Editor's note: This is a nostalgic theater.
I believe that audiences born in the 1980s and 1990s have a very deep impression on Zhouyi Film and its affiliated Pumpkin Creation Center. Different from the mainland companies at that time, the works of the Pumpkin Creation Center are basically fantasy-style youth idol works. The film and television company has produced many classic TV series, many of which are pioneers in the mainland. For example, "Love Through Time and Space" in 2002 was the forerunner of the mainland's time-travel drama; Wu Qilong's version in the same year was the forerunner of the adaptation of martial arts novels into fantasy dramas.

Wu Qilong's version of "Xiao Shiyi Lang" poster

Pumpkin Creation Center

Before "Xiao Shiyi Lang", Zhouyi Film and Television had adapted Gu Long's other novel "Wulin Wai Shi" into a youth idol drama. Its main actors Huang Haibing, Wang Yan, and Zhu Hongjia were all familiar names to young people in mainland China at that time. Although "Wulin Wai Shi" has caused controversy between fans of TV dramas and fans of the original book, its degree of magic transformation is far less than that of "Xiao Shiyi Lang". At least "Wulin Wai Shi" is still like a martial arts drama. "Xiao Shiyi Lang" in the following year has become a fantasy drama.
As far as the cast of "Xiao Shi Shilang" is concerned, it is aimed at young audiences. The two male and female protagonists, Wu Qilong, who plays the robber Xiao Shiyilang, and Zhu Yin, who plays Shen Bijun, the first beauty in the martial arts, are both Hong Kong and Taiwan idol stars who became famous as teenagers. Newcomers such as Yu Bo, Yang Junyi, and Zhang Jin, the "Three Treasures of Zhouyi" that Zhou Yi himself highly praised, are also handsome young men. As soon as the show was released, it quickly became a summer TV hit.

The character of the robber Xiao Shijilang is preserved

This edition of "Xiao Shiyi Lang" has a relatively large choice of characters in the original work. Except for the main supporting roles such as Feng Siniang, Lian Chengbi, Yang Kaitai, and Xiao Gongzi, most of the original characters did not appear. For example, there are only two of the six gentlemen in the decent martial arts, Lian Chengbi and Yang Kaitai, and the other four Liu Seqing, Li Gang, Xu Qingteng, Zhu Baishui and others have not appeared. The main supporting characters such as Erguotou (Xiao Shiyilang's father Xiao Pei), Lian Chengjin (Second Miss Lianjiabao), Ling Vulture played by Yang Junyi and Xue Ying played by Zhang Jin are all completely original characters.
This version of "Xiao Shiyi Lang" has also made relatively large changes to the original characters. In the original book, when Xiao Shiyilang knew Shen Bijun, she had been married to Lian Chengbi for two or three years, and she was pregnant. The TV series changed Shen Bijun and Lian Chengbi into a fiancee relationship. In this way, Xiao Shiyilang has no moral flaws. In the novel, the property of the Lian family is called Wugou Villa, and there is no Lianjiabao. The Lian family is originally a martial arts family, not the salt gang family in the play. Lian Chengbi was adopted by the Lian family who did not have a third-generation male, nor was it a descendant of the Lian family.

Lian Chengbi is not even a family

In the novel, Yang Kaitai's family originally opened a bank, not a horse farm, let alone a horse farm for the Lian family. His life experience itself is not inferior to Lian Chengbi. In the original novel, the masters of the world, Hong Ying and Lu Liu, who were controlled by Xiaoyaohou, became the two old servants of the Lian family, Bai Yang and Lu Liu.

Yang Kaitai

Hou Xiaoyao has nothing to do with the Lian family, let alone old hatred. Marquis Xiaoyao was originally the noble brother Shutian of the Anxi Geshu Department, not from the Central Plains. He was born disabled and a dwarf. But he was handsome, dressed gorgeously, and he was extravagant when he raised his hands and feet. The TV series added old hatred, and Hou Xiaoyao became the eldest son abandoned by the Lian family. He was abandoned by his father, Lian Chengjin's grandfather, because of his natural disability. When he became an adult, he sneaked back to Lianjia and became the head of Lianjia Racecourse. He is Yang Kaitai's father, Yang Tianzan, the master of the villain Xiaoyao Cave. The martial arts school of Xiaoyao Cave is not the Anxi school, but the Dongying Ninjutsu school. The above changes make the relationship between the characters more complicated, and the method is still very clever. But in this way, the TV series has almost nothing to do with the plot of the original book, and just borrowed the names of the main characters of the original book.

Yang Tianzan is the son of a family member

Wu Qilong's version of Xiao Shiyilang is the one with the most dazzling aura and the most outstanding ability among the many versions. Once he played, he was a top player. Not only that, he was also very resourceful, able to play with Xiaoyao, Lingjiu, Xueying, several disciples of Xiaoyaohou, in the palm of his hand. Xiao Shiyilang is also a loyal friend and sweet lover. He usually aims to help the poor and the weak, and lives a dashing life. He is still a little bad, but cutely bad, and he is quite active in pursuing Shen Bijun.

Xiao Shijilang confessed

Not only Xiao Shijilang has a strong protagonist halo, but also the deer-cutting knife. It is set as a magical weapon that the Xiao family will protect from generation to generation. It has a fingerprint recognition function, and only people from the Xiao family can pull it out. In the hands of ordinary people, it is just a rusty broken knife. In Xiao Shijilang's hands, it is a broken and recoverable divine sword, and it can enter a luminous state like the lightsaber of "Star Wars", becoming a lightsaber. After the deer-cutting knife is stained with the blood of the protagonist, it can revive the earth, change the situation, and change the seasons. Finally, it is a bit like the agarwood and the lotus lantern in the animation of "Lotus Lantern", which realizes the unity of man and artifact.

The Xiao family is a family of guards

The anti-No. 1 Lianchengbi was completely shattered under the aura of Xiao Shiyilang's protagonist, and he was a complete demon. The original version of Lian Chengbi is an elegant hypocrite. Yu Bo's version of Lian Chengbi is more than handsome, but he has never been kind and just. Lian Chengbi showed his scheming from the moment he appeared, and would rather pretend to be captured by the young master than save Shen Bijun. It was his distrust, his calculations, that pushed Shen Bijun away step by step. Lian Chengjin, another close relative beside him, was also pushed to the enemy by him. Lian Chengbi used her marriage to team up with Sima Xiang to deal with Xiao Shiyilang and Xiaoyaohou. As long as the younger sister fails to fulfill her wishes, Lian Chengbi forces her to leave the Lianjiabao and even tries to kill her.

Lian Chengbi pushes Shen Bijun away

If you put aside the original work, Yang Tianzan, Hou Yaoyao, is undoubtedly the most successful character in this play. He hid in the dark and did all the bad things, and succeeded in taking revenge on the Lian family. But he was different from Lian Chengbi, who was completely engulfed by the dark side. Yang Kaitai, cultivated by Yang Tianzan, has the brightest and purest heart, and will never have hatred. Yang Kaitai is the bright side of Yang Tianzan.
Aside from the fantasy elements, Wu Qilong's version of "Xiao Shiyi Lang" is a typical love story between a robber and a lady. Its characters and storyline are also quite successful. However, the playwright did not show the meaning of the deer-cutting knife. It can be said that the original theme is abandoned. In ancient China, the deer was a symbol of political power. "Historical Records: Biography of Marquis of Huaiyin" first mentioned: "Qin loses its deer, and the world will chase it." The allusions to the deer-cutting knife in the novel come from this. Those who catch deer and cut them.” The sought-after deer-cutting knife is a symbol of the status of the rivers and lakes and the dominance of the martial arts. Lian Chengbi grabbed the deer knife because he wanted to pursue the supreme status of the rivers and lakes. Xiaoyaohou grabbed the deer knife because he wanted to consolidate the dominance of martial arts.
The final battle of the TV series also falls into a cliché, that is, the simple protagonist subduing the devil. The strength of the protagonist is completely suppressed, and the free and easy image is also weakened. In the novel, Lian Chengbi was not dead, but his spirit was completely shattered by Xiao Shiyilang. Everything Lian Chengbi hoped for in his life—hope, pride, and glory—was shattered by Xiao Shiyilang. Xiao Shiyilang left Lian Chengbi with the deer cutting knife he had obtained several times.