Runboard.com
Слава Україні!

CJKDramas.com

Discussing CJK 中日韓 Dramas Available in California


CJKDramas.com   |   Runboard       註冊 / 登録 / Register (learn about it) | Sign in (lost password?)

Page:  1  2  3 ... 5  6  7  8  9  10 

 
SuperRookie Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Moderator


Registered: 02-2006
Posts: 5761
Quote
Re: K-Drama: 대왕의 꿈 (大王的夢想) (Dream of the Emperor/King's Dream)


Just finished last week's ep. 16, and last night, Saturday night's Episode 17

The battle scenes were pretty good. This isn't as high budgeted in allocation battle scenes as Gwanggaeto where most of the budget in that one went to a lot of battle scenes, so this wasn't one of those unforgettable battle moments, but this was overall... pretty nice, with the cinematography and visuals better than Gwanggaeto, but Gwanggaeto had the edge for being more epic, large scale and more combatants, and greater spectacle.

This one has been getting slightly better in the last two or three episodes, but it's still just in the okay-only range for me. The production values, cinematography, visuals and location shots continue to be excellent. As good as anything done. Just comparing the indoor shots of this one, Dream of the Emperor looks like a high budget shorter series where they can spare no expense with beautiful lighting, striking costumes - this compared to say Gwanggaeto's cheap set, with ugly lighting looking like the show was done in the 80s says something.

As I said before, Dream of the Emperor is a beautiful veneer... but the story still is too expansive with no clear focus. There's no centralized direction yet and it's still slowly, too slowly developing. There's no central or dominating character that can capture our hearts or minds thus far either. Chunchu is still starting his ascension, and so is Yusin, but so far it's more a series about the era and the collective historical figures. I think this series needs another time jump sooner than later to get closer to Chunchu's rise, we're still some decades off from his King status. Soldier kind of did this expansive, no real central focus too, but that one was masterfully executed.

There's nothing really substantially bad in Dream of the Emperor, it's just a lot of just okay/middling with nothing really standing out (other than the visuals).

Looks like KBS is going to learn a lesson, that breaking the mold is significantly harder to pull off. In Dream of the Emperor, the production and writer are going the route of avoiding the more simplistic cliches of the genre, where there isn't a central main character, nor is Chunchu the usual over-glorified pure, perfect hero fighting against a clear antagonist. Here, they're going for a more complex plot, given all the historic characters of this time frame, it's not like Chunchu can just take the throne right now, there's a pecking order and time needed for history to come to pass, but that is reflected in time needed for the character to develop. As a drama though, viewers don't necessarily have the patience to wait for such progression being this muddled.

This is an ambitious and complex undertaking to pull off, but unlike the masterful production of Soldier (God of War), this isn't able to pull off a kind of expansive multi-focused character/era epic.

The previous KBS Weekend historical, Gwanggaeto was much simpler and followed the usual cliches... you had the usual one dimensional good hero, and the usual one dimensional antagonist/s that follow the usual mold. That is much easier to pull off though, and as a result, it comes out entertaining. A lot of people kept complaining how simplistic or cliche Gwanggaeto was, but it's hard to deny that it was entertaining, as evidenced by the higher than normal buzz, hype and ratings.

It's a difficult production dilemma, aim for the stars and greater chance of failure, or aim lower and have a higher chance at executing better.

Anyway, we will be in uncharted territory after tonight's episode 18, that's when the broadcast was interrupted in South Korea for a month due to the Park Joo Mi situation. It's not known what KBS World, KXLA, KBS America will be airing for us locally, if we're going to get the 4 or 5 DotE specials that were broadcast there or some other programming or how long ... I'll post next week once KBS America releases the schedule for next week.

Tonight's episode should be the last we'll see of Park Joo Mi as Princess Deokman. I'll miss her. emoticon

Onto tonight's episode 18.

Last edited by SuperRookie, 12/2/2012, 7:41 pm


---
Favorite K-Dramas list
New list additions: Soldier (God of War) | SU FB Band | Golden Time | Arang/Magistrate
12/2/2012, 1:42 pm Link to this post Send Email to SuperRookie   Send PM to SuperRookie Blog
 
SuperRookie Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Moderator


Registered: 02-2006
Posts: 5761
Quote
Re: K-Drama: 대왕의 꿈 (大王的夢想) (Dream of the Emperor/King's Dream)


Programming Notice: Dream of the Emperor Preemption on KBS World, KBS America, KXLA

Dream of the Emperor will be preempted on KBS World, KBS America affiliates like KXLA for an undetermined time for the reasons we've been discussing in the last few weeks with the Park Joo Mi accident and the South Korean broadcast stopping for one month due to that situation (Dream of the Emperor will resume in Korea this weekend, and we're one month behind that). My guess we'll be getting anywhere from a two to four week preemption.

KBS America/World does not release their schedules in advance, so we won't know exactly when it will resume, we'll just have to keep checking the schedule weekly. I'll post if I hear any news and weekly updates. The one hint we will have though is we were one week behind the KBS World Asia broadcast, so if that continues to hold, once that resumes there, we'll probably get ours a week later. But we'll see.

This weekend on KXLA, Win Win and Happy Together will take its slot, while on KBS World/America channel, a Hallyu Jang Geunsuk and PSY program will take over.

I haven't had the time to watch last night's episode 18 yet, more later...

Last edited by SuperRookie, 12/3/2012, 4:19 pm


---
Favorite K-Dramas list
New list additions: Soldier (God of War) | SU FB Band | Golden Time | Arang/Magistrate
12/3/2012, 4:09 pm Link to this post Send Email to SuperRookie   Send PM to SuperRookie Blog
 
SuperRookie Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Moderator


Registered: 02-2006
Posts: 5761
Quote
Re: K-Drama: 대왕의 꿈 (大王的夢想) (Dream of the Emperor/King's Dream)


Sunday's Episode 18

The first half of the series was more of the same with this series still having way too many subplots, but no centralized driving force in the storyline, along with the other lacking aspects we've discussed throughout.

The second half of the episode started to get more interesting with the events surrounding the King, Queen Seungman's plot and those people massacred, to get rid of potential opposition forces out of the way. She's able to convince King Jinpyung that Prince Manhwa installation and future will be prohibited by Bihyeong and Gwinum. The scene with Seungman running into her daughter was interesting, with those bell-like tones of her jewelry ringing vaguely in her subconscious.

LOL in every series I've seen King Jinpyung portrayed as (as a historical figure), as in this one, he's either an idiot, completely clueless or useless. With King Jinpyung's actions in this episode though, perhaps it will give rise to that dream Chunchu had some episodes ago of taking matters into his own hands and killing the king?

I thought the performance by Yusin's actor once he learned of the truth of what had happened to those people was one of the stronger performances of the episode.

There's something noble with Choi Su Jong's acting, something as simple as him picking up and handling rice in his hands earlier in the episode had a majestic feel of how he moves and acts.

Looks like we're inching closer to some progress, the sooner we get out of this era of Jinpyung (and I hope Seungman sooner than later), the better.

Now the waiting game for episode 19 and the jolt of having to get acquainted with a new Princess Deokman.

I hope the one month break has given the production crew the time to get things sorted out. This needs to gain some substance and composure in the storyline... not much is sticking so far.

Last edited by SuperRookie, 12/4/2012, 5:33 pm


---
Favorite K-Dramas list
New list additions: Soldier (God of War) | SU FB Band | Golden Time | Arang/Magistrate
12/4/2012, 4:00 pm Link to this post Send Email to SuperRookie   Send PM to SuperRookie Blog
 
Kittypaws Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Member

Registered: 09-2010
Posts: 350
Quote
Re:


Per SuperRookie, I think it's a very good choice of word--"noble" when used to describe Choi Su Jong's acting. It's almost expected of his characters. He was certainly noble in the Patriots and Dae Jo Young. A little more questionable in The President and funny, that drama, as good as it was, doesn't rate as high with me as the other two mentioned. There's just something about him that makes people trust his word. I enjoy seeing that. We see enough of the underside of humanity in both U.S. and Asian films. Nothing wrong with that genre, but it's always nice to see a leader, or a father of a family, with integrity.

I agree there's still too many sub-plots going on, but at least Choi is starting to look more natural playing the adult Chuhchu. What we saw this past weekend must have been filmed after his car accident and fall off a horse, but I couldn't "see" it so he must have great pain killers!

If he becomes King, and the Princess, Queen, does that imply that they get married at some point? Or can those positions be "assigned" on family lines so that he may not have to be married to the Queen? But if married, I would have liked to have seen him and Park Joo Mi as King and Queen. She also projects integrity.
12/4/2012, 5:37 pm Link to this post Send Email to Kittypaws   Send PM to Kittypaws Blog
 
SuperRookie Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Moderator


Registered: 02-2006
Posts: 5761
Quote
Re: K-Drama: 대왕의 꿈 (大王的夢想) (Dream of the Emperor/King's Dream)


Kittypaws, good to see you weigh in - share your views too. Yep, Choi Su Jong is definitely looking more the part lately! I'm on pins and needless waiting for him to rise to King... no one is a better K-Drama historical or period drama leader/king/etc. as Choi Su Jong! The question... will we see the extent of his greatness in this series? I don't know... crossing fingers.

Kittypaws, excellent point about Choi Su Jong's accident. He had a bunch of action scenes in, was it episode 17? I was actually surprised, cause the horse accident (on top of the car accident a month prior) happened before these. It was reported he couldn't even hold a sword at this point. Was very happy to see him able to do the action scenes in our weekend's episodes, I saw nothing to suggest he was really injured, he masked it very well. I hope he was able to spend time resting and healing during the 1 month break.

On your question on King and Queen, I won't answer that specifically as I don't want to spoil you or anyone else. Historically it's an interesting and complex chain of events, I'll put it that way. But then again, they might take a detour from history on how the succession issues of the story may play out. We'll have to stay tuned!

On a more general nature, the position question can be answered without spoiling. Yeah, the position can be assigned, it's not always so cut and dry of course, and there's a number of ways of going about getting that position... sometimes they have to marry into it (which is what your original question questions)... for example, Gukban in this series having to marry Princess Deokman earlier on in the series, to solidify his position vs say Chunchu whose family line lost the seonggol (sacred bone, royal) status. If the power at be though, whether King or court, they can assign the position when the time is necessary. Prior to Queen Sado's passing, she held enough power as the elder of the family (and royals), clan power, etc., to depose King Jinji (line of Chunchu which then weakened his family's status) to then install King Jinpyung. Since her passing, there's been a void of power, struggle between inept Jinpyung vs the court, Prime Minister (Yusin and now Chunchu's grandfather), and (with Seungman hidden in the shadows). All of this of course brings into play all the complexities of politics, as well as the Silla Bone Rank System (class system).


Last edited by SuperRookie, 12/4/2012, 8:42 pm


---
Favorite K-Dramas list
New list additions: Soldier (God of War) | SU FB Band | Golden Time | Arang/Magistrate
12/4/2012, 6:39 pm Link to this post Send Email to SuperRookie   Send PM to SuperRookie Blog
 
SuperRookie Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Moderator


Registered: 02-2006
Posts: 5761
Quote
Re: K-Drama: 대왕의 꿈 (大王的夢想) (Dream of the Emperor/King's Dream)


This week's schedule has just been released, as to be expected per our discussions...

Programming Notice: Dream of the Emperor Preemption on KBS World, KBS America, KXLA

This weekend on KXLA, Win Win and Happy Together variety shows will take its slot, while on KBS World/America channel, TV Movie: Chuno the Slave Hunters. I'm assuming the Slave Hunters movie will be the series edited down to probably 2 hours.

KBS World viewers in Asia who saw the Slave Hunters TV Movie version over the weekend (they're ahead of us by a week) have been complaining that they want Dream of the Emperor back on KBS World ASAP.

I'm assuming we're going to be getting another week or two of preemption, given the 1 month broadcast interruption in Korea. But we'll see... Let's see what next week's schedule will bring.

Dream of the Emperor resumed over the weekend in South Korea. But unfortunately for them, MBC's weekend melodrama/contemporary series, May Queen, has been dominating and it started way earlier so it's already attracted a good set of viewers - and is now on its run towards the finale, so it's attracting even more viewers and has thus been given another 6 episode extension. Argh! May Queen was supposed to end sooner and that might have given Dream of the Emperor a shot in attracting those stray viewers.

Last edited by SuperRookie, 12/10/2012, 4:26 pm


---
Favorite K-Dramas list
New list additions: Soldier (God of War) | SU FB Band | Golden Time | Arang/Magistrate
12/10/2012, 4:23 pm Link to this post Send Email to SuperRookie   Send PM to SuperRookie Blog
 
pali Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Member

Registered: 08-2005
Posts: 1852
Quote
Re:


Evidently, the actresses' physical condition was more serious than most people knew. It is a shame that the accident caused her to leave the show. Let's hope her recovery will be complete soon, and she will be in another show soon. It is difficulut to see another actor take over after the character has been established by another actor.

12/10/2012, 4:31 pm Link to this post Send Email to pali   Send PM to pali
 
SuperRookie Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Moderator


Registered: 02-2006
Posts: 5761
Quote
Re: K-Drama: 대왕의 꿈 (大王的夢想) (Dream of the Emperor/King's Dream)


_____________________________
KBS America Dream of the Emperor Announcement

On the KBS America website:
Schedule Notice

Please be advised that "Dream of the Emperor"
will not be aired from Dec. 8th to 30th.

It will resume its regular schedule in 2013.
_____________________________

Looks like it's about as what we guessed in our discussions, a 1 month break that reflects the SK broadcast preemption.

So it sounds like the first weekend of January will have this series resuming. Good to know at least we have a ballpark figure on when it's resuming.

---
Favorite K-Dramas list
New list additions: Soldier (God of War) | SU FB Band | Golden Time | Arang/Magistrate
12/13/2012, 6:17 pm Link to this post Send Email to SuperRookie   Send PM to SuperRookie Blog
 
SuperRookie Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Moderator


Registered: 02-2006
Posts: 5761
Quote
Re: K-Drama: 대왕의 꿈 (大王的夢想) (Dream of the Emperor/King's Dream)


KBS America Dream of the Emperor Preemption continues per the above.

This week on KXLA is the same with the variety shows, Win Win and Happy Together.

On KBS World/America channel, on Saturday night is the Dream of the Emperor Special - this is either the recap special or the pre-series special that talks about the cast and production. We'll see on Saturday night. On Sunday night is the 2012 KBS Entertainment Awards show.

Last edited by SuperRookie, 12/17/2012, 11:09 am


---
Favorite K-Dramas list
New list additions: Soldier (God of War) | SU FB Band | Golden Time | Arang/Magistrate
12/17/2012, 10:09 am Link to this post Send Email to SuperRookie   Send PM to SuperRookie Blog
 
SuperRookie Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Moderator


Registered: 02-2006
Posts: 5761
Quote
Re: K-Drama: 대왕의 꿈 (大王的夢想) (Dream of the Emperor/King's Dream)


KBS America Dream of the Emperor Preemption continues per the above, it will be resuming this weekend on KBS World Asia region this weekend though, and we were 1 week behind them for this particular series, so that adds another potential hint that we will have it resume potentially next weekend as hinted by KBS America's above announcement a few posts up.

This week on KXLA continues variety shows Win Win and Happy Together. While on KBS World (in America) it will be the continuing Dream of the Emperor Special on both nights.

Dream of the Emperor Special on Saturday night was the first Special, it's basically a recap of the first episodes until Choi Su Jong appears. In the intro portion it mentions the leading female character accident that we have been discussing for weeks. So this weekend on KBSW (in America) should be the continuation of those recap specials.

---
Favorite K-Dramas list
New list additions: Soldier (God of War) | SU FB Band | Golden Time | Arang/Magistrate
12/24/2012, 11:30 am Link to this post Send Email to SuperRookie   Send PM to SuperRookie Blog
 


Reply with smilies

Page:  1  2  3 ... 5  6  7  8  9  10 





You are not logged in (login)