At the Threshold of an Era | |
---|---|
創世紀 | |
Genre |
Drama Financial thriller |
Screenplay by | Chow Yuk-ming Leung Man-wah Chin Lo Leung Chi-yin Choi Suk-yin Andrew Fung Fung Ching-man Siu Wai-yee Ku Yee-wai Cheung Siu-fong Cheung Chung-chai Au Kin-yee Ho Kwan-ngo Tang Chi-san Tsang Po-wah |
Story by | Sandy Shaw |
Directed by | Chung Kwok-keung Mak Koon-chi Joe Chan Cheng Kei-sing So Man-chung Jazz Boon Lam Chi-wah Wong Wai-sam Ng Ka-kan |
Starring |
Gallen Lo Roger Kwok Sunny Chan Louis Koo Kenix Kwok Flora Chan Ada Choi Liza Wang Maggie Shiu Nicky Wu Paul Chun Kwok Fung Joe Ma |
Theme music composer | Yukiyo Nakamura (Part I) Andrew Tuason (Part II) |
Opening theme | Creating a Bright Day (創造晴天) by Gallen Lo (Part I) A World with Passion (天地有情) by Gallen Lo (Part II) |
Country of origin | Hong Kong |
Original language | Cantonese |
No. of episodes | 107 |
Production | |
Producer | Jonathan Chik |
Production locations | Hong Kong Taiwan Macau Guangzhou, China Philippines |
Running time | 45 minutes (approx.) |
Production company | TVB |
Budget | HK$100 million |
Original release | |
Network | TVB Jade |
Release | 11 October 1999 26 May 2000 | –
Related | |
Another Era (2018) |
At the Threshold of an Era ( Chinese: 創世紀) was a Hong Kong epic drama series broadcast by TVB Jade Channel from 11 October to 18 December 1999 and 13 March to 26 May 2000 and was extensively promoted by TVB as its cross-millennium, one-hundred-episode-long epic. The series composed of two parts, with a gap in between airing.
The entire series took place in a continuing flashback, with the protagonist, Tim Yip ( Gallen Lo), pondering the trials and tribulations he went through while riding on a train in the " green city" he developed.
In 2022, the drama was selected as one of ten classic TVB dramas being honoured for Youku and TVB's new programme. [1]
The drama documents the rise and fall of three entrepreneurs, who founded Lik Tin Century Corporation (力天世紀) together to achieve the ultimate goal of developing a pollution-free town in Hong Kong. Vendetta and love serves as strong subplots throughout the series, with the vendetta between two families being the most prominent.
The stories covered a span of 20 years, from 1990 to 2010, and featured many technologies that came to age during this time, including the nascent internet, and a bulkier tamagotchi virtual pet device (shown as a device similar to Game Boy in the series), which was developed by one of the entrepreneurs before his entry into construction.
It was speculated that the show was not originally meant to become a cross-millennium event, and was rushed into development and broadcast by TVB because of a slump in ratings.[ citation needed]
In Hong Kong, TVB is the predominant TV station in terms of ratings, often receiving 90% viewing shares. During the summer of 1999, the Mainland-Taiwanese drama My Fair Princess, aired by rival broadcaster ATV, took away a significant portion of TVB's audience, and came out on top in the ratings battle during certain hours.
It is speculated, but never confirmed, that the managements of TVB drafted its top actors and actresses to perform in the series, and rushed the production into broadcast as a weapon against the resurgent ATV. Supporters of this theory point to the splitting of the series into two parts, with a gap in between the broadcast to allow for production time. Opponents of the speculation assert that ATV only had a one-off hit with My Fair Princess, and there were no other series afterward that could have retained the audience that eventually returned to TVB. The opponents also allude to the fact that even during the lowest point of the entire crisis, TVB still retained a competitive edge in ratings, and would have been able to defeat ATV right after My Fair Princess concluded. However, this still does not provide an explanation to the gap between two series.
The series was the costliest ever produced in Hong Kong television history, totaling more than HK$100 million (US$12.8 Million), thus creating a record that no other television series has ever been able to break until The Gem of Life in 2008.[ citation needed]
Yip Hau-kan's branch
Howard Yip's branch
Cameo appearances by Kenneth Ma as Stanley, Lik Tin's stock broker and Raymond Lam as a Taiwanese prison guard.
The series was repeated during late night hours in the summer of 2005, and, to the shock of many analysts, drew impressive ratings. It drew twice the audience comparing to 2004's late night hours rerun. Traditionally, reruns only serve as fillers in the late night hours and were never expected to draw impressive ratings. TVB has since undergone a rethink into the philosophy of reruns and is currently broadcasting more high-quality shows during rerun hours.
Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | TVB Anniversary Awards | My Favourite Actor in a Leading Role | Gallen Lo | Top 5 | |
Roger Kwok | Nominated | ||||
Louis Koo | Nominated | ||||
Paul Chun | Nominated | ||||
My Favourite Actress in a Leading Role | Liza Wang | Nominated | |||
Ada Choi | Nominated | ||||
Kenix Kwok | Nominated | ||||
Flora Chan | Nominated | ||||
My Favourite On-Screen Partners (Dramas) | Gallen Lo, Kenix Kwok | Nominated | |||
Louis Koo, Ada Choi | Nominated | ||||
Liza Wang, Paul Chun | Nominated | ||||
My Top Favourite Television Characters | Louis Koo | Won | |||
Gallen Lo | Won |
At the Threshold of an Era | |
---|---|
創世紀 | |
Genre |
Drama Financial thriller |
Screenplay by | Chow Yuk-ming Leung Man-wah Chin Lo Leung Chi-yin Choi Suk-yin Andrew Fung Fung Ching-man Siu Wai-yee Ku Yee-wai Cheung Siu-fong Cheung Chung-chai Au Kin-yee Ho Kwan-ngo Tang Chi-san Tsang Po-wah |
Story by | Sandy Shaw |
Directed by | Chung Kwok-keung Mak Koon-chi Joe Chan Cheng Kei-sing So Man-chung Jazz Boon Lam Chi-wah Wong Wai-sam Ng Ka-kan |
Starring |
Gallen Lo Roger Kwok Sunny Chan Louis Koo Kenix Kwok Flora Chan Ada Choi Liza Wang Maggie Shiu Nicky Wu Paul Chun Kwok Fung Joe Ma |
Theme music composer | Yukiyo Nakamura (Part I) Andrew Tuason (Part II) |
Opening theme | Creating a Bright Day (創造晴天) by Gallen Lo (Part I) A World with Passion (天地有情) by Gallen Lo (Part II) |
Country of origin | Hong Kong |
Original language | Cantonese |
No. of episodes | 107 |
Production | |
Producer | Jonathan Chik |
Production locations | Hong Kong Taiwan Macau Guangzhou, China Philippines |
Running time | 45 minutes (approx.) |
Production company | TVB |
Budget | HK$100 million |
Original release | |
Network | TVB Jade |
Release | 11 October 1999 26 May 2000 | –
Related | |
Another Era (2018) |
At the Threshold of an Era ( Chinese: 創世紀) was a Hong Kong epic drama series broadcast by TVB Jade Channel from 11 October to 18 December 1999 and 13 March to 26 May 2000 and was extensively promoted by TVB as its cross-millennium, one-hundred-episode-long epic. The series composed of two parts, with a gap in between airing.
The entire series took place in a continuing flashback, with the protagonist, Tim Yip ( Gallen Lo), pondering the trials and tribulations he went through while riding on a train in the " green city" he developed.
In 2022, the drama was selected as one of ten classic TVB dramas being honoured for Youku and TVB's new programme. [1]
The drama documents the rise and fall of three entrepreneurs, who founded Lik Tin Century Corporation (力天世紀) together to achieve the ultimate goal of developing a pollution-free town in Hong Kong. Vendetta and love serves as strong subplots throughout the series, with the vendetta between two families being the most prominent.
The stories covered a span of 20 years, from 1990 to 2010, and featured many technologies that came to age during this time, including the nascent internet, and a bulkier tamagotchi virtual pet device (shown as a device similar to Game Boy in the series), which was developed by one of the entrepreneurs before his entry into construction.
It was speculated that the show was not originally meant to become a cross-millennium event, and was rushed into development and broadcast by TVB because of a slump in ratings.[ citation needed]
In Hong Kong, TVB is the predominant TV station in terms of ratings, often receiving 90% viewing shares. During the summer of 1999, the Mainland-Taiwanese drama My Fair Princess, aired by rival broadcaster ATV, took away a significant portion of TVB's audience, and came out on top in the ratings battle during certain hours.
It is speculated, but never confirmed, that the managements of TVB drafted its top actors and actresses to perform in the series, and rushed the production into broadcast as a weapon against the resurgent ATV. Supporters of this theory point to the splitting of the series into two parts, with a gap in between the broadcast to allow for production time. Opponents of the speculation assert that ATV only had a one-off hit with My Fair Princess, and there were no other series afterward that could have retained the audience that eventually returned to TVB. The opponents also allude to the fact that even during the lowest point of the entire crisis, TVB still retained a competitive edge in ratings, and would have been able to defeat ATV right after My Fair Princess concluded. However, this still does not provide an explanation to the gap between two series.
The series was the costliest ever produced in Hong Kong television history, totaling more than HK$100 million (US$12.8 Million), thus creating a record that no other television series has ever been able to break until The Gem of Life in 2008.[ citation needed]
Yip Hau-kan's branch
Howard Yip's branch
Cameo appearances by Kenneth Ma as Stanley, Lik Tin's stock broker and Raymond Lam as a Taiwanese prison guard.
The series was repeated during late night hours in the summer of 2005, and, to the shock of many analysts, drew impressive ratings. It drew twice the audience comparing to 2004's late night hours rerun. Traditionally, reruns only serve as fillers in the late night hours and were never expected to draw impressive ratings. TVB has since undergone a rethink into the philosophy of reruns and is currently broadcasting more high-quality shows during rerun hours.
Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | TVB Anniversary Awards | My Favourite Actor in a Leading Role | Gallen Lo | Top 5 | |
Roger Kwok | Nominated | ||||
Louis Koo | Nominated | ||||
Paul Chun | Nominated | ||||
My Favourite Actress in a Leading Role | Liza Wang | Nominated | |||
Ada Choi | Nominated | ||||
Kenix Kwok | Nominated | ||||
Flora Chan | Nominated | ||||
My Favourite On-Screen Partners (Dramas) | Gallen Lo, Kenix Kwok | Nominated | |||
Louis Koo, Ada Choi | Nominated | ||||
Liza Wang, Paul Chun | Nominated | ||||
My Top Favourite Television Characters | Louis Koo | Won | |||
Gallen Lo | Won |