Witness To A Prosecution II [TVB]

Written by Net42k

"Charmaine Sheh - I am surprised to find myself actually liking this character that she plays."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Released in
2001

When?
During the Song Dynasty.

Who's in it?
Sung Chi - Bobby Au Yeung
Yun Yuk Zhu - Charmaine Sheh
Choong/Ng. Siu Loong - Stephen Au
Kit Siu - Ellesmere Choi
Yun Yuk Bo - Halina Tam
Sen Fung - Joyce Tang

What's it about?
WTTP 2 continues after Bobby Au married his 2 wives (Jessica and Marianne Chan.) It started with the two wives being pregnant. One day, their house was set on fire, and the wives were killed. Bobby turn out to indirectly caused the death of a man's wife, the man wanted Bobby to know what it feels like to lose a wife. Au blamed the death of his wives on the detective job, he got depressed and decided to go to another town.

Favorite Character
Must be Yun Yuk Zhu. She was misunderstood by everyone in her town because her fiancee died before they could get married. People thought she was a comet and was scared of being near her. Yuk Zhu's job is to dress up dead people (nicely) so they can be buried. I don't like Charmaine Sheh that much, but she is good in this role.

Most Disliked
Yun Yuk Bo, she is the half-sister of Yuk Zhu. Yuk Bo cares about money the most, and she agreed to marry this rich old man. She laters kill him to get his money, but unfortunately for her, she met Sung Chi and got her head chopped off.

Most Annoying
Choong, he is so stupid to believe in that hypocrite Yuk Bo. After he got a bit of talents, he started to think he's all that. If he didn't actually have a part in helping Sung Chi solved the crime, he would already be the most disliked character. Stephen Au is quite good in here, but he looks really weird in ancient costume.

Most Disappointing Character
Sen Fung, don't ask me, I just think the character is quite unreasonable at times.

Favorite Couple
Of course Yuk Zhu and Sung Chi. Very compatible, that doesn't mean that the actor and actress match though.

Least Favorite Couple
Ellesmere and Irene Wong. I just hated relationships like that. It is so cliché.

Casts
Bobby - I really hated the fact that he drinks himself after his wives died. Sure, he can be sad but do it to a certain length. Over-drinking yourself is not going to make your wives alive again. TVB always have these kind of scenes (drink after you get rejected) that it is getting overly annoying to see. Come on, at least think up of something else he could do rather than drinking himself to death. Bobby is the same in here, nothing spectacular.

Charmaine Sheh - I am surprised to find myself actually liking this character that she plays. I personally hated her role in Flying Fox, Crimson Sabre and HSDS. I liked to see her in evil characters so that she'll suffer in the end, but she plays this lovable Yun Yuk Zhu very nicely and I didn't wish for her to die.

Joyce Tang - I think she is the savior of the series. Despite the bad story, she somehow able to bring some warmth into the story. But why does she always get supporting roles?? She is as good as any other leading actresses, even better than most in TVB nowadays.

What about other actors?
I think they're all okay. I don't particular like any of them, but they are all very boring in their performances.

Is this worth renting?
This is truly disappointing to its prequel. Like many other sequels, this one lacks the charm and the good script of the first one. The cases were easy to solve, and they basically TELL you who did it before Sung Chi even figured out. I mean, what's the fun in that? The other bad thing was the final case, you KNOW that Jay Lau is the evil person in the early tapes. It's not fun for a series to be so predictable. Unlike the first one, where I absolutely do not have a clue that Frankie Lam was the bad guy all through the serial. But it is not too bad, despite the bad storyline, Bobby Au and Joyce Tang could keep you through the series.

Comparing
A Case of Misadventure - I say this is better than WTTP 2. It's similar, but I think ACoM have a more lighter mood than this.

Witness to the Prosecution 1 - This is definitely better, as I have said up there. I advise you to just leave it at the happy ending.


SPOILERS (for those who want it)
SPOILERS ALERT! SPOILERS ALERT!

1. Bobby ended up with Charmaine.
2. Stephen married Joyce.
3. Ellesmere (a guard) gets a happy ending with Irene Wong (a prostitute.)
4. Halina gets her head chopped off.
5. Jay Lau died (I think.)

Anything else to say?
No, I don't know what else to say. This is one of the bad sequels. It shows why TVB style has really gone down since the millennium. I only write a short review because this is not something I enjoy, and it also pains me to write something about it. Get this if you can't find any other series to watch, WTTP 2 at least has a happy ending, so you can look forward to that.

Rating
.

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Land Of The Condors '92 [TVB]

Written by Net42k

"I feel so much hatred for this series, and this is one of his very very very BAD novel. I feel sorry for myself for enslaving myself by watching it."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Released in
1992

How many tapes?
12 in Viet

Actors/Actresses
Phuong Vi - Francis Ng.
Thuy Ngan/Ba Hoa - Kitty Lai

(There are others, but I do not know their names.)

Story
Thuy Ngan and Ba Hoa are twin sisters lived in a tribe. But Thuy Ngan was much more loved because she was a virgin, while Ba Hoa is like a slut. Ba Hoa is evil while Thuy Ngan is good. One day, the tribe's holy stick was stole by Lu Tam. Lu Tam hated the tribe's former leader for killing his family and kicking him out of the tribe.

Lu Tam's son, Thien Bao is a rapist. Knowing this, the tribe's leader asked Ba Hoa to seduce the guy and steal the holy stick back. She didn't agree the first time, but her lover Ba Na, persuaded her that if she can get the stick back, he'll marry her. Of course he has not intended to do that, but Kitty still believed him. She went to Thien Bao, and slept with him. Things goes and she finally got the holy stick back.

By this time, we met a drunkard Francis Ng. He is an assassin, and was hired to kill Kitty. Well, but this so called hero of ours have 3 rules that he sticks to: never kill women, children and innocent people.

Thien Bao then captured Francis's best friend, to force him into finding Kitty. Francis agrees, and
he did find Kitty. He almost kill her, when he found out that his best friend suicide, he turns around to kill Thien Bao. From then, Lu Tam hates him too. He is on the run and meets the other Kitty Lai. He thought Thuy Ngan was Ba Hoa and tries to kill her. But turns out unsuccessful, as people will know, he falls in love with her.


Why can't they get married though?

Of course to make it more dramatic, Thuy Ngan is a holy maiden of the tribe. The holy maiden must be virgin all her life. Thuy Ngan also drank poison, one which cannot be cured, the poison will make her live in pain every time she gets close to a man. Things keep on dragging, until she dies. (AMEN!!!) Francis of course is very very sad. But then he meets this woman, To To (Su Su), who is on the run from Lu Tam along with her husband. She accidentally let him eat a fruit which made him dizzy not knowing what he is doing. They ended up sleeping with each other, at this time, her husband has thought to be dead.

She had a baby, but the truth finally reveals. To To is a wife of Lu Tam, and her husband was Lu Tam in disguise, he told her to seduce Francis. But she had feelings for him by the time the child was born, she was very sorry (Sure you are, hypocrite.) In the end, Francis teamed up with his friends to kill Lu Tam. He ends up with To To because rice became porridge already. Ba Hoa finally found out that Ba Na (her lover) only used her to get power, both of them dies during a fight.

*There are more characters to the series, but I only mention the main one which is Francis and Kitty.

Cast
Francis Ng. - I do not like him, he does not have the looks or the skills to play this character. Phuong Vi is supposed to be a cold assassin, what the heck is he doing being wishy-washy with this holy maiden? He is really a pathetic piece of a character, I don't feel sorry for him, I clapped when Kitty died and when his child got killed. He can't cry, when he stood before his friend's grave, I thought he was laughing rather than shedding tears.

Kitty Lai - She is the reason of my renting of this series. But it really disappoints me, I hated both her characters. One's a crybaby, and one's a slut, which one should I like? Why does she go and star in a stupid series like this?

Should you rent this?
If you are some psycho who loves to be tortured. I suggest you not to. Gu Long is very very repetitive that it is annoying. Is there any main character of his that is not a drunkard, powerful, and is like a wishy washy jack*ss? I feel so much hatred for this series, and this is one of his very very very BAD novel. I feel sorry for myself for enslaving myself by watching it.

Rating
I'll rate it as since Kitty's in it. Or else it would have gone to a 0.

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A Case Of Misadventure [TVB]

Written by Net42k

"Every time the series introduced a new person, you know THAT person commits a crime."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Episodes
32 (Viet version)


Released
2002


Cast
(I'm not very familiar with Chinese names, so I will use Viet names.)

Tran Dai Hy - William So
Thai Hoan - Flora Chan
Vo Long - Stephen Au
Dung Dung - Irene Wong
La Bo - Derek Kwok
Ngo Tam Tinh - Cheung Chi Kwong
Mr. Dung - Kwok Fung

What is the story in here?
It is the story about the descendant of the famous lawyer Tran Mong Cat in Quang Chau (GuangZhou.) William So goes in the role of a useless grandchild who knows nothing but play. He is assisted by Cheung Chi Kwong, who is a servant of the family for three generations. One day, Flora Chan went to GuangZhou asking for some help. Her newlywed husband, Derek Kwok, was arrested by the local guards accusing him of killing someone. Flora wanted help from the famous lawyer family, in order to prove her husband's innocent. William, never had any experience from being a lawyer, obviously was unable to prove Derek innocent. Afraid the family name will be gone, he and Cheung Chi Kwong quickly left the town heading for Hong Kong. There he was housed by the very rich Kwok Fung, who is an old friend of his grandfather, and Fung's beloved daughter, Irene Wong.
Flora was in debt before to get money for Derek's lawyer. She bound up in Hong Kong working as a maid. As fate would have it, she ended up being a maid in William's house. Thus, the plot finally started.

How many cases in all?
- 4 - a small amount but since this is a short series, it can be forgiven.

What did you think of the cases?

Very, very bad, this point however it can't be forgiven. My 5th grade cousin write better cases in
her English class. The cases in here are not that hard to crack. Every time the series introduced a new person, you know THAT person commits a crime. The ways they crack each cases is also very annoying. By conscience, or by tricking the crime doer to admit to the crimes. The mysteries are the main attraction of this series, and if the cases failed, you know where the serial is heading.

Cast/Character Opinions

1. William So - His character is straightforward, firm, kind, comedic, playful, and happy. Despite his
lack of intelligence like his grandfather, he is a really nice person. William treats his servants as his
family and with most respect. He loves to read porn book, which is a bad thing, but he changes and matures as the series progress. I find William So very good in this role, his face fits perfectly for this comedic character. I can feel when he's happy or sad, angry or relieved. He is the reason I finished watching the whole thing, not skipping any tape or fast forwarding anything.

If I could pick another actor for this role it would be - Dicky Cheung.

2. Flora Chan - I am disappointed with her character. She doesn't have a big impression in here, rather than being a strict but kind maid. She looks very bad in here, it's definitely because she's not a classic beauty. She looks extremely weird with costumes and hair like that. But aside from that, she gave a good performance. As she and William are the only plus to carry on the show.

Another actress to play the role? - Gigi Lai or Ada Choi.

3. Irene Wong - I hated this character, she is such a spoiled brat. I don't have a hate thing toward all brats, because I usually sympathetic toward undisciplined characters. But Dung Dung in here, makes me hate her so much. Irene Wong is not a convincing actress. One annoying scene is when she was crying and running to her father, it is so lame. No wonder why she never get lead roles. I think TVB at least made a right choice letting her only be a supporting actress.

Another actress to play? - Joyce Tang

4. Stephen Au - Being a head of police department in Hong Kong. He is a very respectable person. It's just that he chases after Irene Wong all the time, and not until the end that she realizes she loves him. I feel sorry for him, being stuck with the brat. Stephen Au is not the typical handsome guy, but I do like him in here.

Another actor to play? Steven Ma or Benny Chan

5. Derek Kwok - I hated him. He is such a hypocrite, and he killed 3 people. I can't believe Flora actually told William to let this serial killer leave Hong Kong. What the heck was wrong with her? She loved him so much, that she would let a murderer out in the street? William was stupid too, because he likes Flora, he agreed to let Derek leave peacefully? One of the I do-not-get-it. Very unreasonable actions from both of them. This guy Derek does not match with Flora at all, IS TVB BLIND????? Look at the guy, and look at Flora. He is so skinny, and looks SHORTER than Flora,
he looks weird, hard to understand how she could do all those thing for him.. At least find a guy who's compatible.

Another Actor? Gallen Lo


Overall?
This series is watchable if you're a Flora Fanatic. Don't watch it if you have high expectations for casesserials. Justice Pao and Justice Sung is a lot better. Despite some of the bad casting, this series rolls along very smoothly. It's average for me.

Rating
I give this series a

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King Of Yesterday And Tomorrow [TVB]

Written by Net42k

"I find this story quite unbelievable and ridiculous."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

No. of episodes
20

But 16 in Vietnamese version

Released In
2003

Character-Cast
Names in brackets are the Vietnamese version

Kong Wah - Emperor Yung Jing /Lee Dai Ha (Ung Chanh)
Maggie Cheung - Lui Sei Leong (Lu Tu Nuong)
Melissa Ng - Rachel Sum Yat Ngoi (Tham Nhat Ai)
Gilbert Lam - Frankie Sum Yat Gnoy (Tham Nhat Le)
Paul Chun Pui - Sum Siu Hong (Tham Khang)
Anthony Tang - Hugo Sum
Cheung Chi Kwong - Brian Sum
Halina Tam - Tina


(the Cantonese version taken from http://www.spcnet.tv )


Story
This is a time-traveling story like A Step Into the Past. But instead of a person going back in time, a king is traveling to the future. Ung Chanh is a king during the Manchu Dynasty. Maggie Cheung is a famous heroine during that time known for her courage to assassinate the king. Once she chased him all the way out to the sea, a hurricane happens to start at the time, and they were both transfer into the future.

I find this story quite unbelievable and ridiculous. Kong Wah is a king from the past, but he seems to know a lot about the future when he was transfer there.


Cast

Kong Wah
My first question seeing him on the poster was, "Again?" Once again Kong was into the role of a king during the Manchu Dynasty. His other time was in Happily Ever After with Bobby Au. TVB must have really liked his portrayal back then to let him play this. He was okay in a king's shoes I guess, but not significant. The king in here was very smart, that's why he was able to stop his half brothers from overthrowing him. Wah's other character, Lee Dai Ha, is similar to the king. Except being bloody rich or being able to order people around, the actions and words are from the same person in the Qing Dynasty. His walk is the same too if you notice in some scenes, I think if the director or Kong finds that walk funny, I do not know what to say. But it is weird and annoying, I did not laugh.

Maggie Cheung Ho Yee
She is very fit for this character, her performance was excellent. Lu Tu Nuong somehow annoys me. Maybe because she's a bit 'dumb.' I can't blame her though, she's not supposed to be really intelligent like Kong. I have no complaints for Maggie, except her clothes. Please, she's the main
character in here, at least let her have some good clothes on. Some of the episodes have her wear this plaid t-shirt and pants. I was like, "So cheap! How hard is it to buy some decent modern time clothes?" Even the supporters have better clothes than her, what was TVB thinking?

Melissa Ng
This is my second time seeing her, the first time was in Crimson Sabre. She looks like a thin stick in here, and her face is a bit too skinny. Aside from that, she did a good job as the responsible, rich
girl.

Gilbert Lam
I can't believe that he's evil! I feel so sorry for him at the end, he's such a nice guy in the beginning. Gilbert is one of my favorite actor, he definitely needs to be promoted more. He looks so tall and handsome in the suit, one of the reason for me to continue this serial.

Awards
1. Fav. Character - Melissa Ng. because she's the only one I did not once find annoying in this series.


2. Most annoying - It's Akina Hong, I don't mind the fact that she's gay. But being friend with Melissa for a few years, shouldn't she know that Melissa is not gay?

3. Best Supporting Cast - Gilbert Lam

4. Best Villain - Gilbert Lam


5. Fav. Pair - Melissa and Kong, I really wished they could have ended up together.

6. Least Fav. Pair - The Gay pair. I do not need to be exposed of that.

The I-do-not-get-it-all

1. Maggie kept on holding the sword to try and kill> Kong during the year 2003, I am really surprised that no police caught her. Is security in HK that low?

2. Why must they add the gay stuff in here? This is entertainment, TVB shouldn't have gone that far. There are young young children watching this, what would they think?

3. How come Paul Chun isn't arrested for polygamy (having multiple wives?) Is it legal in HK now?

These 3 reasons are enough for me to hate it and teach children the wrong thing. Once again I must add that, "TVB's qualities is totally going down these days."

Interesting Fact
I have just been browsing through the net, and saw this website. It was a page that wrote the complaints people have for TVB programs. This is what it says:


"Sixty-nine viewers complained about the program King of Yesterday and Tomorrow. The allegations were that the series contained a bad theme, featured indecent gay sex, promoted homosexuality and polygamy, portrayed important human relationships in an irresponsible manner, exerted a bad influence on children and young persons, and was unsuitable for broadcast at the scheduled time slot. The complainants also alleged that the programme misled viewers into believing that homosexuality was innate and common among the rich and the professionals."

(Taken from Hkba.org)


I agree with it, there are children who are watching this, and they shouldn't be exposed to stuff like that. The polygamy problem was also a mistake to show too, since I did believe for a while that that's legal in HK.

Final Say
Is this worth the rent? I'd say, "No." If you're like me, who only watches modern serials once in a while, it's very boring and the points up there is enough to keep you away. But if you really like Kong Wah, Maggie Cheung, then by all means give it a try. It's not that bad, but if you are picky to the 'law' point like me, you'll find it ridiculous and irritating. The choice is yours to make.

Rating

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