From Dramabeans
Good news for Tamra the Island fans: Not only is the mania trendy-sageuk series getting a director’s cut DVD set, it’s been announced that the DVD set will have an extra episode.
The drama had been planned for 20 episodes (and filmed months in advance) before MBC cut it down to 16 episodes due to low ratings despite fan fervor and general praise. That sparked massive fan outcry and an extended campaign first to save the series, then to release a full DVD set with the unaired episodes. The former failed, but the latter was successful. As a result, beginning with Episode 11, the production had to quickly edit down the remaining ten episodes into six, leaving a lot of material on the cutting room floor.
The DVD is good news for fans who felt that emotions changed too quickly in the broadcast version, since a lot of development was omitted for time. In particular, the box set promises to show Park Kyu’s (Im Joo-hwan) management of the port opening and its problems with “much more detailed development.”
In total, it will contain an extra episode’s worth of material from its original plan. Group Eight CEO Song Byung-joon explained on November 10, “After editing the complete series, the DVD came to 21 parts. … The video editing is complete, and now the sound editing is being worked on.” Note that this does not mean there is additional materialafter the series’ end; it means that when the material was re-edited into its originally planned components, they came to an extra hour’s worth.
The DVD set will release in early December. The full series will also be re-broadcast next year on cable television, beginning in March.
