Meteor Garden 2018. Image:Facebook/Meteor Garden Reboot Official Page
Everyone is now on red card nostalgia.
Pinoy fans just could not contain their excitement over the return of Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden 2018 in the local scene starting August 20 via its home network ABS-CBN.
Still remembering the scenes in its 2001 original version, the 3-minute trailer released on August 1 has made millions of Meteor Garden fans go on a major trip down memory lane as they relive the iconic moments of the lives of Shan Cai, Dao Ming Si, Hua Ze Lei, Mei Zuo and Xi Men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSiJZ0lGnZw
The trailer featured some of the most unforgettable scenes at the start of the journey of the five young souls who are fated to meet one another at their university.
It started off as goal-driven, hardworking Shan Cai gets into the school for elites to study for a nutrition course to further help in the food delivery business of her mother. In the original version, Shan Cai went to the school upon the desire of her parents so that eventually she could meet a rich guy who could uplift them from poverty. Her mother then did not have a food business and furthermore was just taking part time jobs to support their family and her daughter’s schooling.
She then meets the high-profile squad of insanely good-looking rich heirs collectively known as F4 led by the temperamental but hopeless romantic Dao Ming Si.
After her friend accidentally experiences the wrath of the group, the ever-protective friend Shan Cai comes to the rescue and eventually fights off with Dao Ming Si.
Another notable difference is the use of smartphones. Fifteen years ago mobile phones were just starting to become a necessity with units such as the Nokia 3310 being used by these young billionaires.
Also, the red card back then was an all red lengthwise card, now it looks like a playing card in white canvass with red texts.
The trailer showed how Dao Ming Si and Shan Cai hated each other off until the tides turned and the once full of pride hotshot F4 leader falls in love with the determined Shan Cai.
Of course there was the unforgettable triangle between Shan Cai, Dao Ming Si and Hua Ze Lei.
Although many have expressed excitement over the new version, some fans could not help but notice the voices used to dub the dialogs. Some said the voices were too “mature” for their age considering that the five characters were mostly just in their late teens as compared to the original version where the leads were mostly in their early to mid-20s.
Comparison by fans between the 2001 and 2018 versions are now getting more intense as some say that while they will still watch the story of Shan Cai and the F4 at the age of smartphones, the original is still too iconic to be surpassed by its remake.
An exact time slot for the series however is yet to be revealed. /muf