Poster for The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017)
Yang Xuwen (male) and Li Yitong (female)
Meng Ziyi (female) and Chen Xingxu (male)
Roman Tam
Jenny Tseng
1. I have watched the first 12 of the 52 episodes of the Chinese TV drama "The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017)" and am very impressed by the beauty of the camera works.
It is a visual experience.
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes" ("射鵰英雄傳") is a Chinese novel by Louis Cha and this novel has been adapted into movies 6 times and into TV series 7 times.
In terms of TV series, the 1983 production by Hong Kong's TVB is the gold standard by which other TV series are compared.
The 2017 TV series is a remake of the 1983 Hong Kong TVB production.
I have watched the 1983 Hong Kong TV series and like what I have watched so far of this 2017 remake; I will probably finish watching the rest of it.
2. ("The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Wikipedia):
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the first part of the Condor Trilogy and is followed by The Return of the Condor Heroes and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. It was first serialised between 1 January 1957 and 19 May 1959 in Hong Kong Commercial Daily. Jin Yong revised the novel twice, first in the 1970s and later in the 2000s. The English title is a mistranslation since both species of the condor, the Andean condor and Californian condor, are not native to China. A more accurate translation is Story of the Eagle Shooting Hero."
3. ("The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017 TV series)", Wikipedia):
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes is a Chinese television series adapted from Louis Cha's novel of the same title and a remake of the 1983 Hong Kong television series based on the same novel. The series was directed by Jeffrey Chiang and starred Yang Xuwen, Li Yitong, Chen Xingxu and Meng Ziyi in the lead roles. It started airing on Dragon TV in mainland China on 9 January 2017, and on TVB Jade in Hong Kong on 8 May 2017."
4. Since it is a remake of the 1983 TV series, the 2017 series also uses the theme song of the 1983 original as its opening and ending theme songs.
The 1983 series is produced for the Cantonese speaking Hong Kong market and the 2017 remake is produced for the Putonghua speaking China market and because the lyrics are written for Cantonese pronunciation, the song will not sound right if sung in Putonghua.
The producers for the 2017 TV series appropriately use an instrumental version of the song as the opening and ending theme songs; but I wish the opening and ending theme songs are longer like the original.
5. The name of the 1983 theme song in Chinese is "鐵血丹心".
"鐵" : Iron.
"血" : Blood.
"丹" : Red.
"心" : Heart.
The phrase "鐵血丹心" symbolizes patriotism and is an allusion to the background of the novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" which is set against the conflicts between the Sung dynasty (Chinese), Jin dynasty (Jurchen), and the Mongols.
This song is a duet by Roman Tam and Jenny Tseng.
6. The 2017 instrumental version of the song followed by the 1983 Cantonese original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFMT3tFiYsM
The video is consisted of scenes from the 2017 TV series.
7. The 1983 Cantonese original with pictures from the 1983 TV series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDGu0uYPunc
The lyrics sung in Putonghua with videos from the 2017 TV series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKAfjuMv6qg
Since Cantonese and Putonghua are pronounced differently and the lyrics written for Cantonese, the Putonghua version of the song does not sound right.
8. The 1983 Cantonese original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAh7nmvcXMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QDjUvbXkoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AprlDAOo-xk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfKHpj02RE4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLhtVexM9SA
and many more in YouTube.
9. The 2017 instrumental version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPU8dUHu-T8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkT5B9zstW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9ve9C-fdA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBnn9fsQgG0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATPzUQ_NDho
and many more in YouTube.
10. Other instrumentals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8mAgfQHPLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uypb6IulyEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGD4xAK98Mw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMIFxac0_yY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNSP4f2yZuU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhA01KpdQK4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEltThzXD8E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ2eDOgvzqE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4tSBy7rKw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UerKYkvZsVk
and many more in YouTube.
11. Three other songs from the 2017 TV series:
The Soul of Swords ("剑魂") by Well Lee:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiy7PJo2dqA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ce6JGM0MsU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1_cxSau4h8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9PI5zHRQrQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJBWq-vU50A
Whom Have You Loved ("爱过谁") by Shang Wenjie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEhc9A5QhUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGA9MnjEwzc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPAwmSNHNQQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfs1taBOlyA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5trY_jjcGNY
Under the Heaven ("江湖天下") by Silence Wong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58xvTOtXqLk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t5u-Ns9X78
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq6wYks5Q-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5hMbnKqts0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abmlnsYKjHQ
12. The Lyrics in Traditional Chinese:
鐵血丹心 -- 羅文 & 甄妮
作曲：顧嘉輝
作詞：鄧偉雄
編曲：顧嘉輝
女：依稀往夢似曾見 心內波瀾現
男：拋開世事斷愁怨
合：相伴到天邊
* 男：逐草四方沙漠蒼茫 那懼雪霜撲面
女：冷風吹 天蒼蒼 籐樹相連
# 男：射鵰引弓塞外奔馳 笑傲此生無厭倦
女：猛風沙 野茫茫 籐樹兩纏綿
@ 男：天蒼蒼 野茫茫 萬般變幻
女：應知愛意是流水 斬不斷理還亂
& 合：身經百劫也在心間 恩義兩難斷
Repeat *, #, @, &, &
13. The Lyrics in Simplified Chinese:
铁血丹心 -- 罗文 & 甄妮
作曲：顾嘉辉
作词：邓伟雄
编曲：顾嘉辉
女：依稀往梦似曾见 心内波澜现
男：抛开世事断愁怨
合：相伴到天边
* 男：逐草四方沙漠苍茫 那惧雪霜扑面
女：冷风吹 天苍苍 藤树相连
# 男：射雕引弓塞外奔驰 笑傲此生无厌倦
女：猛风沙 野茫茫 藤树两缠绵
@ 男：天苍苍 野茫茫 万般变幻
女：应知爱意是流水 斩不断理还乱
& 合：身经百劫也在心间 恩义两难断
Repeat *, #, @, &, &
14. Names, Words and Phrases:
Chen Xingxu (Traditional Chinese: 陳星旭; Simplified Chinese: 陈星旭).
Dragon TV (Traditional: 東方衛視; Simplified: 东方卫视).
Jeffrey Chiang (Traditional: 蔣家駿; Simplified: 蒋家骏).
Jenny Tseng (Traditional: 甄妮; Simplified: 甄妮).
Jin Dynasty (Traditional: 金朝; Simplified: 金朝).
Jin Yong (Traditional: 金庸; Simplified: 金庸).
Jurchen (Traditional: 女真; Simplified: 女真).
Li Yitong (Traditional: 李一桐; Simplified: 李一桐).
Louis Cha (Traditional: 查良鏞; Simplified: 查良镛).
Meng Ziyi (Traditional: 孟子義; Simplified: 孟子义).
Mongols (Traditional: 蒙古; Simplified: 蒙古).
Roman Tam (Traditional: 羅文; Simplified: 罗文).
Shang Wenjie (Traditional: 尚雯婕; Simplified: 尚雯婕).
Silence Wong (Traditional: 汪蘇瀧; Simplified: 汪苏泷).
Sung Dynasty (Traditional: 宋朝; Simplified: 宋朝).
The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (Traditional: 倚天屠龍記; Simplified: 倚天屠龙记).
The Return of the Condor Heroes (Traditional: 神鵰俠侶; Simplified: 神雕侠侣).
TVB Jade (Traditional: TVB 翡翠台; Simplified: TVB 翡翠台).
Well Lee (Traditional: 李煒; Simplified: 李炜).
Wuxia novel (Traditional: 武俠小說; Simplified: 武侠小说).
Yang Xuwen (Traditional: 楊旭文; Simplified: 杨旭文).
References:
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Condor_Heroes
(accessed 2017-05-31).
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017 TV series)", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Condor_Heroes_(2017_TV_series)
(accessed 2017-05-31).
"射鵰英雄傳 (2017年電視劇)", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E5%B0%84%E9%9B%95%E8%8B%B1%E9%9B%84%E4%BC%A0_(2017%E5%B9%B4%E7%94%B5%E8%A7%86%E5%89%A7)
(accessed 2017-05-31).
End.
