Like Donnie Yens other foray into martial themed television, his re-imagining of Fist of Fury, this series gave him a chance to broaden his lead range and explore a character throughout an arc that would total around fifteen hours (There is some discrepancy here, since on one commentary track Donnie says 15 episodes, but on a seperate track someone says 40 episodes- I'll go with Donnie) . Luckily this presentation covers the first five full episodes instead of being, like the aforementioned Fist of Fury DVD release, a condensed version of Fist of Furys final episodes. Despite being only a third of the series, this does tell a complete story. And it is quite a rich one, filled with Chinese history and folklore (I use the term folklore since so much of the info is suspect and through the years much was fictionalized). So many great classic kung fu elements are there, Wu Tang, the Sun Moon Sect, Shaolin, scruffy foul martial masters, the beginnings of the Ten Tigers from Kwantung, flying guillotines, masked revolutionaries, corrupt officials and evil monarchs. A classic tale of revolution and revenge. Despite being five 50 min episodes, a very epic length, it moves quite well. The rapid pacing never loses sight of the characters or becomes too muddled in the intricacies of the plot.

Now, as far as the action and production values go, like Fist of Fury it is mired by being a television production. HK TV operates on probably a tenth of the budget of its feature films, and its features are nowhere near as expensive as our modest or low budget US films. Most of the action scenes had to be filmed over the course of a days shooting, often improvised, with cheap props, and Donnie was usually working with non-martial artists, so it is no where near the level of his film work. However, among these so-so to mediocre fight scenes, there are a few instances of neat touches and very nice work, like Donnie's first duel with his main enemy, Sek Tot, inside a restaurant, Sek Tot using mantis style to wrap around and hang off a column is very old school Chang Cheh. Unlike Fist of Fury the fights don't suffer from too much speed up and arent as much a blur of fists and feet. The primary director on these episodes was Benny Chan (Gen-X Cops, Who Am I?, Man Wanted, Big Bullet); Chan and Donnie bring a certain level of professionalism and care to the production, accomplishing quite a lot despite the hindrances of little time and little money.

The DVD: Tai Seng. 2 Discs.

Picture: Full-screen, standard. Shot on BETA, the transfer presents the material as good as it can look. The unaware need to bear in mind that HK television is a very low budget affair, well below what we are used to, very soft and, frankly, cheap, comparable to US soap operas from 30 years ago. But, it still manages some nice location and studio shooting with several atmospheric and grand scale scenes.

Sound: Very good tracks, Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS options, plus an English dub, and a Mandarin track, with optional bold English subtitles. Of course, the sound is a little generic, with a forgettable synth score (and even Donnie singing a song), but, once again, considering the material the presentation is perfect.

Extras: Chapter Selections--- Trailers for Kung Fu Master, Fist of Fury, The Assassin, The Duel, Dragon Inn and Deadful Melody--- Making Of Kung Fu Master (11 min) Really nice, clip heavy TVB promo interviews with the principles, and gives a nice glimpse at some moments from the episodes not in this release.--- Audio Commentary 1.) with HK film expert Bey Logan and actor Donnie Yen. As any all region capable HK action fan should know, Logan is undoubtedly the best HK action commentator out there. Not only does he have a good wealth of knowledge, but is also friends with Donnie, visited the sets of Donnie's tv work (and was a punching bag onscreen for Donnie in Fist of Fury), so their track together is rife with constant conversation covering the production, anecdotes about the HK film world, and Chinese history. While their conversation does drag on and become a bit repetitive by the final episodes and Logan becomes more exacerbatingly chatty than Donnie, their lively commentary is case where it is almost a larger selling point that the actual film content. Audio Commentary 2.) with HK columnist and author Ric Meyers, martial artist Bobby Samuels, and Tai Seng bigwig Frank Djeng. Kinky fetishist Ric Meyers has made a career out of his gift for colorful hyperbole, industry connections, and having written a film guide that he took sole credit for by removing his co-authors names (their sections being the best written and accurate portions of the book). Recorded during a marathon of commentary recording, the trio are having their lunch and casually engage in conversation while eating their meal. Donnie's presence is on this track as well in the form of a lengthy unpublished interview that Meyer's reads, but really it is all admittedly half-assed.

Conclusion: Well, Tai Seng offers up a pretty decent look at an interesting HK TV series and adds a nice roundtable of audio options and extras. While I'm not sure exactly how large the audience for this sort of thing is, considering the running time and the commentary, those interested in picking up these discs will get your moneys worth. As a big fan of Donnie Yen, I was thoroughly entertained despite the limitations of the series, and if you are an old school kung fu film nut, the plot is a welcome return to those classic stories the HK film world doesn't produce anymore.