Premiere Watch: The Goryeo-Khitan War

18 November 11, 2023November 10, 2023

Premiere Watch: The Goryeo-Khitan War

by missvictrix

Time slot: Saturday-Sunday
Broadcaster: KBS
Genre: Sageuk
Episode count: 32

Reasons to watch: KBS’s 50th anniversary drama The Goryeo-Khitan War is about to land, and with it the portrayal of an important and storied time in Korean history: the warfront of Goryeo during the Khitan invasions. By the looks of the production, KBS has spared no expense to tell the sweeping story of this trilogy novel adaptation. With the scripts written by Lee Jung-woo (King of Tears, Lee Bang-won), the drama also boasts a huge ensemble cast led by sageuk mainstay Choi Su-jong as General Kang Gam-chan, and Kim Dong-joon, who plays the King Hyeonjong.

TL;DR: Make way for a long-running epic sageuk!

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1 kellie

November 11, 2023 at 12:29 PM

The writer showed a nice feel for sageuk in King of Tears, for believable human behavior and the kind of dialogue needed in a period piece. It'll be interesting to see if he can do it again.

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kiara

November 11, 2023 at 12:53 PM

I love writer Lee's old-school style! The way he humanized those familiar overdone characters in "King of Tears" was pretty awesome.
He is the best hope for this drama. 🙏

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2 DancingEmma

November 11, 2023 at 1:25 PM

I wonder if this will be streamed?

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kiara

November 11, 2023 at 2:00 PM

It's up at viki Emma.
https://www.viki.com/tv/40249c-korea-khitan-war?qId=09809d1bdd3b2669dba2a622aec56833

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DancingEmma

November 11, 2023 at 2:09 PM

Thank you @Kiara! I hope my region’s Viki will put it up too.

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DancingEmma

November 11, 2023 at 2:11 PM

Bastards! They are not making it available in my region.

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kiara

November 11, 2023 at 2:14 PM

I'm sorry to hear. 😔

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DancingEmma

November 11, 2023 at 2:16 PM

😢

Portia aka Dr D

November 15, 2023 at 1:01 AM

Sadly, it's not available in my area.

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angelshadows50

November 23, 2023 at 5:09 AM

@DncingEmma, which is your region ? Maybe I have a recommendation (or two) ... :)

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3 DancingEmma

November 11, 2023 at 2:06 PM

Btw, some of you might know this but I just found out the following from Encyclopaedia Britannica:
“ Cathay, name by which North China was known in medieval Europe. The word is derived from Khitay (or Khitan), the name of a seminomadic people who left southeastern Mongolia in the 10th century CE to conquer part of Manchuria and northern China, which they held for about 200 years’’.

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bbstl 🧹

November 11, 2023 at 5:24 PM

Thanks for that! It made me go off and read an awful lot of Wikipedia and *sigh* I will never be able to keep all this history straight! So many empires, so many names 😫

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DancingEmma

November 11, 2023 at 5:31 PM

Pleasure. I know but it is great to learn about other peoples’ history even if it is a drop in the ocean

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OldLawyer

November 12, 2023 at 2:31 PM

You may hear about the Song Empire in the second episode. This was what was left after the Khitan conquered Northern China and is what is generally referred to as the 'Southern Song" dynasty. 'Northern Song' simply refers to when the Song ruled all of China before the Khitan invaded.

The Khitan were in turn conquered by the Mongols under Genghis Khan.

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4 peiyeelai

November 11, 2023 at 5:08 PM

Old school saeguk is back!

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5 Diana Hansen

November 12, 2023 at 8:41 AM

I love a good saeguk about actual history. The period dress, weapons, everything! It is also incentive to read about this actual time period like @bbstl did! Am very excited for this one.