It is difficult to see today in the 1980s

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The last miniseries FX “SHōGUN”, which modified 10 episodes of James Claville’s epic novel of the year 1975 of the same name, achieved great success. I got strong classifications and strong reviews Renew it for two other seasonsAlthough the source material was already covered. We don’t know how the series can maintain its quality with the disappearance of two people from its best characters, but it will be interesting at least see the show.

With all this talk about the 2024 show, it is easy to forget that “SHōgun” has already been adapted to a TV program forty years ago. These water were only five episodes (which spanned six in subsequent media publications), and they were all released on NBC over one week in September 1980. Series were not well received in Japan (more about it a little), but they were huge classifications in the United States.

Despite its great success, the 1980 “SHōGUN” is surprisingly difficult to get your hands these days. It is not available for free on any flow service, so you have to pay some money directly on the sites Like AmazonOr YouTube or Rocco to see it. (There is also a decent chance that a DVD disk is available in your local library, so definitely check there first to see if you can spare yourself twelve dollars.)

It is not clear why it is difficult to find “SHōGun” for the year 1980 to find broadcasting, but part of it may be surprisingly deadly aging. In the aftermath of the excellent 2024 series, the original display drawing for filming the Japanese series characters. The 1980 version does not embody Japanese characters as well, nor does it provide translations of their dialogue.

It is easy to see the attractiveness of this approach several decades: The bidder Eric Berkovit understood that such a huge novel was fully impossible to adapt, so he simplified things by keeping the audience limited to Blackmoren’s perspective. This helped keep an American audience more related to Blackthorne, as we felt confused and frustrated from the language barrier to his side. Blackthorne frustration is an element It was largely reduced in the ’24 series; We know that the Cosmo Jarvis version of the character is struggling to understand culture, but we do not feel this struggle extensively.

Perhaps it seemed to be a reasonable creative option for Bercovici to hold Japanese figures at the length of the arm at that time, but the problem is that Toraga and Mariko Are you easily two of the most interesting characters from the book?And it seems that it is not that the series do not dive into the area of ​​their head as much as the book did. The approach also appeared as not respected for Japanese viewers, and many of them were Flasting historical inaccuracy The general lack of depth of Japanese characters.

1980 “Showrunner Bercovici” Stir up Last year, when he criticized the new offer for not giving the priorities of his American fans. “It is very technician and very difficult for an American audience to pay their grip,” he said. “I spoke to many people who saw it, and they said:” I had to stop it because I do not understand it. “So film makers at The New One don’t really care about the American audience.”

This is a strange criticism for several reasons, with one It is clear that the American public loved the new show Despite everything that Bercovici’s friends think. Although many viewers of the TV program did not know much about the 1600s in Japan, they respected an offer that trusts in their intelligence. When it comes to the most shocking aspects of samurai culture, American viewers themselves have proven ready to learn more or just embrace this confusion. The 2024 series did not need the covers of matters, because the audience was very ready to meet them at their level.

The other issue is that “SHōGUN” (2024) was clearly that it was an international ambition that wanted to do properly by its Japanese viewers as well as American viewers. Its Japanese characters have allowed to be homogeneous alongside Blackthorne, a decision that was not just a warmth in the book but made a more accurate and attractive story. Bercovici expressed this to some extent, noting that he was “happy” they went to a different direction “because I did not want to copy my cross.”

But regardless of what Bercovici said, the 1980 series still deserves a snapshot just for a glimpse of how the American TV scene developed. People often complain that American TV has been reduced over the years, but the difference between the ’80 and ‘series of’ 24 proves that this is not clear and direct as you think. You can also see, with the chain, the effect of the increasing Japanese presence in American culture. Part of the reason that the American masses were on board with the most focused on Japan because of Japan Japanese shows and movies More popular with contemporary Americans than in 1980.

“SHōGun” (1980) showed some kind of approach that the drama will need in the Japanese period to be successful in the United States; “SHōGUN” (2024) showed how the needs of the American masses (or rather, depicting their needs) in the next few decades.