Tamra will get a full director’s cut DVD

From Dramabeans

Good news for fans of MBC’s Tamra the Island, which was shortened by four episodesin its original broadcast run and just wrapped this past weekend: The drama will be getting a director’s cut DVD set, which will contain all 20 of its originally planned episodes (rather than the edited-down 16-episode version).

Fans had rallied in defense of the series and launched a protest of MBC’s decision to cut the drama, circulating petitions, picketing in protest, and taking out multiple newspaper ads. They were unsuccessful in getting MBC to change its mind, but their extensive efforts (which are unprecedented in scope) did touch the hearts of the production team; fans even opened a bank account devoted to collecting funds on behalf of a 20-episode DVD set and received 1,100 responses within the first two days.

One member from the production team said, “It’s a difficult situation, but we were touched at the viewers’ petitions, so we decided to make a director’s cut DVD that restores the parts that had been cut out.”

In addition, Tamra the Island begins its Japanese broadcast on October 26.

Spellbound by Tamra, The Island

K-drama has never been so crack-like addictive.

That’s what I have to say about Tamra, The Island, a saguek-fantasy Korean drama which I’d just started watching 2 days ago.

I was quite hesitant to start on this drama in the beginning. I read the synopsis in Soompi thread and it didn’t appeal to me at all.  It’s a fantasy fusion saguek, that I could tolerate. I didn’t know much about the actors, not a good sign but still acceptable. But the worst thing that it’s all about a chamber pot and some funny people living in an island called Tamna (didn’t know it was Jeju back then, I thought it was some made up fictional island)! How ridiculous right? It cannot get worst than that, RIGHT?

Tamra will air complete version overseas, not at home

From Dramabeans

Despite fan furor, the decision to cut Tamra the Island down to 16 episodes still stands, but the MBC drama will be exported abroad with its 20 episodes intact. This mirrors the scenario for MBC’s similarly chopped Strike Love, which was cut to 16 in Korea but exported to Japan with all its original episodes.

Because MBC’s decision came relatively late, Tamra’s production team will be working to cut the remaining material down to size for the remainder of its MBC run. The drama’s first ten episodes were aired intact; beginning with the upcoming weekend, however, Episodes 11 through 16 will show re-worked material of the story that had originally been planned for Episodes 11 to 20. Tamra the Island had filmed much of its show prior to broadcast, but not all of it; the production now has some extra time to complete the filming for the last several episodes according to their original plan, even though those portions will not air in Korea.

What a weird, illogical mess. I’m thinking that if you’re a fan, you may want to wait for the complete version from the overseas broadcasts. Or a DVD release. (The drama has been licensed to air in Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand.)

The fans, meanwhile, are still furious and the campaign to save the show’s original vision is still raging; there are now more than 10,000 posts opposing the decision on the drama’s homepage and street protests have been organized. However, I doubt it will have an effect: If there was the least shot of getting MBC to change its mind, it was dashed over the weekend, when even in the midst of all this attention the drama failed to improve its 5% ratings. Sons of Sol Pharmacy, in the meantime, crushed its competitor as its story heads into its last phases, breaking the 40% ratings mark.

Fans are spitting mad at Tamra’s curtailment

From Dramabeans

Im Joo-hwan

When MBC announced that Tamra the Island was getting cut and ending early, they pissed off fans and even spurred them to publish a large ad in a daily newspaper protesting the decision. (As I said before, the ratings are low but this is a mania drama, meaning that the fans it has amassed are passionate — and vocal.)

The ad, which appeared on September 3, took the broadcasting industry to task for its vice of kowtowing to ratings numbers. It was organized and signed by members of the fan cafes for actors Hwang Chan-bin (who plays William) and Lee Sun-ho (who plays Yan).

At the outset, the drama’s original plan was for 24 episodes (although the last report put the number at 20), so this late-game announcement certainly makes things difficult on the production, who spent a year filming the drama in advance. MBC has said that their action is not strictly a cutting of the series, since they had already negotiated a term prior to the drama’s premiere that allowed the station to alter the number of episodes depending on the situation. That seems to me like splitting hairs on the issue, as though they want to calm angry fans with a technicality.

Tamra gets shortened to 16 episodes

From Dramabeans

Geez, what is MBC’s deal? First they butchered Strike Love’s ending — which already had a more fleshed-out ending filmed — and now they’re cutting their low-rated but well-received weekend drama Tamra the Island.

According to Group Eight, the drama’s production company, “We received the report from MBC that the broadcast will end with the 16th episode. As we prepared for 20 episodes, this is disappointing.”

Fan response is largely opposed to MBC’s move, saying that even if extensions are out of the question, to curtail a 20-episode drama to 16 episodes is absurd; furthermore, the drama’s own development will be impeded. Many statements opposing the decision are being posted on MBC’s drama homepage, and as of the source article’s printing on September 1, it had received 1,700 responses in protest. A further 1,179 were posted on another site, Agora.

Tamra has been lauded as a “premium drama” and called a fresh trendy sageuk, despite the ratings that have lingered around the 5% mark. That’s low, to be sure, but as I understand it, most of the drama had been filmed in advance. That means that a shortening of the drama’s run will require a lot of rushed editing. One broadcast station source expressed dismay that high-quality dramas have been unable to grab ratings numbers, and said, “If the broadcast stations cling too much to ratings numbers, they will cause adverse effects on the development of dramas.”