Musings of the Obsessive Kind

Because I am so obsessed with the possibly uncanonical ship of Tae Sung/Jae In, I decided to bring you MVs from some ships which started out uncanonical (or at least looked this way to me) but ended up being the main OTP.

I very rarely uncanon ship so perhaps that is why most of those uncanon-looking ships I have ended up canon - I don't swap loyalties without a LOT of canon evidence. If even I uncanon ship, these ships really must be something.

( MVs here )

I really really want to watch Kim Nam Gil's Stormy Night (when is it coming out). The trailer makes the movie look intense, poetic, and hella depressing. Yes please. Need more Kim Nam Gil! (Is it a coincidence that Bad Guy comes out on my birthday? I don't think so!)



( This trailer gives us sexing, too )

And speaking of Kim Nam Gil, I found this awesome Bidam/Deokman MV. Ahhh, Queen Seon Deok. And ahhh, Bidam!



( Another one by the same vid maker, super spoilery )

Is there anything as good as a well-made period kdrama? I think not.

In other news, not sure I am interested in Ban Ja Chronicles movie itself, but I love the poster.

I really really want to watch Kim Nam Gil's Stormy Night (when is it coming out). The trailer makes the movie look intense, poetic, and hella depressing. Yes please. Need more Kim Nam Gil! (Is it a coincidence that Bad Guy comes out on my birthday? I don't think so!)



( This trailer gives us sexing, too )

And speaking of Kim Nam Gil, I found this awesome Bidam/Deokman MV. Ahhh, Queen Seon Deok. And ahhh, Bidam!



( Another one by the same vid maker, super spoilery )

Is there anything as good as a well-made period kdrama? I think not.

In other news, not sure I am interested in Ban Ja Chronicles movie itself, but I love the poster.

New Year's presents have come early for yours truly - Daemul is back on! There are actually not enough exclamation marks in the world. For those who haven't been on my flist that long, Daemul was an upcoming drama a couple of years back I was preliminarily obsessed about - based on a popular manhwa, it was about a high-price gigolo hired to seduce and ruin the first female President of Korea. Are you freaking kidding me? I was all over that so fast it was not funny. It was slated to star the awesome Go Hyun Jung (lately seen as the villanous, drama-stealing Mishil in Queen Seon Deok) and the totally sexy Kwon Sang Woo. Then production wackiness happened and the project was scrapped. Only. Now it is back on. And still with Go Hyun Jung in the lead. OMG, my heart cannot take it.

And speaking of QSD, Le Yo Won and Kim Nam Gil (i.e. Seon Deok and Bidam) won best couple award at MBC awards. Yay.

I keep thinking about Queen Seon Deok's glorious glorious ending. It was so awesome that I am actually going to go back and rewatch the whole freaking 62-ep drama. It's going to join such dramas as Damo, IRIS, Capital Scandal and Legend (among others) in my pantheon of PERFECT drama endings.

I also keep thinking about the switcheroo - how Bidam was intended to be the final adversary, with the big epic love of Deokman and Yushin, and then it all ended up with Bidam/Deokman as this doomed OTP and Yushin sort of swept away as barely relevant in the final confrontation.

Most kdramas are filmed as they air (there are some exceptions but they are in the minority) but the game plan rarely changes - A will end up with B at the end as was intended from the start, C will die as was intended from the start etc etc.

That is why I find the rare occasions the drama-makers change their game-plan really exciting. It means there is something unexpected happening - and usually because of fan response. Which is squeeful. I would not want that to be the norm, but occasionally, it's fun.

Let's see, here are all the instances of major plot changes due to fans that I know:

* Queen Seon Deok - do you want to know how freakishly rare it is for a heroine to fall for secondary guy? You are more likely to see pigs fly. Initially any romance was supposed to be between Deokman and Yushin but then Bidam came on the scene and was supposed to be occasional helper but eventually big villain except the audience went insane for him, it sort of turned into a Bidam show, and here we are - awesome doomed OTP, greatly expanded role. Poor dull Yushin never had a chance :)

* How To Meet Your Neighbor - Have not seen that one but according to mishane, everyone loved secondary guy's chemistry so much, he is the one who ended up with the leading girl.

* East of Eden - this one is near and dear to my shipper heart. Initially, the big love story was supposed to be between Dong Chul (played by Song Seung Heon) and Lee Da Hae's characters - it was definitely advertised this way. Then Lee Yeon Hee's Gukja came on the scene. She was supposed to be a brief romantic stop/hindrance on the path to true love of the initial OTP but SSH and LYH had ridiculously sizzling chemistry and the writers gave them a few too many really romantic scenes - the Gukja couple developed a huge amount of rabid and vocal shippers (myself among them - oh, how torn I was, knowing my ship was ultimately uncanon) and the storyline was altered to give us Dong Chul and Gukja as the final (and quite epic by the end) OTP.

* Beautiful Days - I have heard that initially this was going to have a tragic ending, with Choi Ji Woo's character dying of leukemia. But the station got so many letters begging it to let her and Lee Byung Hun live happily ever after, they changed the ending to one where she gets treated and cured. (Early signs certainly point to doom which makes the recovery even more awesome). Also, I have no idea if it changed mid-writing due to chemistry or was always intended to be just a red herring, but early eps certainly presented not Lee Byung Hun but Ryu Shi Won as the destined guy for our heroine. Of course, if it was a writer's change from initial plan, I have to congratulate him for not being insane. LBH >>>> RSW any day.

* Style - this "Devil Wears Prada" kdrama-style was supposed to be all about a plucky assistant (Lee Ji Ah) and her quest for love. Instead, the viewers flocked to the older woman tough-bitch LJA's boss character - and she is the one who the drama slowly became about. Plus, she is the one who ended up with the guy.

* Spring Day - I have no idea whether Go Hyun Joong's character was supposed to end up with Ji Jin Hee or Jo In Sung at the start but there is no escaping the fact that the beginning of the drama set her with Ji Jin Hee as a total OTP (he gets her to escape muteness and talk) but then Jo In Sung sort of took over the drama and instead Go Hyun Joong ended up with her lover's dorky, high-strung, and adorable younger brother. Which - oh baby, can anyone refuse Jo In Sung?

Any others?

I keep thinking about Queen Seon Deok's glorious glorious ending. It was so awesome that I am actually going to go back and rewatch the whole freaking 62-ep drama. It's going to join such dramas as Damo, IRIS, Capital Scandal and Legend (among others) in my pantheon of PERFECT drama endings.

I also keep thinking about the switcheroo - how Bidam was intended to be the final adversary, with the big epic love of Deokman and Yushin, and then it all ended up with Bidam/Deokman as this doomed OTP and Yushin sort of swept away as barely relevant in the final confrontation.

Most kdramas are filmed as they air (there are some exceptions but they are in the minority) but the game plan rarely changes - A will end up with B at the end as was intended from the start, C will die as was intended from the start etc etc.

That is why I find the rare occasions the drama-makers change their game-plan really exciting. It means there is something unexpected happening - and usually because of fan response. Which is squeeful. I would not want that to be the norm, but occasionally, it's fun.

Let's see, here are all the instances of major plot changes due to fans that I know:

* Queen Seon Deok - do you want to know how freakishly rare it is for a heroine to fall for secondary guy? You are more likely to see pigs fly. Initially any romance was supposed to be between Deokman and Yushin but then Bidam came on the scene and was supposed to be occasional helper but eventually big villain except the audience went insane for him, it sort of turned into a Bidam show, and here we are - awesome doomed OTP, greatly expanded role. Poor dull Yushin never had a chance :)

* How To Meet Your Neighbor - Have not seen that one but according to mishane, everyone loved secondary guy's chemistry so much, he is the one who ended up with the leading girl.

* East of Eden - this one is near and dear to my shipper heart. Initially, the big love story was supposed to be between Dong Chul (played by Song Seung Heon) and Lee Da Hae's characters - it was definitely advertised this way. Then Lee Yeon Hee's Gukja came on the scene. She was supposed to be a brief romantic stop/hindrance on the path to true love of the initial OTP but SSH and LYH had ridiculously sizzling chemistry and the writers gave them a few too many really romantic scenes - the Gukja couple developed a huge amount of rabid and vocal shippers (myself among them - oh, how torn I was, knowing my ship was ultimately uncanon) and the storyline was altered to give us Dong Chul and Gukja as the final (and quite epic by the end) OTP.

* Beautiful Days - I have heard that initially this was going to have a tragic ending, with Choi Ji Woo's character dying of leukemia. But the station got so many letters begging it to let her and Lee Byung Hun live happily ever after, they changed the ending to one where she gets treated and cured. (Early signs certainly point to doom which makes the recovery even more awesome). Also, I have no idea if it changed mid-writing due to chemistry or was always intended to be just a red herring, but early eps certainly presented not Lee Byung Hun but Ryu Shi Won as the destined guy for our heroine. Of course, if it was a writer's change from initial plan, I have to congratulate him for not being insane. LBH >>>> RSW any day.

* Style - this "Devil Wears Prada" kdrama-style was supposed to be all about a plucky assistant (Lee Ji Ah) and her quest for love. Instead, the viewers flocked to the older woman tough-bitch LJA's boss character - and she is the one who the drama slowly became about. Plus, she is the one who ended up with the guy.

* Spring Day - I have no idea whether Go Hyun Joong's character was supposed to end up with Ji Jin Hee or Jo In Sung at the start but there is no escaping the fact that the beginning of the drama set her with Ji Jin Hee as a total OTP (he gets her to escape muteness and talk) but then Jo In Sung sort of took over the drama and instead Go Hyun Joong ended up with her lover's dorky, high-strung, and adorable younger brother. Which - oh baby, can anyone refuse Jo In Sung?

Any others?

The Baby is an incipient Beatles fan - she calms down whenever I play some of their music and gets into an excellent mood.

In completely unrelated news, I decided that Queen Seon Deok had basically the perfect tragic end.



In fact, it's so perfect I am tempted to get the DVDs now. I drank it in so very much - it was wuxia levels of epic angst. And since I wasn't too emotionally invested either in Deokman or Bidam, I wasn't sad but just having a delicious meal of angst.



( See the perfect angsty swords-and-doom ending )

Buh-bye, you awesome OTP!

Well, that ended about as well as was expected.

So apparently he was manipulated/deceived into leading a rebellion against her and she had no choice but declare him Enemy of the State. And then he found out the truth but it was too late and basically he was desperately trying to get to her and touch her and getting cut down by the soldiers and she couldn't even make a move towards him because she was Queen and he was Crown Traitor and he died with her name on his lips. And then she died (from her illness which was indicated earlier to be life-threatening and quick).

Good God, is there ANY period Korean drama that is NOT crushingly depressing?

On the plus side, in the middle of rebellion and despair and death we see a bright light - Bidam was clearly too busy angsting to tie his hair up. I much approve of this Asian Legolas look - much better than the recent eps where he had it all tightly tied up into a topknot.



Hmmm, must post my caps from eps 57/58. So shippy. Especially since due to her status he can't even say her name without it being treason but apparently Bidam is all about the hugging and hand-holding and the tucking into bed despite it all - in sageuk terms it's like pr0n. MMMMM.

Well, that ended about as well as was expected.

So apparently he was manipulated/deceived into leading a rebellion against her and she had no choice but declare him Enemy of the State. And then he found out the truth but it was too late and basically he was desperately trying to get to her and touch her and getting cut down by the soldiers and she couldn't even make a move towards him because she was Queen and he was Crown Traitor and he died with her name on his lips. And then she died (from her illness which was indicated earlier to be life-threatening and quick).

Good God, is there ANY period Korean drama that is NOT crushingly depressing?

On the plus side, in the middle of rebellion and despair and death we see a bright light - Bidam was clearly too busy angsting to tie his hair up. I much approve of this Asian Legolas look - much better than the recent eps where he had it all tightly tied up into a topknot.



Hmmm, must post my caps from eps 57/58. So shippy. Especially since due to her status he can't even say her name without it being treason but apparently Bidam is all about the hugging and hand-holding and the tucking into bed despite it all - in sageuk terms it's like pr0n. MMMMM.

So, year 2009 has been very good for me OTP-wise, providing many a drama OTP for me to swoon over.

But let's see how I did in the "happy ending for the OTP" stakes - do I go for the tragic ones that break my heart or fluffiness?

( Here - obviously spoilers for endings of dramas in my tags )


Hmmm. 11/20 happy