Just A Start Of Meteor Garden (2001) VS. Meteor Garden (2018)

Nothing beats the original? Not really! Newer is always better? Not really! Older is always better? Not really! This is what I keep in mind in dealing with various remakes of old school stuff or foreign adaptations or localization of certain series. Meteor Garden adapts its story from Hana Yori dango for the Chinese audience. the 2001 version was made in Taiwan while the 2018 version is made in China yet with Angie Chai (the original producer) still calling the shots. The 17 year time gap means much technology has improved -- like the use of smartphones has replaced the use of regular cellular phones. The setting, the clothes, etc. has been different. My college days are not the college days of the new batch today!

I decided to give Meteor Garden (2018) a shot after I was done with What's Wrong With Secretary Kim. I was thinking that there's such a thing as in the shadow of the former's greatness. I was thinking of how much I often praised Meteor Garden (2001) to be the best adaptation of Hana Yori Dango, I expressed how much I didn't like Boys Over Flowers from South Korea (all the while praising the Korean version of City Hunter which was based on a Japanese anime) because its version of Makino Tsukushi (Jan Di) had a very lousy actress in Ku Hye Sun. I just couldn't take myself to like the Korean version. But what about the Chinese version this 2018 compared to the Taiwanese version in 2001.

I could give my biases towards the newer version -- maybe it's because of the cast and acting quality. I admit, filming quality and special effects are now better. Having the classic manga scene where Tsukushi kicked Tsukasa at the head was really something (which I wish happened in the 2001 version) was also a nice touch. However, I still think about the quality of acting or the fact that there may be the nostalgic biases one way or another -- which I don't think is always the case. I admit, I do like the remake of Willy Wonka over the older version (which I saw as a child) or that I actually enjoy the Heisei era (and new era is coming in soon) over the Showa era. Can't really tell what's causing my biases right now towards the 2018 version of Meteor Garden.

I would like to talk about the acting. I was thinking of how much the Taiwanese F4 wowed me with their performance especially Jerry Yan. I still can't forget how I watched shows starring Barbie Xu-Wang because she's a good actress -- even if she's not really that attractive IMHO. Mao Inoue may look better than Barbie -- all the while I think the former's acting wasn't all too impressive. Barbie IMHO is the superior Tsukushi due to her good acting. I used to compare Vicki Zhao-Huang's performance as Yi Ping that it didn't hold a candle to Leanne Liu's version -- all the while I compared Barbie to Leanne in terms of performance. I even think Shen Yue doesn't hold a candle to Barbie! Now, I remembered comparing Jerry Yan to 1970s heartthrob Chin Han and ridiculed the performance Leo Ku -- all the while now I'm ridiculing Dylan Wang as his performance doesn't hold a candle to Jerry! For me, the acting is just quite FLAT and not as good as the 2001 version.

Right now, I feel we've entered the era of really bland remakes. The Power Rangers (2017) movie was just one example. The others may also include Beauty and the Beast (2017) which IMHO lacked the emotions of the 1991 classic film. I feel Meteor Garden (2018) is no exemption from what I'd call entries of the era of really bland remakes. But I could be wrong and I still need to finish watching it. Then again, I may consider watching something else if said show still bores me!