''Meteor Garden'' () is a 2001

Taiwanese drama Taiwanese drama (, also known as T.W. drama) refer to dramatic programming of television programming extended stories usually dramatizing relationships through the general range of ten to forty one-hour episodes. They are produced in Taiwan and hav ...

starring Barbie Hsu,

Jerry Yan Jerry Yan (), born Liao Yangzhen (), is a Taiwanese actor, model and singer. He is well known for his lead role as Daoming Si in the Taiwanese dramas '' Meteor Garden'' and ''Meteor Garden II'', an adaptation of a Japanese shōjō manga. He i ...

, Vic Chou,

Ken Chu Ken Chu () is a Taiwanese singer, composer, actor, cook; and a member of Taiwanese Mandopop vocal quartet boy band F4. Educated in Singapore (Boon Lay Secondary School), he speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Biography Chu was worki ...

and

Vanness Wu Vanness Wu (; born August 7, 1978) is a Taiwanese-American singer and actor. He is a member of the Taiwanese boyband F4 and the Korean Mandopop duo Kangta & Vanness. Early life Wu was born in Santa Monica, California. He learned to breakda ...

. It is the first live-action television adaptation of the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

shōjo manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent females and young adult women. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent boys), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adul ...

series by

Yoko Kamio Yoko may refer to: People * Yoko (name), a Japanese feminine given name; variants include Yōko and Yohko * Yoko Gushiken (具志堅用高, born 1955), Japanese professional boxer * Yoko Taro (横尾太郎, born 1970), Japanese video game di ...

. It was produced by Comic Ritz International Production (可米瑞智國際藝能有限公司) with as producer and directed by . It was later followed by a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

in 2002.

Synopsis

The story centers around a poor teenage girl, Shancai (

Barbie Shu Barbie Hsu (; born 6 October 1976) is a Taiwanese actress, singer, and television host. She is best known for her leading role in the television series '' Meteor Garden'' (2001). Life and career Hsu was born in Taipei, Taiwan on 6 October 197 ...

), who at the insistence of her parents goes to a school for rich people. The school is dominated by Daoming Si (

), Huaze Lei ( Vic Chou), Meizuo (

) and Ximen (

)—four rich, handsome but arrogant students collectively known as the 'F4', short for 'Flower 4'. They are heirs to four rich and influential families in Taiwan. They terrorize the school by handing out red cards to those they do not like, which allows other students to bully the victims until they leave the school. After one of Shancai's friends receives the wrath of the F4's leader, Daoming Si, she stands up to and berates him, which in turn results in a red card of her own. Shancai hates the arrogant and rude Daoming Si. Her persistence in standing up for what is right gradually gains the F4's respect and Daoming Si starts to fall for her. Shancai is attracted to the silent Huaze Lei in the beginning. But Daoming Si's constant yet annoying efforts has her question her feelings for both Huaze Lei and Daoming Si. Later in the series, Daoming Si's mother comes to Taiwan. She instantly dislikes Shancai because of her poor background. Both Daoming Si and Shancai face hurdles his mother throws their way to separate them. Though Shancai does not profess her love for him yet, Daoming Si remains determined. The series show the journey of Daoming Si and Shancai's feelings for one another.

Cast

Main

Supporting

Soundtrack

''Meteor Garden Original Soundtrack'' (流星花園電視原聲帶) was released on 14 August 2001 by Various Artists under

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

. It contains thirteen songs, in which ten songs are English songs. The opening theme song is "Qing Fei De Yi" or "Can't Help Falling for You" by

Harlem Yu Harlem Yu (; born 28 July 1961) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, television host and businessman. He is particularly well-known for singing the theme song, ''Qing Fei De Yi'', for the 2001 television drama, '' Meteor Garden''. He made a cameo i ...

, while the ending theme song is by

Penny Dai Penny Tai (; born 22 April 1978) is a Malaysian singer, songwriter, producer and director. Since her debut in 2000, she has achieved many successes in her music career, including winning 5 Golden Melody Awards. In addition to performing arts, ...

entitled "你要的愛" or "The Love You Want". The track, "情非得已" (Cant Help Falling In Love With You) was listed at number 21 on

Hit Fm Taiwan Hit FM is a pop music radio station in Taiwan (Republic of China). It broadcasts in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. Hit FM is owned by Voice of Taipei Broadcasting (台北之音廣播, Pinyin: Táiběi Zhī Yīn Guǎngbō). It is one of the radi ...

's ''Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart'' (Hit-Fm年度百首單曲) for 2001.

Track listing

Release

The series was first broadcast in Taiwan on free-to-air Chinese Television System (CTS) (華視) from 12 April to 16 August 2001. A supplementary mini-series called ''

Meteor Rain ''Meteor Rain'' () is a 2001 Taiwanese drama starring Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu and Ken Chu of F4 and Rainie Yang. It is a supplementary mini-series of the '' Meteor Garden'' series which is based on Japanese shōjo manga series, , written by Yo ...

'' was produced in April 2001, and the sequel ''

Meteor Garden II ''Meteor Garden II'' () is a 2002 Taiwanese drama starring Barbie Shu and F4: Jerry Yan, Vic Chou, Vanness Wu, and Ken Chu. While it is a sequel to the 2001 television series '' Meteor Garden'', which is based on Japanese shōjo manga series ...

'' was broadcast from November to December 2002.

Legacy

F4 and JVKV

F4 (Flower Four) or JVKV was a Taiwanese

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

consisting of

, and Vic Chou. The group F4 was formed in 2001 after ''Meteor Garden'' ended. They released three albums, ''

'' (2001), '' Fantasy 4ever'' (2002), and '' Waiting for You'' (2007). According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', F4 has sold 3.5 million copies of their first two albums all over Asia as of July 2003. In 2007, due to copyright issues, the group changed its name to JVKV, using the descending age of the initials of its members.F4嫌新称呼JVKV绕口合体宣传用回本名
2 May 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2007.

References

External links

*
CTS Meteor Garden official homepage
* {{F4 Boys Over Flowers Taiwanese drama television series Chinese Television System original programming 2001 Taiwanese television series debuts 2001 Taiwanese television series endings Taiwanese television dramas based on manga Television shows written by Mag Hsu Television shows filmed in Taiwan Television series about bullying Television series about teenagers Television shows set in Taipei