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Comparison between the theatrical version (represented by Panorama's Hong Kong DVD) and the Taiwanese extended version (represented on King's Video's Taiwanese VHS).
- 12 differing scenes
- Difference: 23.9 sec
A few additional master errors, each under 0.5 sec in duration, were not listed in the report.
A Kid from Tibet was Yuen Biao's only work in the director's chair in 1992. He is joined by some familiar faces of Hong Kong cinema: Michelle Reis, Roy Chiao, Wu Ma, Nina Li Chi and Billy Lau. Jackie Chan also has a mini cameo. The antagonist is Yuen Wah, who Biao has already fought in Eastern Condors, Dragons Forever and The Iceman Cometh. The result is absolutely no masterpiece, but nice fantasy action for the inclined fan.
Unfortunately, this film has hardly been released outside of Asia. In addition, one could discover a slightly longer version on VHS in Taiwan. But in this case it's really not worth mentioning. There are only a handful of additional moments here, all of which are inconsequential. Instead, you're served with a nasty zoomed full frame, after the opening credits were still in widescreen and thus showed more than the Hong Kong DVD, which was already a bit zoomed. Curious is once again that several optical effects differ. The Taiwanese version is less refined, so it must have been an early rough cut, as in so many other cases of Taiwanese extended versions.
Runtime information is arranged according to the scheme
Hong Kong DVD in NTSC / Taiwanese VHS in NTSC
After the introductory mention of Yuen Biao's production company, the Taiwan VHS has one more company reference.
For the following screenshots, the image of the Hong Kong DVD, which is available in 4:3, was cropped to the actual aspect ratio of ~ 1.78:1. The introductory credits differ somewhat. Bad to visualize on screenshots: On the Taiwan VHS they also always come flying into the frame from small to big, while on the HK DVD they appear immediately without this effect.
01:07-01:08 / 01:15 The first shot of the driver starts a bit earlier on the HK DVD. He first looks forward here. The Taiwanese VHS starts when he has turned his head backwards. + 1 sec
As you can already guess from this shot: After the opening credits, the Taiwan DVD is unfortunately immediately brutally zoomed to full screen. Here's a comparison image of the rest of the scene and other moments from later scenes. The HK DVD is also already zoomed in a bit, as you could see from the credits comparison. But at least people or even parts of the subtitles don't constantly disappear outside the picture. The fact that at least some parts are not simply zoomed in (see the penultimate picture with focus on Nina Li on the left) is only a small consolation. It is also interesting to note that some typos on the subtitles are fixed here and there and they sometimes deviate in general.
01:27 / 01:34-01:42 After the mention of Dalai Lama, the dialogue between Robinson (Roy Chiao) and the driver is a bit longer. It's about how rarely you get to see him. Robinson continues to pull on his respirator. 8.3 sec
01:31 / 01:47-01:53 Before the distant shot of the hilly landscape, you can still hear a comment from the driver during an additional, side view. 6.7 sec
Effect shots 10:55 / 11:16 The optical effects differ here. The additional yellow haze is not present in the Hong Kong DVD with the theatrical version.
53:21 / 53:44-53:45 Master error: Wong La (Yuen Biao) prays a little longer. 1 sec
57:33-57:35 / 57:58 The tracking shot around Wong La starts a bit earlier. Probably an unintentional mistake with the VHS, the picture flickers briefly. + 1.8 sec
A more noticeable subtitle deviation: During the attack by the magician's sister (Nina Li) that follows shortly after, a Chinese insert appears only on the Taiwan VHS, without an English translation. According to a comment by a colleague who actually speaks the language: Here a Buddhist mantra is spoken, which is somewhat difficult to translate. That's probably why there were no English subs, especially since the Chinese characters themselves are loanwords of another language. Each character stands for one of six realms of existence of a living being, see also Wikipedia: "Six Paths".
64:12 / 64:35-64:41 After the woman energetically shows Wong La the way, the frightened man comes out again at the end of the shot and whimpers at her a bit. The woman looks a bit bashful. 5.9 sec
69:26 / 69:55-70:00 Chiu (Michelle Reis) is holding her hand over her mouth to cover up her sneeze. She sneaks to the stairs and Wong La still looks confused in her direction. How her feet disappear at the top of the stairs is then included again in the theatrical version. 5 sec
74:30 / 75:04-75:05 You can see the hands of the magician (Yuen Wah) on the table again. In anger, he has now even torn out a piece of wood. 1 sec
Effect shots 85:27-88:02 / 86:02-88:37 In the finale, a lot of visual effects have been reworked, when Wong La and the wizard attack each other.
Effect shots 89:25 / 90:00 After a few moments of "normal" confrontation, there are again different flashes around the wizard.
92:50-92:51 / 93:25 The transition from Wong La to the shots outside is insignificantly longer in the theatrical version. + 1.2 sec
The credits don't start until a bit later on the Taiwan version. Along with that, the very last shots on the HK DVD run without credits.
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