A Step Into the Past (2001– ) User Reviews

Great series!

[awdracer · 9/10 · 29 November 2006]

If you want to learn a little bit of history and get laughs at the same time (the series does a good job of trying to make things as accurate as possible), you definitely should take a look at this. The series is offered in both Mandarin and Cantonese languages, with English subtitles.

The main character, Xiang Shao Long (or aka. Hong Siu Long) is offered an opportunity to go back to the past via time machine. This is what the series calls a "step into the past". He lives through some of the historical events, including the coronation of Ying Zheng (or aka. Ying Jing). Since he has background knowledge of history, he is able to "predict" things that are going to happen. In addition to living in the past, he is able to bring back many of the things he has gained from the future, which gives things a certain twist. Xiang Shao Long, the main character is extremely charismatic with his knowledge of a great deal of things. And while he knows a lot about common things (since he came from the future, and he brought back things to the past), the joke is that he cannot read the special characters, which sort of highlights the idea of lost history and language.

Without giving too much information away, this is the series in a nutshell. You can perhaps look at some "preview clips" of this series by looking up "A step into the past" in Youtube before deciding to buy the series, which is, in my opinion, a good way to use money.

Very entertaining

[LadyCadence2319 · 27 January 2007]

This series was very entertaining, mainly due to the fact that the main character was so engaging. He was really funny, smart and not to mention really hot! Since he's from the future, he was able to bring his knowledge of events which haven't happened yet but have been foretold in history. This show is a nice change from other time travel shows in that the protagonist makes a choice to return to the past. It's not something that happened by accident so he doesn't waste time bumbling around refusing to believe he's in the past despite all the evidence that's staring him in the face. Instead, he accepts that he's gone two couple thousand years into the past and sets about finding the best way to get back to his present because the time machine dropped him off in the wrong time and place. He also had great chemistry with both of the leading ladies, played by Jessica Hsuan and Sonija Kwok. I do think that Jessica's character is the better written and more engaging character, her relationship with Louis is more believable also. Although he denies it, I feel as though Louis's character only fell in love with Sonija's character because she looks exactly like his girlfriend in the present (also played by Sonija Kwok.) And one last thing. About a third of the way into the series, it starts becoming excessively political. After Raymond Lam's character is crowned king, the show turns into a political drama with excessive backstabbing and numerous attempts on the king's life. This can get a bit wearying for those viewers who are not interested in history or politics. Despite this, the show is very entertaining. Louis Koo is incredibly funny in some of the earlier scenes. There's a part where he strips off his outer garments to go to sleep. Underneath, he's wearing a logo T-shirt and a pair of drawstring pants. He shakes his head and sighs, "Ancient people wear so many layers and they don't cut their hair." It's much funnier when you watch it in person than I'm making it sound.