odilettanteLeave a comment

kzbay
answered your question “I think what’s most disappointing to me (even as someone who regularly…”

i’m waiting for subtitles but otherwise i know plenty people waiting for this drama, especially from the korean side, who have jumped onto this Pied Piper bandwagon. the k-netizen comments on the pilot episode were nothing but good reviews.

Oh, I’m glad to hear that! I thought the pilot was excellent, too, but I also know my tastes aren’t exactly mainstream. Plus the whole “no international site is hosting it” made me think this show isn’t getting any love.

C’mon my fellow international fans! Let’s get this show some love and subs!

Here’s the Dramafever request page.

Here’s the Viki request page.

We’re talking on twitter about submitting a request to darksmurfsubs but I haven’t been able to format a request post yet (because late subs are better than nothing), but if someone else magically submits a request post in the meantime, I won’t complain.

If anyone else has suggestions, let me know!

odilettanteLeave a comment

I think what’s most disappointing to me (even as someone who regularly doesn’t use DF) is that there is absolutely no buzz about Pied Piper. I mean, I’m pretty much the only person in the tag…? Like… I guess this show is my baby or something…?

But it’s SHIN mother-freakin’ HA KYUN and it’s from the production team that brought y’all Liar Game and it’s on tvN and and and… I don’t understand what I’m missing that makes everyone else ignore this drama.

Is it because there isn’t an idol in it? Is it because all the leads are in their thirties or older? Is it because there’s no supernatural hijinks like body-swapping or aliens or ghosts?

I don’t get it. Honestly. The first episode was quality and I’m only expecting greater things to come from it once we set up the whole premise (and that ending has me impatient to download the next ep). I’m not expecting it to be a huge ratings monster like Signal, but I think it’ll have a respectable showing.

What sort of campaign do I have to lead to get this show the attention it deserves so it’ll get subbed somewhere so more people can watch it?

I found it strange too that DF doesn’t have pied piper. I thought they had a deal with tvn. Are they really not gonna sub it? Do you have any info?

odilettanteLeave a comment

Yeah, they have an exclusive deal with tvn (for a few years, I think?). So it’s weird to me that they don’t even have a place-holder page set-up for Pied Piper. There’s nothing when I search for it. It’s not listed in their “Coming Soon” section (which lists a lot dramas, even ones that won’t air for a couple of months). On the random off-chance they don’t have exclusive rights for this particular drama, I have tried searching for it being subbed elsewhere but nope. There’s only a fanpage on Viki that’s pretty much dead.

So I have no idea why Dramafever is skipping this one, especially since it’s airing right after Cheese in the Trap ended so it’s not like they weren’t expecting it. More’s the pity, too, because I really enjoyed the first ep and knowing this production crew, it’s only going to get more intense.

one of the nice things ive found about Viki too is that if you have the timed comments running (which tbf is a huge mixed bag) and something is translated really poorly, someone will probably correct it. DF doesn’t really ever correct anything

odilettanteLeave a comment

and having forgot to put the rest of my comment… or someone will usually end up fixing the sub later since its not locked up to being able to do so

I personally don’t use the timed comments if I’m watching Viki on streaming, but I do find that I’m more forgiving when it comes to fan-subbed mistakes since I know it’s volunteer and sometimes whomever might have subbing that segment might not necessarily know exactly the correct translation at times. But generally, thanks to so many eyes on it, it’ll be caught and corrected eventually.

Hey! I was wondering why everyone has a problem with DF subs? I’ve heard complaints about it ever since I got into dramas three years ago but I don’t understand the technicals of subbing/translating and really just didn’t think about it as long as I could watch a drama so I never joined the bandwagon with that. I was hoping you could enlighten me? Thank you!

odilettanteLeave a comment

There’s deeper history with how DF has usurped the fandom-run drama subbing community that I won’t really get into here, but just be aware that it’s there as an undercurrent to the frustrations with DF in general.

The subs themselves are… okay, I guess… but it’s more of a “here’s the gist” instead of a faithful interpretation. Like if you’re going to read the Bible and are happy with “The Message” translation, which makes for a good read, but isn’t as accurate as, say, the ESV translation (which maybe some don’t like because it’s not as easy/fun to read).

There’s often elements where the subbers decide how to translate something to interpret a scene but they actually are wrong by taking away from the actual wording. The Korean language is delightful in the way it plays with wording (so many puns!) and also there’s a vagueness to the language which often leads to misconceptions that further plots. I’ll direct you to my proverbial straw that broke my camel’s back (and let’s just say I never in my wildest dreams imagined I’d be arguing on the internet about condoms in a kdrama, but there you go).

Personally, I’ve always been fond of the fan-subs. My first encounter with dramas was through the WITHS2 community (and you’ll notice that on a lot of the pre-2011 dramas, DF uses fan-subs taken from communities such as those), and today my preference are the Viki subs. Of course, fan subs aren’t perfect, either, but I feel that they work hard to keep true to the original wording and intent of scenes than the so-called professional subbing of DF.

I always really want to support DF just because they’ve helped to make dramas so much more accessible, but their business practices, attempts at monopolies, and mistakes in subbing give me serious pause.

odilettanteLeave a comment

I feel like there hasn’t been any buzz for Pied Piper but the first ep is pretty excellent so far. Exotic locales; great cinematography (the standard tvN vaseline lens is non-existent!); Shin Ha Kyun being delightfully charming and just, y’know, the brilliant actor that he is; Sung Dong Il being Sung Dong Il (aka awesome), and Jo Yoon Hee being kick-ass and I’m already in lub with her character. The foreign actors were actually pretty good, too. Yeah, okay, some awkward English, but apparently dramas can’t have a show without awkward English in them.

Someone said DF isn’t carrying this show, which is bizarre to me, because if you’re gonna have a monopoly on all the tvN shows, you gotta sub all the tvN shows. As much as I take issue with their subs, I still do respect their power in making shows accessible and viewable to a large demographic.