Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

After two years of zero promotion, the new adaptation of Jin Yong’s novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils suddenly gets an airing date. I guess we are used to the quick announcement of premieres by now? If you have never watched any of the previous adaptations, the story has a lot of characters and relationships, please check out Wiki! My personal favorite is TVB’s 1997.

Airing 8/14~

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Stills:

Tony Yang as Qiao Feng.

Bai Shu as Duan Yu.

Zhang Tian Yang as Xu Zhu.

Janice Man as Wang Yu Yan.

Su Qing as A Zhu. Such a pitiful character/ending.

He Hong Shan as A Zi. 🔫🔫🔫

AHAHAHA Look who I spotted! If you have watched the 1997 TVB version, you might recognize her!

Trailers:

PW to view: demi

  1. 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

    If accessing the drama doesn’t take much effort, I’ll probably check it out.

    I don’t remember much of the early 1980’s TVB(?) version. The one with Hu Jun as Qiao Feng was ok but it cut too much from the novel. Couldn’t get past the first few eps of the version with an SK actor as Duan Yu.

    • 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

      I believe I have watched all the TVB versions (The 1982 had Felix playing the monk too! Lol!) but on repeat now and then is only the 1997 version.

      Let me know how you find this new version. 🙂

      • 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

        How is Tony Yang’s acting? I haven’t seen any of his works but his acting (and him by extension) is receiving lots of hate on Weibo. The three male leads all are disliked for the roles for the most part.

        • 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

          I like his overall physique and off-screen personality. I can’t pinpoint a project of his that left me enthralled though, sadly.

      • 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

        First two eps. Feels like an old-time production with a lot more real outdoor scenes. Most of the main characters were introduced by end of ep 2. Qiao Feng’s secret background was hinted at. He was installed as Beggars’ Sect leader. Xu Zhu and the head of Shaolin had a talk. Murong Fun declared his intention to reestablish Yan. Duan Yu fell off the cliff and found a hidden wushu tome. Wang Yuyan made an appearance too. Still, the pacing felt slow.

        Qiao Feng’s hair and costume make him look hunched over. Duan Yu’s costume looks too cumbersome, but maybe there is some historical element to it.

        Duan Yu doesn’t feel right. His dubbing voice also doesn’t fit. (Voice actors were not listed in end credits.) To me, novel Murong Fu was more aloof and pretentious. Murong Fu here feels meaner. A Zhu and A Bi seem to be dumbed down. The acting overall is not bad.

        Fighting is close to old wuxia fighting. Wire work speed is slower than I expected. When male leads fight, there are more slow-mo and whiffing but it doesn’t look like they used stunt doubles a lot. Misc characters who are supposed to be decent fighters are convincing.

        I’ll give this a few more episodes.

        • 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

          I watched the first episode, and I agree that it does feel kind of old wuxia. I’ll stick around for a few more episodes, but it’s just not pulling me in like the older adaptations did.

          Also, I believe that’s Duan Yu/Bai Shu’s real voice. He sounds exactly the same in The Lost Tomb 2 and Love and Redemption, and his own voice was used for those. My problem is that the dubbing, even if it’s their real voices, sounds like dubbing and not a part of the film. It’s too clear or something like that; doesn’t help that it isn’t always timed right. LOL!

        • 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

          @Tina

          Realized that it was his own voice in ep 3 scenes where he obviously wasn’t dubbed. So I guess the guy still has to work on dubbing himself.

          Some of cast dubbing were fine.

          I’m ok with dubbing when “actors” apparently weren’t well trained to deliver their lines with clarity or the right emotions.

    • 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

      Finished it. To me, no worse than previous versions. Definitely more watchable than the 2013 version.

      I have no problem with the older not-very-pretty cast. Acting from the “seniors” was good. Acting from the “juniors” was better than typical idol dramas. The old people’s scenes weren’t reduced or hurried to give young people more screen time. Script stayed fairly faithful to the version of the novel I read. Ending was kind of weird.

      C-netizens say that the total eps were cut down to 50 from 60, which probably affected the flow. Possible that more scenes were cut from later eps than earlier ones. Also, drama might have run low on funds at some point so some grand scenes became not so grand.

      Actor who played Xu Zhu had a good physique. Actor who played his father, the head of Shaolin, wasn’t flabby either. The latest and final Qin installment had a couple younger generals with flabby physique. No good.

  2. 9 thoughts on “Tony Yang’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils drama adaptation with Bai Shu and Zhang Tian Yang to air on CCTV

    Had no idea another remake was in the works. This is one of my fave Jin Yong stories because of the strong brotherhood between the main 3 characters and the web of complicated relationships with the huge cast of supporting characters. TVB 1997 is my fave version cause I think the 3 MLs mostly fit their characters and the chemistry between, and the casting for the supporting cast was good too.

    The following 2 adaptations was lacking in either/both casting and chemistry. I see people hating on the this cast…

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