In its current state, the show is a hot mess. Scenes have been removed and songs have been changed. What remains is a butchered drama that has been smeared with vaseline. Seriously, every poster, every item, every reference has been blurred out, including the ones from other KBS dramas. It makes no sense. It’s an older drama, so why do this now? The version on Viki is not the original version. The subs are broken too. It’s such a shame. They gave European viewers an inferior version. Why?! Because we don’t pay for your Plus Pass, we get half the drama?!
I’ve just realised that the subs work correctly. The sub team did a fantastic job, and there’s nothing wrong with the video player, either. The problem is that entire scenes have been removed, so the subs don’t match anymore. Ayoooooo… I feel like crying…
I noticed similar problems with “censored” scenes in other shows. After finding out that the Viki version I watched excluded things from the original TV version made me unsure if I should continue watching on Viki if I’m not getting informed I’m watching a different version.
Dramas with changed songs were JTBC dramas such as Welcome to Waikiki 2 and Radiant. The songs were also quite significant to the scenes as they provided content. Welcome to Waikiki 2 is referencing to the japanese drama One Million Stars Falling From The Sky and is naming the first episode after the japanese show and playing its intro music. While watching on Viki I did not experienced the same funny moment of seeing the title corelate with the music but instead was left with some generic music in the background.
The case of Radiant was more severe since one of the characters is supposed to be a singer. I thought they intentionally never showed her singing and was a bit sad to never hear her voice, only to realize that the version on Viki edited out multiple parts where she was actually singing. The removed scenes also contributed to some confusion while watching it on Viki. I had to head to YouTube to realize what I was missing out.
If they can’t help to change stuff due to some copyright, I wish they would at least inform the viewers of these changes. I
Ahhhh… Not Radiant too. I haven’t even watched it yet.
Why do this, though?! Imagine if Netflix cut content from Stranger Things or HBO from Game of Thrones… There would be a riot!!
Changing scenes/songs was nothing unusual for Western versions of anime in the past. I can’t tell how it is today, since when internet & fan subs became more popular I started watching mostly fan subs but before when anime were broadcasted by TV stations in synced version you often get either a complete different song or a somewhat “series” song in your own language but not in any case with the same rhythm & melody.
We also only get a % version of Red Cliff since they kept the battle scenes but cut most of the story scenes so that’s not really something new with the cutting/changing of scenes for Western audience.
Your example with Game of Thrones and Stranger Things doesn’t fit since it’s USA => Europe = all Western areas. Better think about it in the way, e.g. World of Warcraft has its own Chinese version with undeads without visible bones etc.
They may also change things from Western movies/TV shows, we probably just don’t know it since it doesn’t affect us.
PPS
Depending on the content e.g. violence, we’d also have altered versions of Western/US movies/shows & games in Germany. Many old/er “cult” movies used to be only shown as “cut/edited” version on TV.
I thought it was irritating to watch Stron Woman Do Bo Soon and the music is changed (for copyright reasons) but to have whole scenes missing!! I woudn’t want to see that.
What is amazing to me is that anyone would remember all the scenes of the drama. I’ve also watched it, not a long time ago, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have noticed.
Oh well, maybe it’s because you’re still young!
Speaking of anime, I’m fairly certain that no other show on this planet has been as censored as Pokémon. From the removal of the character Ambertwo in Mewtwo Strikes Back to entire episodes like The Legend of Dratini, they made sure to erase any cultural or sensitive references. It’s crazy when you discover that your childhood memories are a lie. Fortunately, the Internet came to my rescue, so I was able to fill in the gaps. I really do recommend The Legend of Dratini. It’s one of those rare episodes that made me cry. Just search for it on dailymotion if you haven’t watched it already.
The out-of-sync subs are a dead giveaway. When you remove scenes, obviously, the episode is shortened. As you all know, subs are created on a timeline, with hours, minutes and seconds. When you cut from that timeline, the subs no longer sync up with the intended scenes.
On the other hand, once, in Beethoven Virus, there was some glitch with a scene from another episode wrongfully inserted to an episode it didn’t belong. We asked Viki for help and they fixed everything without even one subtitle going out of sync. Our work was preserved in its totality.
So if this is your only evidence of scenes being cut, it’s no good proof. If you remember a scene and it isn’t there, then it’s a different matter.
You know me, I tend to overreact, but I don’t make things up. This is censorship. How can I prove it? Well, the Viki Community prides itself on subbing not just the dialogue, but also the lyrics to the background music. They are shown between musical notes to stand out. You can’t miss them.
Imagine my surprise then when I saw them on screen without any music or completely changed tracks. If this had been just a sub bug, the music would have eventually started playing. It never did, or something else did. Is the video player broken too? Karaoke scenes are especially annoying since they don’t sing along to the actual tunes.
