Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

Time to check back in with the epic historical fantasy drama Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy (九州海上牧云记). In the past few months, they have been releasing stills and some BTS videos with interviews with the cast and crew. Again, a lot of work and thought and effort were spent so hopefully this summer will be the green light for Prophecy.

Click To View Pretty Pictures

Compiled Stills:

Synopsis (best translation I can write at the moment, still no time to read the novel): In the ancient times, 6th Prince Mu Yun Sheng (Huang Xuan) was born. Because his mom is a demon (takeaway is…she’s not human), he is not loved by the Emperor, and lives in seclusion and loneliness. He happens to obtain an antique painting of a spirit demon and befriends the little trapped being (played by Janice Man). Both promise to escape to the world’s most beautiful place. Mu Ru Han Jiang (Shawn Dou), son of a general, is elected to be the prince’s friend since he was young. Their peaceful days end when the eight tribes rebel. Mu Ru army fails to protect the royal family and is then exiled, breaking the friendship formed between the two families – Mu Yun and Mu Run. A few years later, a new rebellion threatens the royal family and this time, adult Mu Ru Han Jiang is the only one capable of protecting them. Pain and sorrows of past wounds now manifest in the new generation.

Our isolated and lonely prince, played by Huang Xuan.

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With the lady love of his life, played by Janice Man (The Legend of Zu).

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Xu Lu. Loved by many men but fated aka prophesized to be the future queen (Yun Sheng’s wife), she’s separated from her one true love (Shawn Dou).

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Shawn Dou. Third son of a general who is abandoned and lives on the streets.

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Zhou Yi Wei. Heir of a clan. Brave and insightful.

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Zhang Xiao Chen. Second son of Mu Yun Luan (Wang Qian Yuan). Extremely smart.

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Zhang Jia Ning. Princess Mu Yun Yan Shuang. Eager to win, competitive, likes Li Zi Feng’s character.

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Li Zi Feng. First Prince. Upright with supreme martial arts skills.

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Shui Ling. Current Empress.

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Lu Fang Sheng and Wang Qian Yuan.

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Chloe Gao Ye. One of the tribal leaders.

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Koji Yano.

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Cai Lu.

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Shu Hao Ming.

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Scenery.

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A long painting over 2000px, so I had to crop it into smaller posters to fit. Would be nice to hang it in my room. 😀

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The 6-minute Trailer released Last Year.:

Interviews with the Cast and Production Crew:

  • Please forgive for any unintentional errors! Just a summary of the main points (I seriously get a headache at their very poetic terms): The author (Jin He Zai) is the first to get interviewed, as he recalls working with several other authors about a fictional story back in 2002. The story changed over time as they believe in bringing colors to the eastern region. Hence the story now has multiple eastern cultures involved, drawn from many ancient mythologies. Some of the characters are based on true historical figures. Art director in creating Novoland is next to talk: Besides having love, there’s also strong backing armies. So with each culture, we designed a different symbol. The most difficult thing for him is illustrating a world where readers can visualize as they read the novel. Chairman of Production (a female): The effort and money they spent on creating the filming locations, the armors, the clothes was very costly. They hope that the audience can appreciate their sincerity. Director of promotion (also a female!): Even if people think it’s a fictional story with a world of creativity, the bare bone of the story still contains aspects of reality. The world of Jiu Zhou (九州) has nine pearls and six ethnic groups. She starts listing them off, from midgets group to giants.
  • Back to the author who says stimulating the imagination in reality is hard. When readers read their story, he wants them to be able to picture their own world. The thing that surprised and thrilled him is seeing the whole painting of Hai Shang Mu Yun Ji (海上牧云记) comes to life. Some scenes are simply majestic and visually attractive, beyond his imagination. Art Director hopes that people will understand that besides being a television drama, the immense world is truly a sight to behold. Director of Costumes speaks about the intricate relationships among the countless characters, and how each ethnic groups dress and behave, setting a clear distinction from one group to the next. She hopes that through Jiu Zhou, they can show the various aspects of eastern cultures to viewers who appreciate beauty. Adviser of Literature: Mythology is a dream of an ethic group, and a dream is a mythology of a person (this statement is deep, I’m not sure I understand it completely. Lol.)

A Huge Thanks to Mei Mei Tranzgeek for subbing Huang Xuan’s interview below. =D

Directed swiftly by Cao Dun (The Sweet Burden), he will also be working on the drama scripts with Jin He Zai (novel author), Wei Jing Na, and Tian Yan Juan. The series has about 80 episodes. *gulps gulps*

Via: 01

  1. 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

    I really don’t think it can air in Summer, however I hope for it. I heard China TV and Radio Dept. imposes a regulation limiting the number of costume dramas per year, esp. for ones with too many eps and fantasy settings, and Tribes happens to be all 3 of them, eeks! And I also read they only allow very few costumes for Summer, only government funded ones about real historical figures or settings, since they want Summer mainly to be about youth-inspiring modern dramas. That’s why Hunan will air 思美人 for Summer costume, it’s government-project for celebrating Dragon Boat Festival’s historical charas, & it’s 80 eps too, so its small chance for Tribes to air in Summer.

    • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

      its doesn’t have to air on tv, if the copyrights is distributed to other platforms beside HNTV, like online webdramas, we can still see it. depends if the production is willing to let it air online first…..

      • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

        Hunan TV already bought the exclusive copyright for Tribes, so it has to air in Hunan 1st before the streaming platforms who bought the secondary copyright (IQiyi, PPTV, Youku) can follow suit.

        • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

          one can only hope these online streaming sites can win something. its not unheard of.

          summer is only 2-3 months anyway. lols

    • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

      Not this one, I don’t even have time to spazz about dramas! Lol.

      • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

        It’s a good documentary series, if not a bit dated and Eurocentric. The Marketing director for the production is speaking in those terms though, it does make their mission seem more importanted that just producing TV dramas.

        • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

          Lol. Their vocabulary did fly over my head as I struggled to understand.

          I guess it’s important for them to have a vision of their mission to be bigger than a tv drama. What follows might be good for the team and for us as tv audience.

    • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

      I saw Joseph Campbell and immediately flashed back to my old high school ALP class O_o……gahhh..

      Anyways..hope this comes out soon..ish? And that some kind soul ends up subbing it. Because that trailer was kinda fab – the cinematography looks amazing and I’m curious about the actual story…but hot damn 80 eps is a lot haha

  2. 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

    Watching General and I and it’s 60 episodes and I’m already so done with it, but 80 episodes…..Bye.

    • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

      It’s a huge commitment Kim, I can’t ask you to stay, but maybe read our discussion when it’s out? =D

      • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

        Okay, for you Kap. I’ll read the discussion and get super confused like I am now with 3L3Ws lol.

  3. 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

    Aww shifu you’re hard at work like always! I think you’ve lured me into wanting to watch it now after subbing that video xD Definitely putting this on my watch list when I have time. I think I’ve fallen in love with Huang Xuan (while I’m at it lol)
    ~SFF

    • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

      Not as persistent as you, I think I only made it half-way through the first clip before giving up because it was getting redundant. T_T

      Then you might fall even more in love with him in my next post! ;]

    • 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

      Props to translating the interview! I remembered editing a video (some group project) for a class and having to put subs and repeating 3x that 30 secs portion for one line because I didnt time it right enough xD

  4. 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

    I always tell myself that if the aesthetics are there and I like the actors, 80 episodes ain’t so bad…I can always play it in the background 😀 I have survived Empress of China and all Jin Yong’s adaptations, 80 episodes is fineeeee~~~ lol
    But my attention span has withered nowadays 😛

  5. 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

    omgad 80 friggin episodes! I’ve been waiting for this for ages but i hope it doesn’t drag out the story line TT.TT

  6. 19 thoughts on “Interviews with the Crew of Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy

    With such amazing attention to detail and production, do we know if they’ll be using voiceovers?

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