagonist knows no Kung-fu. The closest to Kung-fu skill he have is only to escape. He is almost illiterate, and has his own set of moral value that is more normal. He is not those typical cliche wu-xia hero.Another thing is, this book main focus is comedy, not patriotism like The Legend of the Condor Heroes or romance like The Return of the Condor Heroes.
The new TV series has long ended it showings in 8TV. Due to work, I watched some and missed most. Considering getting the DVD...haha.
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