Boys II Planet

160 Boys Held Hostage by Bad Editing

This was the worst season of Produce-type show in Korea so far. NOT because of the trainees, but because everything else in this production failed them.

I will talk about trainees only very briefly: The boys were gorgeous, skilled, entertaining, talented, fun, charming, hardworking, good looking individuals and none of the criticism in this review is directed to them. This is not a hate-piece aimed at trainees. Congratulation to winners, good luck to trainees who didnt make it to the final group. Most of you are super awesome. Best of luck to aldi, this seems like a solid lineup.

1. Storylines
This is the SEVENTH korean iteration of Mnets hit reality show of Produce format. The name might be changed, some gimmicks were added, but this is still Produce 101. Except they attempted this to be seventh and EIGHTH season. That's the first and actually the last straw that broke the camels back.
There were supposed to be two shows, two debuting groups (one for Korea, one for China), but due to some reasons, it fell through and two shows were merged into one. Even before audience voting, the number of trainees had to be suddenly halved. This lead to instant elimination of "personality" (and future "storyline") trainees. What happens to your show, if you eliminate the rowdy, no-filter personality hires and leave in well-behaved, media-trained, talented guys, desperate to debut and play it safe? Seemingly you get boring show. Except based on after-show testimonials, the remaining trainees were not trying to play it only safe, it was all the BAD EDITING.

2. Editing and Production
Someone call Korean Academy of Film Arts and ask them if their courses on tv production and editing are still open cause people who worked on editing of this show really need some more tutoring. Horrendous. Disappointing. Boring. Inconsistent. Unnecessarily serious. Bad. Not viewer friendly.
I understand and emphatize with production team, as they had really hard task of carrying out this big show that was falling apart in their hands. They had to patch up together 2 shows into one, were being probably told to come up with something new, something that never happened in previous seasons, something fresh… but they just couldn't and so we got terrible show instead. None of the gimmicks, none of the "classes", none of the "plot twists" worked. I wonder if this is a result of pure incompetency on so many levels of production or if there is something deeper.

3. "Rigging"
It shocks me to say this, but looking back, i enjoyed the rigged/fixed seasons much more than this one. At least in that case, the votes were rigged but the need for character assasination and visual erasure of "unwanted" trainees (by mnet) by the means of editing was not that big. The way some extremely prominent and early-promoted trainees were not shown later even in moments of their excellence was frustrating. Not in the prefered lineup? No storytelling for you, even if you got set up for a story in the begining.
It feels like at least in "fixed seasons" the editors were handheld by final result and they could build around it. But in this season, we had to be pushed very hard to "the right direction". I know this is not a "documentary" and the integrity to telling the truth and all the context is not that .... important. But with 180+ minutes long episodes, you really could give us more without it looking like this was badly hidden promo for 5-10 trainees.

4. Styling + songs
Maybe this is more of a proof of the state of kpop genre, rather than this show, but long gone are the days of "To my word", "NEVER", "Boyness", "Rumor" - top tier original songs given to participants. The selection of songs - original or already existing was lackluster and mostly unispired. The styling has been the worst i remember - with the strong emphasis on the "killing part" and "his backdancers" (i swear it didnt use to be like this!!). The styling for final performances was embarassing and must be an act of sabotage.

5. FINAL WORDS
I am still flabbergasted by how mid the finale was. Until last second, i was 9 members truther. The fact that no such surprise happened only cemented my disappointment from this season. 8 members is so little for show with 160 participants. Too little for debut group from Mnets show that is guarranteed success. You COULD afford it, you have so much power but not decide to use it, smh.
I am also enraged by the fact that, in the end, chinese version of the show went through and cplanet trainees get round 2 of this rodeo. I find this so offensive to all the guys who had to be cut early from kplanet only for merge to happen. (but best of luck to all the cboys who decided to participate).
This show sucked, but i am still happy i got to witness these talented guys. I just wish they could shine more in a good show.

PS. I'm sorry, Kang Woojin, you deserved better :(

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Human hot pot

On the beginning I wanna say i really like watching this type of survival shows; I find them inspiring and motivating. I got to know new faces, new songs, new dance styles - you name it. I've watched everything from Show me the money and Chuang 2019 to B: My Boyz. But I've never in my life seen something so ridiculous pretending to play it fair square and cool. Who are you trying to fool, Mnet?

First two episodes were somehow a good watch, funny and thrilling. I get it, fit all 160 trainees in seems almost impossible, so you didn't show all of them . Is it fair towards the trainees? Absolutely not, maybe the show shouldn't start with this huge amount to begin with -

After 2nd episode things started to go south, some of the C trainees dropped out (also my picks). It seemed surprising , then the news appeared that the C Planet was not supposed to merge 2gether with K Planet. There were supposed to be two separate shows with two separate debuting groups -

Never mind, what happened, happened - K and C are now together and K trainees are obviously "the God's favourite". C trainees are bullied for not speaking Korean enough, they are evil edited even evil styled (who would dress up a performing trainee into a t-shirt which is saying "shaky, insecure, ... etc. in BIG letters?!) .

As the show goes on I am forced to watch how the light is disappearing from their starry eyes. This show is not a survival show anymore. IT'S A HORROR SHOW. Every new episode gets my heart racing - but not with a thrill, it's a panic attack. These trainees are used and abused for rising numbers of views (money). Their faces in agony are plastered over YouTube thumbnails. Absolutely no-one believes that this show is not rigged. The debuting group was already decided on the very beginning - if not with votes, than the editing, comments and screen time in favour of particular trainees will do it all -

lil update: REWATCH value is 10/10 because you got to see all your eliminated favs again. Ryan, Andrew, Lim Jack ... 143

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A Franchise Failing to Connect and Losing Direction

Many trainees ate this season. I will say watch the show for them. They always bring it. The chosen songs to cover were a mixed bag. As for the original songs the trainees worked on this year, they were not my cup of tea. It could be for you though.

Onto the review.

The show in a nutshell: A Franchise Failing to Connect and Losing Direction.

This is not only BP vs B2P. This is a franchise series that I connect to the Produce series. IMO, Mnet is trying to run from its scandalous past using little to no effort, other than slapping on a new name on whatever year's version.

Mnet's audience is growing wiser. The jaded older audience, the keepers of the franchise's checkered history, pass this knowledge to the new viewers. Multiplying in exponential proportions, its wary and dissatisfied audience. BP1 MDL rate is 8.3 as I write this. B2P rate is 7.4.

History is known to repeat itself, so it is no surprise the viewers are CONSTANTLY vigilant for:
1) signs of manipulation
2) signs of trainee mistreatment
3) evil editing
4) Mnet's trainee favoritism

Time to go back to the drawing board and strive to make a GOOD SHOW.
1) Throwing money is not going to make the problem go away.
2) Shading trainees. Cheap shot to take, Mnet.
3) Evil editing mentors. So unprofessional.
4) Having about 200 trainees/talent is overcompensating.
5) Having the same format for the nth year? Really?
6) Time to get with the times, it's 2025.

Now getting with the times is more than the fancy sets, digital doodads, lighting, and pyro. K-pop is a socio-cultural movement so Mnet has that sphere to play inside too. Just consider these:
1) Are there translators around to help best convey important thoughts among participants? From what I can see, when the shoot has only trainees, there is no one facilitating the communication process. Why should that fall on trainee shoulders when they hardly have time to practice or even rest?
2) No translators? How about language teachers? Especially for rappers.
3) The underage trainees are lucky that some seniors take the time to look out for them. But producers and creators of the show have a responsibility to provide qualified professionals (plural) to oversee their mental health. Kids cannot take care of kids.
4) Foreign trainees need support. It is likely they do not have the local fanbase and are unknown in the SK Korean Industry.

A little about business.
1) No subtitles equals Little to no interaction.
2) Mnet's target audience versus voting audience versus buying audience. 50/50 split on voting weight? Come on.
3) Offering a 1 or even 2-year contract was ridiculous. Looking at 5 years this time around, until the fine print, I still am skeptical. I am inclined to say Mnet's part is debuting them and couldn't care less what happens after the final live show. I believe this is why they resort to evil editing. Engagement, clicks, comments, and views. Can they get more? Yes but they don't want their thumbs in the pie. IMO.

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Difficult and painful process, hindered by scandals, rumors and bad editing but satisfying outcome

Given how impactful the season one of Boys Planet in 2023 was, the season 2 of Boys Planet was highly anticipated... Did it meet all the expectations from its predecessor? Not exactly. However, I am very satisfied with the outcome of this survival show.

Despite of it being dragged down by various scandals and rumors, as well as having its core principles of "2 Planets" shattered for unknown (but certainly failed business deal motivated) reasons leading to very poor editing choices...They still managed to bring to light some talented participants that I am delighted to follow.

If casting was solid overall, it felt that it lacked personnality at some point because of the way the editors had probably to scramble and redo some episodes to avoid highlighting contestants under controversy. It also felt like there was a conscious choice to show less interactions between participants than in previous season and I am left to ponder about that curious decision. Strategy to influence the votes probably but too bad it was to the detriment of showing the various relationships between the participants. Very few were shown compared to season 1. Even if I am happy with the outcome of the group, I feel that I know much less about the winners that I knew for Zerobaseone members pre-debut.

In terms of performances, there are overall less iconic than the previous season. In addition to a couple of memorable auditions, my fave performance that I will certainly rewatch is Whiplash. Other than that, I feel that for some of the original songs casting could/should have been different in order for them to be more successful. As for season 1, I find it a shame that the finale is never live-singing. It is so obvious that it is fake that I truly don't see the point.

I would recommend this to people that enjoy survival show and are really good at tolerating Mnet hijinks and manipulation. If you see through the thick ropes and can take what is shown with a grain of salt, it does make a difference in the viewing experience (even if it can be very frustrating of course). There are really amazing guys that participated in it and really I cannot wait to see their debut !!! The debut of the ones that made it through as well as of the others(*).

(*)Some who might even first go through another competition as a new survival show with Chinese contestant has been announced. It seems after the fallout of C-Planet, Mnet found an arrangement to still make a Chinese group. I will probably give it a shot to see if some of the Chinese participants I liked and were eliminated in Boys II Planet are now trying again for the spin-off. Best of luck to all of them.

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Why Fix What Wasn't Broken?

I absolutely LOVED BP1. I can't count the number of times I watched this survival show. I didn't want this show to end. It wasn't perfect, but was the most perfect survival show I have seen. I was invested and dedicated to every boy on this show. We saw their sweet side, funny side, compassionate side and brotherly love side. Now let's discuss BP2. Almost every aspect of this show is wrong. From show casing every boy to the public and then to eliminating before the actual show, there were so many boys that it was actually ridiculous. They changed from having two boy bands simultaneously (one from China and one from Korea) to just having one boy band. They complicated the entire beginning confusing and upsetting many fans. Probably staff members were ultimately cut loose very early on and lost pay plus opportunities. Why couldn't they follow in the footsteps of BP1? Start with pre picked boys, audition them on TV, start the program song, add or subtract stars, start stages, let fans vote fearlessly, eliminate lower voted boys, have another stage, vote, eliminate, etc. what a cluster f#*@! BP2 has become. I am so disappointed on how this show is being produced, I have lost interest. What a shame to have a successful footprint ignored and a bunch of fruit loop ideas ruin some boy's future. I will bet there will be no successful debut like ZB1 has had. Darn shame!

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101 Perfect!

I am so glad Leowon are gonna debut now! Lee Sangwon the legendary #1, finally!
I got the result I wanted, so this has become my favorite after Produce 101 Season 2! I love Boys Planet Season 1 too because of Sung Hanbin, but I come to more appreciate Season 2 because of Leo and Sangwon. Also, I think that Season 2 became more popular because of the more talented participants, they are all great! I didnt mind the so-called "MNET evil editing" , I just enjoyed watching and supporting my bias..and Sangwon legendary maintained his #1 spot until the end, twas never boring! There were some songs that seemed unfit, but the participants did great performance out of it! Yeah for sure, MNET had magic, as master Kany termed it, like MNET did want some chaos or wanted to make it more dramatic. It made me mad, actually! But I focused supporting my favorite participants esp. Sangwon. There were also some heartwarming and funny moments, and it made much exciting!
Lets go Alpha Drive One (ALD1) !

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The survival show that i dropped among many others

First off, I’ll give credit where it’s due: the mentors are rock solid. They’re professional, experienced, and really know how to teach — they carry themselves both as idols and as genuine mentors who wanted some of the junior to success. Honestly, they bring most of the credibility to this show, but the trainees themselves aren’t bad either. But let’s be real — the overall talent pool just isn’t as strong as it could’ve been. And even with the contestants we do have, the editing team is painfully biased. It’s obvious that some trainees are shoved into the spotlight constantly, while others are practically invisible. As viewers, it’s frustrating to watch the same few faces while knowing dozens of others never get their fair chance, seem to watch robot shows.

Now, onto the biggest letdown: the theme song. What a disaster. Survival shows are supposed to hit you with an anthem that sticks — something fun, hype, and memorable. Instead, this theme is… plain. Forgettable. BORING. Honestly, it feels like a filler. Considering the brilliant producers behind the scenes and the history of iconic survival songs, this one is a major flop. No energy, no excitement, nothing that screams “this is the show to watch.” By the time the first stage ended and they were setting up for the second, I felt nothing. No “wow” factor, no goosebumps, no anticipation. Just boredom. And that’s the last thing a survival show should ever make you feel.

The elimination process is another mess. The way they dragged it out on screen was unbearable — it could’ve been handled so much cleaner off-camera. Instead, we wasted so much time watching unnecessary drama when that screen time could’ve been used to show us more of the trainees’ actual skills and growth. To make matters worse, the voting system combined with biased editing basically turns this from a survival idol show into a shallow popularity contest. And let’s be honest, if the lineup is formed this way, some of them won’t even survive post-debut as it had happen before with other groups, as the industry is very nerve wreaking havoc, in which truly talented and hard working people will last, others will doom.

And then there’s the song selection. Absolutely uninspired. Instead of offering a wide variety of styles to push trainees out of their comfort zones and showcase different strengths, they stuck to safe, bland choices. Mediocre tracks that highlight only the songs and its original creators rather than a few individuals who suppose to be the main one, while leaving the rest in the shadows. It doesn’t feel like a fair or square survival show — it feels like they already picked favorites and plan the group, rather than literally created together by the fan

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Pretty Boy II

It is amazing how many talented people there are in this world. Saying that these kinda picking members shows are very enlightening -- some of the contestents come in horrible and somehow become awesome to watch -- It really goes to show talent can only get you so far the rest is how you connect with the audience -- not to mention the makers of these shows no exactly how to exploit all these PrettyBoys afterall it is happening in every Kpop group right now & it has been the formula always So lets see how long it takes for the Fans or lack of to tear down this group as they have with every other group
Toxic Toxic Toxic these shows just play into the audiences Toxicity -- I feel sorry for the contestants -- & then maybe not cause they all want Fame Money & someone to Idolize them

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