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nchristi
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K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
SBS Drama. Begins Monday, April 20, 2009. Airs Mon–Tue on channel LA18/18.1, from 9:50p–11:00p. Eng Subs (Note: There is an intro-Special for this one. It may show on Mon, with epi. 1 beginning Tues.)
Alternate Titles: The Royal Princess of Ja Myung Go, The Story of Self Destruction
Cast: Moon Sung Geun 문성근, Jung Ryeo Won 정려원, Park Min Young 박민영, Sung Hyun Ah 성현아, Jung Kyung Ho 정경호, Lee Mi Sook, Park Hyo Joo
Director: Lee Myung Woo (이명우)
Screenwriter: Jung Sung Hee
Episodes: 50 [cut to 39 episodes]
Runtime: ?
Official Homepage: Korean; Soompi
SYNOPSIS (courtesy of Korean Drama class ul Legend has it that more than 2000 years ago, the Kingdom of Nangnang possessed a mystical Ja Myung Drum (Ja Myung Go) which will sound by itself when enemies invade. In reality, Ja Myung Go does not represent the drum but instead, is embodied by the King’s daughter, Princess Ja Myung.
Princess Ja Myung and Princess Nak-Rang are born on the same day and time to the same father but different mothers. It is predicted that one princess will become the nation’s savior while the other will bring the entire nation down.
Using her family’s powerful background, Princess Nak-Rang’s mother successfully establishes her daughter as the savior princess while Princess Ja Myung, who is branded the princess of destruction, escapes death with the help of her mother and grows up among the common folk. When she learns of her true identity, Princess Ja Myung returns to her Kingdom, resulting in a new wave of internal politics and power struggles. Princess Ja Myung and Prince Hodong of the rival state of Goguryeo fall in love but fate has it that they cannot be together. Princess Nak-Rang, who is also in love with the Prince, willingly gives her nation up to him by destroying her Kingdom’s mystical war drum. Princess Ja Myung, fighting to save her nation, finally pierces her sword towards her beloved Prince Hodong…CAST & CHARACTERS class ul Jung Ryu Won as Princess Ja Myung
Lee Young Yoo as young Ja Myung
Park Min Young as Princess Nak-rang
Jung Kyung Ho as Prince Hodong
Kang Soo Hwan as Hodong (child)
Moon Sung Geun as King Daemusin
Kim Sung Ryung as (Ja Myung’s mother)
Hong Yo Seob as (Ja Myung & Nak-rang’s father)
Lee Mi Sook as Lady Hae (Nak-rang’s mother)
Lee Joo Hyun as Wang Hol
Yeo Wook Hwan as Il Poom
Park Hyo Joo as Chi So
Sung Hyun Ah
Kim Ga Yun
Lee Won Jong
Jo Mi Ryung
Kang Ye Sol
Lee Han WieNote: A little title info from Dramaok of Soompi: class blockquote I think people got confused here. The older sister is named 'Ja-Myeong' but the title is 'The Royal Princess of Jamyeong-go'.. the 'Jamyeong-go' in the title doesn't refer to the older princess. It means 'story of self-destruction' as well the name of the instrument song that the princess plays for enemy nation of Goguryeo. .. well that's how to read it. The 'Jamyeong' in 'Jamyeong-go' is not the same name Jamyeong. Totally un-related.
Last edited by nchristi, 9/2/2009, 4:01 pm
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4/18/2009, 2:08 pm
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Mecca9
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K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
Jamyung and her sister was born exalty the same time and day, so they are like mirror twins. Jamyung was named by her mother when she was tossed into the riverboat, jamyung is suppose to be the keeper protector of the Nakrang drum that was destroyed by the evil sister, for love.
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4/22/2009, 11:10 pm
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nchristi
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Re: K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
I watched the introductory special on Monday night, but couldn't bear to watch episode 1 on Tuesday. Maybe I'll be in a better mood for it later. I recorded it, so can watch it whenever.
As for the Special, that was the absolute worst one I have ever seen. It was disjointed, horribly repetitive, didn't make much sense, and told us the whole plot! The middle part on the actors and behind the scenes was the only enjoyable section. The e-subs are not that good, either. Maybe I am just spoiled by the flow and timing of KBS and MBC e-subbers, but some of these SBS subbing jobs leave a lot to be desired. The timing being a tad off is the worst. Too many times the dialogue is not from the character we see on the screen at the moment.
After the Special, I tried to watch Episode 1, but couldn't get with the program. I might have been too mentally tired by then and the whole thing was one big turn-off to me. As I mentioned above, I will try again to get into this drama.
The cast is good. White Princess (Jung Ryu Won) is doing much better than I anticipated. She's become a better actor and is doing a good job with all the wire-fu and martial arts. The Red Princess (Park Min Young) is better, though, in my estimation. (I thought she looked familiar... I Am Sam.)
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4/23/2009, 1:38 pm
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Mecca9
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K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
The Red Princess was raised by and egotistical and viscious mum, she stab The White Princess when she was a baby, she did not grow up with all the trappings as the other sister, she was raised in a normal setting, her growth throughout the show will show us all the knowledge she has acquired and a better understanding of who she is, and who her parents was, she will strengthen the people of Nankang. The puppet master will bring her true sense into light.
Nchristi, yes, the introduction special was disjointed and all over the place, but the snipits if tied together gave a sense of what to come.
Last edited by Mecca9, 4/23/2009, 9:28 pm
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4/23/2009, 9:24 pm
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Mecca9
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K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
NChristi, I unstand your concern I am watching this show right now, did the show the ending first? Are they now telling the story from the begining? It is a bit confusing I thought I had grasp the begining now both Queens are going thru labor? Is this a second child? Anyone can answer...
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4/27/2009, 6:40 pm
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nchristi
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Re: K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
The way they are unfolding the story is very, very confusing and is irritating to me because it is difficult to keep straight what the heck the producers are doing. The Special seemed to tell us the entire story, with the PD in his interview telling us the only thing left (that is different from other productions in the past) is to see how he treats the death of the main character. He also made the comment that everyone in Korea knows this story because it is a famous legend/myth that kids grow up learning—I suppose much like we in the west are familiar with Cinderella or Lancelot and Guinevere. Consequently, the general audience always knows from the beginning how this one turns out—except for us foreigners! LOL!
That being said, here's my take on what we've seen so far in episodes 1, 2. (The order below is not necessarily precise in how we saw it.) This drama appears to be starting somewhere in the middle of the tale. class ul Prince Hodong (the heartthrob character) is attending a puppet show about himself and how he pretended to love the Red Princess as a ruse to have her destroy her own kingdom. If I remember correctly, Hodong now has a mustache and goatee, which always denote the character has grown into full manhood (= some years have passed). Watching the puppetmaster telling the tale, he flashes back to earlier times in the fable.
Hodong a young man, the armies are out on the battlefield getting ready to attack somebody, with the big test of the giant drum about to begin. Will it sound magically? Or is it just a myth?
The falcon flies to the temple where the invading king is laughing at how the drum has no mystical powers. The falcon flies into the temple, alighting on the stand above the drum. Then at the precise moment needed, the falcon drops down into the interior of the drum, stirring up all the bats that reside within it. In their chaos, the bats vibrate the drum and it 'magically' sounds, scaring the heck out of everybody, but mainly the invader king.
We see the Red and White Princesses fighting in the grand hall housing the drum. Red has promised to slit the skin of the drum (rending it impossible to reverberate). White is determined to stop her. Red wins the battle, stabbing White in the heart with a small, poisoned dagger.
Episode 2, White is being carted away from the palace secretly. Barely alive, she is taken to a remote place where they cover her with magic mud and are going to sweat the poison out of her—which, by now, has even reached 'her eyelids.'
Now we have another flashback to the very beginning of the fable. Red and White are unborn, inside the wombs of Choi Li's wives, #1 (White) and #2 (Red). The king's priest (astrologer) has seen in the stars that his kingdom is going to be destroyed by the 'two daughters' of Choi Li. The king sends out an edict that Choi Li must kill both these daughters. The king's henchmen arrive the very night the girls are being born. Red Mom lies and says she had a boy. She gets up off her birthing bed, gets dressed up in her most 'seductive' clothing, make-up and perfume and goes to see the Priest, an old, half-dead guy. Trying to get him to save her baby somehow, she offers him all her material wealth. He refuses, of course, since it is 'Heaven's will.' So, she goes through all sorts of physical enticements (too disgusting to watch, let alone describe here). Hodong's mother (?) sees them. The little boy comes running up to his mother causing her to drop a ceramic cup. Red's mother takes note of the breaking pottery—someone is witnessing what she's doing.Okay, so that's where we are at the end of episode 2—back at the very beginning when the two Princesses are being born.
I don't know if I'm going to like this one or not. It's awfully weird. It has an all-star cast but doesn't strike me as a very good production. The CGI and technical stuff is good, but so far the way the director is jumping back and forth and all around, a story within a story within a story kind of storyboard, I don't know. I'm not favorably impressed. But it has been only two episodes, so I'll still give it a try. It might build up some steam and get more interesting and understandable.
I'm having a little culture shock with Lee Mi Sook as Red Mother. She is one of my all-time favorite actresses, but I've seen her only in contemporary dramas/movies. She looks plenty evil in this one. I also can't forget that she is 49 years old. It's kind of a stretch to see her playing a wife I presume is rather young and just giving birth, but maybe this is just temporary and we need an actress of greater age for the rest of the drama. It is a little unusual, though, because we normally see very young actresses who are then aged through make-up, instead of the other way around.
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4/28/2009, 4:49 pm
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Mecca9
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K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
I have made a little sense of the unfolding, it showed the birth of the two Princesses, the supposedly ith death of the other, Hodong greedy and wengful stepmother, they showed us synopsis of each upcoming plots. Now the story begins leading up to all the previous previews we have seen.
Soon we will see the downfall of Nakrang at the hands of the Red Princess who was save by her skank of a mother, the White Princess life will be told to her and the sacrifices she will have to make and endure.
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4/28/2009, 6:47 pm
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brad6
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Re: K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
It's really too fantastic for me. It is a legend ,so could not be historical and that is what I prefer to see in costume dramas.
Don't think I will watch any more.
Peg
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4/29/2009, 10:52 pm
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nchristi
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Re: K-Drama: 왕녀 자명고 (Princess Ja Myung Go)
So far, this program is a real dog, IMO. The most interesting part last night was the actor who played the crazy guy in the boat, the one who was supposed to drown the boy and the baby by capsizing their little boat. The crazy guy looked awfully much like the actor who played Iron Empress' husband, the looney king who came to love her very much. Then I flipped over to the MBC 18.3 drama briefly and saw that actor there, all nicely cleaned up and in a suit! LOL! (Such a handsome guy and a good actor, too!  )
I decided to check out the ratings for "The Drum." They are very low, ranging from 9.4–9.8, so it isn't doing well in Korea, either, despite all the heavyweight actor/actresses appearing in it.
Behind the scenes, SBS has received official warnings from the Korean Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) for violence (the baby scenes and others) and offensive language for several of their programs, including this one. Throw in a little sexually explicit material into the complaints, too.
The most offensive SBS program is "Temptation of Wife," having been officially warned by the KSCS to clean up their act. I'm not watching it, but I imagine the e-subs have been cleaned up considerably from the actual spoken Korean dialog. The official complaint cited the drama as "flooded in vulgarity" and "degrading language toward women." The same holds true for the live comedy programs, though to a much lesser degree.
Interestingly, the national network with the most complaints (and warnings) is SBS. (Wonder what's going on with their management these days—though it's a quick way to increase viewership among a certain demographic.) Second is MBC. KBS has many fewer complaints/warnings.
Back to the drama, I don't know if I can take this one much longer. Some of the legendary parts and CGI are interesting, like the vortex appearing in the river, about to swallow up the bad guys, I presume. But all the torture, violence, lasciviousness, and wickedness is seeming to far outweigh the entertaining aspects. So far, I am not at all impressed. In fact, I find it much more an unpleasant, disturbing influence than anything else. Reminds me of Clint Black's exit comments after Trump fired him. What did he learn while being a part of the program? That life is too short to waste around unpleasant people. He'd rather spend his time with those who are worthwhile. Always the Southern Gentleman, even then he was pleasant and polite.
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5/5/2009, 9:45 am
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12/1/2009, 6:33 am
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Las Vegas Vacations