Introducing TVB Anniversary Drama, “Captain of Destiny”
The 2015 TVB anniversary dramas have been determined. Starting off this year-end drama galore is the time-traveling series Captain of Destiny <張保仔>, the second ever television drama to depict the life of the famous Cantonese pirate Cheung Po Tsai. The first one was in 1988, produced by ATV.
The idea of filming an action-adventure series featuring Cheung Po Tsai has been in the works since the late nineties. In 1999, TVB released a teaser trailer for a drama titled Cheung Po Tsai at the TVB Sales Presentation 2000 event, which starred Louis Koo (古天樂) in the titular role. However, plans fell through when the cast dropped out of the project. The lack of funding and the high demand for computer animation also made the project infeasible during its time.
The upcoming Captain of Destiny, which stars Ruco Chan (陳展鵬), Tony Hung (洪永城), Grace Chan (陳凱琳), and Maggie Shiu (邵美琪), also had some casting issues. The project, which is produced by Leung Choi Yuen (梁材遠), wrote the drama with Bosco Wong (黃宗澤) as Cheung Po Tsai in mind. However, Bosco dropped out of the project due to schedule conflicts, and his role was replaced by Raymond Wong (黃浩然). Though Raymond attended the costume fitting for the drama in September 2014, he had to back down after being diagnosed with Behcet’s disease. Tony Hung was called in to replace his role.
Captain of Destiny, packed with action and CGI effects, took about six months to complete. The time traveling series closely follows Hong Kong police officer Wong Tai Mui (Grace Chan), who gets thrown into a time portal when she comes across a waterspout while on duty. She travels back in time to early 1800’s Hong Kong and comes across Cheung Po Tsai (Tony Hung), a powerful pirate controlling the South China Sea. The two strong personalities clashes, but after experiencing life and death together, Wong Tai Mui and Cheung Po Tsai begin to develop strong feelings for each other.
The proud and arrogant Prince Man Ho (Ruco Chan), the eleventh son of the Jaiqing Emperor, enters a war with the anti-Qing Cheung Po Tsai and his crew. After a bloody naval battle, Man Ho captures Wong Tai Mui as a prisoner. Captivated by Wong Tai Mui’s progressive wisdom, Man Ho slowly falls in love and reconsiders his ambition for the crown.
Wong Tai Mui comes across an opportunity to return to modern-day Hong Kong, but is hesitant, and she is unwilling to leave Man Ho and Cheung Po Tsai. In a bold step, she decides to return to the present, but in doing so, she loses her memory of the past.
Captain of Destiny will be premiering on September 21.
Source: IHKTV
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Kinda too much spoiler isn;t it? And amnesia again??
“Man Ho slowly falls in love and reconsiders his ambition for the crown.”
Sigh. Evil character again? Can’t he be noble?
This is one series I am super excited about and am eager to write for it but been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting that now the costumes feel recycled!
And since ruco is at the front, it will be ruco centric! Yeah! I think.
“Captain of Destiny will be premiering on September 21”
OMGOMGOMGOMG
@funnlim: Yes Funn, please write your reviews for COD. I’ve been waiting for too long for this series to be aired. Can’t wait to watch Ruco again. Haven’t watched any TVB series since Eye in the Sky ended its run. I’m sure Ruco will not disappoint at all…
If it was Bosco or Raymond Wong it would worth watching. Who is Tony Hung? And Ruco. Can’t stand his face. Him and Kevin Cheng these two always try to act like they are so good looking and cool. Somebody probably casted a spell on him when he was born “this kid will never crack a smile hahaha”.
I am skeptical about this series. Going back in time has been done few times already! The classic ones were done very well and sooo memorable!
A Step into the Past 尋秦記 ( Louis Koo, Sonija Kwok) – this was a classic! Had 40 episodes.
Bubu Jingxin/ Startling by Each Step (Nicky Wu, Kevin Cheng, Cecilia Lui) – also fantastic storyline! Had 35 episodes!!
why is ruco in front of the poster? i thought cheung po tsai is the main character? im still not convinced that tony hung is capable for this role,louis koo was the right one to portray it.
@kolo: Ruco is in front because he’s the main lead. No way Tony Hung is leading over Ruco. Many will tune in to watch just for Ruco !!!
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@freedalas aye!
Why is Ruco seems like being shelved this year? I want to see more of him! How bout Ruco and Nancy collaboration??
@dramadrama: Yes, Ruco and Nancy Wu are currently filming a new series together. It’s called 《城寨英雄》. They have a romantic relationship too !!!
@lml1977 Omg!!! I hope tvb won’t shelved this series!!! I wanna watch it ASAP!!!!
TVB must really love and see potential in Grace, she’s been casted in so many ‘big’ production dramas such as this and Blue Veins since she won MHK, I reckon she could actually be one of those MHK who goes onto become big big names in the future and can have a career outside of TVB e.g. Fala Chen, Charmaine Sheh, Myolie Wu, Kate Tsui, etc!
How can Grace Chan’s character Wong Tai Mui be torn between Man Ho (Ruco) and Cheung Po Tsai (Tony)? The choice is so clear. Anyone will take Ruco any day !
Why do they have to add the timetravel piece in there? I see the correlation with Louis Koo since he did star in the classic time traveling series. Now that he’s long gone, they should’ve taken that part out. I don’t see the relevant.
Also, I thought they “banned” time traveling series that uses real history and historical figures after the boom of “A Step Into the Past”?
@jjwong Simple. Because ancient guys likes to fall for different girl; modern, sassy, independent and talks to his face and all. And yet they r the one who sets the rules for their women of their times.
@funnlim Ha, what hypocrite guys. Anyways, they can’t write a non time traveler with sassy, independent and in their face characters? Jessica Hsuan (name ck) played those roles all the time lol.
@jjwong “Also, I thought they “banned” time traveling series that uses real history and historical figures after the boom of “A Step Into the Past”?”
That’s china. This is HK.
@funnlim oh I see. HK still have and run their own governing bodies…interesting.
Trailer:
https://www.facebook.com/2012tvbdrama/videos/1054759191210533/