Captain of Destiny
Captain of Destiny is a 2015 Hong Kong historical fiction sci-fi television drama created and produced by TVB. The drama is a retelling of the story of 19th century Chinese pirate Cheung Po Tsai and his conflict with the Qing imperial army, meanwhile encountering a time-travelling police constable from the 21st century.
Development for Captain of Destiny began in mid-2014. A two-minute trailer was unveiled at the 19th Hong Kong International Film & TV Market in March 2015, and a second trailer was revealed at the 21st Shanghai TV Festival in June 2015. It was the first of four grand productions to celebrate TVB's 48th anniversary. The drama aired on Hong Kong's Jade and HD Jade channels from 21 September till 25 October 2015, every Monday through Sunday during its 9:30–10:30 pm timeslot. It aired for 32 episodes.
Captain of Destiny received mixed reviews during its run, mainly directed at the story's historical inaccuracies and inconsistent characterisation. However, the serial built a popular fanbase, winning My Favourite TVB Drama at the StarHub TVB Awards and the 2015 TVB Star Awards Malaysia. Ruco Chan received acclaim for his lead performance as the Eleventh Prince, winning My Favourite TVB Actor at both award ceremonies. Captain of Destiny received two awards in the TVB Anniversary Awards, including Most Popular Male Character for Ruco Chan and Best Supporting Actress for Elaine Yiu.
Synopsis
During a high-speed motorboat chase with a criminal, Cheung Chau police constable Wong Tai-mui gets herself trapped in a waterspout, accidentally opening a time portal. She travels back 200 years to early 19th century Hong Kong, a time when the island was under Qing rule. She encounters a family of Canton pirates, led by Cheng Yat, his wife Shek Giu, and their adopted son Cheung Po Tsai. Using her knowledge of the future, which she keeps in an E-book, she saves the pirates from a deadly naval battle against the Qing naval fleet led by Prince Man-ho, the eleventh son of the Jiaqing Emperor. Puzzled by her mysterious origins, Cheng Yat and Shek Giu remain wary of Tai-mui and are hesitant in trusting her.At Beijing's Imperial Palace, Imperial Consort Yim and Imperial Consort Shun manipulate Man-ho to get themselves into a position of higher power. Jaded from politics and family feud, Man-ho decides to let go of his ambition for the crown and flees the palace.
On the day the tiangou covers the sun, another waterspout appears over the Canton sea. Cheung Po Tsai helps Tai-mui open the time portal so she can return to 21st century Hong Kong. In the end they both travel back to the future through the portal.
Cast and characters
Main characters
- Grace Chan as Wong Tai-mui, a Cheung Chau police sergeant from the 21st century. While chasing the criminal mastermind Bowie, Tai-mui gets pulled into a time portal and travels back in time to early 19th century Hong Kong, where she encounters Cheung Po Tsai and his crew of pirates. Using her knowledge of the future, she helps Cheung Po Tsai escape from Prince Man-ho's naval forces, but gets herself captured in the process. She is shocked when she sees Man-ho, who strongly resembles Bowie.
- Tony Hung as Cheung Po Tsai, a Red Flag pirate. Cheung Po Tsai is the adopted son of pirate king Cheng Yat, who found him while he and his older brother were attempting to escape from a disaster. A troublemaker, Cheung Po Tsai uses creative ways to take down his enemies. After defeating an enemy ship, he succeeds his father as the lord of the seven seas, earning the name "Bandit King." His character is based on the real-life Chinese pirate, Cheung Po Tsai.
- Ruco Chan as Man-ho, the Eleventh Prince, a Manchu prince of the Aisin Gioro family. He is the eleventh son of the Jiaqing Emperor. Treated coldly by his father and unwelcomed by his older brothers, Man-ho often sneaks away from the palace to mingle with commoners. When the Canton naval fleet fails to take down Cheung Po Tsai and his pirates, Man-ho sees this as an opportunity to impress his father and leads an expedition to the south, promising his father that he will eliminate the pirates from controlling the Canton port.
- *also as Bowie, a wanted criminal mastermind from the 21st century and a descendant of Man-ho. The police and the media dub him as the modern-day "Bandit King."
Supporting characters
Pirates
- Maggie Shiu as Shek Giu, a Red Flag pirate. She is the wife of pirate lord Cheng Yat and a close companion to Cheung Po Tsai. A natural-born leader, she assumes control of her husband's fleet after his death. She is bent on destroying the Qing army, who she believed murdered her husband. Her character is loosely based on the real-life female pirate Ching Shih, who ruled the South China Sea during the early 1800s.
- Ram Chiang as Suen Sau-choi, Cheng Yat's right-hand man. He is educated and acts as Cheng Yat's strategist.
- *also as Ip Hok-ming（葉學明）
- King Kong as Lau Sing, a Red Flag pirate who grew up with English-speaking pirates.
- Tai Yiu-ming as Shum Ho, a Red Flag pirate. He is one of Cheung Po Tsai's loyal followers.
- Law Lok-lam as Cheng Yat, lord of the Red Flag pirates and the husband of Shek Giu. His character is based on the real-life pirate captain, Cheng I.
- Eric Li as Wong Yi, a Black Flag pirate and Cheung Po Tsai's rival.
- *also as Chu Yiu-kai（朱耀楷）
- Oceane Zhu as Wu So-na, a pirate from a different country
- *also as Kam Mei-kei（甘美琪）
Qing Imperial Court
- Kelly Fu as Ha-sim, an imperial maid who serves Man-ho. Touched by her kindness and innocence, Lai Gung-gung arranges Ha-sim to accompany Man-ho in his expedition to the south. Ha-sim is extremely loyal to Man-ho and cares a great deal of his well-being.
- :zh:陳志健|Otto Chan as Siu-fu, Man-ho's assistant: helps Man-ho fight the pirates and assists in overcoming obstacles put up by Fok Yee-tai. Became friends with Man-ho at underground fighting competition for money and the two became sworn brothers.
- Elaine Yiu as Imperial Consort Yim, a Manchu royal from the Plain Yellow Banner. The emperor's favorite concubine, Yim is the most powerful figure among the royal harem. Afraid that Man-ho would eventually gain the emperor's favor and strip her from power, she attempts to dispatch a spy to follow Man-ho in his expedition to the south.
- *also as So Fung-nei（蘇鳳妮）
- Li Shing-cheong as Fok Yee-tai, Consort Yim's uncle. Originally the admiral of Canton naval fleet, he gets demoted from his rank after failing to capture the southern pirates.
- Susan Tse as Imperial Consort Shun, Man-ho's mother who has fallen out of favor with the emperor.
- *also as Ip Wing-shan（葉詠珊）
- Elliot Ngok as Lai Gung-gung, an imperial eunuch who is the emperor's personal attendant. Lai is very loyal to Consort Shun, who he regards as his saviour. Although Man-ho is unliked by the emperor, Lai remains supportive of him.
- *also as Cheung Shing-mui（張勝妹）
- Lau Kong as the Jiaqing Emperor, the seventh emperor of Qing China.
- Katy Kung as Tung-suet, a palace maid who serves Consort Yim.
Wong family
- Joel Chan as Wong Yat-hin, a risk-taking merchant and Tai-mui's ancestor.
- Mandy Wong as Chu Suk-kwan, a prostitute and later Yat-hin's wife.
- Cilla Kung as Wong Wing-yu, Yat-hin's younger sister.
- *also as Cheung Man-fung（張文鳳）
21st century Cheung Chau
- Claire Yiu as Wong Tai-nui, Tai-mui's older sister.
- Joe Tay as Fu Ma, Tai-nui's stingy husband who spends most of his money to flatter the members of the Cheung Chau rural committee.
- :zh:張國強 |KK Cheung as Leung Kim-fung, the senior inspector of Cheung Chau's police division and Tai-mui's direct superior. Carefree and untroubled, Leung is also a sinologist specialising in the Qing dynasty.
- Mat Yeung as "Sam" Ching Sum, a VIPPU police officer and Tai-mui's boyfriend.
Cameo
- Raymond Wong Ho-yin as Un-named Pirate, an un-named pirate that crosses through the portal into the 21st century, bringing with him Cheung Po Tsai's former pirate associates.
- Evergreen Mak as Cheung Po Tsai, a character originally played by Raymond Wong in the television drama Slow Boat Home.
Production
Development and filming
In November 1999, TVB pitched a series called Cheung Po Tsai at its annual sales presentation event. A co-production with Mainland China's CCTV, the project was to star Louis Koo, Jessica Hsuan, and Joe Ma. However, Cheung Po Tsai was later scrapped after a series of cast dropouts and high production costs.In May 2014, TVB announced that it had green-lit a time-traveling series, which would be produced by Leung Choi-yuen. Ruco Chan was the first actor to be cast in the new series. In August, TVB confirmed that the new series would be called Cheung Po Tsai, and had cast Bosco Wong in the titular role, with Aimee Chan to star alongside. Both Wong and Chan later turned down their roles due to schedule conflicts. Raymond Wong Ho-yin was then reported to star.
A costume-fitting press conference was held on 3 September in the common room of TVB Studio 1 at Tseung Kwan O. Principal photography began in Cheung Chau a few days later. A week into filming, Raymond Wong was diagnosed with Behçet's disease and had to withdraw from the series. Tony Hung was cast to replace him. Hung only had one week to prepare for his role. Wong, however, did return to make a brief cameo appearance in the last episode of the drama.
A blessing ceremony was held on 12 September. Filming moved to Hengdian World Studios, Wuxi, and the Lake Tai Region in November, where they shot at Hengdian World Studios and CCTV Wuxi Film & TV Base. The final phase of production officially ended in early January. At least a million HKD per episode was invested on the project, and an addition $3 million HKD in post-production, which took at least six months to complete due to the series' heavy demand for CG effects.
Soundtrack
Hong Kong musician Alan Cheung and lyricist Yeung Hei were hired to compose and write the drama's official soundtrack. The main opening theme, "Sailing", is performed by Fred Cheng. The ending theme "Next Century", is performed by Ruco Chan. Linda Chung performs the drama's episode plug, "Everlasting Heart", which has lyrics written by Sandy Chang.;Track listing
;Music video
| Song Title | Video |
| Sailing | |
| Everlasting Heart |
Release and promotion
In October 2014, TVB released a promotional poster for Captain of Destiny as an image for TVB's 2015 calendar. The image was attached to the month of October 2015.In March 2015, TVB released the first look of Captain of Destiny at the 19th Hong Kong International Film & TV Market, unveiling a two-minute trailer that primarily featured CGI footage. During an episode of the entertainment program Scoop in April, TVB introduced the early post-production stages of Captain of Destiny and interviewed the drama's visual effects team. In June, Ruco Chan, Tony Hung, and Grace Chan went to Shanghai to promote the drama at the 21st Shanghai TV Festival, where they introduced the drama's second trailer.
Captain of Destiny was announced as the first of four grand productions to celebrate TVB's 48th anniversary on 3 September. It is slated to premiere on Hong Kong's TVB Jade and Malaysia's Astro on Demand on 21 September 2015, airing seven days a week from 9:30 to 10:30 pm.
Historical inaccuracies
- In the drama, Wong Tai-mui travels back in time to the fourteenth year of Jiaqing, and encounters a fleet of pirates led by Cheng Yat, a character inspired by the real-life pirate captain Cheng I, who lived during the late 18th century. The real Cheng I died in 1807.
- According to history, the Jiaqing Emperor only had five sons, not fourteen sons like the drama claims.
- The given names of Jiaqing's sons all start with the character 綿, not 旻. The usage of 旻 in the drama may be inspired by Jiaqing's successor the Daoguang Emperor, who changed the first character of his given name from 綿 to 旻 after becoming emperor in 1820.
- Most of the characters in the drama, with the exception of Cheung Po Tsai, Cheng I, Shek Giu, and the Jiaqing Emperor, did not exist in history. Imperial Consort Shun may be inspired by Empress Xiaoshurui.
- The position of admiral for the Canton naval fleet was not established until 1810.
Reception