[Weekly Update] Let's talk about Shaolin Popey, because I can't make a video about it.

Patreon has updated a few things, allowing the site to work more like a social media, with chats and everything. You can check out the details here.

The most important thing is to check your profile privacy. I believed it is public by default. If you do not wish to be discovered, remember to check your setting page!

CHANNEL UPDATE

Apologies for the late update! I was busy with our upcoming video. It'll go live in two days, and we'll finally caught up with our schedule. That means I can go back into making bigger videos about multiple movies and cultural analysis.

In the meantime, I hope our last video was a fun watch! It was a little bit different from our usual video, and finding footage for it was kinda a pain. But it did give me a reason to talk about some of the old movies that I'll never have the chance to talk about otherwise. These old and decrepit movies, with their film stock lost and DVDs rotted, don't make a very entertaining movie.

Also, reading about everyone's childhood cinema experience was a blast!

I'll be finishing our bonus video in a few days. Since Halloween is next month, I'm thinking of talking about a horror movie. I'm thinking of John Carpenter's The Thing. I guess that means there's a 99% chance of me talking about something else instead.

Once that is done, we'll finally host a poll about terrible kung fu movies. The options are:

• Miami Connection and Home Made Kung Fu movies
• China Salesman and Steven Seagull
• The Tuxedo and the rest of Jackie Chan's Hollywood stinkers
• Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge

Yes, there's a Spider-man Kung Fu Movie. Sort of.

If you have any bad kung fu movie topic suggestions, let me know!

MEDIA TALK

In a previous update, a long time ago, we talked about some of the movies I can't make a video on. Not on YouTube anyway. Since then, there have been more movies and topics added to the shadow realm. Let's talk about one more.

As the main update mentioned, we can't really make a video on the Shaolin Popey series, because of the awful image and sound quality. The series originally began as a Taiwanese production for idol Jimmy Lin. But the two child stars actually stole the entire show. Actor Steven Hao and Ashton Chen became a sensation within the greater East Asian region.

As a result, the second film was distributed by a Hong Kong company, aimed for an international release, while still filmed by the same Taiwanese production team. Actor Ng Man-tat joined the series, and the trio gained even more fame.

I'm not even sure if the third film of the series is actually part of the series, as it bears a different name entirely. Though it was all directed by the same director. Either way, the series, like many Taiwanese movies from the time, are likely lost to time. I'm not sure why the once impressive Taiwanese film industry would lost so many films from the era. Sounds like a good video idea to research on.

That also means I can't really talk about the remake. Well, sort of a remake. It's the "Whisper of the Heart" remake situation. It claims to be a new adaptation of the original comic, while alluding to the classic in every possible way. Interestingly, this remake was also directed by the same director, and stars two of the original three actors. I have not watched the film, as review of it was extremely negative.

Anyway, talking about the remake without talking about the original renders the entire affair rather pointless. Similar to the Mulan video we made, it's important to show how good the original trilogy was, and how influential the actors were. Beyond the Shaolin Popey series, there's an entire franchise spawned from the two child actors. Some of the films included "Ten brothers", "Adventurous Treasure Island", "Trouble Maker", and "China Dragon". Just as the Shaolin Popey series, these films are also in a very rough state, as far as I know anyway.

I remember McDonald's Happy Meal actually had little kung fu monks figures during the height of the film. Little, as in children. I don't know if it has anything to do with the actual films. But to children of the time, they were all Ashton Chen.

If fact, even to this day, Ashton is still a somewhat big name in the world of Chinese TV. He still works as a kung fu star to this day, and has a good amount of fans, many of them wasn't even born back when Shaolin Popey was in theatres.

But that's the story of the Shaolin Popey series. Maybe one day, they'll restore the film using... I don't know, AI or something. And if I'm still doing YouTube, I'll share those memories with you, too!

I'll see you in a few days with a new video!