[Drama 2012/13] The King's Dream 대왕의 꿈

[O]

@nikachan, Atsuhime was the first Japanese historical drama I watched!  Like @mannschaft and you, I am not keen on "fusion sageuks filled with twisted romance".  They just water down a good drama.  I skipped most of Beopmin's and that crazy woman's scenes!

I didn't like the way this drama portrayed Gyebaek's killing his family.  Would you really be able to push thoughts of them aside and concentrate on the war if you had just killed your family?  If you can't protect your family of 3, isn't it presumptious to think you can save your country?!   Killing them this way made no sense to me.  This weekend they will show his death. Not looking forward to that!  BTW, what's the title of  the "Korean drama depicting the life of General Gye-Baek of Baekje.. if you didn't know yet & if you are interested. Dramacrazy has it.." - I'd like to download it and watch it when I have time. 

 

[WingLiner]

Episode 53, 54 with subtitles added.(The subteam is amazing!) =D>=D>http://www.dramacrazy.net/korean-drama/the-great-kings-dream-episode-list/
I haven't watched the scene Gyebaek killed his family in this drama, but upon viewers' saying, it was said to be an annoying part.

@O: It is "Gyebaek" MBC 2010.http://www.dramacrazy.net/korean-drama/gye-baek/
The two Japanese historicals I'd watched are Atsuhime (Princess Atsu) and Yoshisune. I can say they are my all time favorites. Also my favorite dramas download website are dramacrazy and doramax264.
http://www.dramacrazy.net/japanese-drama/atsu-hime/
http://www.youtube.com/user/MiyonoGozen

[O]

Thank you @mannschaft.  Have a great weekend!

[WingLiner]

@O, @nikachan: have a great weekend too. :-bd
I think Gyebaek couldn't help but killing his family as he wanted the whole family to die together rather than one survived but had to suffer humiliation. Remember, the Silla-Tang's army arrived Hwangsanbul was 10 times larger and more powerful than Baekje's, Gyebaek and Baekje's army was just a death squad when facing Silla's. That's why he could neither rescue his family nor his country in this desperate situation.
About the wedding dress thing, to me, it makes the drama looks weird.
As far as I know , Queen Seondeok ascended the throne as ages of 40s, queen Jindeok and king Muyeol probably as the same ages or even older, as they all died at ages of 60s. So it's not strange the 2 later kings reigned in short time.

King Munmu (birthname Beopmin) was a clever king, since he persisted on his father's dream conquering Koguryeo, he still connected with resistance leaders from Koguryeo to drive out Tang forces and their schemes to subjugate Unified Silla's territory, on the other hand, he also tried to maintain good relationship with Tang so that his things would have handled smoothly.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munmu_of_Silla

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[O]

@mannschaft, I agree with you re Gyebaek's motives for killing his family but in this drama, a different motive was given.  And his killing of his family bolstered the morale of his soldiers!  Needless to say, it had the opposite effect on the Sila soldiers. And two young Sila Hwarangs went on a death squad mission just to bolster the morale of the Sila soliders?  I didn't like that.  I didn't like the way Gyebaek was killed.  Nevertheless I cried buckets when he died.

Imagine if Gyebaek and Yusin were on the same team!  They would have made a formidable force. 

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[Guest lee_kim]

DOWNLOAD Ep. 65 Mirror links: 450p | 360p

[WingLiner]

http://www.dramacrazy.net/korean-drama/the-great-kings-dream-episode-list/
Episode 65, 66 (RAW) added, Episode 56 with subtitles added.
Have fun!

[O]

Thanks, as always @mannschaft.  It looks so interesting and I can hardly wait for the English subs!

I find myself liking Chunchu less, ever since he became King!  I really can't understand his position on the Tang alliance.  He should have formed an alliance with one of the other 2 kingdoms.  He is fighting to control the other 2 kingdoms, rather than coexisting peacefully with them.  So much for being brothers of the same blood!  All this talk of unification is really just wanting to control them. Who can blame the other side for fighting back?   I totally disagree with forming an alliance with an 'outsider' - Tang.  Both Silla and Tang armies are occupying the defeated Baekje!  Chunchu put a righteous spin to the war by saying he is freeing the people of Baekje from their cruel tryant, King Uja.   But the Tang army is more cruel than the defeated King Uja! 

 

[WingLiner]

Hi @O, I'm pretty busy this week so I can't answer you right away. Chunchu formed an alliance with "outsider" Tang is like nowadays the South Korean allies with the United States. The reason is, they both wanted to survive and protect themselves. 
Also, the one who conquers other is more brutal than the one is being conquered because the winner wants to possess the loser and set up full force to control them no matter what. And the winner's "good-sayings" are to boast themselves the best creatures in the world.

As you can see, South Korea probably more powerful than North Korea but they cant take the North lightly as their fellow North always act up and threaten them. Even so, the South certainly doesn't afraid of this but they need someone having great voice helping them settle this matter in the right way.
Back during the 3 kingdoms period, Silla lived under constant threat from their two fellows and those two wanted to bring down Silla as soon as they could, which made Silla drowned and almost collapsed. Silla couldn't ally with them anymore, since they had been hating Silla the most for conquering their lands and fortresses, so Silla had to seek someone else with more power and tried to gain their support, too.
Yet Silla needed Tang's assistance, but they didn't become Tang's puppet nor being occupied. They would step down a little to uphold good relationship but they knew the right time to step up and showed their inner strength which frightened Tang and made them wouldn't dare trying to subdue Silla's land again.

This drama doesn't show any signs of desperateness of Silla after being frequently attacked by Baekje and Koguryeo as they make Silla stay strong all the time, so it is confused about the reason why Silla has to stick with Tang for "survival."

The thing I don't like most about Chunchu here is his sophistry propaganda, as he always mentioning about peace & unity between 3 kingdoms, and doesn't promote using swords to fight off each other, but he himself is starting wars in order to defeat and trample upon other countries using the super-power Silla-Tang iron soldiers. Had he said this unification wars was his ambition to do so, it would have made more sense.

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[WingLiner]

Episode 57 to 59 with subtitles added. (I bow to the master of subbing) ^^
http://www.dramacrazy.net/korean-drama/the-great-kings-dream-episode-list/

[Guest lee_kim]

Ep. 67 Direct/ Mirror links: KOR/450p | KOR |

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[Guest hapha8714]

this ends at EP70, right? so there are 2 episodes left then

[WingLiner]

Episode 60 with subtitles added.
http://www.dramacrazy.net/korean-drama/the-great-kings-dream-episode-list/
I've been busy with some stuff... fighting off the graduation exams and after that, translating subtitles for some Korean dramas and I'm currently doing on Horse Doctor.
Episode 68 marked the end of the Baekje Revival Movement with the death of leader Bokshin. King Muyeol also died as well, his son Beopmin became King Munmu and the war with Koguryeo was started. (Ep 68.)
I think the last 2 episodes will focus on the war with Koguryeo and the final Silla-Tang war in order to remove the Tang forces from Silla's territory.

[O]

wow, @mannschaft ... you've sat for your last exams?!  What a relief that must be!  I am a little busier than I planned to be this summer vacation!

You're right when you mentioned earlier that this drama doesn't acurately portray the situation.  It doesn't gives the impression Sila was frequently attacked by Baekje and Koguryeo.   I actually had the oppositie impression - that Sila was the one who dishonoured agreements made with these 2 Kingdoms.  This is actually the first drama I have watched that has focused on Sila.   Beopmin as Crown Prince has matured and is not so impulsive.  I think he will make a good king.   I hope the show ends on a happy note for the great Admiral.   

 

[WingLiner]

Hi @O Yes, that exam is not too difficult so I passed it well. But I will have to sit for another entrance exam to college, it feels like a fierce fight to me. I hate it for sure!
I agree Silla certainly turned their back on fellow countries and even killed their neighbor civilians/ armies who weren't much different from Silla's. But still, we can't blame everything on them, they did do the right things and made their people enjoyed the unification for more than thousand years. 
The drama also focused on Yeon Gaesomun, so here it is his brief biography.
YEON GAESOMUN. 
Goguryeo was divided into two sides during the rule of King Young Ryu. One side were the Pacifists, led by King Young Ryu, who wanted to secure stability by paying tributes to Tang and the other side were the Hardliners, led by Yeon Gaesomun, who wanted Goguryeo to remain a sovereign nation by fighting against Tang. Pacifists had the bigger power since King Young Ryu himself was a Pacifist and King Young Ryu ordered the Hardliners to build walls in order to get rid of them from the royal court. 
Yeon Gaesomun pretended to have a parade to celebrate the departure of Hardliners to the wall construction. When the Pacifist court members arrived at the parade, YGSM's army killed all of them. Afterwards, YGSM went straight to the palace and killed King Young Ryu. YGSM enthroned Young Ryu's nephew Bojang as the new king and assigned himself to a new post called Makriji (Dictator). 
No one dared to challenge YGSM except for one man, the Lord of Anshi, Yang Manchun. Yang Manchun considered YGSM's coup as disloyalty and criticized his actions. YGSM sent army to Anshi multiple times because of this, but all his attempts ended up in failure. He had no choice but to allow Yang Manchun to continue his post as the Lord of Anshi.
YGSM replaced every other lords of the Tang-Goguryeo border areas and court members with people who are favorable to him. He also constructed new walls and increased the number of soldiers in his army. 
Goguryeo succeeded in defeating every Tang invasions due to YGSM's efforts. Unfortunately, Goguryeo started going downhill after YGSM's death on 666. YGSM's first son Yeon Namseng took over the Great Prime Minister role when YGSM passed away. While Yeon Namseng was patrolling the northern borders, Namgun and Namsan heard that Namseng was plotting to kill them. Namgun and Namsan didn't believe the rumor. Namseng, on the other hand, heard the rumor about his younger brothers plotting to kill him. Namseng sent a spy to Pyongyang to find out whether the rumor is true. Namgun and Namsan arrested the spy and decided that the rumor was true. They then killed all of Namseng's close friends and took over the authority role. Yeon Namseng, who was at Guknae Fortress at the time, asked Tang for help. Emperor Gaozong sent Xui Biheli to rescue Yeon Namseng. Namseng then surrendered to Tang.