| The Legend of the Condor Heroes | |
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TV series' intertitle |
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| Also known as | The Eagle Shooting Heroes |
| Genre | Wuxia |
| Written by | Louis Cha (original story) |
| Directed by | Lee Kwok-lap |
| Starring | Hu Ge Ariel Lin Justin Yuan Cecilia Liu |
| Opening theme | Yingxiong Mo (英雄寞) performed by Ronald Cheng |
| Ending theme | Wuyun Ran (烏雲然) performed by Hu Ge |
| Country of origin | China |
| Language(s) | Mandarin |
| No. of episodes | 50 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Karen Tsai |
| Location(s) | China |
| Running time | 45 minutes per episode |
| Production company(s) | Chinese Entertainment Shanghai |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | KMTV-1 |
| Original airing | July 18, 2008 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| The Legend of the Condor Heroes | |||||||
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| DVD cover | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 射鵰英雄傳 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 射雕英雄传 | ||||||
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The Legend of the Condor Heroes is a Chinese television series adapted from Louis Cha's novel of the same title. The series was produced by Chinese Entertainment Shanghai, the same company that produced Chinese Paladin (2005), The Little Fairy (2005) and The Young Warriors (2006). Many cast members from those projects collaborated again in this series, such as Hu Ge, Ariel Lin, Justin Yuan, and Cecilia Liu. The series was first broadcast on KMTV-1 in China in July 2008.
Contents |
Hu Ge was involved in a car accident on August 29, 2006 while travelling from Hengdian to Shanghai on the highway, resulting in the shooting of the series being delayed due to recovery from his injuries.
During the shooting delay due to Hu Ge's recovery from the accident, the filmmakers started a new project The Fairies of Liaozhai (2007) to keep the crew members occupied while waiting to resume work on The Legend of the Condor Heroes.[1]
Sun Xing was originally cast as Hong Qigong but was later replaced by Bryan Leung due to the delay resulting from Hu Ge's recovery, which made Sun decide to move on, causing legal conflict. Sun filmed some scenes prior to his replacement, and those scenes were reshot again later with Leung taking over Sun's role.[2][3] [4]
Segments from The Young Warriors (2006) were reused for the flashback scene depicting Yang Zaixing's death.
The Song military costumes were originally made for The Young Warriors (2006). The Mongol military costumes were later reused in A Weaver on the Horizon (2010).
The series was generally well received in China, despite courting some controversy by changing certain portions of the novel for aesthetic purposes within its drama, romance, and comedy and to reach modern audiences.[5] Certain antagonistic characters, such as Yang Kang and Wanyan Honglie, also deviate from their original descriptions in the novel, to the point that they are portrayed in a more positive light. Other significant deviations from the original story include: greater drama in the rivalry between Guo Jing and Yang Kang; the Yangs' troubled relationship with each other before they acknowledge themselves as family and Yang Kang's desire for vengeance after his parents' deaths; Yang Kang meeting his newborn son and raising the child with Mu Nianci months before his death; Yang Kang's final repentance before letting Ouyang Feng kill him.