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Oct. 16th, 2018 04:57 pmWelp, DramaFever is apparently putting all their dramas on hold thanks to AT&T launching its own steaming service next year. From the sound of it, this includes the currently airing dramas. (Most kdramas will probably still be available through some streaming sites thanks to Viu, but cdramas will be hit harder. I guess it's good that I'm behind on Age of Legends because it might be months before more episodes get subbed.) DramaFever hasn't sent anything out to subscribers as far as I know (I haven't gotten anything, and neither have a couple of others I've spoken with.) so maybe it will be a bit less dire than it currently sounds.
I remember when DF shows suddenly left Hulu with the TimeWarner buyout. I had completely let my DF subscription lapse and it was a few weeks before we knew DF was officially gone from Hulu, making me very behind even by my standards. This is also why I'm only just getting to Six Flying Dragons, which was the first show I noticed not being added to Hulu. (Jumping into a 50 episode sageuk I have no issues with, but weeks behind on all other kdrama premieres and just coming off a 50 episode sageuk made it a slightly different matter...) IIRC, at least Hulu got the remaining episodes of the shows they already had tough. But I could be misremembering.
I remember when DF shows suddenly left Hulu with the TimeWarner buyout. I had completely let my DF subscription lapse and it was a few weeks before we knew DF was officially gone from Hulu, making me very behind even by my standards. This is also why I'm only just getting to Six Flying Dragons, which was the first show I noticed not being added to Hulu. (Jumping into a 50 episode sageuk I have no issues with, but weeks behind on all other kdrama premieres and just coming off a 50 episode sageuk made it a slightly different matter...) IIRC, at least Hulu got the remaining episodes of the shows they already had tough. But I could be misremembering.
post-Inspector Morse mystery series?
Aug. 21st, 2018 07:06 pm I’ve been tearing my way through Inspector Morse the last 2 months and am almost out of episodes. Like Midsomer Murders, I enjoy it but can’t claim a great attachment. The latest was the refreshingly (given the current political climate) anti-Nazi one with a very very young Rachel Weisz (so young that I had no idea who she was despite thinking she looked familiar until her character started ranting about something and the voice clicked) leaving me with I think 5 episodes, which brings me to the question:
Should I follow this up with the sequel, Lewis (despite my irritation that a certain lovable family man has a fridged wife in his own series...), or the prequel, Endeavour? Or should I take a break from the Morse-universe and watch a different (British or otherwise) detective show, preferably on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime?
Off the table for non-Morse canon shows (because I’ve seen them)
Anything Agatha Christie or Lord Peter Wimsey Related
Foyle’s War
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
Midsomer Murders
Doctor Blake
Father Brown
Murdoch Mysteries
Frankie Drake Mysteries
Jonathan Creek
Inspector Alleyn Mysteries
Probably other things I’m forgetting.
What I'm (still)* watching in July
Jul. 21st, 2018 04:10 pm*Because so much has just ended with fewer shows taking their places.)
kdrama:
Are You Human Too?
Life on Mars
Marry Me Now
Mr. Sunshine
Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food
Your House Helper
cdrama:
Legend of Fuyao
anime (haven't had a chance to check out the new season's offerings yet):
Kakuriyo no Yademoshi
US TV:
Colony
Elementary
Killjoys
The Outpost
Tangled the Series
Trial & Error
Wynonna Earp
kdrama:
Are You Human Too?
Life on Mars
Marry Me Now
Mr. Sunshine
Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food
Your House Helper
cdrama:
Legend of Fuyao
anime (haven't had a chance to check out the new season's offerings yet):
Kakuriyo no Yademoshi
US TV:
Colony
Elementary
Killjoys
The Outpost
Tangled the Series
Trial & Error
Wynonna Earp
Life on Mars (Korea)
Jul. 13th, 2018 07:50 pmI made this post for tumblr, but decided to repost it here since I know I used to have some mutuals who liked the original version that aren't on Tumblr as far as I know.
I have never seen the original, seemingly universally loved, UK version of Life on Mars (filed under “thing’s I’ll watch if I get enough free time” for about a decade now) or any of its previous adaptations, so all I have going in for the Korean version is hearsay. My understanding is that it follows the basic setup and character archetypes with the modern cop travelling roughly 30 years into the past and joining the local police department in a place where he lived as a child, though I’m told Dong Chul is a very toned down and more palatable version of Gene (though, from what I know of the character, they’d never get a faithful version of Gene in a kdrama unless he was a villain) and that Na Young gets to do considerably more and be more involved in the action than Annie was. I do know, in general terms, the reality of what the time travel is in the original UK version, but don’t know if the kdrama version will keep that explanation.
That out of the way…
This is some weird surreal stuff and I am all about this. I haven’t cared much about the general cases except for the one the evolved from a small rural murder in a small village into a horror movie serial killer plot. With that one, the friends I was watching with were pretty much going “WTF?” a lot and I was just sitting there going “yes, give me more of this.” And I don’t even like serial killer plots much, I just loved how that one kept building up and getting wilder and wilder. It’s bizarre and completely committed to the surreal aspects, and it’s deeply immersed in the worldbuilding.
While the original has an urban setting, this is set in 1988 rural Korea, fresh out of a dictatorship (with two senior police officers whose methods are most likely partly formed from being in the police force during said dictatorship. It’s so very, specifically, immersively rural 80s Korea (especially when it comes to everyone being in everyone else’s business) that it’s hard to imagine it having started out anything else.
It’s also interesting to compare it to OCN’s Tunnel from last year (or was it late 2016?) which is almost an inverted version of this. Tunnel features a cop from the 80s travelling to the present and having to adjust to the advancements of the world, encountering a case reminiscent to one he was working on in his own timeline, as well as the more versions of his junior and children he knew from his own timeline. Life on Mars features a cop from the present travelling back to the 80s, learning how to investigate and solve crime without the technology and communication systems he’s used to, and encountering a case reminiscent to one he was working on in his own timeline, as well as being faced with the harsher realities of his childhood memories from an adult’s perspective. They also deal with changes in gender roles, class and education from opposing perspectives. The fate of their love interest (wife in Tunnel, ex-girlfriend in Life on Mars) also factors into their need to return to their own timelines. Even though Life on Mars is based on an existing franchise a decade older than Tunnel, it’s easy to see the two shows as companion pieces.
Long story short, unless it drops the ball, Life on Mars will probably end up one of my top kdramas for 2018, despite being more of a sausagefest than I usually go for.
I have never seen the original, seemingly universally loved, UK version of Life on Mars (filed under “thing’s I’ll watch if I get enough free time” for about a decade now) or any of its previous adaptations, so all I have going in for the Korean version is hearsay. My understanding is that it follows the basic setup and character archetypes with the modern cop travelling roughly 30 years into the past and joining the local police department in a place where he lived as a child, though I’m told Dong Chul is a very toned down and more palatable version of Gene (though, from what I know of the character, they’d never get a faithful version of Gene in a kdrama unless he was a villain) and that Na Young gets to do considerably more and be more involved in the action than Annie was. I do know, in general terms, the reality of what the time travel is in the original UK version, but don’t know if the kdrama version will keep that explanation.
That out of the way…
This is some weird surreal stuff and I am all about this. I haven’t cared much about the general cases except for the one the evolved from a small rural murder in a small village into a horror movie serial killer plot. With that one, the friends I was watching with were pretty much going “WTF?” a lot and I was just sitting there going “yes, give me more of this.” And I don’t even like serial killer plots much, I just loved how that one kept building up and getting wilder and wilder. It’s bizarre and completely committed to the surreal aspects, and it’s deeply immersed in the worldbuilding.
While the original has an urban setting, this is set in 1988 rural Korea, fresh out of a dictatorship (with two senior police officers whose methods are most likely partly formed from being in the police force during said dictatorship. It’s so very, specifically, immersively rural 80s Korea (especially when it comes to everyone being in everyone else’s business) that it’s hard to imagine it having started out anything else.
It’s also interesting to compare it to OCN’s Tunnel from last year (or was it late 2016?) which is almost an inverted version of this. Tunnel features a cop from the 80s travelling to the present and having to adjust to the advancements of the world, encountering a case reminiscent to one he was working on in his own timeline, as well as the more versions of his junior and children he knew from his own timeline. Life on Mars features a cop from the present travelling back to the 80s, learning how to investigate and solve crime without the technology and communication systems he’s used to, and encountering a case reminiscent to one he was working on in his own timeline, as well as being faced with the harsher realities of his childhood memories from an adult’s perspective. They also deal with changes in gender roles, class and education from opposing perspectives. The fate of their love interest (wife in Tunnel, ex-girlfriend in Life on Mars) also factors into their need to return to their own timelines. Even though Life on Mars is based on an existing franchise a decade older than Tunnel, it’s easy to see the two shows as companion pieces.
Long story short, unless it drops the ball, Life on Mars will probably end up one of my top kdramas for 2018, despite being more of a sausagefest than I usually go for.
