taehyungsfatnose
The new miniseries about war and samurai is a future classic.
Shôgun is the proof that it can actually be okay to make a remake of something that has already been praised and won great prizes, but then it always has to be done this amazingly well.
Shôgun s a mini-series set in 17th-century feudal Japan - And begins with the English pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) suddenly running aground with his ship on the Japanese coast. There he quickly becomes a pawn in a power game between above all 2 feudal lords. Both with the ambition to lead the entire country until the young emperor comes of age and can take over.
Civil war, honor, power play and multitudes of samurai account for most of the action. But the cultural clashes for Blackthorne, who quickly tries to learn Japanese through the interpreter Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai), also take up a lot of space. During this time, Portugal had already found Japan and sent Catholic priests there who began to convert parts of the Japanese elite to Catholic Christianity, while Blackthrone now comes from a country at war with Portugal and claims to have lied about everything. It simply stirs the already infected pot.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of James Clavell's book Shôgun, which is partly inspired by real events. Already 5 years later, we got one of the best and most ambitious mini-series ever in television history, when Richard Chamberlain took on the lead role of Blackthorne and Orson Welles acted as narrator for the English-speaking viewers who did not understand Japanese. This time too, most of the dialogue takes place in Japanese, but now without an explanatory voice of course.
The old miniseries was then one of the first series of its kind to show both a naked woman and beheadings (not at the same time, fortunately) on television, which then shocked many viewers in 1980. More than 30 years before Game of Thrones turned that kind of of scenes to an almost absurd level (which gave that series the nickname Tits and Dragons). But it was, of course, the exciting and very complicated story itself, which made Shôgun win the finest television award at the Emmys, for the year's best miniseries.
So, why on earth should we go in and tinker with already acclaimed TV classics? Why not adapt something completely new or come up with a really awesome original story instead? These are questions that are most often muttered when different film studios seem to be trying to grab as much money as possible, by betting on already "given" successes. Sometimes, for example, when we get a really bad film adaptation, like The Last Airbender (2010), fans can still buy that a new and more ambitious attempt is made, like the live action series Avatar: The Last Airbender (which we can now watch on Netflix).
But this thing about remaking something that was already considered near perfect to the same format again... Why? The answer to that question will from now on always be: Shôgun. This is a miniseries that proves both why and how to update something already celebrated and let a new generation share the same story, while giving those of us who have seen the original an adaptation that can realize the story in an even more impressive way.
I read the book myself, which is really the only reason why I gave the already old mini-series a chance. When it comes to movie classics from the 70s or 80s, few frown when titles like Star Wars (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979) or The Godfather (1972) come up. Catching up on the old film classics is part of it. Considerably fewer spend 10 hours on a miniseries from 1980, however, no matter how acclaimed it happened to be at the time.
The fact that filmmaking has developed somewhat enormously in the last 40 years also means that the new adaptation of Shôgun has been able to learn from other war series and films. Just like Game of Thrones could do. And this new adaptation of Shôgun looks absolutely stunning. The photography is magical and so are the actors Hiroyuko Sanada (in the role of the feudal lord Toranaga), Anna Sawai and Cosmo Jarvis.
The book and the old miniseries have long since proven that the story itself is really exciting - And luckily the adaptation of the screenplay has stayed true to its source where needed, but also made minor updates to improve it elsewhere.
I had really high hopes, but was pleasantly surprised that they even managed to exceed them. The new Shôgun miniseries is a future classic, hopefully one of those few (like Band of Brothers) that everyone from now on will look to give a chance - No matter how many years have passed the premiere.
Shôgun s a mini-series set in 17th-century feudal Japan - And begins with the English pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) suddenly running aground with his ship on the Japanese coast. There he quickly becomes a pawn in a power game between above all 2 feudal lords. Both with the ambition to lead the entire country until the young emperor comes of age and can take over.
Civil war, honor, power play and multitudes of samurai account for most of the action. But the cultural clashes for Blackthorne, who quickly tries to learn Japanese through the interpreter Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai), also take up a lot of space. During this time, Portugal had already found Japan and sent Catholic priests there who began to convert parts of the Japanese elite to Catholic Christianity, while Blackthrone now comes from a country at war with Portugal and claims to have lied about everything. It simply stirs the already infected pot.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of James Clavell's book Shôgun, which is partly inspired by real events. Already 5 years later, we got one of the best and most ambitious mini-series ever in television history, when Richard Chamberlain took on the lead role of Blackthorne and Orson Welles acted as narrator for the English-speaking viewers who did not understand Japanese. This time too, most of the dialogue takes place in Japanese, but now without an explanatory voice of course.
The old miniseries was then one of the first series of its kind to show both a naked woman and beheadings (not at the same time, fortunately) on television, which then shocked many viewers in 1980. More than 30 years before Game of Thrones turned that kind of of scenes to an almost absurd level (which gave that series the nickname Tits and Dragons). But it was, of course, the exciting and very complicated story itself, which made Shôgun win the finest television award at the Emmys, for the year's best miniseries.
So, why on earth should we go in and tinker with already acclaimed TV classics? Why not adapt something completely new or come up with a really awesome original story instead? These are questions that are most often muttered when different film studios seem to be trying to grab as much money as possible, by betting on already "given" successes. Sometimes, for example, when we get a really bad film adaptation, like The Last Airbender (2010), fans can still buy that a new and more ambitious attempt is made, like the live action series Avatar: The Last Airbender (which we can now watch on Netflix).
But this thing about remaking something that was already considered near perfect to the same format again... Why? The answer to that question will from now on always be: Shôgun. This is a miniseries that proves both why and how to update something already celebrated and let a new generation share the same story, while giving those of us who have seen the original an adaptation that can realize the story in an even more impressive way.
I read the book myself, which is really the only reason why I gave the already old mini-series a chance. When it comes to movie classics from the 70s or 80s, few frown when titles like Star Wars (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979) or The Godfather (1972) come up. Catching up on the old film classics is part of it. Considerably fewer spend 10 hours on a miniseries from 1980, however, no matter how acclaimed it happened to be at the time.
The fact that filmmaking has developed somewhat enormously in the last 40 years also means that the new adaptation of Shôgun has been able to learn from other war series and films. Just like Game of Thrones could do. And this new adaptation of Shôgun looks absolutely stunning. The photography is magical and so are the actors Hiroyuko Sanada (in the role of the feudal lord Toranaga), Anna Sawai and Cosmo Jarvis.
The book and the old miniseries have long since proven that the story itself is really exciting - And luckily the adaptation of the screenplay has stayed true to its source where needed, but also made minor updates to improve it elsewhere.
I had really high hopes, but was pleasantly surprised that they even managed to exceed them. The new Shôgun miniseries is a future classic, hopefully one of those few (like Band of Brothers) that everyone from now on will look to give a chance - No matter how many years have passed the premiere.
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