Warning - Yu Zheng zone
1. I have no idea if this poster for Emperor's Beauties is official or fanmade (my money is on the latter), but I love it:
I always prefer more abstract posters to the typical "let's stick leads' discombobulated heads on the poster" thing a lot of dramas adore.
And speaking of EB - what on earth is with the title. I know YZ is trying to reference Schemes of a Beauty (why not call it 'Beauties of Emperor's Jade Palace' then and do a two-fer with his recent hits :P) but the title makes no sense. I severely doubt he's referring to Xiang Yu and Liu Bang as anyone's beauties :P and Xiang Yu was never an emperor so anyone associated with him would not be an emperor's beauty of any sort. Sure, Lu Zhi was Mrs. Emperor but (a) that's beauty in singular and (b) even if some other wife of Liu Bang appears, the drama's focus isn't on various wives of Liu Bang but the whole Xiang Yu-Liu Bang alliance and then civil war, presumably. Even if Yu Zheng will make Xiang Yu have a torch for Lu Zhi *shudder*, that still doesn't change the fact.
So yeah, the title makes zip sense to me.
ETA: according to kind anon, focus will be on the ladies. Which still doesn't explain the title bu, more importantly, bzuh? Not surprising, seeing what YZ's interests are in storytelling but still - it's like doing a story n Charlemagne and focusing on family in-fighting, or similar. I don't really care who Lu Zhi's true love is or about palace backstabbing. I want battles and more battles and then topped off with more battles. Give it to whoever made Three Kingdoms.
Also, I finally figured out why I am so pre-obsessed with EB. It's because Xiang Yu/Concubine Yu is the closest I am going to get to Bajirao Mastani on screen. It was going to be Sanjay Leela Bhansali magnum opus but eventually got shelved for whatever reasons. I followed it for years until its untimely demise and was devastated when it was cancelled. (For non-Bollywood aficionados, Bajirao was a warrior king of the Marathis, I believe, and Mastani was his dancer gf who rode with him into battle and killed herself when he died). So yeah, I am projecting. Though perhaps this version of XY will only have eyes for Lu Zhi (???!!!!), so it might no matter.
2. I looked up future projects, and he has a movie and at least 3 dramas lined up. How on earth is he going to cram them all in? I know script-writing goes faster when you liberally borrow from others but even copy/pasting dialogue takes time :P
3. Speaking of YZ dramas, has anyone seen 1000 Teardrops? I am tempted to get my hands on it because I have yet to see a YZ drama I didn't like (between Romantic Red Rouge, Jade Palace Lock Heart, Schemes of a Beauty and Four Women Conflict) but I am not familiar with Hawick Lau or Athena Chu, i.e. the leads (yes, I admit I am also tempted because Feng Shao Feng is in it, but I know he has a secondary role. Which leads me to a question of whether he gets his own OTP, btw) and also it's a modern drama and all of YZ's stuff that I liked have been period dramas.
4. OK, to end on a non-Yu Zheng note. Drive of Life - yay or nay?
I always prefer more abstract posters to the typical "let's stick leads' discombobulated heads on the poster" thing a lot of dramas adore.
And speaking of EB - what on earth is with the title. I know YZ is trying to reference Schemes of a Beauty (why not call it 'Beauties of Emperor's Jade Palace' then and do a two-fer with his recent hits :P) but the title makes no sense. I severely doubt he's referring to Xiang Yu and Liu Bang as anyone's beauties :P and Xiang Yu was never an emperor so anyone associated with him would not be an emperor's beauty of any sort. Sure, Lu Zhi was Mrs. Emperor but (a) that's beauty in singular and (b) even if some other wife of Liu Bang appears, the drama's focus isn't on various wives of Liu Bang but the whole Xiang Yu-Liu Bang alliance and then civil war, presumably. Even if Yu Zheng will make Xiang Yu have a torch for Lu Zhi *shudder*, that still doesn't change the fact.
So yeah, the title makes zip sense to me.
ETA: according to kind anon, focus will be on the ladies. Which still doesn't explain the title bu, more importantly, bzuh? Not surprising, seeing what YZ's interests are in storytelling but still - it's like doing a story n Charlemagne and focusing on family in-fighting, or similar. I don't really care who Lu Zhi's true love is or about palace backstabbing. I want battles and more battles and then topped off with more battles. Give it to whoever made Three Kingdoms.
Also, I finally figured out why I am so pre-obsessed with EB. It's because Xiang Yu/Concubine Yu is the closest I am going to get to Bajirao Mastani on screen. It was going to be Sanjay Leela Bhansali magnum opus but eventually got shelved for whatever reasons. I followed it for years until its untimely demise and was devastated when it was cancelled. (For non-Bollywood aficionados, Bajirao was a warrior king of the Marathis, I believe, and Mastani was his dancer gf who rode with him into battle and killed herself when he died). So yeah, I am projecting. Though perhaps this version of XY will only have eyes for Lu Zhi (???!!!!), so it might no matter.
2. I looked up future projects, and he has a movie and at least 3 dramas lined up. How on earth is he going to cram them all in? I know script-writing goes faster when you liberally borrow from others but even copy/pasting dialogue takes time :P
3. Speaking of YZ dramas, has anyone seen 1000 Teardrops? I am tempted to get my hands on it because I have yet to see a YZ drama I didn't like (between Romantic Red Rouge, Jade Palace Lock Heart, Schemes of a Beauty and Four Women Conflict) but I am not familiar with Hawick Lau or Athena Chu, i.e. the leads (yes, I admit I am also tempted because Feng Shao Feng is in it, but I know he has a secondary role. Which leads me to a question of whether he gets his own OTP, btw) and also it's a modern drama and all of YZ's stuff that I liked have been period dramas.
4. OK, to end on a non-Yu Zheng note. Drive of Life - yay or nay?