Yeah, we're not sure if Medcezir here we come, right back where we started from, Medceziiiiiiiiir really has the same ring to it. Almost a decade since the soapy entanglements of Ryan, Marissa and Seth bowed out on our own screens the Turkish version of The OC - Medcezir, which roughly translates as The Tide - started airing, bringing the story of a troubled inner-city youth being brought into the exclusive world of an upper class beach community, and all the trouble that ensues, to a whole new audience. Like the Colombian version of Breaking Bad Medcezir's been tearing through the original OC, which unfolded over a good number of years, at a rate of knots; the first season managed a good 39 episodes to the American show's 27, with an average running time of between ninety minutes and two hours. Two hours! We enjoy teen angst as much as the next right-minded individual, but we're not sure we could put up with two hours of it. Especially if Marissa's Turkish equivalent is as irritating as Mischa Barton was in the original. Where many of these remakes are praised for what they do with the source material, people have been less kind when it comes to Medcezir. Like Das iTeam it's partly got it in the neck for not diverging enough from The OC to be worth watching, the show's retelling of classic storylines paling in comparison to the original. At the same time it's been criticised when it changes things a little too much; Medcezir somehow manages to be even more melodramatic than The OC, with Ryan (here called Yaman Koper) given an even more upsetting back story, which the Turkish Sandy Cohen (Selim Serez, with nary the eyebrows to compete if we're honest) identifies with pretty strongly. Apparently Turkish audiences are used to completely soul-destroying fare in their prime time television. It also focuses a lot more on the escapades of Selim and friends, making the stories more of an even split between the teens and parents. Medcezir's biggest flaw, however, might be in the soundtrack; no turn-of-the-millenium indie rock to be found bothering people here, just your generic sweeping soap orchestrations. Those Turks don't know what they're missing out on.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
