Haven't updated my blog for a while and at the moment I am watching TVB's version of the highly popular 'Empress of China'. I looked at what was my last post and it was the episode thoughts for TVB's 'Eye in the Sky' that I did not get to finish (and did not regret so since it was a series that turned out to be promising but nothing more).
As some people may have realised that I have already watched the mainland's version of 'Empress of China' by FanBingBing ever since it was released. Frankly despite all the budget and grand-looking costumes the plot itself is nothing spectacular and way too long for my taste. Nevertheless I enjoyed watching the whole series.
Want my opinion on TVB's version? I initially did not get used to the cantonese dubbing and then different angle shots but yes I think TVB did a decent job by cutting down the unnecessary scenes and fast-forwarding the pace of the series.
For those curious viewers out there wanting to know the differences between the mainland and HK version, here we go:
1. The most notable change was that TVB's version cleverly covered the cleavages with computer generated effects.
Did TVB do the CGI effects to cover the cleavages? If so that was some pretty good editing and I shall tell you why:
-The cloths covering the cleavage don't look fake if you don't pay special attention to it because it's got shading and folds that makes it look convincing.
-The cloths are colour co-ordinated according to the colour of their orginal costumes which blends in with the appearance in general.
-Even when the characters are moving with the cloths the cloths seem to move at nearly the same pace, so amazingly it does look real.
2. Thus, the camera shots that you see in TVB's version are much more varied and medium and long shots are much more plentiful with cleavages covered.
I tell you that there were some shots that I definitely did not see from the original version, like the background and the whole costume of the female characters. It allows you to see much more scenery and yes at the expense of seeing the 'you-know' parts (not that you could see the cleavages in the censored mainland version anyway). In short, TVB's version is better.
3. The title of the TVB's version is called 'Wuzetian', whereas the mainland Chinese title is 'Wumeiliangzhuangqi'.
Although strange there is nothing much to fuss about since this is just a name change. I suspect TVB decided to use the former name because it's more concise and straight to the point as in Wuzetian was the title for the first female emperor in China's history? Even though I get what TVB might have done but I think the latter name is more appropriate because the series itself was about FanBingBing's journey from nobody to empress and emperor. Despite how many episodes there were, there were only very very very few scenes of her actually as Wuzetian.
4. The sound effects and background music is different in TVB's version.
Wasn't sort of expecting this but in TVB's version they used TVB's mundane sound effects. At the first few episodes you could immediately tell that TVB used some dramatic sound effects from the 2012 TVB series 'King Maker' and then some sad sound effects from the 2014 TVB series 'Storm in a Cocoon'. I would have liked it more if TVB could of just left the sound effects as they were since I prefer the sounds from the mainland version instead.
5. The theme song, opening and closing credits are all different.
So Joey Yung replaced the original theme song in TVB's version. Not much comment expect while both theme songs are ok the mainland one was more dramatic and grand whilst Joey's one was more emotional. The two versions have different opening and closing credits and I don't mind either.
Also did someone say Linda Chung's singing voice will somehow appear in the series? So far nowhere to be seen (more like heard).
6. TVB trimmed down many scenes (worth episodes long).
TVB definitely did the right thing by quickening the pace of the series (only if they cut the unnecessary parts and keep the important turning points in the series - in one of the episodes on TVB's version they cut the scene of Consort De actually falling to the river which was odd because I thought it was a rather necessary scene to show). According to Wikipedia, the Hunan version (that I watched) was 96 episodes, the original version was 82 episodes and TVB's version is 70 episodes. 70 episodes is still draggy in my opinion but better than 82 and 96 I suppose haha. So kudos to TVB.
7. Needless to say, TVB's version has cantonese dubbing.
Obviously for everyone in HK to understand and listen comfortably their own language TVB's version put in cantonese dubbing with traditional chinese subtitles. I wasn't used to the dubbing at first but now I think the voice actors did well. Whoever did the dubbing for Emperor Lishimin did an excellent job since it sounded similar to the original version as sharp and authoritative. The dubbing for FanBingBing was fine and so were the other dubbing for other characters like Kathy Chou, etc.
8. Lips look weird on TVB's version.
I realised that some netizens complained about the lighting of the series being too bright and my eyes did notice the over-brightness of the lips on the female characters, especially Kathy Chou. It looked quite artificial and looked like it was some photoshopping error or something (I'm pretty since the overbright lips weren't there on mainland's version). Strange.
OK so basically 8 notable changes in TVB's version. In my opinion TVB did some nice adaptations but if you really want to hear their original voices and not miss out some scenes (trust me most were just talking scenes) then mainland version it is. Other than that I am impressed with how TVB handled the footages!
I might comment more about this series as I watch more of TVB's version.
