Boys Planet (2023)

Mnet at its finest, delivering some manipulative editing.

I’m not gonna lie, this was a fascinating watch. Trying to see all the shady business and tactics Mnet delivered, seeing viewers' different reactions depending on their knowledge of the industry and how Mnet works. What a ride it was. And behind all that mess was a bunch of talented trainees who could not breathe in the wrong direction, or they will be evil edited till their elimination.

This is probably the worst survival show I have seen from the production standpoint. The editing was atrocious - they gave us 10 takes of the same 2 moments from different angles and different speeds, while completely cutting out most of the performances. How can we judge the stages and trainees skills when we see the same smile or wink just repeated countless times?

Then there is the issue of evil editing. I’m not saying just exaggerating existing issues, I’m saying complete lies, like using footage from two different interviews and making it seem like they were both filmed about the same situation. Translating what foreign trainees say in a vague and misleading way to frame it as them being disrespectful. Making it seem as if teams had massive disagreements in the episode, when we could see them work just fine during the practice lives.

And I don’t even want to talk about the G versus K trainees concept - that was dumb, since the plan was to debut a mixed group. Mnet framed it as rivalry so hard, I’m not surprised Koreans went so strongly voting for Korean trainees - it seemed like a matter of pride for them with how it was presented in the initial episodes. Showing G trainees in a bad light, only “promoting” G trainees that are either Koreans just living in different countries, or been in Korea for years…

What’s more? The legal rigging votes. they knew exactly what info should be released when to make people mass vote for specific trainees out of fear of them not debuting. Just naming the 2 or 3 k-trainees’ ranks that went down - panic voting from the audience. Only showing the 3 trainees ranks based on ONLY G votes - panic voting.

All that said, I loved the kids so much. While I am sad we did not get many strong rappers, and literally barely any in the finale, I’m still more than happy with overall skills presented. Yes, some got into the show as a joke to make the public laugh, but in their case, I could see they truly put in the effort and tried to grow from this experience. The level of talent was high and honestly, one could randomly pick 9 trainees from top 18 to make a team, and every variation of it would make a strong debut.

The trainees had amazing friendships and I loved to see them support and encourage each other. We could see the most honest versions of them in the additional behind the clips mnet uploaded on youtube, and for these I am grateful.

Read More

Mnet evil editing

There were so many mnet evil's editing towards trainee, Wang Zi Hao little screentime, wrong translation on G group, giving too much screentime on visual trainee, Lip J's weird comments, not airing Lee Da Eul and Lim Jun Seo as the first group that perform on 1st evaluation, ridiculous voting on choosing final killing part, of course the most popular trainee will get the killing part, not showing Wang Zi Hao's total vote on the 3rd elimination, and the debut 9 members are not enough,there are too many talented & potential trainee that can make a debut. I hope Mnet doesn't manipulate real ranking.

Read More

Popularity Contest With Racial Biases and Inconsistent Editing

I know every single person for the most part will be salty to some degree with the ending, but there is no denying the production company had a hand at why the results went the way they did. There was often extreme amounts of focus on certain contestants and almost nothing to showcase the others. My biggest confusion is probably contestants with very low levels of talent made it week after week, even one or two made it to the top 9.

I can't tell if this is what the industry is about or if this is just a fluke (RIP Fluke from Alpha Project XD) because the decisions were made by fans. I feel like one of the most talented contestants was racially profiled, we all know which one. It's something I've seen before, especially as someone who is a fan of Isbanky, a Thai actor who is mixed.

Giving Koreans an unbalanced advantage didn't seem like a big deal to me at first, but then I realized real fast their criteria for stars was vastly different from my own (US Fan). I think Korean fans will be quite happy with the results, but globally, I'm wildly curious how others feel about the deficit from some of the winners, versus the final pool of losers. There was at least three people in the losers group who could out sing, dance and perform four of the top nine. But maybe that's not the goal?

I possibly misunderstood the intentions of the show and I am getting it all wrong. Admittedly, I am not super deep in the K-Pop world. I think I also didn't realize there isn't much importance on singing well, I figured for most of these guys, that would be the base criteria and you'd get kicked out in the first weeks for not carrying a tune. I want to give this show another chance if it came back around, but for now it doesn't really fit my style.

Congrats to the winners either way, there is no denying that EVERYONE worked so incredibly hard. It's just many of the performers with natural gifts or talents were left behind, with only a few "They deserved top 9 for sure! Congrats" in the final ranking.

Read More

Laughter and tears

I don't follow or listen to Kpop. This show caught my attention when I saw some news and clips about the contestants here and there on the web in the beginning of April. Out of curiosity, I watched some highlights through short clips and some performance videos and decided to see the finale (which was pretty funny and fancams showed some funny angles). All top 18 were super talented and had great chemistry and seemed debut ready! Contestants Zhanghao, Sung Hanbin, Han Yu Jin, and Ricky stood out the most to me. I think they have star quality and shine on camera. There are many talented people in the world with even better talent, but not all of them have the star quality and charisma that attracts the audience.

3 weeks after the show ended, I found time to watch the entire Boys Planet, and now I can understand some of the inside jokes that I couldn't understand before. Gyuvin's "Did you only perform Love Killa for years?" is so funny and what a comeback at the dance master! After watching the entire show, I've added Gyuvin and Gunwook to the list of contestants that stood out to me personally.

I also had no idea a Chinese company named YueHua had such talented and fun Korean and Chinese trainees. Again, I'm not into Kpop, so there are many things I may not know well while watching the show. For me, the standout performances are: Kill This Love, En Garde, Jelly Pop, Tomboy, Over Me, Say My Name, Back Door (K group), and Love Killa.

I would not have ever thought I'd watch this show, but through the passionate fan's endearing edits online, I'm glad I could follow the journey of the young men running together to achieve their dreams. The fan taken videos with scenes that showcase the trainee's characters are what helped make the show more memorable as well. A question I asked myself was, who would I have voted as my one pick if I had the chance to vote? It would be Zhanghao. Congrats to him for winning! Wishing him and the rest of the final group great success.

Read More

So far so good

The show has been going pretty good. There hasn't been a lot of evil editing which is pretty good and bolt groups are getting equal screentime(which can change since it’s barely the first episode). I really like the new star system which you grade yourself and then get regraded, I thought it was pretty cute. Also even tho we already know who the centers are and the final grades after the here I am assingment it still fun and you still feel nervous even tho you know the results. The show is going really good and I can’t wait to see how far it goes. I hope all the trainees have a good time and be able to achieve there dreams.(Review can change since it’s barely the first episode)

Read More

I can appreciate the hard work put in by the contestants

What I liked:
1) Performances
2) Letters to the contestants from parents
3) The politeness and supportiveness of the contestants
4) The audience and their support of the contestants

What I didn't like:
1) Editing was REALLY bad. Repeated takes to see reactions of judges and other contestants so content is interrupted/missed. Also, things were shown out of order. They would be getting ready to show a performance, then they would throw in a competition they did outside during the day.
2) Camera work - every time they showed the entire group it was blurry
3) The purpose of the multiple star master hosts?
4) Extremely confusing voting.
5) Not putting the contestant's names, just using their current ranking number. There were so many of them that looked alike, I would have liked to have names go with the faces.
6) The elimination process. It took a whole episode for each elimination. It took forever for them to name the contestants that were going to continue on. It didn't build suspense; it was just irritating. Then to show three candidates at one time, when only one was continuing on in the competition.
7) For the second elimination, putting everyone on a team, having them do the work and eliminating half of them. The groups then had to reconfigure their groups and their dances, then got called out by the judges for not being prepared.
8) When the winners were thanking their agencies, that surprised me, which sent me to do some research. All of these guys have been trainees for up to three years!

Read More

98 Talents - too many talents lost - 9 great talents left

This show started with 98 contestants from around the world and split into two groups: K-Group (Violet) the Korean Group and the G-Group (Pink) the Global Group with contestants from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, US and Canada.

The contestants were evaluated individually and with each episode more and more ppl were eliminated. Many talented ppl were eliminated too soon in my eyes, but I have to say by the end with 18 contestants left - they were 18 really strong contestants and they all deserved to be there.

In the end we were faced with the difficult decision of choosing 9 ppl out of 18 very talented pp.

And in the end we got 9 talented and amazing ppl named Zerobaseone (ZB1) with the Fanbase Zerose.

The nine very deserving contestants are:
Zhang Hao, Sung Han Bin, Seok Matthew, Ricky, Park Gun Wook, Kim Tae Rae, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Ji Woong and Han Yu Jin

Many people speculate that MNet cheated and manipulated votes - and of course that can very well be, but we have no evidence what so ever that that is true, so I do not accuse them of anything until I do have evidence and therefore I give MNet the benefit of the doubt. Furthermore, many don't get the results that we received, but I have to say - I'm not that surprised by it. This is a Korean show to create a new Kpop Group, so that there are many Koreans in this group is not surprising - and that Matthew is the only Non-Asian in the group is also not surprising either (and please don't say he is Asian - no he is Canadian of Asian origins, but he is Canadian until he choses to switch his nationality), because the Fanbase in Asia is just much larger than it is in the western world - maybe now they get more and more attention, but the main Fanbase is still in East Asia. Then they say that Zhang Hao and Ricky didn't get enough screentime and they aren't as promoted as other. But maybe that just has to do with it being a Korean Show and they're not that fluent in Korean yet (I think they already speak very well, but they are not as fluent as Koreans). Would I have liked to have seen more of the G Group - definitely, but I have to say - this is the first time something like this was made and for the first time MNet did a good job. As with everything - it is a learning experience and I hope that if MNet chooses to do something like this again - they will take into consideration what the fans of the show criticized and we will see.

So I have to say all in all I truly enjoyed the show and just hope that MNet will choose to create another show and give the other amazing contestants a chance and create other groups, because they are all VERY DESERVING of debuting!!!

Everyone had their top picks for this show and I have to say, I was spoiled by the result we received it the end. Here were my top line for the new group:
Zhang Hao, Sung Han Bin, Lee Hoe Taek, Kim Gyu Vin, Soek Matthew, Kim Tae Rae, Park Gun Wook, Keita and Kim Ji Woong

Kim Ji Woong wasn't my first choice - I was actually more "attracted" by Jay's and Ricky's voices, but in the group I imagined they wouldn't have fit - so I chose Kim Ji Woong as an alternative - as you can see only 2/9 I didn't get - but as I surfed around I read that many thought that Hoe Taek is too old and Keita too small.

I hope that when ppl watch it they will only enjoy the vocals and dance skills as they already know what the result is :) - SUPPORT ZB1!!!

Read More

Did I enjoy watching it? Yes. Is it problematic? Possibly.

Listen- this is exactly what it claims to be at its core. A reality survival show. Mnet definitely edited some of the cast very strangely (I'm looking at you Matthew in that one episode where you suddenly get painted as the villain only to sunshine edit you three seconds later). Why were some people completely edited out? I have no idea. On one hand I'm going to assume it was just impossible for everyone to be shown all of the time, on the other hand was their some shady decisions behind the scenes (possibly). I do think certain people were pushed much more than others. You can argue all you want in the comments. At the end of the day though their were some cute friendships formed, some incredible progress (in my opinion) as far as singing and dancing, and a high entertainment level (I laughed a lot which I didn't expect). I normally don't watch survival shows, I hate becoming invested and then watching as the ones I really cheered for don't get picked. In this case, I will admit I was lucky (the 3 I absolutely adored the entire time made it into our debut line). I will say I am incredibly invested in all of the members of ZB1 and I only wish the best for their successes in the future, especially Han Bin. I am curious to see whether they will win ROTY and how the next 2.5 years play out.

Read More

for the gay and the girls

Honestly, even with all the shady evil edit that mnet did, you could see how all the boys vibe together through what being a trainee in their race to became idol means. Plus the guys where amazing honestly just like I said in the title. Most cringe was lip j with all that Noona saranghe thing iu
The firsts episodes are kind of hard to watch because there where a lot of trainees and some of them didn't even deserve to be there.
I've watch other survival shows and it's really not much different except for contestans being iconic and honestly if you are gonna start standing Zerobaseone I recommend you to watch the program. Plus the finale memes about hao and hanbin, pure gold!

Read More

HAHAAHAHA THEY MUST BE KIDDING

Every year the same ridiculous and funny mnet try to make a debut group but they fail!
Yes they fail like the girls planet 999, which they put everyone they wanted. And now i am asking...why do you make these programs if you have already decided the top 9????
HAHAHHAA for real you are really funny!!!
Everytime you evil edited the one that people started like !!! And for sure, you will evil edit only international-korean members! Is it really on luck that every time you don't evil edited korean contestants?
It is ridiculous that they are contestants with so much talent and they wasted in a low promoted show such as boys planet!! There aren't the right one criterion!
Sometimes i wonder if people want to understand or they can't understand the hypocritical play of mnet!
When evil edit seok matthew everyone hate him! Why?
Why you must be so prejudiced and underhanded from some videos which mnet cut and wrap?
I can't understand for real! I mean, all of us could understand the basics.
Vote for seok matthew i really support him, because he has talent and not only personality or visual or he is adorable. Also, everyone has their personality and has a lot of fun! Some of them, they mustn't left so early, such as haruto or seung kwan!
Let's make a good group debut!
FINALLY LEARN TO VOTE!
AND MNET BE FAIR !!!

Read More