Searching for the next Zhao Wei
At first, we all thought it was a joke. Huan Zhu Ge Ge has been a stable of Hunan TV, and many look forward to the trilogy every summer for the past 12 years. And still, it has yet lost its appeal and remains a viewer-getter.
Yet as the official news stack up, it seems to be real. Hunan TV’s editor-in-chief Li Hao even gave an interview about it. Of course, that could be false or done for an alternate purpose, too. It also seems to make sense that the one of the reasons for the new drama is the fact that Hunan TV’s gone HD, which means that HZGG will look fairly weak compared to other dramas broadcasted.
According to ihunantv, the new HZGG will encompass all three seasons in a long, 80-episode-drama. The plot will also be changed by Qiong Yao herself. Cast is yet undecided, and it’s still uncertain whether eeMedia or Nesound (or both) will be filming the drama.
I’m a bit more comforted by the fact that this is a Qiong Yao drama. She has final jurisdiction on who gets to be on her dramas, and has great taste. But at the same time, I’m worried by Long Danni’s slight nepotism and the poor guys who’ll have to shave their hair off. We’re hoping that this new drama will be set in a different dynasty that has prettier clothes. And I definitely have my eyes set on Huang Ying as the Fragrant Princess Han Xiang.
sidenote: did you know that Qiong Yao was also born in Chengdu?
September 30, 2009 at 4:29 am
wow will be really interesting wonder who going to be in it, is thier high chances going to be eemedia boys?
September 30, 2009 at 4:51 pm
i dont like the idea.. @.@ ..
anw, good luck to the next XYZ ..
September 30, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Random: @cfensi/idarklight: you guys doing a post on the 60th anniversary?
September 30, 2009 at 9:50 pm
I can’t wait till Hunan TV goes HD. I don’t think Long Danni is “nepotistic” though- she’s no Francis Ford Coppola.
@julie
This site…is more about entertainment. I don’t know what I would do with the 60th anniversary information. I’m sure some other sites will try to extrapolate meaning from it, but I’m too tired to add my take to everyone else’s when I don’t really see the need. Really, who wants another blog about “emerging China”? Web’s full of them, magazines are always talking about China, etc, etc
Furthermore my internet speed has gone abominably slow to the point of me just hating going to websites in general and technology and I don’t mix well.
I’ll post something on Jian Guo Da Ye though since I have it mostly written. Otherwise…eh.
September 30, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Although I do have to say, I am really excited thinking about the next 60 years when Asians will be if not the center of attention, then taking up half of the center of attention due to China’s market size. Very excited.
I wish it could happen sooner…but it’s just amazing to think about even now. This shift from a western (particularly American) centric world to a slightly more balanced one will be incredible. The biggest movie industry will be in China, the biggest fashion world will be in China, everything…I wish I wouldn’t be eighty years old then.
September 30, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Omg I know, I wish it would happen sooner, I don’t want to be old
October 1, 2009 at 12:03 am
We’ll appreciate it more though, like I appreciate how what Chinese entertainment is now because three years ago it was completely different.
That or we’ll be dead…
October 1, 2009 at 12:59 am
I agree with everyone and LOL @ cfensi’s last line. hopefully the world won’t end on 2012 lol.
October 1, 2009 at 1:12 am
O_O im not sure whether to be excited or horrified. i wish they could do a modern adaptation of it if they are doing a remake… the whole head shaving thing probably won’t bring much eye-candy. and i feel like if they don’t whip up something really new to the story, people won’t really take it seriously since the original was too much of a legend.
October 1, 2009 at 1:28 am
but if it’s modern, they won’t have pretty han-styled clothing.
Or Uyghur princesses ( XiaoYanZi and friends can even rescue HanXiang’s boyfriend from Guantanamo Bay)
…or Tibetan princesses that can chose to marry whoever she wished (ErTai might even win a Nobel Prize for Peace for solving the Tibet problem) ….
or polygamy…
and then after this is filmed, SARFT will freak out and faint, as will the human rights advocates.
@beh…this is in no way making fun of your suggestion. I think it’ll be really cool for Hunan to do a sci-fi series set in the future.
I want it to be a musical…
October 1, 2009 at 1:39 am
@linny
2012? I was projecting into 2069, and it’s a perfectly plausible scenario that I will be dead by then, especially the way I’m chugging down the Energy drinks. I figure China’s market will probably be about the same as the US in around 30 years, and then another 30 years for China’s talent and companies to completely catch up with its market, so 60 more years seems like a plausible time for the focus of the world to be at least half towards Eastern culture.
@idarklight
I don’t like sci-fi, but I would like to see a sci-fi version of Huang Zhu Ge Ge.
October 1, 2009 at 11:39 am
This was the first series in which I actually bought the VCD set. I saw part of it in Taiwan and wanted to watch the rest so I got it off YesAsia for an exorbitant amount at the time…
@ idarklight
> XiaoYanZi and friends can even rescue
> HanXiang’s boyfriend from Guantanamo Bay
Haha
I actually wouldn’t mind seeing how they would do this!
Btw, in the Qiong Yao’s book, is it supposed to take place in the Qing Dynasty?
I wouldn’t mind a sci-fi take on it. I also wouldn’t mind a more occult take on it, something like My Date With A Vampire. Anything to make it a little different.
Actually the first part is all fine and good, it’s part 2 and 3 that get boring. So if they’re going to do 80 episodes, I hope they keep it interesting.
* * *
@ cfensi
I’m also really excited by how much China’s entertainment industry is growing. I just hope China doesn’t become too much like Japan where the actors are tied down to one studio that determines their fate.
Because right now it seems like the Chinese media companies are really powerful and there aren’t too many independent upstart competitors.
October 1, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I thought part 2 was really good. I loved the new characters – HanXiang, XiaoJian and QIng’er. HanXiang mainly because I’m biased toward anyone Uyghur (though dear the US, please don’t release the prisoners out of Guantanamo…that’ll be diplomatic suicide).
I think it’ll be really hard to make this in a modern or even future setting because it basically involves the two most controversial ethnic groups right now – Tibetan and Uyghur. Putting them in a modern or even future setting will cause a huge political controversy.
Part 3 was just ridiculous and made almost no sense plotwise.
—-
but yes, the original’s set in the Qing dynasty. It’s suppose to be based on a real legend of a commoner princess during the dynasty.
October 1, 2009 at 9:57 pm
You know what had some CCP- Uyghur love? Strange Visitors on Cold Mountain.
October 1, 2009 at 10:30 pm
CCP always have Uyghur/Tibetan love in entertainment.
Hunan TV’s new idol/red drama is about Hunan girls going to Xinjiang.
October 1, 2009 at 10:43 pm
What did the girls do there? Find love with hot Xinjiang guys/girls?
If only Bearbiscuit could cameo. But I have a feeling the Chinese indie rock fan scene and Hunan TV loving fans don’t really overlap so well.
October 1, 2009 at 10:53 pm
not sure…
but in a similar drama (zai na yao yuan de di fang), the girl goes to the army and gets involved in a love rectangle with her longlost sister and two childhood friends. There’s only one real Uyghur girl there…
October 3, 2009 at 1:05 am
Oh my goodness. I have so much to catch up to – the only reason I have time to catch up to anything right now is because I’m sick at college & am sick & miserable & annoyed & frustrated & is probably going to get even more behind with work but is still indulging myself while I can.
HZGG is such a classic. I mean, I have personally seen it many times myself – although, I am hardcore and stick only to the 1st “season” of it because I think it pretty much deteriorated after that. But this seems interesting… I guess.
It just seems odd to me because usually when stuff is remade, it’s stuff that’s from AGES ago (like past my knowledge of stuff, like HZGG was totally just the beginning of my drama career, but still, it wasn’t like something of my parents’ era), or it’s a movie made into a drama or vice versa, or it’s something like foreign dramas being made into the “homeland” version. So that seems really odd to me.
But nonetheless, I’ll probably still watch it and see what happens. The time factor still gets me because it’s like, to me, it wasn’t that long ago. But it really is if you think about it. Like 10 years ago, right? Yeesh, am I really that old?
October 3, 2009 at 2:38 am
Yay sick people! I’m sick, too. XD
I feel it’s so odd, too..HZGG feels new, but it’s so long ago. I mean, LoCH was remade in 2008, and the last version was 2003 (5 years)…
October 3, 2009 at 3:44 am
LOL I know, right? I think time is just warped for me, for some reason.
You have no idea the brilliant luck I have gotten at college – I got flu two days ago and just recovered today, but only to find out that I have pink eye now. Yay for quarantining myself in my own room…
October 4, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I’ve actually never watched the original. I watched the first episode last night. I guess I’ll have to watch more of it now.
November 2, 2009 at 2:36 am
I think the 3rd season of HZGG already proved that changing an original cast is a disaster… don’t know why they’re doing it again.
To be truthful I only liked the first season, the plot line was really compact and the actors/actresses were very disciplined to act in exactly the way a Qiong Yao person would do… but still, I’m curious who they will pick as the new cast. Hopefully will be better than the new cast for Yi Lian You Meng…
Yeah Qiong Yao was born in mainland…
November 17, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Oh God. I flipped out last night when I saw this news. Good and bad I suppose. (I was also bored in my college dorm.)
Huan Zhu Ge Ge is by far my favorite drama (and I’m probably the only girl who hates modern day dramas) so I’m apprehensive about this. It will certainly be interesting, but I can’t imagine anyone outdoing Zhao Wei at Xiao Yan Zi. Can’t say I was too impressed with Zhou Jie’s acting or Zi Wei’s character but everything else was just Love.
I enjoyed the 1st and 2nd series but the 3rd was horrendous. I hope this remake will at the very least be better than the 3rd installment. Still I doubt it will catch up to the 1st I will always remember.
December 25, 2009 at 7:11 am
if vicki zhao wei will not role as xiao yan zi.. i think nobody will watch that tv series.. because ruby lin, vicki zhao, alec su and zhou jie,, are only suit for that tv series…
May 1, 2010 at 6:32 pm
How true is this news saying that they will combine all 3 together into one big epic series? I heard about the news regarding the remake but not much news about combining all 3 books into one. I do look forward to it. Qiong Yao is good at changing her old story line and add new characters. But I just hope she will toss out a lot of her stuff in part 3. I hate part 3. The script is just poorly written.
May 20, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Dear cfensi and idarklight,
Thanks for the news. I heard a rumour that the HZGG remake is now 30+ episodes and that Xie Na is in it.
Could you give us the latest updates on this? Really appreciate it!
Thanks again!
June 1, 2010 at 12:51 am
@therainhouse
The remake does have 30+ episodes. There have yet to be any officials news released about casts, though.
August 8, 2010 at 8:38 pm
what?! but i like the original version!