|
Post by sageuk on Sept 24, 2014 7:47:42 GMT -5
Forgive me for repeating myself but DAMMIT I WANNA SEE IT!
|
|
|
Post by TheBo on Sept 24, 2014 10:15:07 GMT -5
It looks like DF doesn't have this drama, and I (FINALLY) was able to see Shin Don on my Roku again, so I can watch that now and I'm only on Episode 7. But I've had Jeong Dojeon highly recommended to me, so I hope I get to see it some time.
|
|
HungV
Senior Addict
Posts: 258
|
Post by HungV on Sept 24, 2014 19:59:03 GMT -5
i download the torrents and watch it raw, i read ajk's recap before watching each episode and i had to rewind 2 or 3 times an episode to better understand it.
|
|
|
Post by ajk on Oct 20, 2014 23:47:51 GMT -5
Wow, if I knew it was going to be so hard to see a subbed version I'd have put more content into the recaps! Such a shame they're making it so hard to see this thing. I hope you do get to see it sageuk and I'm sure it will show up somewhere eventually. The KBS online store will have a DVD set I'm sure, but they'll probably want $150 or so for it.
Anyway, I finally had time to make it through all of the recaps and get my notes together. Will get back to this thread in another day or two.
|
|
|
Post by ajk on Oct 23, 2014 13:06:27 GMT -5
Please forgive me for taking so long to wrap this up. Doing two series at once here eventually caught up with me and I just ran out of time and lost focus. No excuses.
Anyway, this was a wonderful series and I totally enjoyed it. Absolutely should be ranked up there with the best of them. The writing was thoughtful and sophisticated and the production was first-class. And it stuck to real history about as much as one of these shows can stick to it (at least based on what truth and others have said here and on what I've learned from other sources while watching it). For someone like me who knew little or nothing about this period in history, it was very educational and I learned a lot.
The casting was great, too. Nearly everyone they cast seemed perfect for their roles. Even the lesser characters. Three that I remember specifically are Im Gyeongmi, King Wu, and JD's wife, but just about everybody else too, great choices. The story was better because you never really thought about the actors and actresses, only the characters.
And give the producers and KBS credit for showing guts and not scheming for ratings. The main character wasn't one of the big-name kings who would be an easy headline-grabber to get attention. And while his contributions to the country were amazing, the JD they presented wasn't very likeable sometimes--arrogant, insensitive to the welfare of his own family, and anti-religion enough to potentially irritate a lot of viewers. But they portrayed him honestly. The whole series was like that. Except a little bit of an attempt early on to try to make LSG more warm and fuzzy, the series didn't try to make angels out of anybody. For all of the good that these events in history may have done in the long run, this was an ugly story. The backstabbing and naked ambition and ruthless politics and the casual throwing away of so many people's lives, wow it was not pretty. But that's what really happened and that's the story we got, not some glorified version that viewers might find more palatable. So they definitely did not make this series for the sake of high ratings and you have to them huge credit for it.
Some specific things I especially liked:
--The Sojaedong storyline. The culture-clash thing, with the elite urban scholar having to live in the remote rural village, It could have been very silly and cliché-filled but it was well-written and entertaining and it served a useful purpose in the bigger story.
--The two big battle scenes were both fantastic. The battle against the Japanese pirates was beautifully done; sorry I couldn't do it justice in describing it. And the urban-warfare stuff when LSG's army invaded the capital, I'm still shaking my head over how good it was. It wasn't visually gorgeous and heroic for the sake of TV, not at all. It was horrifying and gruesome and chaotic and exactly what you think street-by-street fighting must be like. They put a huge amount of work into it and it sure paid off.
--There were some genuinely funny moments that made you laugh. Some of these shows will try to force some humor into them with a goofball character or two, but in this show the humor came from the storyline and it totally worked. Clever comments and reactions to what was happening. Subtle stuff that flowed from the story rather than being forced into it.
--Some historicals get too caught up in the scheming for power and forget to show is the bigger picture of what's going on in the country. This series didn't make that mistake. We got a lot of policy stuff and specifics about land allocation and such things. Some of this is just my personal preference, but we do need to know about the bigger picture because that's what the political scheming is all about.
As far as negatives or problems, hard to find any! Few and far between. Personally, the biggest thing I wish the series had done differently is add a little more of the slice-of-life scenes that make the characters more complete and human. When JD sat down next to the homeless family and gave them a meal, maybe some viewers thought it was a little sappy but it gave us a lot of insight into JD and what was motivating him. And it made you care more about the rest of the story. Even random glimpses of things like Choi Yeong chopping his own wood--it was so startling that such a powerful person would be out there doing his own manual labor like that. There were a few other scenes like that, but not enough of them.
Two smaller things bugged me. One was the trash-talking. I know, the writers were trying to rev up the conflict and the tension, but yecch. Big tough warriors trash-talking each other, that can be great fun, but refined elite scholars doing it, I mean, just stop it already, it was silly. I wanted to slap them! The other was King Gongmin. After watching Shin Don, I think this series portrayed Gongmin incorrectly (I talked about it in the early threads). But he died in the second episode so it was no big deal.
And there were a few of the typical historical-drama annoyances. Old generals fighting like young studs, ugh. Too many chance meetings in the middle of nowhere. And occasionally a question left unanswered or something not explained as well as it should be. But you get some of that in any historical.
Those are minor things, though, especially in 50 hours of content. It's such a shame the series wasn't longer! It was announced at 60 hours; not sure why they cut back, but there was much, much more they could have included. Some historicals run too long but this one left you wanting more...which I guess is the sign of a great one. And guess what, it got good ratings! Totally deserved, and thank goodness for it because it will encourage KBS to make more historicals like this one, the right way.
So a huge thank-you to KBS and everybody who made Jeong Dojeon. It was a joy to watch.
|
|
|
Post by ajk on Oct 23, 2014 13:10:27 GMT -5
And just as a P.S.--thanks to truth for contributing lots of good information and for spotting the mistakes in my episode recaps so I could make them better. Much appreciated, truth--very glad you're here and sharing your knowledge with us.
|
|
|
Post by mugwump on Oct 23, 2014 17:24:41 GMT -5
Wow, now I really must watch this, even if I don't understand half of it. No annoying comic relief characters, huh? And no mention of sappy music :-)
|
|
|
Post by sageuk on Oct 24, 2014 7:22:39 GMT -5
ANd from what I can tell, NO BLOATED LOVE POLYGONS! HALLELUJAH!!!
|
|
|
Post by excelsior on Oct 24, 2014 21:52:16 GMT -5
Tis a shame that there is nothing beyond the first episode to watch subbed, anywhere, preventing me from watching this series. Tis mind boggling to me that this aired with english subs, and yet nobody thought to dvr it.
|
|
HungV
Senior Addict
Posts: 258
|
Post by HungV on Oct 24, 2014 23:20:40 GMT -5
I totally agree with you, AJK. The subtitled version is now available in YesAsia for $154. This is the first historical being respectful to the nation's history and the viewers. The conventional sense of history in this drama is quite incomparable. Even though I only understand about 60-percent through AJK's recaps and my Korean knowledge, I still enjoy every minute without getting bored.
|
|
|
Post by truth on Oct 24, 2014 23:44:10 GMT -5
Tis a shame that there is nothing beyond the first episode to watch subbed, anywhere, preventing me from watching this series. Tis mind boggling to me that this aired with english subs, and yet nobody thought to dvr it. Sadly, most K-drama fans aren't interested in dramas without a young Korean superstar as the main actor, thus the reason for no subs.
|
|
|
Post by ajk on Oct 26, 2014 23:55:13 GMT -5
Funny you should mention it, sageuk, lol...but at one point there's a young woman in the village JD is exiled to who develops a crush on him, and it eventually bothers JD's wife to the point where she tells him he can have her as a second wife if he wants. But he's not interested in her and explains to her that she has to think of him as her teacher (he was teaching her how to read). Actually it was very believable; didn't add anything to the historical story but it didn't detract from the series at all.
mugwump yeah I should have mentioned the music, because as you said there wasn't anything sappy or annoying about it. The music was tasteful and very appropriate for the series. No corny ballads or contemporary pop for the sake of selling soundtrack CDs or downloads. So hooray for that. Yes you definitely should watch it if you ever get the chance to...but if you can, watch it when you can understand it all and not just partways. The material can be pretty weighty at times and it's best appreciated fully and not partly, if that makes sense.
HungV I'm glad you enjoyed it so much and glad that I could help. I agree with you, it sure did tell the story respectfully. No distortions and no gimmicks. This was one for the hard-core history lovers and that's why I thanked KBS for making it that way.
And excelsior you are so right, it's amazing that the series isn't available with subs anywhere online. KBS is sitting on so many good series that could air on DramaFever or some other similar website and make them some real good money. I don't understand that at all.
I'm sorry we couldn't all watch this series together and I hope you all get a chance to see it someday.
|
|
HungV
Senior Addict
Posts: 258
|
Post by HungV on Oct 27, 2014 3:51:04 GMT -5
I see. Historicals organize the love affair stuff neatly in subtle and inobtrusive way. At least, it somehow makes sense and it is not irritating. This whole sub-plot in this drama is pretty persuasive, despite several minor flaws.
About the music, a surprsing 50-episode drama without any vocal songs! Obviously, it has convincing reason. Those frustrating or corny tunes are useless; thus, it stains the serious scenes and totally ruins the mood. The trend of melodious pop-ballad is not preferable to traditional historical genre.
You're right, AJK. KBS's policy regarding historicals' subtitles is really bugging me. They should have distributed the good old historicals and got them subbed. Those ones will help stop the flood of contemporary lame sageuks.
I'll be back to this drama another time, until I can afford to get a DVD set or when I fully understand it by studying hard. I hope everyone here will have a chance to watch this well-qualified historical.
|
|
|
Post by ajk on Oct 27, 2014 10:49:00 GMT -5
There have been historicals with silly love affairs in them, but fortunately not this one.
By the way, HungV that's a great avatar! Nice choice.
|
|
|
Post by ajk on Oct 27, 2014 11:08:54 GMT -5
Oh, and one final comment. For three weekends KBS ran two episodes per night rather than one. I don't know why they did it; it may have been to catch up to other regions of the world where they had started the series earlier (whatever the reason would be for their wanting to do so). But please, KBS, don't ever do that again! Even for a great series like Jeong Dojeon, four episodes in two days is just way too much to watch. By the end of that third weekend I was totally worn out. Like I said at the time, yes you can have too much of a good thing.
|
|