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Editorial Reviews
Dukman (lee yo won) was born a twin but was abandoned as a baby and sent to a place far away by her father, King Jinpyeong (park ye jin) in order to protect her from being killed by an influenced royal court lady, Mishil (ko hyeong jeong) who tries to snatch away the throne from the royal successor. Dukman was later brought back to the Silla palace, where she joined forces with her twin sister Princess Cheonmyong to oppose Mishil. However, Mishil devised sinister plans to have the two Silla princesses exiled from the kingdom, and in a secretive battle, Princess Cheonmyong was accidentally killed. But Princess Dukman shrewdly enlisted the help of General Kim Yusin (uhm tae woong) and eliminated her archenemy Mishil. She then became Queen Seon Duk, the first female ruler of the Silla kingdom. This drama is about a story of a beautiful queen, who has to give up her love to save the people and thus, leaving behind many brilliant achievements...
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a great series, it has everything. The characters are excellent and the story has a lot of twists to keep you on the edge of your seat. Misil is so bad she is good. The woman who plays her Go Hyun Jung is so amazing, she plays the villainess to perfection. Really worth watching and entertaining. Looking forward to watching the next Volume.
And thanks to Amazon, the first dvds were defective and once reported they were replaced in days.
And thanks to Amazon, the first dvds were defective and once reported they were replaced in days.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
This is volume 1 of a 3 volume dvd set of the TV series airing in 2009-2010 in the US. This is a top quality south korean tv drama which is receiving rave reviews globally. This month (dec '09), Volume 2 of this set has just come out... As soon as Vol 3 comes out I'm getting it too!
This story is extremely addictive! - I warn you it will make you stay up till the wee hours if you are not extremely disciplined. At time of this writing the US broadcast of the weekly series is probably somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd volume. I bought the 1st volume because I missed the earlier episodes, and because it's well worth owning and sharing with your family. As with other MBC, KBS or SBS historical korean dramas of this decade, this video set is clearly and expertly translated with english subtitling (including all idioms and colloquialisms to english equivalents). Compared to american tv historical dramas, this as with similar kdramas is more addicting, higher production quality, more accurate historical period recreation, and MUCH longer lasting enjoyment. Plenty of eye candy of all types, characters with depth, intellgent script, interwoven plot lines, cliffhangers, martial arts fights and wars (not gross), political intrigue (not dry), family and romance themes, country and individual economic struggles, etc.
Yes, as with american dramas, these script writers take many liberties with the historical true story in order to flesh out historical gaps and to make a riveting plot line - and they succeed - it's such a great story we really don't care - we just enjoy the story... and then many non-korean viewers get very interested to learn about the actual history behind the fictional drama! So we learn the real history one way or the other.) It has overall excellent production, costuming, historical period re-creation, video quality (not HD or blu-ray but with excellent quality flatpanel tv, dvd player and a monster ultra hdmi cable (yes, brand DOES make a difference - you get what you pay for in signal quality), this dvd set is equivalent in video clarity, color depth, etc., to my blu-ray discs).
Thoughts on k-dramas in general (some US amazon customers may be unfamiliar with this genre):
I find that the good kdramas are well worth watching - and worth owning, too. And others who would ordinarily not be interested in foreign video and not have any desire to watch subtitled foreign dramas find themselves hooked after 1 or 2 episodes... what's more, people find that typically women, men and kids all enjoy these - especially the historical dramas, which are very relevant human stories... These are not "chick flicks", they are designed as intelligent family entertainment.
Other historical drama greats are Dae Jang Geum (the one most people new to kdramas start on), Hae Shin ('Emperor of the Sea' about Jang Bo Go), Admiral Yi Sun Shin (famous humane leader and military strategist that saved korea from two samurai invasions in the late 1500's; military historians study his activities today, many judge him as better than Lord Nelson), Sangdo (The Way of Trade), Hur Jun (famous historical doctor), Damo (female policewoman), etc. Many of these are available in Region 1 for the US market. You can often get them at amazon... if not, then look at hanbooks or yesasia.
This addiction got me to get a second dvd player for playing all region dvd's, and it was well worth it - besides, it's good to have a backup. The one I have I got at amazon (search "multi region dvd player"). It's a great player and does everything - and more - see my review on it (Pioneer Dv610av-s Silver Multi Region Code Free Hdmi 1080p Upconverting DVD Player with SACD and DVD-Audio Playback). Has various type output connectors. Plays my european and asian movie DVD's just fine, and of course all american DVD's as well. Also plays CD's and has other neat features. Bookmarks the location of where I stopped at, too. Most foreign movies and tv dramas are not yet coming out on blu-ray, though that will probably change soon... so far, blu-ray capable multi-region dvd players are WAY overpriced, but perhaps that too, will change soon. Not necessary to have blu-ray for very fine video playback quality on regular DVDs, if you have high quality video equipment.
Postscript to my comments on this video set:
1). One nit: One disc, one spot on my Volume 1 set, during episode 2 got stuck partway through, but it was fine at the next episode, and everything else played fine on this set of the first 20 episodes. This hangup happened at exactly the same spot on the disc on both my Pioneer and my Samsung excellent DVD players, so something was wrong with the disc burn there, I guess. But I'm so happy with the entire set of DVD's and these are not always easy to get (since not everyone sells them and they go out of print after a year or so, with english subtitling), that I will overlook it just this once (if it happened more, I'd send the set back for a swap copy). I didn't miss out on key parts of the story, and if I was curious I'd go online to see the tidbit I missed... but it wasn't in a key part anyway.
2). WOW I've been watching Queen Seondeok Volume 1 dvd set and it's a very high quality video, visually, when you watch it using high quality equipment. WOW it really pops!! - seems like the filmmakers really made this a high-quality film, technically. I'm wowed by it, can't say it enough. The video and sound quality of these discs, using my multi region Pioneer DV-610AV- player is really fantastic! Surprisingly, it's equal to the visual and sound quality played with blu-ray discs, using my high-quality top chip blu-ray (or upconverting for regular DVD's) player, displayed over quality monster HDMI cable to my Kuro Elite plasma tv. I watched same Queen Seondeok disc on both. All the eye candy costumes, indoor and outdoor scenery (day and night) etc. really pop in color richness and visual detail, down to hair, sweat, whiskers, various skin tones, various textures and the costume and set details. So in terms of visual & sound quality, using a quality upconverting 1080 DVD player, quality HDMI cable and fine TV, this DVD set really really delivers!
Comments on kdramas generally, relevant for this Queen Seondeok set and others, for US & western audiences:
Many of the kdramas can be found online for free if you can stand low picture quality and watching an hour at a time on a pc, which I hate. Top-rated kdrama stories such as this one are so well made that it's really really worth watching them on your nice big TV at home. Try it - it's amazing how dim and flat and awful the online version is compared to getting it on broadcast TV or on DVDs. If you get them on disc, be sure to avoid formats that are not actually DVD - the other formats are not fine video quality, but cheap recordings of originals... you may save money but for non dvd quality you might as well watch on the pc... i.e., don't bother. You can usually purchase them new from amazon, amazon marketplace (e.g. videocity), or hanbooks or yesasia; note many of the english-subtitled ones (except for Dae Jang Geum) go out of print after a year or so and become hard or impossible to find. Sometimes you can rent the dvds for cheap at korean-owned markets that rent movie discs as part of their business - but make sure these have subtitles! Most of the clientele of these stores are native korean speakers so often their dvds don't include the subtitling.
Kdramas are done both as historical dramas, and as modern dramas and soaps. But even the soaps are better than american soaps - even people who hate american soaps can enjoy some kdrama soaps.
Hopefully the american makers will eventually learn something from this.
Why the local or national nonprofit stations in the US haven't glommed onto these videos is a mystery... Not everyone in the US has access to the broadcast channels that play the historical or modern kdramas.
Why South Korea on the whole doesn't market these products more actively, effectively and widely to western audiences, we don't know either. Electronics and cars are not the only quality export products of south korea. These video dramas are an export market in themselves that have growth potential; as they are popular globally, they have already generated an increase in world tourism to korea and its historical sites. The US has a number of k-drama fan clubs (chicago, philadelphia, california) and scattered fans around the country, and you can find their websites online. The korean tv networks have on occasion attempted to tap into the US interest, but not in any effective way nor with any effective followup... Guess they think we are at heart ignorant barbarians. All that does is perpetuate the non-awareness.
Yet, these shows are a great way to stimulate an interest or at least awareness of korean culture, both modern and historical (even if the historical dramas are heavily fictionalized versions)... Pre-western Korean history is not usually taught as part of world history in the US school system, in spite of the rich melting pot that makes up the US population... Most americans are woefully ignorant of non-european, non-american world history. This is a rich lode to tap for great story-making, at the very least, if not also cross-cultural interest.
More frustratingly, some fine historical kdramas are not fully translated - apparently the makers didn't feel it worth the investment to subtitle the complete story for western audiences... (but since they don't market their products effectively to western audiences they are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy!). Read more ›
This story is extremely addictive! - I warn you it will make you stay up till the wee hours if you are not extremely disciplined. At time of this writing the US broadcast of the weekly series is probably somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd volume. I bought the 1st volume because I missed the earlier episodes, and because it's well worth owning and sharing with your family. As with other MBC, KBS or SBS historical korean dramas of this decade, this video set is clearly and expertly translated with english subtitling (including all idioms and colloquialisms to english equivalents). Compared to american tv historical dramas, this as with similar kdramas is more addicting, higher production quality, more accurate historical period recreation, and MUCH longer lasting enjoyment. Plenty of eye candy of all types, characters with depth, intellgent script, interwoven plot lines, cliffhangers, martial arts fights and wars (not gross), political intrigue (not dry), family and romance themes, country and individual economic struggles, etc.
Yes, as with american dramas, these script writers take many liberties with the historical true story in order to flesh out historical gaps and to make a riveting plot line - and they succeed - it's such a great story we really don't care - we just enjoy the story... and then many non-korean viewers get very interested to learn about the actual history behind the fictional drama! So we learn the real history one way or the other.) It has overall excellent production, costuming, historical period re-creation, video quality (not HD or blu-ray but with excellent quality flatpanel tv, dvd player and a monster ultra hdmi cable (yes, brand DOES make a difference - you get what you pay for in signal quality), this dvd set is equivalent in video clarity, color depth, etc., to my blu-ray discs).
Thoughts on k-dramas in general (some US amazon customers may be unfamiliar with this genre):
I find that the good kdramas are well worth watching - and worth owning, too. And others who would ordinarily not be interested in foreign video and not have any desire to watch subtitled foreign dramas find themselves hooked after 1 or 2 episodes... what's more, people find that typically women, men and kids all enjoy these - especially the historical dramas, which are very relevant human stories... These are not "chick flicks", they are designed as intelligent family entertainment.
Other historical drama greats are Dae Jang Geum (the one most people new to kdramas start on), Hae Shin ('Emperor of the Sea' about Jang Bo Go), Admiral Yi Sun Shin (famous humane leader and military strategist that saved korea from two samurai invasions in the late 1500's; military historians study his activities today, many judge him as better than Lord Nelson), Sangdo (The Way of Trade), Hur Jun (famous historical doctor), Damo (female policewoman), etc. Many of these are available in Region 1 for the US market. You can often get them at amazon... if not, then look at hanbooks or yesasia.
This addiction got me to get a second dvd player for playing all region dvd's, and it was well worth it - besides, it's good to have a backup. The one I have I got at amazon (search "multi region dvd player"). It's a great player and does everything - and more - see my review on it (Pioneer Dv610av-s Silver Multi Region Code Free Hdmi 1080p Upconverting DVD Player with SACD and DVD-Audio Playback). Has various type output connectors. Plays my european and asian movie DVD's just fine, and of course all american DVD's as well. Also plays CD's and has other neat features. Bookmarks the location of where I stopped at, too. Most foreign movies and tv dramas are not yet coming out on blu-ray, though that will probably change soon... so far, blu-ray capable multi-region dvd players are WAY overpriced, but perhaps that too, will change soon. Not necessary to have blu-ray for very fine video playback quality on regular DVDs, if you have high quality video equipment.
Postscript to my comments on this video set:
1). One nit: One disc, one spot on my Volume 1 set, during episode 2 got stuck partway through, but it was fine at the next episode, and everything else played fine on this set of the first 20 episodes. This hangup happened at exactly the same spot on the disc on both my Pioneer and my Samsung excellent DVD players, so something was wrong with the disc burn there, I guess. But I'm so happy with the entire set of DVD's and these are not always easy to get (since not everyone sells them and they go out of print after a year or so, with english subtitling), that I will overlook it just this once (if it happened more, I'd send the set back for a swap copy). I didn't miss out on key parts of the story, and if I was curious I'd go online to see the tidbit I missed... but it wasn't in a key part anyway.
2). WOW I've been watching Queen Seondeok Volume 1 dvd set and it's a very high quality video, visually, when you watch it using high quality equipment. WOW it really pops!! - seems like the filmmakers really made this a high-quality film, technically. I'm wowed by it, can't say it enough. The video and sound quality of these discs, using my multi region Pioneer DV-610AV- player is really fantastic! Surprisingly, it's equal to the visual and sound quality played with blu-ray discs, using my high-quality top chip blu-ray (or upconverting for regular DVD's) player, displayed over quality monster HDMI cable to my Kuro Elite plasma tv. I watched same Queen Seondeok disc on both. All the eye candy costumes, indoor and outdoor scenery (day and night) etc. really pop in color richness and visual detail, down to hair, sweat, whiskers, various skin tones, various textures and the costume and set details. So in terms of visual & sound quality, using a quality upconverting 1080 DVD player, quality HDMI cable and fine TV, this DVD set really really delivers!
Comments on kdramas generally, relevant for this Queen Seondeok set and others, for US & western audiences:
Many of the kdramas can be found online for free if you can stand low picture quality and watching an hour at a time on a pc, which I hate. Top-rated kdrama stories such as this one are so well made that it's really really worth watching them on your nice big TV at home. Try it - it's amazing how dim and flat and awful the online version is compared to getting it on broadcast TV or on DVDs. If you get them on disc, be sure to avoid formats that are not actually DVD - the other formats are not fine video quality, but cheap recordings of originals... you may save money but for non dvd quality you might as well watch on the pc... i.e., don't bother. You can usually purchase them new from amazon, amazon marketplace (e.g. videocity), or hanbooks or yesasia; note many of the english-subtitled ones (except for Dae Jang Geum) go out of print after a year or so and become hard or impossible to find. Sometimes you can rent the dvds for cheap at korean-owned markets that rent movie discs as part of their business - but make sure these have subtitles! Most of the clientele of these stores are native korean speakers so often their dvds don't include the subtitling.
Kdramas are done both as historical dramas, and as modern dramas and soaps. But even the soaps are better than american soaps - even people who hate american soaps can enjoy some kdrama soaps.
Hopefully the american makers will eventually learn something from this.
Why the local or national nonprofit stations in the US haven't glommed onto these videos is a mystery... Not everyone in the US has access to the broadcast channels that play the historical or modern kdramas.
Why South Korea on the whole doesn't market these products more actively, effectively and widely to western audiences, we don't know either. Electronics and cars are not the only quality export products of south korea. These video dramas are an export market in themselves that have growth potential; as they are popular globally, they have already generated an increase in world tourism to korea and its historical sites. The US has a number of k-drama fan clubs (chicago, philadelphia, california) and scattered fans around the country, and you can find their websites online. The korean tv networks have on occasion attempted to tap into the US interest, but not in any effective way nor with any effective followup... Guess they think we are at heart ignorant barbarians. All that does is perpetuate the non-awareness.
Yet, these shows are a great way to stimulate an interest or at least awareness of korean culture, both modern and historical (even if the historical dramas are heavily fictionalized versions)... Pre-western Korean history is not usually taught as part of world history in the US school system, in spite of the rich melting pot that makes up the US population... Most americans are woefully ignorant of non-european, non-american world history. This is a rich lode to tap for great story-making, at the very least, if not also cross-cultural interest.
More frustratingly, some fine historical kdramas are not fully translated - apparently the makers didn't feel it worth the investment to subtitle the complete story for western audiences... (but since they don't market their products effectively to western audiences they are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy!). Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I bought this series two years ago and loved it! The only problem I had with the discs was what one reviewer stated, that disc one got stuck part way through episode two, and all the rest of the discs played fine. A few months ago I sat down to watch the series again and now almost every disc will not play past the half way point! I have A LOT of DVDs and this has never happened. But there is good news! The entire series is available in a boxed set from Yesasia.com. It is the Korean release with English subtitles (which are pretty good)and is on sale for $230. I've only watched two discs so far but have had no problems. Apparently MBC Korea has something that MBC America does not... quality control! Almost forgot, there are extras on these discs (no subtitles) that include interviews, photo shoots and outtakes.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
There are issues with these box sets
Queen Seon Deok is a captivating historical drama. The quality of MBC America's box sets is lacking though. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Hi
Bought box 1, I had to get the rest
This was fun to watch. I had to get the other seasons and it was hard to wait for the other two seasons to arrive. Now my son has borrowed by set to watch it.
Published 2 months ago by bonbon
One of the best Korean period dramas, but DVD falls short.
I won't get into how great this series is as others have already done a fine job of that. I'll just say that after watching 20 episodes online I already decided I had to own the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by John816
A Different World
I began watching this by accident on a local foreign language TV station and became hooked. This costume drama series has it all. Read more
Published 13 months ago by MidMom
Korean movie The Great Queen Seondeok
Great movie. Well directed and true historic account of the life of the Queen. Great action and plot. Not like some of those cheap Chinese movies.
Published 17 months ago by Robert Cunningham
the Great Queen Seondeok Vol. 1
Thought I had given a review on this Seller! Anyway this Seller stands out among the seller I've had to deal with. I would greatly recommend this Seller to all. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Armando Corona
the great queen seondeok
the story line is perfect the cast and choreogophy are great but the dvd's suck out of the first 20 chapters only 5 have had no problems and i lost have of the story line
Published 22 months ago by larry
too much scratch on DVD
The drama was great, but the product I bought had severe scratches and I had to give up 1/2 of contents.
Published 23 months ago by Son
THIS FAKE AND MEDIOCRE PRODUCTION
After watching some great Chinese productions (The Banquet, The Golden Flower etc.), I bought this based upon the five star rating here. It is garbage, period.
Published on March 20, 2010 by Mayank K. Kothari
excellent follow-up
Following a slight problem with the quality of the DVD Great Queen of Seon Deok, the follow up was excellent. Read more
Published on January 31, 2010 by Arie C. D. Duijn
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