Shogun, Disney

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biggbn

Original Poster:

23,345 posts

220 months

Thursday 29th February
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Getting good reviews, one of my favourite books and even liked the old (80s?) series. Will give this a go I think

Edited by biggbn on Wednesday 10th April 06:48

Corso Marche

1,722 posts

201 months

Thursday 29th February
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Have watched the first 2 episodes - it's very well done so far.
Beautiful cinematography and a nice balance of story telling intermixed with a little action. I'd imagine a lot of action will follow as the series progresses.

Watched the original when it was current, and I can remember imagery, but not the show itself.

C5_Steve

3,067 posts

103 months

Monday 4th March
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Just watched the first ep so far, really enjoying it. It looks beautiful, has some great talent in it. Having recently watched Blue Eye Samurai it's giving me the same feeling with what appears to be a very accurate representation of Japan during that time.

macron

9,876 posts

166 months

Monday 4th March
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99% on rotten tomatoes, wonder if it will sustain that?

biggbn

Original Poster:

23,345 posts

220 months

Tuesday 5th March
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I'm waiting on finishing Slow Horses, then Shogun is next. Hope it is as good as it seemed. The book was a masterpiece.

E63eeeeee...

3,859 posts

49 months

Tuesday 5th March
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Really enjoyed the first episode, but between the subtitles and the sheer number of characters I found you actually have to properly pay attention, so due to only infrequently getting to the TV in that frame of mind I've not managed to get to E2 yet. Definitely looking forward to the rest of it though.

C5_Steve

3,067 posts

103 months

Tuesday 5th March
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E63eeeeee... said:
Really enjoyed the first episode, but between the subtitles and the sheer number of characters I found you actually have to properly pay attention, so due to only infrequently getting to the TV in that frame of mind I've not managed to get to E2 yet. Definitely looking forward to the rest of it though.
Yeah I agree, I watched the second episode last night and a couple of times I looked away and then realised I'd missed quite an important name or part and had to rewind it. I think both times it was where the language was switching between Japanese and English so I was caught off guard. The dialogue moves along at a fair clip as well so you do have to pay attention (no bad thing).

Smollet

10,577 posts

190 months

Tuesday 5th March
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I'm no fan of subtitles but I'll make an exception with this adaption of Clavell's novel. The first 2 episodes have been excellent.

GTO-3R

7,481 posts

213 months

Tuesday 5th March
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First three episodes have been excellent. Definitely one you have to watch properly or something will be missed smile

Smollet

10,577 posts

190 months

Tuesday 5th March
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GTO-3R said:
First three episodes have been excellent. Definitely one you have to watch properly or something will be missed smile
Yup. I had to rewind several times

biggbn

Original Poster:

23,345 posts

220 months

Tuesday 5th March
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E63eeeeee... said:
Really enjoyed the first episode, but between the subtitles and the sheer number of characters I found you actually have to properly pay attention, so due to only infrequently getting to the TV in that frame of mind I've not managed to get to E2 yet. Definitely looking forward to the rest of it though.
Can't wait to see what they do for Lord Buntaro, he was an epic, hard as nails, nasty villain in the book

flatlandsman

764 posts

7 months

Thursday 7th March
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A typical biggish budget tv series, you can see the development and where it is going, you dont have to know the storyline.

Very predictable but enjoyable for the scenery, some of the acting and the insight into this way of life, which as always is fascinating to most Westerners.

Lead is dull as whatever, an awful casting in my eyes, but the lead Japanese characters are superb.

C5_Steve

3,067 posts

103 months

Friday 8th March
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flatlandsman said:
A typical biggish budget tv series, you can see the development and where it is going, you dont have to know the storyline.

Very predictable but enjoyable for the scenery, some of the acting and the insight into this way of life, which as always is fascinating to most Westerners.

Lead is dull as whatever, an awful casting in my eyes, but the lead Japanese characters are superb.
Hmmmm odd you find it "predictable" already so few eps in. Maybe because it's based on (inspired by?) a true story and a lot of the historically accurate aspects have been adapted since the book and included in a lot of other media which might make it feel familiar?

I read an interesting fact about how they wrote the scripts to ensure the subtitles matched what was being spoken and what was being spoken was culturally accurate. It involved basically writing the script in English, sending it to a team in Japan who would translate it. They then went to a Japanese playwright to be fine-tuned, then onto the actors to add their own flair. Once they'd done that they then translated the scripts back into English to add the subtitles to ensure everything matches up.

Siko

1,990 posts

242 months

Friday 8th March
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Watched the first one last night - hugely impressed and cannot wait for the next episodes.

Mars

8,711 posts

214 months

Friday 8th March
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I haven't seen the lead (British) actor before but I quite like him. There was some criticism that the 1980 version focused too much on Richard Chamberlain's character where this version will be more balanced/closer to the book.

So far (2 EPS), it's really excellent.

cuprabob

14,627 posts

214 months

Friday 8th March
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Started watching the first one the other night and ended up watching 3 episodes so I'm hooked.

JoshSm

287 posts

37 months

Friday 8th March
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C5_Steve said:
I read an interesting fact about how they wrote the scripts to ensure the subtitles matched what was being spoken and what was being spoken was culturally accurate. It involved basically writing the script in English, sending it to a team in Japan who would translate it. They then went to a Japanese playwright to be fine-tuned, then onto the actors to add their own flair. Once they'd done that they then translated the scripts back into English to add the subtitles to ensure everything matches up.
Interesting. What you find quite often with these things is that too accurate a translation doesn't work because the cultural context that gives it meaning just won't translate, or there's wordplay or puns or whatever that falls apart during a shift in language.

Some of the best translation work I've seen was the stuff that kept the intended meaning, in context, without concentrating too hard on exactly what was being said; something like a mispronunciation warping a sentence is a *really* tricky thing to shift across unrelated languages.

flatlandsman

764 posts

7 months

Saturday 9th March
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Forgive the reply, i am talking about modern tv filming and the techniques used, so much setup work for future relationships and things are done in tv, it just gets very predictable, little glancing shots, knowing glances etc, that just dont seem to happen as much in film


I was not talking about the story, which is fine.

biggbn

Original Poster:

23,345 posts

220 months

Saturday 9th March
quotequote all
JoshSm said:
C5_Steve said:
I read an interesting fact about how they wrote the scripts to ensure the subtitles matched what was being spoken and what was being spoken was culturally accurate. It involved basically writing the script in English, sending it to a team in Japan who would translate it. They then went to a Japanese playwright to be fine-tuned, then onto the actors to add their own flair. Once they'd done that they then translated the scripts back into English to add the subtitles to ensure everything matches up.
Interesting. What you find quite often with these things is that too accurate a translation doesn't work because the cultural context that gives it meaning just won't translate, or there's wordplay or puns or whatever that falls apart during a shift in language.

Some of the best translation work I've seen was the stuff that kept the intended meaning, in context, without concentrating too hard on exactly what was being said; something like a mispronunciation warping a sentence is a *really* tricky thing to shift across unrelated languages.
I mentioned earler, the novel is one of the best researched, richest novels I've read. It is an immaculate historical epic...I last read it about 35 years ago right enough, but remember loving it

Terzo123

4,312 posts

208 months

Tuesday 12th March
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Episode 4 dropped this morning.

It's the best thing on TV at the moment.