The Legendary Ranger (, Yuan Zhen-xia) is a 1993

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

cross-genre A hybrid genre is a literary genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Works in hybrid genres are often referred to as cross-genre, multi-genre, mixed genre, or fusion genre. Hybrid genres are a longstanding element ...

television

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

produced by

Mui Siu-ching Mui Siu-ching (, born September 27, 1953) is a Hong Kong television producer for a long time associated with television station TVB, beginning her career as a producer with rival broadcaster ATV she moved to TVB in 1987 and has since then been ...

and aired by

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...

. The series starred

Leon Lai Leon Lai Ming SBS BBS MH (born 11 December 1966), is a Hong Kong actor, film director, businessman and Cantopop singer. He is one of the " Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong pop music. He uses his Chinese name "Li Ming" or "Lai Ming", whi ...

Michelle Reis use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , nationality = , citizenship = , alma_mater = Maryknoll Convent School , ...

and Catherine Hung, and featured a supporting cast of veteran actors, stars, and future stars, including

Faye Wong Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; born Xia Lin on 8 August 1969) is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and her debut album '' Shirley Wong'' ( ...

and

Athena Chu Athena Chu (born 25 October 1971) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Zixia Fairy in ''A Chinese Odyssey'' (1995). Early life and education On 25, October 1971, Chu was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Her father wa ...

. It is based on

Ni Kuang Ni Cong (30 May 1935 – 3 July 2022), courtesy name Yiming, better known by his pen name Ni Kuang (also romanised Ngai Hong, I Kuang and Yi Kuang), was a Hong Kong-American novelist and screenwriter. He wrote over 300 Chinese-language ''w ...

's fictional surgeon/adventurer Yuan Zhen-xia and is set in the

Wisely The ''Wisely Series'' is a series of Chinese Adventure fiction, adventure-science fiction novels written by the Hong Kong novelist Ni Kuang. The protagonist of the series is Wisely (sometimes also spelt "Wesley"). In total, there are 161 stories ...

fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...

, a setting in which extraterrestrial aliens,

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

and

wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...

heroes co-exist. At the time Leon Lai was at the beginning of the

Four Heavenly Kings The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods, each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. In Chinese mythology, they are known collectively as the "Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn" () or "Sìdà Tiānwáng" (). In the a ...

period of his career and the series' was filmed and

edited Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

, especially the fight scenes, with a pop video sensibility. The series cross-genre setting and visual aesthetic was at the time groundbreaking in comparison to the historical costume wuxia that Hong Kong audiences were used to.

Plot

Yuan Zhen-xia is a top class surgeon, amateur detective and martial artist with an insatiable curiosity and the moral code of the traditional

youxia ''Youxia'' () was a type of ancient Chinese warrior folk hero celebrated in classical Chinese poetry and fictional literature. It literally means "wandering vigilante", but is commonly translated as "knight-errant" or less commonly as "cavalier", ...

. His curiosity draws him into investigating a slew of seemingly unrelated kidnappings and other bizarre crimes. However, as Yuan investigates deeper he discovers all the crimes are in fact linked and are part of a plot by a

doomsday cult A doomsday cult is a cult, that believes in apocalypticism and millenarianism, including both those that predict disaster and those that attempt to destroy the entire universe. Sociologist John Lofland coined the term ''doomsday cult'' in his ...

. Convinced that mankind is due to be wiped out by an extraterrestrial source, the cult's crimes are carried out to hide and fund the theft of genetic material from the brightest and fittest human specimens in order to create a master race with which to repopulate the earth. Despite becoming an implacable enemy of the cult, as an example of what the cult considers to be a perfect human, Yuan himself becomes a prime candidate for recruitment into the cult. To this end the cult sends its top agent, the beautiful model/actress Huang Juan to recruit Yuan. Despite its illegal activities the cult's crimes are carried out in a perverted desire to protect humanity and to ensure its survival. Yuan discovers his true enemy is someone closer to home. Jin Shí, an adventuring companion of Yuan, a fellow surgeon and martial artist, becomes frustrated at always coming second best to Yuan, especially in the pursuit of the love of the dancer Lan Ling. Twisted by his own inferiority complex, Jin sets out to gain his revenge against Yuan, by destroying all that Yuan loves, starting with Lan Ling.

Cast

References

*Character names and broadcast dates taken from the Chinese article of this subject {{DEFAULTSORT:Legendary Ranger TVB dramas 1990s Hong Kong television series 1993 Hong Kong television series debuts 1993 Hong Kong television series endings Hong Kong science fiction television series Hong Kong wuxia television series Cantonese-language television shows