My Date with a Vampire is a 1998 Hong Kong television series produced by Asia Television (ATV). The series is a spiritual successor to Vampire Expert, a similar two-season television series aired on ATV in 1995 and 1996. It blends aspects of the "hopping" corpses of Chinese jiangshi fiction with those of European vampires, along with elements of Chinese mythology and modern horror legends. The series is also a tribute to Lam Ching-ying, the lead actor of Vampire Expert and a prominent cast member of the Mr. Vampire franchise, who died of liver cancer in 1997. It was followed by My Date with a Vampire II (2000) and My Date with a Vampire III (2004).
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Synopsis
Fong Tin-yau was a Chinese guerrilla fighter during the Second Sino–Japanese War. In 1938, he was duelling with Yamamoto Kazuo, an Imperial Japanese Army officer, when they were interrupted by Tseung-san, an ancient vampire. The two men and a boy, Fook Sang, were bitten by Tseung-san and have become vampires.
In the present-day (1998), Fong has found a new life as a policeman in Hong Kong while Fook Sang pretends to be his son. During this time, Fong encounters Ma Siu-ling, the heiress to a sorcerer clan dedicated to ridding the world of evil supernatural beings. He soon gets entangled in a love triangle with Ma and her close friend, Wong Zan Zan.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto has become an influential businessman in Hong Kong. Planning to turn every human into a vampire, Yamamoto sends his vampire followers to attack people and spread the "vampire gene". Chaos break out in Hong Kong as vampires multiply and roam the streets freely. Fong teams up with Ma and their allies to stop Yamamoto and destroy him.
Shortly after, a sorcerer called Rahu resurrects Yamamoto and controls him to do his bidding. Rahu perform a ritual during a blood moon to dominate the world. Once again, Fong, Ma and their allies combine forces to confront Rahu and stop him.
Cast
Eric Wan as Fong Tin-yau
Joey Meng as Ma Siu-ling / Ma Danna
Kristy Yang as Wong Zan Zan / Yamamoto Yuki
Kenneth Chan as Yamamoto Kazuo
Chapman To as Kam Tseng-zung
Pinky Cheung as Yamamoto Mirai
Berg Ng as Ken / Domoto Shingo
Cheung Kwok-kuen as Fuksang
Wong Shee-tong as Ho Yingkiu
Kam San as Tseung-san
Sin Ho-ying as Master Peacock
Ching Tung as Lo Hoiping
Chan Lai-wun as Lo Hoiping's mother
Mak King-ting as Bak Sousou
Wong Mei-fan as Siu-tsing
Philip Keung as Gou Bou
Chung Yeung as Peter
Lisa Lui as Auyong Ga-ga
Lau Kwok-shing as Kam Sau-tsang
Ng Wan-yee as Kam Tseng-zung's mother
Wai Lit as Rahu
Alice Chan as Miusin
Raymond Tsang as Lau Hoi
Yeung Ka-nok as Lam Kok-dong
Production
The script for My Date with a Vampire was written by Leung Lap-yan in 1997. Leung attempted to market the script to Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) but was rejected, so he went to Asia Television (ATV) instead. Chan Sap-sam, who wrote the script for the two sequels, revealed that Lam Ching-ying, a prominent cast member in the Mr. Vampire franchise, was their original choice for the lead actor, and that Joey Meng did not have a place in their initial cast list. However, after they finalised the script, they were unable to contact Lam, who was critically ill. Besides, ATV's top management was not pleased with the script because they felt that it did not fit people's impressions of how vampires should be like. ATV's top management wanted to cancel the project after Lam died of liver cancer in 1997. Faced with these problems, Chan decided to make bold changes to the script and create a new character – Ma Siu-ling, a female ghostbuster wearing high heels and a miniskirt who is greedy for money. Sin Chi-wai, the producer for the series, recommended Joey Meng to play Ma Siu-ling. When Eric Wan was offered to play the male lead character in the series, he wanted to turn down the offer because he felt exhausted, but eventually agreed as he became more interested in the story.
Future development
According to Netease Report, Fox Networks Group will remake the series. Cora Yim, the head of Fox Networks Group Asia, claimed that one-third of ATV's inventory had been acquired by Fox Networks Group, including 28 television series; My Date with a Vampire is one of the 28.
