Shogun (1980) TV Mini-Series Explored - The Forgotten Gem That Silently Changed American Television
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- Journey back to feudal Japan with Shogun, a historical epic that captivated audiences in 1980! This video explores why this miniseries deserves a place in your watchlist, even though it may be overshadowed by more recent shows.
We'll delve into the captivating story of John Blackthorne, a shipwrecked English sailor who gets entangled in the power struggles of warring Japanese lords. Witness a clash of cultures as Blackthorne navigates a world of samurai honor, political intrigue, and forbidden love.
Shogun's brilliance lies in its meticulous attention to detail, from the stunning set design and costumes to the captivating performances. This miniseries helped pave the way for a new era of prestige television with its high production value and complex characters.
So, if you're looking for a historical drama filled with action, romance, and cultural immersion, then Shogun is a forgotten gem waiting to be rediscovered. Join us as we explore the legacy of this miniseries and why it's still relevant for viewers today!
#Shogun #Miniseries #HistoricalDrama #1980sTelevision #HiddenGem #ClassicTVShow #ShogunLegacy #ForgottenMasterpiece #SilentImpact #AmericanTelevision #CulturalShift #FeudalJapanExploration #BlackthorneStory #AngloJapaneseRelations #MiniseriesReview #UnderratedClassic #EpicHistoricalDrama #DeepDiveAnalysis - Zábava
NGL, I know you talk about Mifune being a superstar in Japan, but you don't get it, he's THE Toshiro Mifune. He's legendary. It's an insanely prestigious casting for the mini-series.
'Seven Samuria which Inspired "The Magnificent Seven" with Yul Brinner also "Red Sun." Toshiro MIfune was a Super Star!@
The 80's series didnt do "damage" that the new series "fixed". These are both good shows fir the time they were made.
I was born during the original series broadcast. The doctor delivering me told my mother to hold on so he could keep watching, or so I've heard. Having seen both the original and keeping up with the new, I can understand why he said that. Excellent show.
People nowadays repite the "white" mantra like parrots too much. I am not white and yet identified with Chamberlain back when the miniseries aired. In fact they way he portrait Anjin-san was the best way a foreigner should conduct in Japan, I deemed. unlike his crewmates he was depicted as someone who understood that he had to learn and adapt to japanese society. In the new series, the japanese counterparts stories (that were lacking in the original series) have been developed much- which is wonderful, we all love seeing the story of Akechi against Kuroda and such- but the depiction of Anjin has been weak.
Well until last week episode in which somehow they improved it a little.
Still we miss seeing Anjin learning japanese, which was one of the jewels of the original series
The new series also omitted the event of Anjin's attempt at seppuku when he finally realized he would have to think and act Japanese to survive. And the lovely love story of Anjin and Mariko has also been omitted.
Mifune was already sick when he was acting in Shogun,and still delivered
I was just entering my teens when Shogun came out on NBC. Yes, it was a masterpiece! It was even the talk of town talk over the water coolers. Left a lifelong interest in me in Japanese culture and history as well. And at the time, it was pretty bold for network TV. First beheading on screen, boiling alive, and nudity (even though it was dark.) Honestly, Shogun 1980 is book end of video library, as will Shogun 2024 will be the other. The new one is just as spectacular! These two will go down in Best Story Telling EVER!
I watched the 80s as a kid and I’ve been impressed with the new show🫡💯🏴☠️🔱
Who the hell decided it was forgotten?!!
I'm from post-soviet space and even I saw this wonderful show as a kid and like it more than a new show.
Daaaaaamn....
The original Shogun had a humor that the remake lacked. Especially the dance scene. The greatest Japanese writer of the 20th Century, Yukio Mishima stated the the two main pillars of Japanese culture and society were elegance and brutality and he wasn't wrong. "Shogun" is proof of that, with elegance and brutality.
The book was great. The TV show was great . Now this new one is great . I will be in Tokyo for a week stop over on my way to Bangkok next Jan . Im really looking forward to it .
Compare that to FX’s Shögun, that achieved the impossible by recreating 16th Century Japan in Vancouver backlots.
OG Shogun actually shot in Japan
Richard chamberlain one of my favourite actors, count of monte cristo one of my favourite films 🎥👈🏻👌🏻
He was great in The Man in the Iron Mask also.
@@sg7335 yes he was 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
@@sg7335 He was also great in the Four Muskateers though a smaller part.
This show was an education to many people. I was too young to really watch it but my parents and their friends talked about it.
I grew up watching watching this. But it was actually another book and another cultural issue that made it possible to record and release the mini series, and that was Alex Haley's "roots" about the slavery in America and his trip back to the tribe where his family came from.
When that is said, I do regard SHOGUN as a masterpiece, and the only thing this year that comes close and goes further is the new rendering.
I read the book 1st when it came out. I knew Toshiro Mifune was the only one who could play Toranaga great great actor
i was watching a show that stated chamberland wanted that part sooooo bad he came to the audition in full costumed....
i own the DVDs of the 1980 Shogun. I have watched many times. I watched the new Shogun series once. That was enough for me. It is too bleak.
Great video!! Shogun had the same impact in the UK, too. Every Saturday night on the BBC, my mother and I would be there in front of the box. It was all everybody talked about - even on morning radio. The impact was massive on me, too. I'm still in Japan after moving here in 1987. I loved how the original version had no subtitles, so we experienced Japan as Blackthorne did. Toshiro Mifune is such a towering figure in cinema history, he's a hard act to follow. A Shogun of actors. The new series has its own merits, but I don't think the 80s version should be dragged when it achieved something very special for its time.
I was 10 when it first came out and remember it as excellent, but I prefer the contemporary version because it shows the complex political dealings that the first mini series only loosely covered
What I really appreciate is that this series was not shot through a freaking blue filter. I mean, what is up with that?
I remember this as a kid. Wow!!
Yes, that rift between Mifune & Akira Kurosawa. If anyone has seen Kurosawa's "Kagemusaha" released in 1980, it is a brilliant film, but the lead character part is screaming for Toshiro Mifune! Unfortunately, that rift prevented that casting. Kurosawa hired another actor, but creative differences led to that actor's early ouster, and Kurosawa had to get Tatsuya Nakadai at the last minute.
The problem was with Shintaro Katsu (the original Zatoichi), not with Mifune, Mifune and Kurosawa fought after Redbeard
Where can I even watch the 1980 series? It doesn't seem to be available anywhere online
You can view the entire original mini series on CZcams.
The suggestion the rift between Kurosawa and Mifune was because Mifune chose to do a television series is hot garbage. The two had a falling out 15 years earlier during the making of Red Beard due to Kurosawa's disapproval of Mifune starting his own production company and the length of time it took to shoot Red Beard conflicting with a number of good projects Mifune was forced to turn down.
The American accent of the Mariko character was for me a real killjoy.
So much better than the new version
Epic series.. I remember watching it on TV then a few decades later I found it again..
The remake looks pretty good as well but I haven't seen it yet.
Mifune was a Warrior, Sanada was a diplomat.
I enjoyed the original series when it first aired
"Damage?" And you were doing so well. Except for that Mifyoonay nonsense.
I love both miniseries of Shogun. I understand that James Clavell served as a consultant on the 1980 version. And I grew up watching it. So I'm a bit annoyed by your comments. However my father was stationed in Japan back in the 1950s. He loved the culture and learned Judo and karate and visited Shinto Shrines and Buddhist temples. He maded friends there. Furthermore he said everything that they depicted in Shogun was not completely accurate in some things but he felt it was a good way for people in the west to learn about japanese culture. Many ways that why it was appealing for western viewers because they told it from Blackthorne/ Anjin-san's perspective. Don't get me wrong I love the new miniseries. Especially how they now include the Japanese perspective. But they altered the story line in which is totally different from the book. How great it will be one day that they do a miniseries as based on the book. But write it where it will be not only true to the novel by James Clavell but also historically accurate in some things and have not from the character John Blackthorne's perspective but also the Toranaga and Mariko-san and all the characters. However it would be an epic of three movies like Star Wars and Lord of the rings. It would have to be a limited television series lasting more than ten episodes. But more satisfying. Especially concerning Blackthorne and Fuji Anjin-san's consort's fate. After all She died in the novel. She lives in this one. To me this latest version of Shogun is great. But leaves you unsatisfying. Because there is more in the Novel. Which neither the 1980s adaptation or this 2024 adaptation never covered...
Where do you find a Bluray, all I was able to find is a DVD. However I am rewatching the 80s version that my step father introduced me to in the 2000s before I watch the new one.
There are aspects of the new version that is very good. However it did twist some things strangely from the book. The older version is more beautiful to watch, the color and the sunshine. The new version is so dark it just as well be in black and white. Also the chemistry between the characters is really lacking, when Blackthorn and Mariko make love in the new version you are asking yourself, "where did that come from?" There didn't seem to be any attraction between them at all. Also none between Toranoga and the Anjin, Blackthorn seemed so barbarian like through out the whole series you are left wondering why Toranoga saw anything him in the first place.
I have a copy of the original show. It has much better costume design along with much better acting. In addition, the set designs are also much better. I see the series not as a white man comes to save Japan but as a man who learns to understand a different culture than the culture he comes from. He transforms the way he learns to live in a new style and way of thinking. He especially learns about keeping clean and bathing.
Yes, totally agree. Especially with the orig. cast being a lot better imo too. The new show is good, but in terms of acting, well, even Sanada cannot compete with the great Mifune and it's even much more obvious in terms of Chamberlain and Jarvis. Sorry, it's night and day in this case. Even the praised Anna Sawai is not at the same level as Yoko Shimada. Another main prob is the almost not existing secret love story in the new show, which was one of the main centerpieces of the orig. show.
@@markuskampmann2053did you actually watch the show, what do mean non existent love story. and nah the acting in the new show is top tier. also why do we have to compare every little detail to an old tv show.
@@gEtBeANeD420 Of course I watched the show buddy. Everyone is welcome to have their own view. For me it's not top tier, sorry. But I'm totally fine if somebody has a different view, like you obviously.
@@markuskampmann2053 then why did u even mention “non-existent love story” in ur original comment? thats just blatantly false
@@gEtBeANeD420 Because for me this love is just not there compared to the 80ties show and the book. The final "love scene" came out of nowhere for me. Just watch the orig. show and make your own judgement please. And btw, it's just my VIEW ok. ;)
If there's any additional footage that was removed for time it be added back in
I agree about the condensed version. It should be avoided. The full series was better. James Clavell did have the bathing scene in the novel where Blackthorne and Mariko did share a bath. The Japanese actually don't have much hang ups about nudity even in their own TV programs and their anime shows which was censored for Western audiences. I'm surprised that scene was sanitized in the FX/Hulu version.
There was a version released with subtitles.
I prefer this version . I didn't really like the 2024 Hulu Shogun. Acting was still good, scenery was very dark, gloomy. It was obviously filmed in Canada.
The original did the Japanese characters a disservice by telling the story strictly from Blackthorne's perspective. The lack of subtitles created a language barrier that kept the American audience from having any real personal connection with them. I understand that it was an artistic choice made so the audience would identify with Blackthorne's sense of isolation, but unless you speak Japanese, it also left out about half the story. The FX version gives you much more first-hand insight into what the Japanese characters are thinking and feeling, and in many ways it tells the story better. That's not to take away from Richard Chamberlain's performance, or from Toshiro Mifune's, it's just that the story elements come together much more neatly in the FX show.
It was far more faithful to Clavell's novel than the current version and better acted.
One version had subtitles.
In the UK it was shown with subtitles.
For those with a bit on the ball, you “learn Japanese” along with Blackthorne, through the series. The book, which I have read, almost reads as a love story between Mariko and him. Original series all the way.
No it doesn't, the FX show is garbage.
The 2024 version overpraised itself saying they were more woman inclusive while the 1980 was a Western male fantasy with its emphasis on Blackthorn and pillowing
Far superior to the 2024 version. The Jesuits, Rodrigo, the romance between Blackthorn and Mariko, the relationship developing between Blackthorn and Toranaga, Blackthorn learning, all lost.
I read the book as a kid, and the 80s mini series was pretty close with the story line. Of course some of the book is a bit too x rated for a television series. I did enjoy the new series, but it cut out many parts of the story. And even though the new series portrayed more of the Japanese perspective they totally didn’t develop the characters nearly enough. Especially Omi. He was a much bigger character in the movie and the original. But all that said. I really enjoyed the new series. They cut out, mixed up and changed so muck of the original story. I honestly didn’t know what was coming next. I honestly expected a different ending.
What's up with the growling voice introducing the actors?
A nova versão é a verdadeira, muito melhor
Both versions are imperfect--although improved in many ways from the 80s the primary complaints for me in the new version is blue filter/darkness and how poor Cosmo Jarvis is in comparison to Richard Chamberlain in capturing Blackthorne from the book. That's no small a complaint as he's a central character--and I'm not discrediting Cosmo's acting. I think he was miscast, or the producers wanted a less masculine Blackthorne. Nevertheless this weaker Blackthorne undermines something foundational in the story. When watching the 80s version the primary pain point is the musical score which pervades almost every scene. I know what they were trying to do, but rather than enhance the scenes that music constantly announces itself as "music from early TV" despite trying to weave in Asian instruments. That paired with a theatrical cadence to the dialog makes the 80s production seem dated.
I agree about the casting. I miss Chamberlain the whole time and find Jarvis not charming or attractive and his jerky way of delivering his lines annoying. Sanada is really a fine actor and great in the part, but, you know, Toshiro Mifune was magnificent.
My dad and I are currently watching the 1980s Shogun series, and my dad commented in first episode that Chamberlain is better Blackthorne and would had been better for the FX Shogun than what we got
So the new one doesn’t follow the book?
80s cast was better horoyuki sanada is overexposed at this point he only plays 1 character, blackthorne was a wimp, and mariko was played by a westerner and it was very obvious i thought tokyo vice was annoying with its over use of english but this is historical so it looks and sounds worst.
No.
Nope. New Shogun is supposed to be a Japanese drama with some white dudes in it. 1980 is a la la land adventure with a white savior
@@rubickr exactly. you get it.
@@rubickrThe story is suppose to revolve around blackthorne, instead he's turned into a comedic relief wimp
@@Magnonx That’s what you’re not getting. In original, yes it’s supposed and actually centered around Blackthorne.
In new one, Blackthorne is just a side character in a complex political drama of Feudal Japan which makes it more appealing to majority people.
The original Shogun kimonos look cheap, the top and bottom combinations look silly, and the exact colors of kimonos from this period are completely different.
Retarded comment. The kimonos in the original miniseries were period correct and made by master tailors in Japan. Not in Chinatown British Columbia like the remake.
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