As Vulture pleaded for last month, the original Shōgun miniseries from 1980 is now available to stream. What a bonfire Eric Vilas-Boas’ words made. You can watch all 5 episodes (and their cool, vintage, slightly too-long opening credits) on Paramount+. It won’t completely tide you over until Shōgun season 2, but it will certainly help. Maybe you can read the book next? Or join the anjinposting group on Facebook.
James Clavell was an executive producer on the 1980 Shōgun series, as his daughter was on the FX series. Richard Chamberlain plays John Blackthorne, much less sweary than Cosmo Jarvis obviously. Playing the role of Yoshi Toronaga, the titular would-be Shōgun, is the legendary Toshiro Mifune. And playing the Portuguese pilot Rodriguez is John Rhys-Davies, a.k.a. Sallah from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Unlike 2024’s Shōgun which used British Columbia to stand in for Osaka and envrions, the 1980 version was filmed entirely in Japan.
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