The imminent arrival of the C-version of Queen In Hyun’s Man brings back all my positive memories of the drama and none of the problems I had with it. It’s gotten the official English title of Love Through a Millennium which is a literal translation of the Chinese title 相爱穿梭千年. The drama premieres this Sunday night and airs two episodes a week on Sunday and Mondays, taking over the time slot for the highly rated Singles Villa with Joe Cheng, Jiro Wang, and Xu Lu. Here’s to hoping this experiment of remaking a K-drama with a Chinese cast and setting but helmed by a Korean production crew ends up working.
What I loved the most about the original QIHM was the character of Kim Boong Do. Sure Ji Hyun Woo was perfect in the role but the role shined more than his acting, so I guess kudos to the screenwriter for writing a male lead who is so nice and upstanding he basically doesn’t exist in our modern world and end up making him interesting to watch. Not sure yet about male lead Jin Bo Ran‘s acting but he definitely has Ji Hyun Woo vibes in that he’s not eye-catching handsome but that actually enhances that makes Boong Do even more attractive which is his perfect personality and strong masculine aura. Check out even more lovely drama stills as well as the first drama preview.
First preview for Love Through a Millennium:
“For one deposed Empress, you and I have become so far apart. Since you refuse to acknowledge the turning tides, then don’t blame the situation for being cruel towards you.”
One thing I hope it explores, even though it will be nearly impossible to convey in subtitles, is the inevitable language barrier. A thousand years is a long time in language, even one as comparatively stable as Mandarin. I imagine there would be A LOT of scope for comedy in them learning to communicate clearly.
Actually, han chinese and earlier chinese dynasties spoke in a language more similar to cantonese, so there would definitely be a language barrier HAHAHA
I’m not sure if they speak a language similar to Cantonese, but I imagine it’ll be a dialect of some sort, which will not be reflected in anyway through the script. The only thing they’ll do is make the grammar a little more ancient. The best comedy you’ll get out of it is a “huh” (like mocking the dude at why he’s speaking so formally in a classical manner) since no matter how they alter the speech it is still completely understandable for the average Chinese.
That was so pretty! And I also had a HUGE crush on KBD to the extent he edges out The Doctor in my list of favourite Time Traveller. I mean look and listen to him! Brilliant, cunning, adaptable, resourceful, loyal and a gentleman.I hope this version will do justice to him (it looks like it’s gonna be ok) Though I need to see the actress crying cus Yoo Ina’s broke my heart </3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7o8XAWuYTc
new long trailer!
jing boran is giving me the kim boongdo feels!
thank you so much for posting it. it’s wonderful, love the directing.
and the song…omg…i haven’t heard such a beautiful song in a long time
here’s the link for those who want to hear the “clean” HQ version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg2TWfP_fhs
Thanks. I really like it! I was worried they will sabotage the story with the standard chinese dramatic touch but am glad to see that (it seems that) they are keeping the original vibe.
And I gotta say I am not surprised at all that Zheng Shuang took Choi Hee Jin’s cuteness and dialed it to the nauseating level (based on the trailer).
Kim Boong Do is one of those rare characters where even though he was nice, he wasn’t boring. One of my favorite nice leads.(Right now, Cha Do Hyun seems similar, but in his character we have Se Gi to balance out his nice-ness)
I think Ji Hyun Woo did a good job with Kim Boong Do’s portrayal. The character had that quiet understated intensity.
Thank you for the preview. I have a couple of questions: 1) Does any one know if this will be subbed and posted anywhere here in the USA?
2) Ms. Koala, may I ask what were the issues you had with the original QIHM? I don’t think I was following your blog when that was showing. Just curious. Thank you.
Oh, I loved the long preview! The show is giving me the same vibes as QIHM. I hope someone subs it into english. Kim Boong-Do is on my list of all-time greatest kdrama male leads so really looking forward to the show.
Can you remind me if this C-drama means Mainland?
How did they get around the time travel rule? Because he goes into the future?
I would pay for subs for this. Subscribe to whatever site wants my money!!
Twice a week format… they’re really going Korean-style with everything about this drama aren’t they?
That said, Ancient/ Modern Day China is a perfect setting to retell the story of Queen iN hyun’s man. I can’t wait!
No offense but I dont know why Ji Hyun Woo always gave me this douchebag vibe and hence I cant ever watch any of his dramas even if I want to. Anyway, I think I might catch up with this since I did not watch Queen In Hyun’s Man.
That’s a perfectly understandable reaction. I feel similarly about Yoon Sang Hyun, and the fact that I really disliked two of his characters ddn’t help. Still, if you can do at least TRY to watch QIHM – you just might surprise yourself 🙂
After A Thousand Kisses I swore I would never watch Ji Hyun Woo again – I hated that drama, hated his character, hated his weak, sad-sack acting. It got so I couldn’t even bear to look at him, his character made me so angry.
But QIHM kept getting rave reviews, so I finally gave it a try – and was I surprised. Something just clicked, and Ji Hyun Woo had a character that he could live up to, and he did a fabulous job. I am especially glad that he did this project before he got his teeth fixed and other work done, becuase he looked so much more real, more believable with his not-perfect features and crooked teeth.