Queen Seondeok (TV series)

Plot

Princess Deokman was born as Princess Cheonmyeong's twin and a member of the Silla royal family, but a prophecy leads to her abandonment as a baby. After an unconventional childhood in the Taklamakan Desert, Deokman eventually returns to Silla, and, disguised as a boy, trains as a Nangdo. There, she joins forces with her twin sister and the naive commander Kim Yushin to oppose the villainous Lady Mishil, a royal concubine and high-ranking official who will stop at nothing to rule Silla herself. Mishil eventually deduces her identity and devises sinister plans to have the two Silla princesses exiled from the kingdom, eventually accidentally assassinating Cheonmyeong. But Deokman and Yushin enlist the help of the dashing yet troubled rogue Bidam to restore her position and sway Kim Alcheon and the rest of the Hwarangs to her side. Eventually, Deokman's faction triumphs over Mishil after her second coup d'état, and Deokman becomes the first female ruler of Silla as Queen Seondeok. But the story is far from over as Bidam and Yushin face off to win the heart of a queen and the destiny of the Three Kingdoms.

Principal

Supporting

Filming location

It was filmed on location at MBC Dramia in Cheoin-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Other historical dramas such as Dong Yi, Moon Embracing the Sun and Jumong were also filmed there.

Artistic license

The series adopted significant artistic license regarding the portrayal of historical events, so as to accommodate the dramatic storyline. Notably, the reign of King Jinpyeong was compressed by over two decades such that in the series, Queen Seondeok was born within a year of his coronation (her actual date of birth is unknown). Accordingly, the preceding King Jinheung's reign was extended by a similar period, with him being depicted as an elderly man at his death. This allowed for Mishil and other prominent figures during Jinheung's reign to be involved in events concerning the Queen during her time as Royal Princess, even though there is no evidence to suggest what sort of interaction the two had, if any. The same conceit was used to imagine her as being of a similar age to Kim Yushin and Bidam, though again, it is not clear historically if this was the case. Another major change was in the date of her death: Bidam's execution and Kim Alcheon's appointment to his post were ordered by Jindeok of Silla, ten days after Queen Seondeok's death. Queen Jindeok is not mentioned in the series. More subtly, the real Seondeok likely never left Silla (stories concerning her childhood in the palace survive) and did not know Latin.

Plagiarism controversy

On 31 December 2009, Kim Ji-young, an obscure playwright and representative of Great Works Ltd., a culture content company, filed a plagiarism lawsuit against MBC and screenwriters Kim Young-hyun and Park Sang-yeon, saying they ripped off her script for Seondeok, Queen of Mugunghwa, an unperformed musical she said she wrote in 2005. Kim argued that the development of the story and conflict between characters were similar to her play, including discord between two major female characters, Seondeok and Mishil; a romance between Deokman and General Kim Yushin; and the story of the young Deokman wandering through a desert. The MBC drama contains all of these plot twists, which are not based on history but which Kim says she invented. Kim said she shared some of her scripts with the Korea Creative Content Agency to attract investment in the musical, and believed that's how the content was leaked. Kim asked for ₩200 million in compensation and an injunction banning the broadcast of the soap opera. The injunction was turned down and Queen Seondeok ran from May to December 2009, but the copyright infringement case continued.

The MBC network and the series' writers maintained they did not know of the existence of Kim's play. MBC had copyrighted its script in May 2008. After Kim requested for an assessment by experts, the Seoul Southern District Court asked Seoul National University's Center for Law & Technology to investigate. In a process called a "script autopsy," the center first identifies similar content in the two scripts. At that point, university historians confirm historical facts regarding the characters and plot, and differentiates them from literary creations. Afterward, the center makes an appraisal based on copyright laws, then the court makes the final adjudication. In February 2011, the SNU Center for Law & Technology confirmed the plagiarism.

In December 2012, the High Court ruled in favor of plaintiff Kim Ji-young that Queen Seondeok was a work of plagiarism, and fined MBC ₩200 million (US$186,000). In its ruling, the court stated that though the characters and the details were in fact different, "the overall plot was the same" and it is "most probable that the network relied on the script and plot of the musical to produce their drama." Furthermore, any additional reruns on cable TV and internet, and the making of DVD and related books were banned.

Awards

International broadcast