1319 replies to this topic

[mikejonas]

I wanted to start up a discussion thread for those of us who try to catch Running Man as soon as it airs/hits the torrents and watch the episodes before the awesome iSubbers subtitle them. I figure it'd give us early viewers a chance to share our initial reactions without spoiling too much for people on other threads. This thread may also deal with news and rumors about episodes that haven't yet aired even in Korea (not-too-spoilery news about the guests and venues can be found in the Upcoming Guests and Venues thread). If you prefer to wait to watch the subbed episodes and don't want the goings on in those episodes spoiled for you ahead of time, this is the thread to avoid.


As of the last edit, here's a list of the aired and unsubbed as well as upcoming episodes of RM:

Airdate - Ep # - Venue - Guests

aired but unsubbed:
04/15 - Ep. 90 - Cheorwon - Park Sang Myun, Lee Deok Hwa, Park Jun Gyu*
04/22 - Ep. 91 - SUNY Korea, Songdo, Incheon - No Guests
04/29 - Ep. 92 - Chinatown/Yongyudo/Muuido/Somuuido - Park Jin Young, Chun Jung Myung
05/06 - Ep. 93 - Kepco Art Center/Seoul Land - No Guests (Seungyeon, Gyuri, HyunA, Krystal, Suzy)
05/13 - Ep. 94 - Gangnam/Mokdong - Seungyeon, Gyuri, HyunA, Krystal, Suzy*
05/20 - Ep. 95 - Yangmyeong Market/Myongji University/Digital Media City - (MBLAQ, Sistar, Park Ji Sung)
05/27 - Ep. 96 - Park Ji Sung Youth Football Center/Incheon - Park Ji Sung, IU*
06/03 - Ep. 97 - Incheon/Bangkok, Thailand - Park Ji Sung, IU

* returning guests

upcoming:
06/10 - Ep. 98 - ? - Im Ho, Lee Tae Gon
06/17 - Ep. 99 - ?

=====

Edited by ongweihua, 15 September 2012 - 11:03 PM.
Merged all topics related to Raw And Early Viewer Thread

[Kazuho]

mikejonas,

**I've pinned and added a Spoiler Warning.

[mikejonas]

Thanks!

So, no-one else catches the episodes unsubbed and early? ::pouts::



I'm starting off with writing about the just-aired Episode 29, but feel free to talk about #25 (Manhwa Museum) #26 (Nakwon Music Mall) and #28 (Spa) as well.

#29 was the Lunar New Year special, and unlike previous episodes that have marked holidays this one actually feels "special" in that it almost doesn't feel like an episode of RM--there's no Hide and Seek or Find the Guests (there's no guests period) and beyond the first event there's really no competition. But that doesn't mean it isn't a fun episode, which this was.

It starts off with the YJS vs KJK team pickup. Takes up almost 45 minutes of the show, but not a dull moment. YJS and KJK race around town in vans trying to pick up the other RM members for their team then race to the venue. Hilarious because other than Suk Jin (obviously) and Kwang Soo (who is simply glad to be picked up at all), everyone would rather be on KJK's team, and Gary would prefer to be on whichever team that JiHyo is in. I loved how Joongki and Ji Hyo double-crossed Jae Suk, though I was disappointed that Gary was on the losing end of the deal. He seemed to be really unhappy and downright unwilling to participate once he found out that he couldn't be on Ji Hyo's team; I felt really bad for him.

But the real problem is that it doesn't really matter because once they get to the venue and the race is won, all semblance of competition disappears. The second event has the gang going around taking pictures of animals in the aquarium that resemble their castmates. They could have EASILY turned this to a little game: have each cast member try to guess who's who in the other members' galleries, and based on the most correct guesses a winner would be chosen. But they didn't do anything of the sort--they just took the pictures, put one choice picture up on a dossier, and joked around with filling out the profiles. Fun? Yes, but RM is supposed to at least have the air of a competition, and they chose not to do that in this event, and that's disappointing.

The final event was also fun, but it's one of those "one chance" (but really a lot of chances, you just have to do it all in one go or start all over again) events, when again it could have EASILY been a competitive event (just keep the teams from earlier and have them race each other). And, of course, no-one gets punished.

It's forgivable with this episode if one regards it as a special episode where they're just kicking back. But why make a big deal out of making teams in the first place when there's no team competition? Why hand out Running Balls at the end of the first event when nothing after that matters? This episode could have easily been somewhat of a return to form--if the second and third event were set up as competitions, it would have felt like an old school RM episode again (even with the absence of Hide and Seek/Find the Guests) with set teams and a proper exciting climax at the end.

So all in all, it was a fun break from the recent "upside down" episodes, but it had so much potential to be much more, that it left me disappointed. Next week it looks like it's back to the upside-down format with Seungri as the guest.

P.S. When are we going to get more WOMEN back on the show? Ji Hyo's awesome as always, but there hasn't been a female guest since Episode 25, and Lizzy's absence just makes the lack of estrogen more annoying...

Edited by mikejonas, 03 March 2011 - 10:05 PM.

[Kazuho]

im sure they do. but just cant understand any of it. lol

[mikejonas]

Lol. Actually, my Korean is practically non-existent as well (twelve years of listening to KPop hasn't helped as much as one thinks it would), but not too long ago I found that watching RM even without subtitles can still be very entertaining--sure, I miss out on all the verbal jokes, and it takes a little time sometimes to even figure out what the game is, but I can follow the action; when the subbed version is released, I get to enjoy the show all over again and finally get to understand what they're talking about.

[syraleo]

i watch the chinese subs and frankly, the new "find the guest" segment is fun, but the rest... less so. especially the past few episodes where they got some veterans on the show? they did some re-enacting of scenes or whatever the veterans did and i didnt get the joke or humour.

like the episode where they climbed the ski mountain? sorry but banging a drum and accidentally hitting their own head in weird costumes and a fake mole or whatever , not funny.

the previous episode where they are at a sauna , the singing part was mildly amusing, the last part seemed like a time filler? sucking a banana , jumping on a pogo stick.... huh?

where is the good old race to the turning point and back while wearing buckets with good old fashioned hyori-style hair pulling and cheating? or the running man games on episode 13 with the ambush and clever use of VJs.

i love yjs but i find myself downloading RM only if i have nothing to watch...

just my opinion...

[mikejonas]

I believe the last segment in the spa episode (with the banana sucking and all that) was once again a guest-related bit (akin to the Younggu skits)--I assume these are stunts that Kim Byung-Man is known for doing in his comedy routines. These "one chance (but really a lot of chances)" games are really killing the show for me, but at least this particular one didn't seem overly repetitive, and the gags were amusing, not to mention somewhat inappropriate with all the sucking and sitting on pointy objects.

The karaoke workout bit was entertaining, too--if you watch carefully, somewhere along the way (probably when the yellow team were singing in the first round, which was cut out), Jae Suk injured himself in the chin somehow and a band-aid appears on his chin for the rest of the game. JiHyo's screeching was priceless--it's somewhat reassuring to know that not all pretty Korean women have pop idol aspirations or hopes.

But you're right--I really do miss those short games from the early episodes; quick races, games that only lasted one or two rounds, games that entailed going to different locations on the premises instead of saving all that exploring for the Hide and Seek.

P.S. The Ski Resort episode (#23) is available subbed in English here at iSubs.

[syraleo]

yea , i download the eng subs when they are available here too. my chinese isnt great but thanks to these shows , its improving alot , i can read faster now , haha.

[cusnoozer]

Note: native Korean speaker, but born in the US, so I have limited vocab and don't get all the idioms and inside jokes - hence, subs

I think alot might be getting edited out that could be funny, but that moreso than that, the show is becoming more of an on-site variety than a competition. The bells hide-and-seek is probably exhausting to do week after week, but the new bits are losing a bit of the absurdity that makes variety charming. I find it amusing that the DBSK ep was subbed so quickly, yet it was possibly the least running man-esque the eps from 24 on.

As for the currently unsubbed eps, I agree with the OP on most of the points on EP 29. The initial chase and backstab were fun, but the lack of risk and punishment, whether hotpants or not, made the ending a bit less fun.

Re: Ep 25 w/ParkBoYoung, Ep 26 w/JungJinYeong and LeeMoonShik, Ep28 w/KimByeongMan, I didn't have any huge issue with any of them. The ByeongMan comedy bit was a bit less running man-ish, but he is well known in the Korean entertainment world, and it really wasn't nearly as slow as the half hour of slapstick body-comedy. The Chase the Guest bits in 26 and 28 were fun to watch for me, and seeing Kim Jong Kook run with a volleyball sized bell and being thwarted at each duel was a real treat.

What I'd like to see more of is the 1:9, maybe even a betrayal within the 1:9, maybe where part of the 9 is actually trying to achieve a 3rd unknown goal thereby getting either the only running balls or extras.

[mikejonas]

Episode 30: Traditional Arts Center

So, after a few weeks of being in denial about it, I guess this is what Running Man has turned into:

- One exciting Hide and Seek/Chase event (Find the Guests) that reminds us of the old, competitive Running Man
- Goofing off in the middle that's kind of a game but not really
- A tedious "one take" (let's stop calling it "one chance," despite the name, they obviously get a lot of chances) challenge with a little bit of awesomeness and physicality but since it's all about cooperation, there's no competition


It's sad. It's really sad. If it weren't for the fact that I'm too attached to the cast and no other variety show is reliably subbed, Running Man would have lost me as a viewer by now. It's quite literally one-third of what it used to be. Again, that's not to say that there are no enjoyable moments, but they seem to have decided that RM is not in any form a competition show anymore.

Find the Guest this episode, once again, is nothing to complain about--Seungri's close calls (including JiHyo's sharp-eyed detection of the cameraman), eventual downfall, and repeated attempts to escape after being caught were the highlight of the game. I did get the odd feeling-- for the first time in any FTG/H&S game--that they were purposely dragging things out and filling time. There was something off about how the members would get distracted and do something else, and how no-one bothered to peel off Seungri's wristband as quickly as possible. It's almost as if in reality, Seungri was caught relatively quickly, and they actually went back and shot those "distraction" scenes (HaHa with the orchestra, Joongki in the gama, Joongki, Jae Suk and Suk Jin with the dancers) so that the show wouldn't run short.

The less said about the rest of the episode, the better. The second event, just like last week, was really no game, just goofing around with the camera. Then it was followed by goofing around with instruments. Then the final event was the one take jump-rope thing, which was impressive to watch once they mastered it, but, like most other one take events, was a pain to have to watch them work on it.

What happened to the games? What happened to the events that made me go, "Wow, that is such a clever idea for a game!" Roller coaster karaoke! Giant-sized Jenga! Tug of war with clothespins on your face! Charades/Riddles over a crowd of cheering fans! Crowding into a camera's field of view when it's on an automatic timer! Going from train station to train station, trying to complete tasks and board the train before it leaves! Heck, even trivia on a ski lift! It's like the producer in charge of coming up with original, exciting games left the show.


Next week--finally a female guest. But other than that, sadly it doesn't look like they'll be improving the formula anytime soon.

Edited by mikejonas, 14 February 2011 - 01:14 AM.