Korean TV series

[skylee]

I saw this ad on 華娛衛視 saying that it's going to show 大長今 from 15 August. And it is 內地首播 ... yeah ...

[Ian_Lee]

South Korean TV dramas have made it but South Korean movies are stil far from that goal. So far only a token Korean movies have gained limited release in US and hardly any Korean celebrities are known outside Asia.

[Ian_Lee]

Why are nobody talking about Korean comedy shown on TV?

It seems to me that what is available in Asia (TV and DVDs) are just Korean love dramas which ending is usually tragedy.

But over here it seems there are more varieties. Currently I am watching "I Love Sam Soon" which is hilariously funny.

And last year I watched another comedy drama series which revolves the interesting events on a prosecuting attorney, who under traditional family pressire, is forced to marry with a fresh high school graduate.

[bhchao]

skylee and I talked about Full House in this thread. It's a comedy starring 소혜교. I have not watched it yet, and might rent the DVD one of these days. Based on the reviews I read on a Korean forum, it seems like it's a very entertaining comedy.

[skylee]

The comedy "Miss Kim's Million Dollar Quest" (百萬新娘) was mentioned in post # 56. It is quite interesting.

[Ian_Lee]

"My Lovely Sam Soon" -- the comedy that I mentioned -- is very hot now in Korea as well as overseas (over here the series almost debut at the same time as Korea did). Read:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200507/200507040021.html

[skylee]

I have bought the "Kim Sam Soon" DVD and will watch it during vacation next month.

[Ian_Lee]

"My Lovely Kim Sam Soon" even got a higher bid than "Dae Jang Geum" in the China market:

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/050825/12/1fyhg.html

[Song You Shen]

Anyone watching the "Emperor of Sea"? It talked about Silla mercantile ships anchoring in Yangzhou and the expatriates' community in Tang China.

Yes, I've been watching it. Bought all 3 book-sets of the DVD. It is a pretty high quality series. Even though the madarin spoken is absolutely horrible, the series is pretty good. You have to watch it from beginning to end though, otherwise it won't make much sense and the characters might seem static.

"Emperor of the Sea" has my recommendation.

Youshen

[Song You Shen]

Here is a report on 《海神》（Emperor of the Sea）and 《不滅的李舜臣》（Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin） -> http://www.wenweipo.com/news.phtml?...30002&cat=009OT

Alright... so I been to the end of the internet and back, and I still can't find 《不滅的李舜臣》（Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin）on DVD! I would really be interesting in looking into this series (with English subtites off-course).. but I can't find it. Any help here would be appriciated.

Youshen

[Ian_Lee]

《不滅的李舜臣》（Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin）is still on the air. It is still far from the end (usually Korean historical drama lasts over 200 episodes and takes over a year to broadcast the whole drama). Since you are in California, there should be some cable channels broadcasting the drama with English subtitle.

I guess even in Korea the series has not been broadcasted in full. When anti-Japan demonstration outbursted earlier this year in Seoul, foreign media reported that the TV series which was broadcasted at that time helped stirring up Korean nationalist sentiment.

[bhchao]

I watched a little bit of Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin with my grandmother on the Korean broadcast channel. The last episode I saw was a Japanese attempt on Admiral Yi's life by using sharpshooters perched on cliffs while his flagship was passing by. The admiral was so strategically brilliant against the Japanese navy that the Japanese had no choice but to try to take him out.

Fortunately a group of Korean warriors noticed the Japanese culprits and killed them in a fierce sword battle. One escaped though and managed to fire a single bullet at Yi. But before it hit Yi, a comrade of Yi on the boat noticed the lone sharpshooter and pushed Yi out of the way. The bullet hit Admiral Yi's shoulder instead.

[Song You Shen]

不滅的李舜臣》（Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin）is still on the air. It is still far from the end (usually Korean historical drama lasts over 200 episodes and takes over a year to broadcast the whole drama). Since you are in California, there should be some cable channels broadcasting the drama with English subtitle.

Really? Wow, I though it was completed! That means I'm going to have to wait for a while for it to come out on DVD. I've never heard of a 200+ episode drama (or are those episodes only 30 minutes compared to the normal 1 hour episodes?)... that must be long! haha. Emperor of the Sea is only 51 episodes... 200 is insane!

Although I read on some website that 不滅的李舜臣 only had 100-something episodes. Eitherway, I can't wait for it to come out. It sounds very interesting, thanks for the info.

Youshen

[bhchao]

Many Korean actors, like their Hong Kong counterparts, have dual talent in acting and singing just like Andy Lau.

Some of them sing the title songs of the soundtracks in the television series they star in. Here are a few clips sung by these following actors/singers:

1. 이병헌 (李秉憲) (Lee Byung Hyun)

a. from the series Beautiful Days

2. 송승헌 (宋承憲) (Song Seung Hyun)

a. Song Seung Hyun

3. 김범수 (金範秀) (Kim Bum Soo)

a. from the series Emperor of the Sea

b. also from Emperor of the Sea

Both the Emperor of the Sea television series and soundtrack are high quality material in my opinion.

[Song You Shen]

Thanks for those clips bhchao, I agree with you. The clips from "Emperor of the Sea" are high quality. They definitely helped make he series even greater.

Youshen

[Song You Shen]

Ok, so I just finished the "Emperor of the Sea" series... ugh. I am now emotionally exhausted. The entire series is great.... just don't watch the last episode and everything will be fine.

I fail to understand why asian cultures "enjoy" such utter tragedies. Maybe someone can enlighten me by helping me understand this mindset.

Youshen

[bhchao]

Well it's a true story about Jang Bogo who was assassinated. He was kind of like Zheng Zhilong since both accumulated wealth from the trade in their sea routes, except that Jang was not a pirate.

I like Soo-ae (수애) a lot, the actress who played the lady holding Jang Bogo's baby in the boat (that last scene) while watching Yeom Jang fight off soldiers who were trying to kill her.

For a quality production like this, based on a historical event, I find it hard to imagine this series ending on a happy note.

[Song You Shen]

Yeah, Soo-ae was great. Very young and beautiful. I understand it should have a sad ending... and even though it was sad that Jang Bogo was assassinated, I could have accepted it. But having EVERY main good character slaughtered like that in the final episode was too much. Even if all the main characters were killed, it would have been better for it to happen spiratically throughout the series. It is not uncommon for asian films and tv series' to have a semi-sad endings, but this ending was so sad it made me feel sick.

Youshen

[bhchao]

For future reference, anyone interested in listening to the soundtracks of their favorite Korean TV series can find all of them here: http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2111

They are listed in alphabetical order with the corresponding page numbers next to them. For example, the songs for Dae Jang Geum are on page 2 of the thread, Winter Sonata (page 1), Emperor of the Sea is listed as Hae Shin on page 4, etc.

[ironbadger]

大长今 had its last episode last night - its the first time my chinese has been good enought to follow a soap opera - I really enjoyed it.

I'd be interested to see how people think it compares to the other soaps past and present and what people thought of it in general...

Any recommendations for classic soaps?