Meteor Garden
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| Meteor Garden | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Also known as | 流星花園 Liúxīng Huāyuán |
| Genre | Romance Drama Comedy |
| Based on | Boys Over Flowers by Yoko Kamio |
| Directed by | Cai Yuexun (蔡岳勳) |
| Starring | Barbie Hsu Jerry Yan Vic Chou Ken Chu Vanness Wu |
| Opening theme | "情非得已" ("Cant Help Falling In Love With You") by Harlem Yu |
| Ending theme | "你要的愛" ("The Love You Want") by Penny Tai |
| Country of origin | Taiwan |
| Original languages | Mandarin Taiwanese |
| No. of episodes | 27 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Angie Chai (柴智屏) |
| Production location | Taipei |
| Production company | Comic Ritz International Production |
| Release | |
| Original network | Chinese Television System (CTS) |
| Original release | 12 April – 16 August 2001 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Meteor Rain (supplementary series) Meteor Garden II (sequel) Meteor Garden 2018 (Chinese remake) |
| Related shows | Hana Yori Dango (2005, Japan) Boys Over Flowers (2009, South Korea) F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers (2021, Thailand) |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Meteor Garden (Chinese: 流星花園; pinyin: Liúxīng Huāyuán) is a 2001 Taiwanese drama starring Barbie Hsu, Jerry Yan, Vic Chou, Ken Chu and Vanness Wu. It is the first live-action television adaptation of the Japanese shōjo manga series Boys Over Flowers (花より男子, Hana Yori Dango) by Yoko Kamio. It was produced by Comic Ritz International Production (可米瑞智國際藝能有限公司) with Angie Chai (柴智屏) as producer and directed by Cai Yuexun (蔡岳勳).
It was followed by its sequel Meteor Garden II, as well as the Japanese live-action television adaptation, Hana Yori Dango, its sequel Hana Yori Dango Returns, the South Korean Boys Over Flowers, and its remake from China, Meteor Garden 2018.
Synopsis[]
The story centers around a poor teenage girl, Dong Shan Cai (Barbie Shu), who at the insistence of her parents goes to a university for rich people. The university is dominated by Dao Ming Si (Jerry Yan), Hua Ze Lei (Vic Chou), Mei Zuo (Vanness Wu) and Xi Men (Ken Chu)—four rich, handsome but arrogant students collectively known as the 'F4', short for 'Flower 4'. They are heirs to four rich and influential families in Taiwan. They terrorize the school by handing out red cards to those they do not like, which allows other students to bully the victims until they leave the school.
After one of Shan Cai's friends receives the wrath of the F4's leader, Dao Ming Si, she stands up to and berates him, which in turn results in a red card of her own. Shan Cai hates the arrogant and rude Dao Ming Si. Her persistence in standing up for what is right gradually gains the F4's respect and Dào Ming Si starts to fall for her. Shan Cai is attracted to the silent Hua Ze Lei in the beginning. But Dao Ming Si's constant yet annoying efforts has her question her feelings for both Hua Ze Lei and Dao Ming Si.
Later in the series, Dao Ming Si's mother comes to Taiwan. She instantly dislikes Shan Cai because of her poor background. Both Dao Ming Si and Shan Cai face hurdles his mother throws their way to separate them. Though Shan Cai does not profess her love for him yet, Dao Ming Si remains determined. The series show the journey of Dao Ming Si and Shan Cai's feelings for one another.
Cast[]
Main[]
| Drama character | Actor | Manga character | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dong Shan Cai (董杉菜) | Barbie Hsu | Tsukushi Makino | She is a hardworking, tough girl who always defends the weak. Her name translates as 'weed'. She first likes Hua Ze Lei, but then starts to have feelings for Dao Ming Si. As her life gets tougher, she just keeps enduring, earning the respect of all the F4 boys and soon becomes good friends with them |
| Dao Ming Si (道明寺) | Jerry Yan | Tsukasa Domyoji | He is the stubborn, hot-headed leader of F4, and is distrustful of everyone but his three childhood friends. He thinks money can solve anything. He is at first is angry at Shan Cai for her defiance but, over time, he comes to love her. |
| Hua Ze Lei (花澤類) | Vic Chou | Rui Hanazawa | He is a quiet, superior but a kind boy whose opinion Dao Ming Si relies on. His friendship with Dao Ming Si almost ends over Shan Cai. He loves his childhood friend, Jing. He becomes Shan Cai's protector and close friend, and later falls in love with her. He is the most sensible of F4. |
| Xi Men (西門) | Ken Chu | Sojiro Nishikado | He is a fun-loving playboy of F4 that only date girls no longer than a week. He is nice to Shan Cai. Xiao You is attracted to him. |
| Mei Zuo (美作) | Vanness Wu | Akira Mimasaka | He is the other playboy and legitimate member of F4. Also, he is the joker who is very loyal to his group of friends. He is also nice to Shan Cai. |
Supporting[]
| Drama character | Actor | Manga character | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shan Cai's mother | Wang Yue (王月) | Chieko Makino | While she is a loving mother, she is desperate to get Shan Cai married to a rich man. She is the one who uses some contacts she has to get Shan Cai into the F4's school. |
| Shan Cai's father | Dong Zhi Cheng (董至成) | Haruo Makino | He is always sneaking food and seems to have no luck with his job which he later loses. He seems to always cause the family financial problems. |
| Xiao You (小優) | Rainie Yang | Yuki Matsuoka | She is Shan Cai's best friend and has romantic feelings towards Xi Men. |
| Teng Tang Jing (藤堂靜) |
Winnie Qian (錢韋杉) |
Shizuka Todo | She is very close to Lei. While he loves her, she seems to see him as a younger brother most of the time. He eventually follows her to Paris. |
| Li Zhen (李真) | Ye An Tin (葉安婷) |
Sakurako Sanjo | She at first seems to be Shan Cai's only friend at school, but later betrays her. |
| Chen Qinghe (陳青和) |
Edward Ou | Kazuya Aoike | He is a childhood school friend of Shan Cai whose father gains a sudden fortune and joins her school. He is also in love with Shan Cai but is willing to stay her friend only. |
| Dao Ming Zhuang (道明莊) |
Mary Hsu (徐華鳳) |
Tsubaki Domyoji | She is Dao Ming Si's older sister. She is very violent and always seems to hit Dao Ming Si. |
| Dao Ming Feng (道明楓) |
Zhen Xiu Zhen (甄秀珍) | Kaede Domyoji | She is Dao Ming Si's controlling mother. She is very strict and everything mostly goes her way. She uses many different cruel ways to get Shan Cai away from Dao Ming Si. |
| He Yuan Zi (何原滋) | Ke Huan Ru (柯奐如) |
Shigeru Okawahara | She is a strong-willed girl who is pressured into an arranged marriage with Si by both of their families in order to merge companies. She asks to be Shan Cai's friend and Shan Cai cannot say no as she likes Xiao Zi despite being engaged to Si. Xiao Zi does all she can to get Si to love her, but gives up when she knows that Si will always love Shan Cai and starts to help them be together. |
| Bai He (百合) | Zheng Mei Dai | Yuriko Asai | |
| Ya Men (亞門) | Lan Cheng-lung | Amon Kunisawa | Handsome and appealing a reminiscent of Dao Ming Si, Ya-men was a part-time research student. He was hired Dao Ming Feng to seduce Shan Cai, however, he became interested in Shan Cai and gave up the deal. |
Soundtrack[]
| Meteor Garden | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | 14 August 2001 |
| Genre | Mandopop |
| Language | Mandarin and English |
| Label | EMI |
Meteor Garden Original Soundtrack (流星花園 電視原聲帶) was released on 14 August 2001 by Various Artists under EMI. It contains thirteen songs, in which ten songs are English songs. The opening theme song is "Qing Fei De Yi" or "Can't Help Falling for You" by Harlem Yu, while the ending theme song is by Penny Dai entitled "你要的愛" or "The Love You Want".[1]
The track, "情非得已" (Cant Help Falling In Love With You) was listed at number 21 on Hit Fm Taiwan's Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart (Hit-Fm年度百首單曲) for 2001.[2]
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Love of My Life" (道明寺傷心之歌) | Queen | |
| 2. | "Can't Help Falling in You" (情非得已 (Qing Fei De Yi)) | Harlem Yu | |
| 3. | "Perfect Moment" (杉菜與花澤類之歌) | Martine McCutcheon | |
| 4. | "And I Love You So" (花澤類的成全) | Don McLean | |
| 5. | "I Honestly Love You" (告白) | Olivia Newton-John | |
| 6. | "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" (道明寺的初戀進行曲) | Dr. Hook | |
| 7. | "Loving You" (西門的約會) | Minnie Riperton | |
| 8. | "Never Surrender" (我是雜草杉菜) | Corey Hart | |
| 9. | "Almost Over You" (BYE BYE! 花澤類) | Sheena Easton | |
| 10. | "Settling" (杉菜的傷心之歌) | Tara MacLean | |
| 11. | "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (分手) | Emma | |
| 12. | "流星項鍊" (鄭鈞╱流星 (Yellow) (Coldplay Cover)) | Zheng Jun | |
| 13. | "The Love You Want" (你要的愛) | Penny Dai |
Release[]
The series was first broadcast in Taiwan on free-to-air Chinese Television System (CTS) (華視) from 12 April to 16 August 2001. A supplementary mini-series, Meteor Rain was produced in April 2001 and the sequel Meteor Garden II was broadcast from 11 November to 25 December 2002. The first broadcast in Indonesia was on Indosiar and re-aired on Trans TV, Trans7, RTV and RCTI. Meteor Garden was hugely successful and set the Asian drama phenomenon in the country at that time.[3]
In the Philippines, Meteor Garden was first shown on ABS-CBN on May 2003. The series was popular in the country, which even leads the main cast to visit the capital, Manila and stage a concert for ABS-CBN's 50th anniversary. At the peak of its popularity, the series aired six times a week on primetime, with a weekend rewind airing during Saturday and Sunday mornings. A companion show following the cast's visit in Manila was also aired called Meteor Fever in Manila.[4] 11 years later, Meteor Garden was broadcast again on ABS-CBN on 31 March 2014 with a 16:9 scanned screen. The replay of the series on ABS-CBN generated a huge buzz on the internet, becoming a worldwide trending topic on Twitter and one of most searched keywords in Google Philippines.[5][6][7]
Legacy[]
F4 and JVKV[]
F4 (Flower Four) or JVKV was a Taiwanese boy band consisting of Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu, and Vic Chou. The group F4 was formed in 2001 after Meteor Garden ended. They released three albums, Meteor Rain (2001), Fantasy 4ever (2002), and Waiting for You (2007). According to Forbes, F4 has sold 3.5 million copies of their first two albums all over Asia as of July 2003.[8] In 2007, due to copyright issues, the group changed its name to JVKV, using the descending age of the initials of its members.[9]
References[]
- ^ Yesasia.com Meteor Garden OST album info 14 August 2001. Retrieved 18 January 2011
- ^ (in Chinese) 2001 Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart (#1 to 50) Retrieved 16 April 2011
- ^ "Perjalanan Meteor Garden di Indonesia" (in Indonesian). Indosiar. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ "A clip of THE EVENT concert organized by ABS-CBN featuring F4 and Barbie Zhu". Retrieved 8 January 2021.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Meteor Garden Return Dominates on Twitter Trending Topics". 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Meteor Garden returns to Philippine TV, disrupts ratings, twitter".
- ^ Alexandra Kirkman (7 July 2003). "Big--But Not Here". Forbes. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ (in Chinese) F4嫌新称呼JVKV绕口 合体宣传用回本名. 2 May 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
External links[]
- (in Chinese) CTS Meteor Garden official homepage
- Meteor Garden at IMDb
- Boys Over Flowers
- Taiwanese drama television series
- Chinese Television System original programming
- 2001 Taiwanese television series debuts
- 2001 Taiwanese television series endings
- Manga-based Taiwanese dramas
- Television shows written by Mag Hsu
- Television shows set in Taiwan
- Television series about bullying