Everything about the Three Kingdoms

[Outofin]

There is no doubt about it, the Three Kingdoms is the most beloved period that people like to watch, to read, to study and discuss. The Japanese's devotion is not any less than the Chinese. The Three Kingdoms is a dominating force in video games. I once read a game review in the US, the author wondered, "Why do they keep telling the same story? Isn't it boring by now?" The answer is, no, never. They draw serious manga books, write countless fantasy stories based on the TK.

CCTV is re-making the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But if you can't wait for the real-person TV series, there's a very decent cartoon series available now. Mind you. Cartoon is not a silly version of film. Sometimes it's a better version.

emule, douban rating

This series is very well done. Sometimes I felt like watching a film instead of TV. Style is under Japanese influence. The story largely followed traditional folklores and the classic novel. The characters are very vivid, maybe a bit stereotyping, but it works well. To beginners, you may feel the pace is too fast and you're overwhelmed by many new faces and names. To fans, you may feel it skips too many stories and is merely a quick playback of many great moments. I guess there has to be some balance. It has 52 episodes. Each is 20 minutes long. If you're full time students, it takes 2 days to learn (or review) the Three Kingdoms. I'll call it a good deal.

[skylee]

Television ... everything ...

I have the DVD set of the last version of CCTV's production. Never managed to finish it, though. I couldn't finish the novel either ... it's to do with personal taste, I think.

The older CCTV series -> http://so.tudou.com/psearch/%E4%B8%89%E5%9B%BD%E6%BC%94%E4%B9%89

[Outofin]

Girls not allowed!

Seriously, I understand that people are different. This question could make the talk off-topic and become a classrom discussion, but, what inspires you the most, skylee? Particularly, what story in history?

[skylee]

If I am not particularly interested in history does it make me look very shallow?

I've managed to finish 中國人史綱 and 中國大歷史, but no futher. I enjoy reading the Twilight series, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton and Henry James, so you can guess my taste, haha.

And some girls do like the Three Kingdoms -> http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=197936#post197936 (see #449)

Yes it's off-topic. Beware.

Edited August 14, 2009 at 03:27 PM by skylee

[Outofin]

No, how can I say you're shallow. You read more than I do.

The TK doesn't feel like history, it looks more like a fiction. It's as good as the most inspiring fictional story, and more than that, it did happen and the people did exist in history!

Most good stories are good because they have a likable leading character whom you care. ROTK has more than 10 characters I like and care, I say it's 10 times better than good stories.

[Ah-Bin]

Not just in Japan

in Vietnamese as Tam Quốc Chí

and in Thai as Samkok it is also very popular. Can't remember the Korean, but they have their own 三國史記 Samguk Sagi which is a completely different book about Korean history.

I have often wondered why the Japanese (and Vietnamese) use the name 三国志 for the book, as Chinese now uses 三國演義. the 三國志 was a different boo, one of the standard histories. I have also seen the title 三國志演義. Perhaps that was the original title of the book and the Chinese and Japanese have just chosen different abbreviations.

[leeyah]

I have also seen the title 三國志演義. Perhaps that was the original title of the book and the Chinese and Japanese have just chosen different abbreviations.

The original name was 《三國志通俗演義》

[tooironic]

Hey, if anyone is interested, wikisource has been working on a translation of the book, and have done a pretty good job so far. The great thing is you can read the Chinese and the English side by side, and click on any word you come across to read a definition cross-referenced with wiktionary (wikipedia's dictionary).

[skylee]

And this version has been on the web for a while -> http://threekingdoms.com//index.aspx

[Outofin]

Quite enjoyed watching it.

In many cases, it strictly followed the classic novel, how the people talk and even every move of them, like following a stage script. In some cases, it slightly deviated from the novel, like the death of 典韦 (not as good as the original.) In some cases, it filled with a lot of imagination, like the story of 貂蝉 (they did a pretty good job on this part).

I just watched the debut of Zhuge. The drawing is soooo beautiful. I guess they doubled their workload for drawing this episode. Beautiful landscapes and snow day. To even more dramatize Zhuge’s debut, a light shined behind him that made him look a Buddha. Can you imagine that?

I think the team put a lot of thoughts on how to build up the characters. Overall it’s done very well. But I’ve mentioned, it’s a bit too stereotyping.

曹操 Cao Cao appeared to be a smart ass from the beginning. He took action swiftly and resolutely. He was shrewd and a frequent liar. He was cruel to some, meanwhile, generous to many. He tried to get talented people at all cost. He’d rather to give up a battle so the talents in the rival army he respected wouldn’t be killed in the fight.

吕布 was obviously a bastard. Worse than that, he was also an almighty warrior who no one could defeat in the battlefield. His last days were sad. But few would show sympathy to him. After all, he chose his own fate.

I didn’t like the music at first. Given the overall style, I expected theme music from some Japanese heavy metal rock band. But the music is like other Chinese TV shows or holiday party shows. After a few episodes, I started to like it. In totally, there’re 5 songs for beginnings and endings. Now I like them. I also heard some familiar music that is often heard in HK kungfu movies. Not sure what it is. It could be some Cantonese traditional music. (Do I often mention music when writing review? I’m very sensitive to music.)

One thing I don’t like it is that it doesn’t give us a good sense of time and location. It doesn’t show a map. How can you tell a military story without a map? And I expect historical series like this should all display year in the caption, such 建安元年. This series doesn’t. Sometimes, things that happened several years apart look like one after another. Most characters don’t seem to age, and always wear the same cloth. You’ll see Liu Bei doing his gardening work in his formal suit, which is ridiculous. The illusion that they don’t get old blurs your sense of time even more.

[Outofin]

Episode 20 to 26 is the battle of Red Cliff, the climax and the ending of the first half of ROTK. The famous battle is also told in John Woo's movie last year.

Zhuge appears to be extraordinarily articulate. Perhaps attractive and hot among schoolgirls, but the young Zhuge is a bit frivolous to me. Episode 27 to 30 is 三气周瑜. I never liked that part. It makes Zhou Yu look stupid and jealous and Zhuge hypocrisy (they were not). Skip the episodes.

In episode 36, Zhuge and Liu Bei suddenly become old men. Other people still look like before. In episode 37, Liu Bei's force reached their highest point, controlling 益州 and 荆州. After that, we'll see its long decline, and the fall of many heroes, one after another. There are still a lot of stories to tell and new heroes to appear, but too often, it feels like a saddening process.

Overall, I have to complain that the series skips too many stories. The battle of He Fei, the most glorious moment of Zhang Liao, is told in one sentence from a messenger, something like 张将军抵挡住了孙权的攻势. Is that it? I mean, is that it?! 太史慈 didn't even appear anywhere. Totally unacceptable.

[fengyixiao]

Are there the online English versions of 《西游记》《水浒传》《封神演义》 as "http://threekingdoms.com//index.aspx" ?