Perhaps one of the most famous Chinese dramas is 'Journey to the West' based on the works of Wu Cheng'en. Journey to the West is a CCTV produced live action drama serial first broadcasted in 1986. The 1986 version stars Liu Xiao Ling Tong as Sun Wu Kong. For many years, Xi You Ji (as Journey to the West is known as) was not available for English speakers.
Content
However in 2010, an 11DVD 'Collectors Edition Boxset' of the 1986 version of Journey to the West became available on Ebay. After years of searching, with partial success (a YouTube user uploaded the first series in average-quality with English subtitles; another user on a forum D-addicts il1li uploaded the VCDs with English subtitles) I decided to buy it.
The contents of the Collectors Edition Boxset are as recorded: 1 disc of a 40~ minute interview with the original actors (seems to have been recorded from TV and features Chinese hard-subs); 6 discs for 25 episodes of Journey to the West series 1 featuring around 4 episodes on each DVD; 4 discs for 16 episodes of the second series of Journey to the West 1986 (the picture quality for the second series is greatly improved, and also stars Liu Xiao Ling Tong, I'm guessing it was made in the 1990s with better camera equipment). Each disc is region free, and has a plastic sleeve within a cardboard box, which slides into a cardboard holder.
Subtitles
The subtitles have been synced wonderfully, and do not lag. The image based subs could have been in a nicer font (they look slightly like a type-writer font). As for the translation, as an English speaker one can notice grammatical errors, and a few strangely worded sentences, other then that, the translation seems fine and the stories make sense. Compared to other versions, the transcriptions deviate (from the top of my head, 'The Small Planet' is referred to as 'Venus', 'Thousand-mile Eye and Wind-Accompanying Ear' are referred to as 'Yare-Ear and Mile-Eye (something along those lines)'. However, I can feel that they've made an enormous effort. Translating 49 episodes that are roughly 40-60 minutes long, and then syncing it would have been a phenomenal and tedious task that is to be commended. Subtitles for Chinese characters inside the serial have been accounted for (such as when Wukong enters the cave and looks at the characters on the wall, the subtitles say 'Waterfall-Curtain Cave').
Conclusion
For less then 50 US dollars, reliving the memories of Journey to the West 1986 is priceless (I'm still kicking myself for only recording 6-7 episodes on VHS which had the most accurate, beautiful subtitles). The picture quality is the best you'll get for series one. No matter where you look, unless the producers decide to remaster the original series from the reels, the quality of the DVDs are the best.
The image is a little soft, so ripping the discs and running it through some filters will probably make the picture sharper - for TV viewing the softness is not noticeable. For the second series, the quality is simply sublime - characters are sharp and the DVDs are filled with colour - one would expect the same quality from a soap or program aired in 2012 with a 4:3 ratio - I was not expecting that the quality could have improved so much but it did! The subtitles are synced, and to my knowledge fairly accurate.
The box in which it comes in is definitely of high-quality. It features first an outer box that slips onto a 'book'. Upon opening the book inside the outer box, there is a page for each DVD. Each page contains a slip for the DVD and beautiful drawings with Chinese characters - the DVDs themselves are protected by the slip and also another plastic slip. In conclusion, the Collectors Edition Boxset is the perfect edition for anyone who wants a real and fresh look into Journey to the West 1986.
End Notes
- The Collectors Edition Boxset 11DISC set and 10DISC set are, to my knowledge, the same. The difference would be that one title is simply referring to the number of discs contained, whereas the latter title refers to the number of discs of episodes. There was 1 disc with an interview that is not part of the series, hence meaning some titles overlook the extra disk stating 10DISC whereas another title shows you how many TOTAL discs there are.
- Region free and protection free - you can rip it, and play it on any new DVD player.
- If I am correct, there audio would be Mandarin (I remember hearing yoguay as 'devil' and altahmen as 'children').
- The subtitles are English, Chinese, Chinese Simplified and Japanese (or atleast that is what VobSub told me).
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