THE OFFICIAL PICTURE THREAD: Things you like(d) the most

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollyw...p-opera-about-family-problems-not-spaceships/

Hmm... Let's see. Star Wars is about FAMILY PROBLEMS...

Episodes I-III. Anakin turns evil, joins the Dark Side (and technically died by end of Episode III).

Legend of the Condor Heroes (1959). Yang Kang turns evil (he killed) and perishes.

Episodes IV-VI. Luke Skywalker redeems "fallen" father, Anakin Skywalker.

Return of the Condor Heroes (1961). Yang Guo (Yang Kang's son) redeems his deceased father's tainted reputation by choosing the "good side", and with the help of a giant Condor fights the Mongolian empire.

 

Giant Condor (in Condor Trilogy) / Millennium Falcon (in STAR WARS):

 

Millennium Falcon saves Luke after losing hand:

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu5-hq-h_4Q


Giant Condor "saves" Yang Guo (from @10:12) after arm severed by Guo Fu;

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=610&v=MlNKM_63BYI




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Opening of Condor Heroes 2014 adaptation:



VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVLx9fRumSQ




(Girl in white, "Little Dragon Girl", is supposed to be Padme/Queen Amidala. In the Condor Trilogy, she is the son's wife.

But in SW, she is the father's (Anakin's) wife. And yes, she is much older and met her husband when he was just a boy...)




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Padme wears white as a nod to "Little Dragon Girl's" preferred dress color (in video above):

 

Oops, I should add,

"Padme wears white as a nod to "Little Dragon Girl's" preferred dress color (in video above, which is an adaptation of a work first published in 1961)"...

 

Video that talks about undying love between one arm hero (Anakin, the father, in STAR WARS, but the son, Yang Guo, in Condor Trilogy) and Little Dragon Girl (Padme) in earlier Condor adaptation:


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFdRQoP5v5g




Video that shows woman (Padme) with boy that would become her husband (very brief part @0:14):


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeG-EZPVsOE

 

The Return of The Condor Heroes (RotCH) is my favorite story of all time with The Hobbit as the second (not the Peter Jackson version but the original JRR Tolkien version).

My favorite RotCH adaptation is actually the anime. But only the first 1/3 that was animated in Japan b/c the quality (of animation) went down afterwards:





In the anime, they changed Little Dragon Girl's (LDG's) costume to a light pink rather than the classic white that was in the book.

Anyways, since its conception in 1961, there hasn't been a single good live action adaptation from China (and there were at least 5 different adapations). Each one had a certain cheesiness to it...

Regardless, here are the things I like best about the RotCH adapations:



1. As a martial artist, LDG only sleeps on a tight rope, never on a regular bed:

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_cvcXp6afQ&time_continue=450

VIDEO#2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKor1yZw1cA&time_continue=75




2. There is always a duet stance, where LDG either stands on Yang Guo's thigh or shoulder, that is the trademark of the show much like George Lucas's trademark scene wipes in the Original STAR WARS Trilogy:

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL1Iu9lqN1U

 

Best anime song barred none, since the birth of anime would have to be "My Will" by Dream band.



One of the criteria I used was the amount of singers that could participate in the song as the more meant more complexity and hence more effort was put into composing it.




The anime version:

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qijpOmkrGAI



And the one performed live:

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBfC7lvRJ9A

 

Personally, I can't wait for Disney to finish with the Heaven Sword & Dragon Saber story arc in SW - Episodes 7-9, and adapt this next work for Episodes 10-12:



It's my 2nd fav work by author of Condor Trilogy.

Here are the main differences:


1. There r 3 protagonists instead of just one (although one of them commits suicide towards the end, but perhaps this will be changed?) And they each have a significant other. So, we might get to see 3 diff. Luke/Anakin chars with 3 diff Padmes.


2. One of the significant others is like a duchess (the one in white again), and initially, she was the girlfriend of a character whom became one of the [unredeemable] villians. (We never saw Padme/Leia involved in a love triangle that wasn't her twin brother before).

3. The SO in #2 has a look-alike young mother. So instead of just seeing Padme on the screen, we might be treated to Padme's mom as well who will not be that far apart in age.

4. #3 also has a lookalike grandmother, whose presence in the story exists as a [somewhat divine] sculpture. So not only will we see a look-alike Padme as her mom, but there will be a statue of Padme's ancestor that looks just like her as well. (Btw, the statue plays a very important role to the story as it marks the location of a secret manual).


5. Each protagonist has a special "Force"-like skill that is different than the other.



Anyways, maybe this video can explain it better than I can:


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kao_yrk4zhM


(The Demi Gods & Semi Devils)

 

Character correlation with Return of the Condor Heroes --- DARTH SIDIOUS:




Emperor Palpatine (note his golden irises r just like "golden wheels") / Golden Wheel Monk (Jinlun Guoshi):




Western monk / Eastern monk:





In STAR WARS, Episode III, fight between Emperor Palpatine and Yoda:



(Flying wheels are not gold colored b/c, well, platinum is more expensive than gold. And, The Golden Wheel Monk's primary weapons are a set of golden wheels used as projectiles that return to him like boomerangs).




Yang Guo + Little Dragon Lady vs The Golden Wheel Monk (DARTH SIDIOUS's counterpart in RotCH):


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL1Iu9lqN1U




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Character correlation with Return of the Condor Heroes --- CHEWBACCA:



Giant Condor / Millennium Falcon:




Giant Condor can't speak human language / CHEWBACCA (co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon, that saved Luke right after losing hand) utters 'incomprehensible" sounds (if not for body language):





Giant Condor that saved Yang Guo right after losing arm can't speak words to him:


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNKM_63BYI&time_continue=912



CHEWBACCA speaks Wookiee (ie. Condor tongue in RotCH):


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJpBCzzcSgA

 

There is nothing new under the sun. My favorite classical music cartoon theme and where it derived its inspiration from:




Pre-existing work (The Sea Hawk):


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-RPzAbW7No





Peter Pan & The Pirates ("new composition"):


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlgEH2IAKHI




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STAR WARS is probably the most "Eastern" based work the West has ever produced:


Shogun war armor:





Darth Vader's life-support suit:

 

Btw, the OUTER EXTERIOR PART, the designs (ie. Vader's suit, Luke Skywalker's kimono outfit in Episode IV, the lightsabers that have the sharpness of a Japanese katana), they all came from Japan.



But the HEART of the STORY, the "son redeems father" theme family drama that is at the core of STAR WARS, it came from China actually (Hong Kong to be more precise b/c that is where The Condor Trilogy was first published).




Also, The Condor Trilogy is as popular/well-known in the East as Shakespeare/JRR Tolkien/JK Rowling is/are in the West...





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Well, it seems I've left out an important "STAR WARS-esque" point last night.





6. There will be a "Luke, I'm your father, and I'm evil/a story main villain" plot twist involving #2 SO's next boyfriend/future husband for real, and it will be a little different/even better than in The ORIGINAL TRILOGY!




SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED.




#2 SO's future husband, we'll call him "Prince Luke" (the other two Luke chars are more like "Duke Luke"s b/c they r older in age than him), his legal father is a very high ranking nobleman. The father had a legal wife, Prince Luke's biological mom. And Prince Luke was scheduled to inherit his father's legacy. But behind Prince Luke's mom's back, the father/nobleman had multiple affairs, one of whom is Padme's look-alike young mom. As a consequence, he had other children beside Prince Luke, but they were all girls. So in Ep 11, it will be revealed that #2 SO & Prince Luke, right after they became engaged, r actually half-sibblings. The audience's mind will be blown away, "not again! Not another sibbling love triangle!" But...


D/t karmic consequences Prince Luke's mom had an affair herself behind his legal father's back, from whom was born Prince Luke. Thus, Prince Luke's biological father is actually one of the story's main "Semi Devils" villains, and hence Prince Luke is in no way related to #2 SO as will be revealed in Ep 12, and they ended up getting married. Of course Prince Luke confronted his real evil father, but let him go b/c he is a grey-zone "Semi Devil" char, just like Darth Vader, and of not pure evil.


Anyways, regardless, Prince Luke eventually inherits his legal father's legacy and his biological father finally had a peace of mind knowing his son will become a high-ranking nobleman, just like how Vader became relieved when Luke emerged as the final victor over the Emperor...





And btw, "The Demi Gods & Semi Devils" was first published in 1966. No way the author could have watched STAR WARS and came up with his own version of "Luke, I'm your father, but I'm a Semi-Devil" theme...

 

If any1 feels like watching Demi Gods & Semi Devils 2013 subbed in English, here it is. But we warned, this is a good NOT great adaptation. The fight scenes can be really cheesy and confusing, but it's the story that counts.

Also, the two young male characters we meet first are "Duke Luke Skywalker" and "Prince Luke Skywalker" with the the other "Duke Luke" yet to be introduced. And initially Prince Luke is a wuss with no "Force"-like skill whatsoever, which he will acquire later... Also, Prince Luke is played by a native Korean, while the other two are Chinese.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLSIJismKOisFF1Hz06kfkw4E-4M2OIWfV&v=RdHiIKeo-sg&index=54


(Btw, my fav one is the 1996 adaptation, but that's out of print/no where to be found)...


More info on the series: http://mydramalist.com/8746-demi-gods-semi-devils-2013

 

Now that it comes to it, here r a few things that pissed me off about the show (that might piss off new viewers not familiar with it):

1. It was never really explained properly, but beside the "laser finger" power (like Superman's laser vision), Prince Luke obtained most of his skills from the two manuals he found inside the secret cave in episode 01. One of the powers is rapid escape, but the show made him look like "The Flash". The other powr is when ppl touch him he sometimes can't control "The Force" inside him and ends up sucking other ppl's internal energy like a vampire. Apparently Prince Luke has a photographic memory too, he only needed to read something once, which was never properly shown to the viewer until too late.

2 Apparently ppl can jump really high, but sometimes impossibly high and impossibly far. Anyways, the point is to quickly get one character from one place to another to move the plot forward.

3. This is what pissed me off the most about the show. There is a character that can disguise as another character, including their musculature and voice. It's practically impossible. In other adaptations, the disguise is a bit more "realistic", but I thought that it was the most lazy aspect of the screen writers on this adaptation.

4. Scenes involving Duke Luke involve a lot of silly politics, while the Prince Luke story threads are more lighthearted. And Prince Luke is the main protagonist/story thread/my fav of the 3 Lukes. But rest assured, all the politics is done for a good reason to explore Duke Luke's character in due time.

5. It may seem like there are as much plot holes (that don't necessarily ruin the story), like how can a poisonous squirrel survive submerged underwater along with its owners inside a sack, like the plot holes in The Force Awakens. But they don't really take away from the story.

 

STAR WARS, Episodes XIII-XV synopsis:

1. Story will probably be based on The Smiling, Proud Wanderer aka Swordsman.

2. There is only one hero, or heroine (seeing how Disney swapped the gender of the main characters in Heaven Sword & Dragon Saber, ie. Episode VII)

3. Hero never meets father, or finds out who he is b/c he/she was an orphan, so no, there won't be a Darth Vader/"Luke I'm your father plot twist".

4. There will be TWO Darth Sidiouses. A New one that usurped power from the Old one.

5. The Newer Darth Sidious is near invincible and more powerful than the Old Darth Sidious.

6. Hero/heroine marries daughter/son of Old Darth Sidious in the end.

7. Newer Darth Sidious eventually kills Old Darth Sidious (many years after the Old Darth Sidious was imprisioned after the coup).

8. This is how Newer Darth Sidious will be defeated: He can't be beat b/c he's invincible. BUT, he has a soft spot for Hero/Heroine ONLY (otherwise he/she is a very EVIL char towards others, in fact just as BAD as Old Darth Sidious). He sacrifices himself at the climax (where he kills Old Darth Sidious) to save Hero/Heroine. Newer Darth Sidious doesn't really die, but goes into seclusion so Hero/Heroine can have his way. But most chars in the movie will presume him to be dead. And w/o Newer Darth Sidious leading, the "Empire" falls apart.

9. Hero/Heroine cleans up all the scumbags, but doesn't become any sort of leader figure like Luke. In the end, he becomes a "proud, smiling wanderer" together with his wife living a carefree life.

10. It will be the perfect end to the entire STAR WARS saga.