The Myth (神话, Shén Huà) is a 2010 Chinese series starring Hu Ge, Michelle Bai, Chang Shih, Zhang Meng, Ren Quan, Li Yi Xiang, Chen Zi Han, Tan Kai, Jin Sha and Allen Ting. It's a remake of the 2005 film of the same name and is produced by Jackie Chan, who starred in the film.
A mishap with an archaeological artefact leads to Yi Xiao Chuan and Gao Yao being sent back in time to the Qin dynasty. Xiao Chuan becomes sworn brothers with Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, while Gao Yao is forced to become a eunuch and eventually works his way to becoming a high-ranking official.
Contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: A two-hour film is adapted into a fifty-episode series.
- Apologetic Attacker: A soldier tries to kill Xiao Chuan, who throws him against a wall then apologises.
- Blood from the Mouth: Shows up when characters are injured.
- Comically Inept Healing: Xiao Chuan asks for anaesthetic. His rescuers have no idea what he's talking about, and when he explains they decide the best way to prevent him feeling pain is to knock him out.
- Foregone Conclusion: If you know anything about the historical events you know Xiang Yu is defeated, he and his wife commit suicide, and Liu Bang becomes the first emperor of the Han dynasty.
- Historical Domain Character: Many of the characters really existed, including Qin Shi Huangdi, Liu Bang
, and Xiang Yu. Meng Yi and Zhao Gao also existed, though it's safe to say their historical equivalents weren't really time-travellers from the 21st century. - Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Xiao Chuan gets non-fatally impaled by an arrow through the shoulder.
- Imperial China: The Qin dynasty, to be exact.
- Mood Whiplash: Xiao Chuan's arrival in the past is initially comedic, with his inability to understand what's happening and assumption he's stumbled onto a film set. Then he witnesses an execution and realises the seriousness of the situation.
- Off with His Head!: Xiao Chuan time-travels to the scene of an execution, and is just in time to witness a man being beheaded.
- Shout-Out: Xiao Chuan references Red Cliff when he asks what the "actors" are "filming".
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Xiao Chuan and Yu Shu. He's a time-traveller who becomes a general and she's the emperor's favourite concubine.
- You Just Ruined the Shot: Inverted. Xiao Chuan arrives in the past just before an execution. He assumes he's ended up on a film set and thinks the guys being executed are actors. He gets a very rude awakening when the executioner beheads the man beside him.
