Romance Beyond: Documenting Hudson IP in HK TV drama!

esteban · 08/01/2017, 12:21 PM

A big "Thank you!" goes out to gilbert for sharing his memories of this TV drama that is based on the gritty life of a young, urban professional in early 1990's in Hong Kong:

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?msg=501493

THE STORY THUS FAR: I only had a few minutes this morning to play it on my TV (my laptop wasn't playing the disc, despite being Region 9), but I'll have proper screenshots once I play around with my old laptop (it's nice to revive it once again, with its now-archaic built-in disc drive).

DAT PSG, tho....The opening scene features our hero driving a Jeep as PCE PSG is playing! (I'll get an audio/video rip later so we can identify it)

Quick, random observations (I'm on my phone):
* the lobby and office interiors feature, amongst other things, HUDSON artwork.
* I think I see a framed COBRA poster! (The pic w/ Mr. Bowtie)
* it's blurry, but you can see framed BONK art sandwiched between two men (it's clearer in full motion, I'm hoping a still on my computer will be less blurry)
* There is some RPG (?) game running on the multiple television monitors in the "office".... (see Mr. Bowtie)
* ....you know how movies use generic "office soundscape" of ringing phones and shuffling and keyboard clicking? Well, in the scene here (our first visit to office), the office background soundscape = random, generic "video game beeps and boops" (not sure if we could determine a specific game, if it is indeed sourced from a specific game)
* Our hero Young Urban Professional has a BEEPER (which was somewhat of a status symbol, depending on your job, of course).
* The dad comes home (hops out of Jeep!) and immediately helps his son who is playing some unknown game on a video game system (I am hoping I might recognize the controller when I zoom in and examine it....but it could be anything).
* I plan on documenting every damn reference to Hudson/"video game lore". This might not happen if it's in the ____'s. (We'll see when I burn out)

ccovell · 08/01/2017, 07:32 PM

Very cool (not the story; the Hudson stuff). I look forward to this being documented.

On a related theme, I documented a Japanese movie that had a game programmer as a protagonist, since it also had several scenes of game programming, debugging, etc.... all for a real Famicom game that went unreleased: https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/FC__1988Q3.html#youjodensetsu

gilbert · 08/01/2017, 08:58 PM

Haha, so someone really cares to see this.
But as I warned you already, apart from the references, the series wasn't very good. So, just watch-it-for-the-references and nothing else!

I may hide myself in case you eventually find this unbearable and want to beat me up.

Edit:

Quote from: esteban on 08/01/2017, 12:21 PM* The dad comes home (hops out of Jeep!) and immediately helps his son who is playing some unknown game on a video game system (I am hoping I might recognize the controller when I zoom in and examine it....but it could be anything).

From the photo, the console on the table seems to be a Famicom, but it's a bit hard to tell from the photo(mainly due to the reflection, and the controller was right obscured by the reflection so nothing could be said for it). I think it would be much better when there are proper screen caps.

Psycho Punch · 08/01/2017, 09:15 PM

img width=400] thanks in advance

exodus · 08/02/2017, 02:25 AM

I am curious about this!!

esteban · 08/02/2017, 06:23 PM

Quote from: ccovell on 08/01/2017, 07:32 PMVery cool (not the story; the Hudson stuff). I look forward to this being documented.

On a related theme, I documented a Japanese movie that had a game programmer as a protagonist, since it also had several scenes of game programming, debugging, etc.... all for a real Famicom game that went unreleased: https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/FC__1988Q3.html#youjodensetsu

I love all your pages and I am going to use the "side-by-side comparison" format to help folks make connections (especially helpful if folks are unfamiliar with a title).

...not that this is a good example!

(is a photo of the lead voice actor featured in the framed poster on the left?)

Quote from: gilbert on 08/01/2017, 08:58 PMHaha, so someone really cares to see this.
But as I warned you already, apart from the references, the series wasn't very good. So, just watch-it-for-the-references and nothing else!

I may hide myself in case you eventually find this unbearable and want to beat me up.

Edit:
Quote from: esteban on 08/01/2017, 12:21 PM* The dad comes home (hops out of Jeep!) and immediately helps his son who is playing some unknown game on a video game system (I am hoping I might recognize the controller when I zoom in and examine it....but it could be anything).
From the photo, the console on the table seems to be a Famicom, but it's a bit hard to tell from the photo(mainly due to the reflection, and the controller was right obscured by the reflection so nothing could be said for it). I think it would be much better when there are proper screen caps.

(1) The first episode was hilarious! My daughter and I were totally entertained by this show, whilst I took notes (times). The first episode alone was worth the price of admission.

(2) Famicom! The distinct "cradle" for the controllers to rest in... I didn't even see that.

(3) WANT LIST: I want the THEME SONG translated into English.

Quote from: guest on 08/01/2017, 09:15 PM[img width=400] thanks in advance

Goddamn, I was rushing and I knew I would forget something.

Quote from: exodus on 08/02/2017, 02:25 AMI am curious about this!!

More to come...

Psycho Punch · 08/02/2017, 06:31 PM

Estebanjo, the Cobra poster is from the cover art of Cobra II (AKA "The Space Adventure").

Couldn't find that exact poster though.

Michirin9801 · 08/02/2017, 06:51 PM

Looking forward to the rest of the references! ^^

gilbert · 08/02/2017, 09:17 PM

Quote from: esteban on 08/02/2017, 06:23 PM(1) The first episode was hilarious! My daughter and I were totally entertained by this show, whilst I took notes (times). The first episode alone was worth the price of admission.

Great! As I mentioned this show is probably more appealing to kids (apart from the video game references, which are appealing to ~~something~~someone else). With children I think it's more justified to watch it.

Quote(3) WANT LIST: I want the THEME SONG translated into English.

The theme song (but not the show) was a great hit BITD and it's actually an adaptation of a J-POP song, which was common practice in the 80's and (at least most of) the 90's. I'm not sure, but maybe there are English versions of it. FYI, the original version is TRACK 4 od this album:
https://wmg.jp/artist/makihara/WMC3000000021.html

EDIT:

Quote from: esteban on 08/02/2017, 06:23 PM(is a photo of the lead voice actor featured in the framed poster on the left?)

I think that could also be Buichi Terasawa, the creator of the comics himself, as he's heavily involved in the development of the games himself, so it's something like "The author himself recommends this game to you!" Though of course, due to the blurriness of that shot it's hard to tell unless we find the original poster or some better shots in later episodes.

Digi.k · 08/05/2017, 11:09 AM

never even heard of this show.

The first couple of pics I can't see much reference to Hudson tho Este

I can just make out that pc kid poster and I think it was a calander taken from pc engine gekkan which I used to have....