Goong/ Princess Hour/ 궁/ 野蛮王妃

Goong/ Princess Hour/ 궁/ 野蛮王妃
Cast- Ju Ji Hoon, Kim Jung Hoon, Yoon Eun Hye, Song Ji Hyo
OST- Perhaps Love, You are really My Bad
Live performance of the music theme
Special Intro

Well, they are finally going to show ‘Princess Hour’ on Channel U this coming Monday night. They’re really going all out to promote the show..from TV to radio to newspaper.

It was indeed one of the more popular drama in Korea this year. I remember blogging about it here in May. A group of us were actively following the series in Korea via the internet. It turned us into silly teenagers. Many have compared it to ‘My Girl’ (which I do like because of Lee Joon Gi). Both dramas feature similar characters-
– a spunky, happy-go-lucky girl
– a cold, distant, by-the-books guy,
– a sensitive second lead guy who is always there for the girl
– the second lead actress, who was the guy’s ex-girlfriend.

Hmm… come to think of it… aren’t most of the Korean dramas the same? ^^ But some manage to do it better than others. Based on a popular comic series by Park So Hee. This is a light-hearted drama, with one strong, interesting story line—
What if the Korean royalty was still around today….and what if a commoner married into the royal family…. what if….

A huge draw and interest for me (besides drooling over the men) were the costume and the sets in the drama. They were not allowed to film the drama inside the actual palace, hence they built their own set and let their imagination run. And because the royalty is set in the present time, even the traditional hanboks are richly colored and given a modern twist. I especially love Chae Gyung’s clothes and accessories. The setting, ceremonies, the food in particular were an eye-opener……

And I like their sports attire too. The wardrobe department seems to like red. : )

Chae Gyung’s family and friends tend to be more interesting and fun..in line with her character. Her girlfriends were slightly dotty and her father was perfect as the househusband. Shin’s friends, as expected, were rich, spoil and generally not as much fun (though I think they redeemed themselves slightly towards the end, especially when thy got interested in CG’s friends). As for Shin’s parents, I think most of us wanted to strangle his father, the emperor. But Shin’s grandmother was cute… you should see her when she does an NG scene. hehe!

I shan’t go into the storyline. You can go here to read about it. It’s on Channel U’s site and is in Chinese. It’s actually really just a fantasy, fluffy drama but it’s good fun. I guess what made the whole drama enjoyable were the 4 leads, who despite being fairly new to acting, pulled it off quite well. Having 2 good-looking guys always helps and there were 2 camps, rooting for the different princes. Me? I would be going ga-ga over Shin goon’s coolness and aloofness one minute and then melting at Yul goon’s sad puppy-looking eyes the next. So err… I ended up rooting for both, depending on the scene and situation. hahaha! Which camp are you in?

Shin, the crown prince. Very cool, matured beyond his age due the responsibilities as the prince. Ju Ji Hoon was (and still is) a model before landing this role in ‘Goong’. He’s 1.87 and 24 years old (sigh, my side dishes all seemed to be in their 20’s). Hmm.. he only started modelling in 2003- that’s not very long ago. He looks different when he’s modeling.

‘Shin Ramen’ got rather popular after Chae Gyung cooked the noodles for him. I think I remembered the company that manufactured ‘Shin Ramen’ gave them loads of it whilst they were filming. hahaha! Good advertising huh?

Yul, the original crown prince. He had to leave the palace when his father passed away unexpectedly. A sensitive nice guy, who unfortunately was compelled to be involved in his mothers’ political dealings. Kim Jung Hoon was part of the group, UN before it broke up in 2005. Hehe! I’ve mentioned about him in my previous posting here. I thought he looked rather adorable in an apron..

Chae Gyung, a normal high school girl, whose ambition is to become a designer. Informed one day that she was betrothed to the Crown Prince, she finally agreed to marry him to pay off family debts. Had no idea what was in store for her in the palace but she brought that much needed breath fresh air into the palace. Yoon Eun Hye was part of the girl group, Baby VOX before this. Many wondered if she would be able to carry off the role but she did well. She was cute and right for the part.

Hyo Ri, high school girl, great ballet dancer and secret girlfriend of Shin. She thought that her dream was more important than love but realized too late how wrong she was. I don’t have much information about her- *Edit- I just found out that she’s in ‘Wishing Stairs’ and ‘Jumong’. Thanks to May Choon’s article in today’s The New Paper. (Jumong will be another drama worth watching..if I can live through the 50/60 episodes. Anyway, that’s another story too). But she is still not as well known which is rather unfortunate as I think she looks great and acted well enough in the drama.

And all of us got very attached to the teddy bears, which were from the Teddy Bear Museum on Jeju Island (in fact, they made a trip to the museum in one of the episodes, which was where Shin sort of admitted that he didn’t want a divorce anymore). Haiyah, I want the teddy bears, they are so cute…especially ‘Alfred’. hehe!

Presenting Alfred….

I’m not sure if it will create as much interest as ‘Daejanggeum’ or ‘Winter Sonata’. In Korea, its rating was about 30%, nowhere as high as the 50% for ‘Daejanggeum’ or even ‘Lovers in Paris’. In fact, a few of the Koreans that I spoke to over there felt the show was 재미없어요 (not interesting). But I found it fun enough, as did quite a few of my 친구.^^

Well, all the 4 leads are busy with their career and will not be in ‘Goong 2’, which starts filming in November. Let’s see if the sequel will be any good.

Here are some clips to whet your appetite. Don’t watch if you don’t want any surprises. hehe!

NG scene:
NG 1
NG 2

Behind-the scene:
street kiss 1
street kiss 2
bed kiss
Hmmm… I seemed to have posted only the kissing scenes.

Fan made mvs
Yul goon
Funny moments

Post party

You know, all the Korean dramas are very into drama related products now. It probably started with the Polaris necklace from ‘Winter Sonata’. ‘Goong’ has quite a few products on sale as well.. from 2 versions of the ost, to poster to hand phone accessory to that ‘Shin goon’ pillow thingy.. Ros has one of the pillow, lovingly made by her friends (btw, her blog is also called Princess Hour. But this Princess hor.. has not updated her blog for a long time as she is very busy. ^^) Strange that the none of the versions of the dvd have English subtitles. Did I miss out anything? Did anyone buy Alfred?

Enjoy!