I see Shogun has been ordered by Hulu. I'm a big fan of James Clavell books and the '80s miniseries of Shogun and Noble House were pretty well done, too. I have high hopes that, if this Shogun remake is successful, they'll adapt more Clavell novels. I'd sure like to see Noble House take place in 1963 as in the novel instead of the 1980's, as the miniseries did. Whirlwind might be a difficult adaptation as it concerns the Iranian Revolution and isn't sympathetic at all to the Islamic radical point of view. Clavell often had to retcon in order to tie his historical novels together, as they were written out of chronological order. A series of TV adaptations could fix that and tie them all together more tightly. Any other Clavell fans out there?
I wonder though if there will be a big backlash. Do we REALLY need a ANOTHER Japanese story told through a white point of view‽ The Last Samurai seemed like the last major movie like that, and while it was good for like 90% of it, the ending made a lot of people hate it With rise of K dramas, I think there is a bigger audience for an all Japanese epic
Read the books (except for Whirlwind which I couldn't get into) but never seen any of the tv series or movies.
For one, it's based on a true story. It's not just a fabrication. And if anyone ever tells a white story through a Japanese point of view, I hope they are as fair to the source material as Shogun is.
The mini-series was epic. Nothing was gonna keep me from tuning in, even my a-hole brother and sister. Then I bought the paperback, which was about 3 inches thick, and it collected dust
Great miniseries, great set of books all around. Personally, they should leave Shogun and Noble House alone. Taipan, though, should be redone as a full miniseries, rather than that awful movie attempt. Too complex for just a two hour feature. Gaijin - not sure. I read it once and honestly don’t remember much happening in it overall. It seemed like it was setting the stage more than anything. King Rat — go for it. Whirlwind — Yes, best leave that alone, tbh. Cheers, -CM-
I've watched Shogun both in English and French (the English dialogue isn't too hard to follow in French and since I know maybe half a dozen word of Japanese, the Japanese dialogue doesn't matter either way). I've also read the book (assigned reading in a college history course). My opinion: The miniseries was perfect and doesn't need replacing. Richard Chamberlain was terrific in historical dramas, whether Shogun, Man in the Iron Mask, or any others he did.
It’s been years from I’ve seen it, but if memory serves, the King Rat film with George Segal is very good. Never read the book so I can’t say how it compares. He really was the king of the miniseries, especially in the 1980s, but I always especially liked him in the Alexander Dumas adaptations he appeared in. Guilty admission: I really liked the Allan Quartermain films he did (which were very much in the Indiana Jones vein).
Yep. Swashbuckling at its finest, along with Oliver Reed and Michael York. However, I must admit that I never saw the Allan Quatermain movies. Somehow I missed those... but saw the others. Even the ridiculous Slipper and the Rose, a musical adaptation of Cinderella (of course he played the Prince).
Time probably hasn’t been kind to them, but King Solomon’s Mines is on Amazon Prime, if you’re curious. The sequel is also on, but only to rent or buy (may not be worth it, depends on how much you enjoy the first one).
Two of the leads have been cast https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/shogun-fx-series-hiroyuki-sanada-cosmo-jarvis-1234980183/
Ditto for me on that. So would this be Sanada's biggest role so far? Definitely a worthy actor . Interested to see how this all plays out.
Watched these a few weeks ago. Still bad but Chamberlain was actually pretty good. Goldsmiths score is still great (how many films best parts are Jerry Goldsmith's score?)
The 80s Shogun was an epic miniseries. It was an epic tv event, for that matter, if I remember correctly. And it did live up to its grandeur. I am curious to see how this new Shogun will stack up against the 80s Shogun. Will it go big, or not? The Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune played the character who eventually becomes shogun in the miniseries. It was interesting that he had starred in a spaghetti western Red Sun; which was, in a way, the inverse of Shogun. Instead of a story about a western explorer/trader/imperialist's exploits in feudal Japan, Red Sun was about a samurai, played by Mifune, who found himself in the wild wild west of the United States. There was the inevitable culture clash between the refined honor-bound samurai and the uncouth American miscreants (like the Charles Bronson character) and other outlaws that he had to deal with. The movie was very entertaining.
Today marks the debut of this series: Aside from being on FX and Hulu in the US, it's on Disney+ elsewhere.
It's tempting, but that would mean extra charges for an a la carte channel. I think I'll just keep my memories of the Richard Chamberlain version.
Seen the first 2 episodes and it's amazing so far. It's obviously a high production value show and it shows - the costumes and settings are spot on. The cast is very well chosen and the screenplay is wonderful. The first scene of the Regent's meeting is so tense you could almost feel it physically and it sets up the storyline effortlessly. You have to pay attention though since most of the dialogue is subtitled Japanese, so you will lose much if you start playing on your phone. About the only point of criticism is the use of these new projection screens to simulate the background - you can instantly spot it as it looks fake when compared to reality but it's a minor gripe in an otherwise excellently produced show. Since i am very familiar with the original Mifune/Chamberlain version this is different - the show runs longer so they have some more scenes added and changed some other events without significantly altering the storyline. It just develops the characters better and i adore the scene when Blackthorne meets Toranaga and Mariko for the first time. Really looking forward to watching this every week even though i know the story.
Saw the first two episodes = awesome mini series. Wish I could watch all episodes immediately. intrigues, politics, religion, power and culture battles, action, mystique, impressive and beautiful visuals and costumes. talented acting talent across the board. I'm a bit confused with English being used for not only English, but also Portuguese/Spanish seemingly just with an accent and some words thrown in + what I assume is Japanese with English subs. Maybe it's to make it available to a broader audience aka to keep it simple. FX also has explanation videos, family tree graphics, episode podcast and so much more - SPOILERS obviously.