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Magic of ‘Meteor Garden’

F4 members Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu, and Ken Chu, now known as JVKV, appears in a 2013 press event (Yahoo! Taiwan)
F4 members Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu, and Ken Chu, now known as JVKV, appears in a 2013 press event (Yahoo! Taiwan)

One afternoon in May 2003, everyone was curious about a Taiwanese drama ABS-CBN was about to air. Press materials showed a gorgeous-looking Taiwanese actress backed by four dashing young men. It seemed an ordinary youth-oriented drama from that part of the world.

Little did we know that as it premiered on ABS-CBN, it turned out to be so special and phenomenal, it even defied time, with countless reruns from morning till afternoon in succeeding years. And now, nearly 11 years after its original run in the Philippines, Meteor Garden remains big with a special rerun that now attracts the social media generation of fanatics, who tweet about episodes with special hashtags that consistently top Twitter Trending Topics a few minutes after airing.

Compelling story

What is so special and magical about Meteor Garden, that even the today’s teenagers (who were months old when Meteor Garden was first shown) are so crazy about?

First, the story itself is quite compelling. As we all know, the story is based on the shojo manga series Hana Yori Dango, about a working class young girl who attends a school for the wealthy and gains the respect of a group of four handsome rich bullies, sons of tycoons and influential businessmen, for standing up against them amid difficult situations. One of them, the leader, shocked by the girl’s actions, falls in love with her.

Meteor Garden retells this main plot effectively, as the girl, Shan Chai, played by Barbie Hsu, portrays the character with great conviction and invites compassion and sympathy in her travails. Viewers, especially young girls, identify with her and want to follow in her footsteps in situations she goes through.

Barbie Hsu with Jerry, Vanness, Ken, and Vic in this "Meteor Garden" publicity photo. (ABS-CBN)
Barbie Hsu with Jerry, Vanness, Ken, and Vic in this "Meteor Garden" publicity photo. (ABS-CBN)

Four heartthrobs

But the show’s biggest draw is how the four heartthrobs—Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Ken Chu, and Vanness Wu—provide so much charm, humor, candor, truthfulness and sincerity to their characters Dao Ming Si, Hua Ze Lei, Xi Men and Mei Zuo. Audiences just could not take their eyes or minds off them.

How these characters are meshed is always a delight to see, with unpredictable twists and turns, funny moments and heart-wrenching encounters.

Universal themes

It is a combination of well-portrayed characters, well-conceived, believable and identifiable situations and a dazzling cast that simply takes anyone’s breath away, wherever or whenever it is shown, again and again.

It also invokes universal themes of being assertive for what is right, love that knows no bounds, and strong, unrelenting friendship.

It is a package every televiewer wants—not for pathos or any form of escape—but always for providing that mesmerizing, hypnotic and magical concoction we always won’t dare miss, even with the passage of time.