Friday, November 11, 2005
I'm busy putting together material for this site, and will update as soon as possible. Unfortunately, things have been a little hectic with the Idols season wrapping up, but I hope to focus much more attention here as soon as possible.
In the meantime, if you have any requests as to what you'd like to see, please leave a comment below!
What can you expect from this blog? Cast bios, episode recaps, polls, interviews, and much more!
In the meantime, if you have any requests as to what you'd like to see, please leave a comment below!
What can you expect from this blog? Cast bios, episode recaps, polls, interviews, and much more!
Saturday, October 08, 2005
When KykNet's "Dit Wat Stom Is" ended, I was extemely disappointed. At first glance, I had brushed it off as just another Afrikaans soap opera, but I quickly realized that this was no ordinary soap. A finely crafted drama portaying the lives and loves of a handful of Pretorians, "Dit Wat Stom Is" quickly pulled me in, yet ended far too quickly.
Fortunately, there is a new production to take its place both in the schedule, and in my heart. KykNet's newest local production, Binnelanders, promises to be just as compelling, and even more well developed, given that it has a 52 week run ahead of it. If the first two episodes are anything to judge by, it will be a very enjoyable year indeed.
One of the things that amazes me the most is the excellent handling of character development. So many times, pilot episodes of shows with large ensemble casts tend to rush through character introductions, mostly ignoring much storyline development in the process. However, Binnelanders manages to pull off both very gracefully, and by the end of the first night, I felt like I had been watching the show for months. Of course, a large part of that success is owed to its cast of talented actors. It's a stellar line up: Gys de Villiers, the ever-handsome Hans Strydom, Elzette Marschalk, and even a brief role for singer Theuns Jordaan. With such a strong cast, it's no wonder that the characters are easy to identify with, even if we aren't doctors, or scheming Sisters.
This blog will offer weekly show recaps, cast information, and other juicy tidbits to feed the fix between Thursdays. If you haven't already, be sure to tune into KykNet on Thursdays at 19:30, or MNet for the English-subtitled version. Since I'm an American, I tend to watch the MNet version, but try to improve my fluency in Afrikaans by not reading the subtitles. My one minor nitpick, and this is by no means peculiar to Binnelanders: the subtitles very often leave a lot to be desired, and oversimplify the actual dialogue. It's true that Afrikaans is a colorful, textured language that loses a bit in translation, but many times the subtitles leave out entire lines of dialogue, or water down the translation so much that the writing loses some of its flavor. I'm glad I'm fluent in Afrikaans, because I don't think I would be quite so fond of this show if I was left at the mercy of the subtitles. Even so, what the translations lack is made up for in spectacular acting, and much of the emotion comes through regardless.
Stay tuned for the latest news from the newest show to prove the axiom true: Local Is Lekker.
Fortunately, there is a new production to take its place both in the schedule, and in my heart. KykNet's newest local production, Binnelanders, promises to be just as compelling, and even more well developed, given that it has a 52 week run ahead of it. If the first two episodes are anything to judge by, it will be a very enjoyable year indeed.
One of the things that amazes me the most is the excellent handling of character development. So many times, pilot episodes of shows with large ensemble casts tend to rush through character introductions, mostly ignoring much storyline development in the process. However, Binnelanders manages to pull off both very gracefully, and by the end of the first night, I felt like I had been watching the show for months. Of course, a large part of that success is owed to its cast of talented actors. It's a stellar line up: Gys de Villiers, the ever-handsome Hans Strydom, Elzette Marschalk, and even a brief role for singer Theuns Jordaan. With such a strong cast, it's no wonder that the characters are easy to identify with, even if we aren't doctors, or scheming Sisters.
This blog will offer weekly show recaps, cast information, and other juicy tidbits to feed the fix between Thursdays. If you haven't already, be sure to tune into KykNet on Thursdays at 19:30, or MNet for the English-subtitled version. Since I'm an American, I tend to watch the MNet version, but try to improve my fluency in Afrikaans by not reading the subtitles. My one minor nitpick, and this is by no means peculiar to Binnelanders: the subtitles very often leave a lot to be desired, and oversimplify the actual dialogue. It's true that Afrikaans is a colorful, textured language that loses a bit in translation, but many times the subtitles leave out entire lines of dialogue, or water down the translation so much that the writing loses some of its flavor. I'm glad I'm fluent in Afrikaans, because I don't think I would be quite so fond of this show if I was left at the mercy of the subtitles. Even so, what the translations lack is made up for in spectacular acting, and much of the emotion comes through regardless.
Stay tuned for the latest news from the newest show to prove the axiom true: Local Is Lekker.
