First Episode 8: 魔幻手机 Magic Mobile Phone

[rob07]

I'm catching up a bit - finished episode 7. The obligatory large bag of unmarked bills has just turned up - a must for any good trashy TV series. Getting a bit sick of 2006 though and looking forward to some real time travelling action.

[renzhe]

You won't have to wait long

[imron]

Yeah, and 飞人 will be on the scene soon too.... he'll save the day

[renzhe]

It's pretty obvious that it's a show for teenagers, but so far, I've enjoyed these more than the serious ones.

[imron]

I agree. It's definitely more light-hearted and less serious than the other dramas, and that makes it easy to get into.

[Gleaves]

I'm only 4 episodes in, but I'm having a great time with this show. It's goofy enough that I'm compelled, but not so good that I obsess over what I don't understand. My listening skills are pretty basic, but it doesn't feel like too much of the plot is driven by dialogue. If I'm really interested in a particular moment, I take a screenshot and figure it out later.

Great work with setting up this First Episode Project.

[roddy]

Cool, it's really good to see new folk coming on board. If you've got any queries about anything you're not understanding, just post them on here - with several people having seen the episodes and having them on their hard drives to check, you should get some decent answers.

[renzhe]

My question: Is Huang Mei Da Wang (sorry, no Chinese input here) actually a real character from "Journey to the West", or is he made up in this show?

My Chinese friends who've read the thing don't remember him.

P.S. I'm over 20 episodes in, and I'm still enjoying it. The plot keeps moving at a good pace, and it always keeps surprising you, which is great!

[imron]

Dunno. I always assumed that he was, but probably just one of many such demons and monsters that they end up fighting.

[Gleaves]

I wondered the same thing and was disappointed to not find him on the character list Wikipedia has for Xi You Ji. The list is probably not complete, though. Are his powers limited in shows 3 and 4 or is his culture shock just so bad that he is willing to be an errand boy?

What's the deal with where the three thugs live in those early episodes? Is it a roof?

[renzhe]

He is very powerful, as seen in the first episode.

But he discovers that he can be hurt, by guns, tazers, electricity, etc, and that it's no fun. So he's a bit scared because he doesn't cope well in this completely new environment.

Later, he gets the hang of it and things get more fun again.

[rob07]

My question: Is Huang Mei Da Wang (sorry, no Chinese input here) actually a real character from "Journey to the West", or is he made up in this show?

Yes, he is a a real character from Journey to the West. When Bollywood Santa Barbara realises who he is (in Episode 7), he gets out his copy and looks him up - you can see then he is in Chapter 65. I checked an online copy and there he was. His name is 黄眉老佛, but because people don't know he is a 佛, they call him 黄眉大王 or 黄眉爷爷.

[renzhe]

Remember that sentiment when you get to episode 30. It stays strong up until then and then falls apart until the last couple of episodes.

Wow. Right on the money. It's terrible. Community service announcement indeed.

If they had simply ended the show after episode 29, it would have been perfect.

It feels like the entire writing cast was kidnapped by the office for promotion of virtue and suppression of vice and replaced by specially trained educators.

[imron]

Haha, yeah, it recovers a bit towards the end though if you can bear to sit through 8-9 episodes of guff.

[rob07]

Oh dear, that is bad news. I am up to episode 25 now so I don't have long to go before it falls apart. Is skipping ahead a realistic option and if so what episode should I skip to?

I'm pretty keen to see if 黄眉大王 ends up the same way as he does in the book, in which he is seriously powerful.

[renzhe]

It starts with episode 30 exactly, it's quite a shock.

But I've grown attached to the characters, so I'll watch all of it.

After that, it's Kong jingzi and probably 5hao for a while.

[imron]

Is skipping ahead a realistic option

Not really, as you'll miss other plot points that come up. Hang in there and it sorts itself out before the end.

[renzhe]

So I've finally finished watching this. I admit that I was taking my time because watching it is so much fun that I wanted to make it last. This show is fantastic. All the sappiness, all the cheezy effects, all the ridiculous things that happen -- nothing can change the fact that it is simply insanely fun to watch.

Imron is right that it dips around the 30th episode, but I'm glad that it wasn't as bad as I had feared. It looks like they were trying to stretch the story by adding totally pointless stuff about good citizens defeating corruption and similar public announcements, but still the plot kept moving and making some sense, and the show recovers by the 36th episode or so.

I rarely enjoy the plot as much as I did here, it takes all sorts of completely ridiculous and unexpected turns, yet it all somehow fits with each other and takes the numerous characters through all sorts of situations. I was expecting this to be a show about a young guy and his mobile phone, but it turns out that the main character is not really what it's all about. And the mobile phone in question, a really silly adorable little girl with basically boundless power, isn't either. It's an ensemble cast of thieves, detectives, random monsters from "Journey to the West", hackers, students fresh out of college and hot shot company CEOs, and they are all wonderfully quirky and interesting, and given a plot where completely ridiculous things happen.

And as much as I like 孙悟空 and 傻妞 and as funny as 牛魔王 is towards the end of the series (especially when he threatens to eat someone and then does the slurp-slurp thing with his mouth, LOL), it's 黄眉大王 who is the heart of this show. I didn't like him in the beginning, but I loved him towards the end. Part evil, part good, part confused, part cunning, but always funny as hell.

I really recommend this to anyone looking for a show to practice Chinese. Ignore the cheezy effects, watch the first few episodes, and if you enjoy those, you'll love this. There is no more enjoyable way to practice Chinese than this.

Don't be put off by the Journey to the West references either, it's not too bad, and if you're only vaguely familiar with the story, you'll be able to follow most of it. You may miss a small reference (why 猪八戒 follows girls with rabbits or why 孙悟空 keeps wandering off and being totally aloof or why everyone is trying to eat their master), but you can figure most of it out. I only had the vaguest knowledge of the story.

Edited July 14, 2008 at 10:37 PM by renzhe

[imron]

Yep, pretty much agree with everything you've said here.

[renzhe]

I've just read on a different forum that they are currently filming a second part: 魔幻手机2 傻妞归来

I can't wait to get my hands on it