I didn’t know that upcoming jTBC sci-fi action drama Sisyphus: The Myth was to commemorate the network’s 10th anniversary. Clearly it’s a tentpole production with top stars Jo Seung Woo and Park Shin Hye, and from the teasers looks like money was put to use with the action scenes and special effects. With that said the niggling worry with K-dramas going sci-fi is the track record of it all going to pot – Memories of Alhambra was like the spinning top in Inception that kept writing itself tighter and tighter into a hole while Alice had a good start but clearly no clue for how to end it so the second half was just nonsensical filler. Sisyphus has a good network behind it and I don’t see a whiff of shoehorned romance so the teasers give me optimism, but the whole maybe lizard people angle and “I save you, you save the world” is so done before, with that said I’m still excited because goodness 2021 needs to start with whole vats of hopeful energy starting with K-drama positivity!
Second teaser for Sisyphus: The Myth:
So done before indeed. The synopsis of that upcoming drama Times sounds like Signal crossed with Kairos and other time-warping shows. Sometimes, it seems like all the stakeholders in dramaland hold end-of-year meetings and go like, “Ok people, the theme for next year is time travel/parallel world.“ So we get drama-alikes like Train, TKEM, Alice, etc.
“Ok people, the theme for next year is big budget sci-fi.” Say hello to Sisyphus, Luca and so on.
“This time the theme is webtoon adaptations.” Cue Annasumanara, Yumi’s Cells, Falling Co-habitation, et al.
“Sageuk for this year!“ Say hello to RWTMR, SRI, QC, HCG, JE.
“Unholy mashup of past dramas for this year!“
And so on and so forth. It’s like they’re working off the same cheatsheet. Not really complaining, just observing.
To be honest this is not something new on kdramaland, they have being doing this since forever. They set a trend and all the channels start to follow. I was wondering how that happens to, because most of these projects are produced at the same time but it doesn’t feel is just coincidence.
Anyway that being said im pretty interested in Sisyphus because it doesn’t feel they are showing all this drama is about. Specially when CSW character stated “they are hiding between us”, Idk why but I feel this drama will be about Aliens or some creatures but I think they won’t reveal all that beforehand. I listen there are a lot of green screen when they filmed as well so I’m wondering if there will be some fantasy aspect about this one. But maybe im just overthinking and it will be just a normal action drama.
Yeah I know it’s not new. They’ve been ripping off each other (and outside sources) for a long time. About Sisyphus, I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Who knows, maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised.
The problem with unscripted dramas is vast.
It’s like historical dramas, at first I used to love them a lot, but later their history was always based on conspiracies, betrayals of the king, powerful and dominant queens, reincarnated people (although at the time I love Mr Queen), some magical creature…
In romances it is common to find the rich boy, poor girl, conflicts between millionaires…
Action, the same scheme, normally these lose their way halfway.
That is why it is necessary now a solid script and a well developed acting to stand out, I have confidence in this drama, CSW is a genius actor, PSH in my opinion, contrary to what some say, I think she is a very good actress although she has terrible taste for the choice of dramas.
I do not know the work of the writers but I imagine that the actors (CSW in particular usually choose their roles better) were able to read the complete script since the casting of this drama was announced more than a year ago, so I have faith that they know that perhaps there are no such dreaded holes in its plot.
Ok Koala..yeah yeah we get it, everything is practically a reinterpretation of a theme or genre done before. But so what? At the end of the day networks are going to want to compete with eachother;and to do so, they’ll always be an oversaturation of similar themed shows.
I for one, I’m looking forward to this production for the following reasons:
-The combination of CSW & PSH. Love them both
-My curiosity over the project- literally Sisyphus was written by husband & wife couple and was supposed to be broadcasted on SBS back in 2016 with 20 episodes.
But at the time SBS didn’t believe in the project so they shelved the work.
The drama ‘Fate and Furies’ was helmed by a different writer for the first 4 episodes of the series…then something happened and the writer for the original concept quit the show.
SBS decides to save the production by getting the writer couple of Sisyphus to write the script for the remaining production even though it was not theirs to begin with. They do so diligently with the expectation of being paid for their services.
Long story short…production finishes and SBS doesn’t pay them for their work. But since they entered into a contractual agreement with SBS, they stick it out to see if things will change. SBS does nothing.
Couple are upset and decide they want to terminate contractual agreement with SBS. SBS does everything in their power to fight to keep Sisyphus as their project. Because of the legal battles JTBC steps in to get the rights..but SBS is adamant about not losing the production rights.
Casting news for this comes out in beginning 2019, production should have started then but due the ongoing legal issues it is shelved. Until May 2020. It took only October 2020..for good news. The court ruled in favour of the writer duo simply because per contract they had completed and met their obligations of writing a certain number of episodes for SBS; and furthermore they weren’t even paid for their services.
Hence why they can release it to the public now. As you can see PD Jinhyuk is a loyal SBS production member, but he is now attached to this project at JTBC.
Seeing how hard JTBC battled for this production, I can clearly see why they would opt for it to be their 10th anniversary special.
Besides.. the script must be solid enough if the likes of CSW and SDI would pick it. And CSW is particular about his choices. I hope its great and does the cast justice, especially PSH. She deserves better.
Blah blah blah…so what? Whatever.
@*** cry more
I love both actors as well. looks great. dun care about re-cycle plot, a long as it entertaining its ok, superman, spiderman and batman not only have re-cycle plots, they also have multiple versions and people never get tired…. so what if this drama has repetitive theme.
Good for you to write all about this
Although i read this on other fan comment
But yours really help a lot for us to know and understand…
Best wisher to the couple writers hope this drama can help for them to gain more respect, loyalty and love from everyone..
So happy for ShinHye of this role, contrary to her previous ones …..in real life, she’s more active and athletic, she can even shoot a target that well. It’s her dream role! We can’t wait for February to see the finished product. There must be a reason, JTBC designated this drama as anniversary offering.
On another topic, despite all the bad and sad news of 2020, Park Shin Hye had made quite a bit of milestones in her career….getting great international reviews and audience attention for her 2 movies. Congratulations!
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very good drama