Darna (ABS-CBN, 2022)

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vnv7272
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five_red wrote:
1 year ago
shevek wrote:
1 year ago
Need to catch up on this week's episodes - I've been watching The Rig instead (although I don't know if that was such a good idea).
I'm up to ep 105 in the subs. The fights have largely been skirmishes between Darna and Valentina that are very repetitive, so I've not been posting videos. This week (eps 106 to 110) they've been introducing a super squad of villains for Borgo, including a couple of female villains.

325145015_451153863885914_5579626940952568303_n.jpg325132429_3000610596901491_7342146389416171101_n.jpg
As for the blurring of the cleavage and crotch, well it's a highly Islamic country especially in areas like Banda Aceh, but also conservative in culture overall.
Darna_Indonesia2.gif
They didn't do it for Saras 008 (Jessica's favorite superheroine show from her youth!) or Valentine the Avenger, but those characters were wearing bodysuits with full coverage.
Yeah, when you think about the superheroines from that part of the world, they all wear costumes that show little or no flesh. Aside from Saras we have Sri Asih (no point in asking me again Shevek, it is still in cinemas and hasn't hit online or digital platforms yet as far as I know), Ruby Princess from Panji Manusia Millenium, and Spider-Wo... sorry... Supergirl Manohara.

One wonders why they chose to screen Darna. Does anyone know how Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot) was handled in that part of the world? Did they censor her image, or just not bother with the series / movies at all..?


R5
They are doing this right. Heroes and villains need flair. Reminds me of shows from the 90s that were serialized, like Hercules, Cleopatra 2525, Black Scorpion, and back to 60's Batman and further back to serialized Saturday movies like Flash Gordon.
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This week on Darna. It's very decompressed, and not as much happens as should happen, but there are some good recommended moments.
Here we go:

--------------

EP 106 Skip it. It's composed largely of recall clips. Even the most exciting scene is really lame: Zaldy walks into the hospital and starts fighting
Ernie without using his powers.

I have only one question: we see Claudio/Hergis eating food in the restaurant a lot, gathering intel or whatever. From where does he get the money to buy all that food? I see no evidence that he has a job, unless he is using his shapeshifting powers to steal some cash here and there.

-------------------

EP107 There are only short segments of this that you might want to watch:

1) Darna dispatches/knocks out Zaldy in about two seconds.

2) Maisha displays her powers for the first time in public to rescue Zaldy from Darna's clutches. What's her power? Making everyone dance
to cheesy techno! That's right, apparently she can puppeteer the bodies of other people. No idea what use that'll have in the Super Soliders
but there are a bunch of hot angles of her dancing in that sexy costume.

DISCO MAISHA!
ep 107 maisha dance powers.jpg
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Zaldy finally meets Borgo (or should we say, Mr. X meets Mr. Rex).

3) The Super Soldiers all march out in slow motion - that's a nice segment that should be sampled as a clip. Go to it, Red5!

Regina/Valentina considers whether or not to join Borgo. She thinks it's absurd that the villain lineup is "a bunch of Extra, a Serpent Queen,
and an alien from outer space". But hey. that's the Darnaverse for you!

--------------------

EP108 What you should watch:

1) The Super Soldiers test their powers. We get to see Maisha's sexy puppeteering; Noah's fire balls; Zaldy growing to giant size.
We don't see the other three, because the session is interrupted by a family squabble between Noah and his dad.

2) Valentina goes to the street and battles Narda. Narda is tossed around and briefly in peril. She holds her own, and the neighbors
help her drive away Valentina (especially Grandma). I think this is supposed to show that Valentina isn't as ruthless as she makes out to be.
Why Narda doesn't slip away, transform into Darna, and chase down Valentina is another matter - this has happened several times.

General Diaz decides he needs to take over Nueva Esperanza with martial law. His fears are realized when Valentina attacks the police station right at the end.

------------

EP109 If there's a climactic episode this week, it's this one.

1) Darna battles Valentina in the cop station. Valentina kills a whole bunch of cops with snakebites, and also puts Darna briefly in chokehold peril.

VALENTINA CHOKING DARNA
ep 109 valentina chokehold on darna.jpg
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Diaz goes on TV to declare the takeover of the city, and (correct me if I'm wrong) I think he declares Darna to be an illegal vigilante.

The EMTs are eating food and drinking coffee, and it's making me hungry!

Priscilla suddenly discovers she is an Extra - she has the power of teleportation. It's pretty much like the Oprah show in here: you get a power, and you get a power, and you get a power!

There's a bit more footage at the end of Borgo preparing his Super Soldiers. Here's a sexy side shot of Xandra - the front of the costume is armored but you can clearly see the tight shiny spandex on the sides. Very nice!

XANDRA SIDE SHOT
ep 109 xandra.jpg
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------------

EP110 Slightly anti-climactic and a bit more soapy than EP110.

1) Zaldy and his assistant Maisha make a plot on the side. Maisha is in her sexy costume the whole time so don't miss that.

2) Andre and Sigfrid test their powers against each other in Super Soldier training (explosions vs force fields).

3) We see the origin story of how Priscilla was hit by a green crystal years ago, and got her Extra power. Not sure why it took that long to manifest.
The scene with her writhing around is cute, though.

Brian meets Claudio for the first time, introduced by Narda.

Xandra goes out to track down Hergis/Claudio. Apparently this is suddenly important again, they have their score to settle. She'll find him next week, apparently.

The rest is more recall clip footage.
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago


2) Maisha displays her powers for the first time in public to rescue Zaldy from Darna's clutches. What's her power? Making everyone dance
to cheesy techno! That's right, apparently she can puppeteer the bodies of other people. No idea what use that'll have in the Super Soliders
but there are a bunch of hot angles of her dancing in that sexy costume.
I was half expecting Darna to be affected by her powers and start dancing. That would have been hilarious. :P
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vnv7272
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That's how episodes start?!!
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shevek
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vnv7272 wrote:
1 year ago
That's how episodes start?!!
Yup. There is occasionally some weird plotting and editing.

As I mentioned above, the previous episode started with literally TWO seconds of Valentina initially attacking the police station. That's it.
You don't get a chance to absorb it, or see the horror of cops dying of snakebites while foaming at the mouth. It just ends super-abruptly.

And then, as you saw above, most of the rest of that action scene (the best action scene of the week!) happens WHILE THE INTRO CREDITS
ARE ROLLING. Makes no sense. If they had just eliminated five minutes of a bunch of secondary characters gossiping while eating food, they
could have put that entire action climax into the previous episode, or at least the half of it that leads up to Darna being choked.

I feel like "rehashing previous occurrences while eating" is the Filipino version of Talking About Feelings in Hallways.

---------------------------------------------------------

But, we interrupt this program for relevant news. Whatever you think about the Miss USA and Miss Universe competitions and its current ownership,
the latest competition was held this week in New Orleans. And guess what costume Celeste Cortesi (Miss Philippines) wore in the "national costume" round?
celeste cortesi as darna 2.jpg
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ceteste cortesi as darna 1.jpg
ceteste cortesi as darna 1.jpg (90.29 KiB) Viewed 13559 times
https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-cu ... p-culture/
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five_red
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vnv7272 wrote:
1 year ago
That's how episodes start?!!
One word: cliffhangers.


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vnv7272
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Thanks for the context for that high action opener.
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Episode 111- Skip it, very little happens. It can be summed up like this:

- Xandra stabs Hergis and takes him in. When he finally gets in front of Borgo as a prisoner, there's no stab wound. Continuity much?
- Ernie meets with some woman in a *food* place. They cry a lot. I don't know who she is (sister? wife?) and I'm not sure it really matters.
- Tricia teleports a little more (about 6 inches each time, literally) near a bus stop, but for some reason keeps it secret from Ding.
- Brian gets fired by General Diaz. How does Diaz have the random authority to do that? Can a U.S. Army General go into a small podunk town
and just fire a police officer? Or is the Philippines somehow different in that regard?
Also, the scene is grossly underplayed. This is a soap opera - Brian should have displayed more emotion.

-------------------

Episode 112 - Almost as little happens here as in the previous episode. Jesus Christ is this slow. Skip this one too.

- They repeat the Brian firing footage. Then they repeat the secret Maisha/Zaldy meeting footage from EP110. What the hell.
- Darna flies around, which gives them a chance to re-run even more previous footage from Darna/Regina interactions.
- Darna has a short and meaningless battle with Rex/Borgo, so short it's barely worth watching except for a couple sexy solo shots of Jane.
- They repeat some footage of Tricia worried about her powers in her bedroom.
- Villalobos works on some circuitry devices in his workshop. I don't know what they're for. Isn't he still the head of the Facility too, or did it close?
- Xandra tortures Hergis in his cell. We don't really get to see any good shots of her, most of it is from behind. A bit more recycled footage.

---------------------

Episode 113 - A mixed bag. Almost as useless as the previous two episodes. Just watch it for the part where Tricia names the Super Soldiers.

- The first 2 1/2 minutes is repeated footage from the past few episodes.
- Narda keeps calling Regina on the phone. My question: Regina is Public Enemy #1, having killed dozens of people. Why does she still have a phone? Wouldn't the government of Nueva Esperanza tell the phone company to cut off her service, as a wanted criminal?
- Brian sulks about getting fired, which gives everyone the opportunity to watch a bunch more recycled Brian footage.

- Tricia finally does something useful. From her bedroom, she uploads a video giving names to all the Super Soldiers.
You tell me if these names are any good:
Mayor Zaldy is EVIL TITAN. [Pretty cheesy. Who starts their villain name with Evil? Not even Doctor Evil. Bad Titan, no biscuit!]
Noah is BLAZER. [Pretty good. Although I think he should lean into it by wearing a vest with flames on it.]
Maisha is PIED PIPER. [That doesn't make sense. Her costume looks nothing like a Pied Piper. I'd have gone with FANCY DANCER or POP PRINCESS.]
Andre is THE DETONATOR. Perfect. He gets a spinoff series of movies. I can see it now - DETONATOR 2: DAY OF JUDGEMENT.
Sigfrid is the worst pun ever. FORCE FIELD REPORTER. Bwa ha ha, it sounds like a joke Booster and Beetle would make from 1990s JLA comics.
She doesn't mention Xandra or the trash guy Pineda. I really hope they're going to call Pineda BASURA though (it means trash in Spanish).

- Darna flies around. What is she looking for, other than some previous footage?
- The EMTs eat a bunch of food again. Making me hungry again. At least for some Sweet and Sour Chicken.
- More footage of Tricia teleporting a few inches around her bedroom. She still doesn't tell Ding anything. I want her superhero name to be BAMFETTE. Is that too much to ask?
- Darna flies around again, searching for the end of the episode. She finds it.

OK...Evilyn starts her name with Evil. But that's about it.

----------------

Episode 114 - Skip this whole damn thing, unless you need to see the kiss.

- Xandra gives Hergis a choice of how he wants to be tortured: nail puller? brass knuckles? or taser? How thoughtful of her.
- Rex calls Snake-Regina to a foggy moonlit area. It's a chance for them to show more previous footage.
- Brian's choked up about getting fired. He yells at Ernie. Ernie tells Narda about it. Narda comes over to comfort Brian.
He cries a bit (dudes cry a lot in Pinoy drams. It's interesting.) and she is the most supportive girlfriend ever, because...THEY KISS! (finally)
A collective sigh erupts from females clear across an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.
- Brian apparently isn't that comforted. He sits on the sidewalk, looking despondent, perhaps because it gives them a chance to show a bunch of previous footage. He wants to move forward with his life, but this footage just keeps haunting both him and the viewers.
- Right at the end, Blazer, Detonator and Force Field Reporter (bwa ha ha) stride up to Hergis' prison cell and don't do anything but stare at him.

I'm not going to say this is possibly the worst week of Darna episodes in quite a long time, but....hell yes, I'll go ahead and say it.
I'll add 115 to this post in the next couple days, but I don't quite see how it could redeem this week's Previously on Darna Film Festival.

In the meantime here's a photo of the Super Soldiers I got from the Mars Ravelo's Darna Facebook fan page. I think it's a publicity shot.
super soldiers 1.jpg
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Episode 115:

-Narda tries to draw Regina out by meeting with Rex/Borgo on the foggy hill. Regina isn't going to come, but then Xandra uses her shapeshifting
power to convince Regina to show up.
-The Soldier Boys start to harrass Hergis cruelly in his cell. Xandra tells them to stop.
-Regina heads towards the meeting hill, giving us a chance to see more recycled footage. She stops at a checkpoint and transforms into Valentina
in order to throw a few snakes at the cops and barrel on through.
- Narda has a very short fight with Rex/Borgo, where she knocks him off the hill, and he falls. Regina shows up in time to watch him fall.
Meanwhile the gang from the restaurant think Narda is missing and they form a search party to find her (gotta give them something to do).
- Regina, in a fit of rage against Narda, transforms into Valentina again and knocks Narda down. Then she leaps down the cliff face to find her
"father". The search party catches up with Narda and is relieved to see her safe.
- Valentina finds scraps of Rex's clothing at the bottom of the drop. Meanwhile, Rex/Borgo hides in the bushes and watches her anger grow.
She never stops to think why there isn't any body?
- Narda and the restaurant gang return home. The EMTs have a meeting at the hospital, not sure about what. But there's no food at the meeting,
and I'm getting hungry.
- Rex/Borgo and Xandra are back on the ship. Xandra's back in her sexy villainess costume. Borgo says that Rex has "served his purpose" (to inspire Valentina to hate Narda). Maybe that means he won't be going out as Rex anymore?
- Valentina sits on her bed crying over her father, as faithful simp Ali stands by. Why does a diabolical supervillainess cry? (It's not a good look). Why does she even get to sleep in her own bed - again, she's killed dozens of people and the cops aren't hunting her down?

That's it. So yes, EP115 wasn't really much better than the other episodes this week. Very low action and low stakes. Too much filler.
-
Last edited by shevek 1 year ago, edited 2 times in total.
brdiy
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Using Borgo as the main villain has gone on far too long. It's a shame because Darna has her own notable rogues gallery. Instead, all we're getting are these scrappy "Extras" who hardly pose any threat to Darna. Hell, even Borgo and Valentina are pushovers in this show. Seeing both get beaten has become too repititive.

Though on the campier side, I think Marian Rivera's version did utilize these other villains better.
Last edited by brdiy 1 year ago, edited 1 time in total.
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brdiy wrote:
1 year ago
Using Borgo as the main villain has gone on far too long. It's a shame because Darna has her own notable rogues gallery. Instead, all we're getting are these scrappy "Extras" who hardly pose any threat to Darna. Hell, even Borgo and Valentina are pushovers in this show. Seeing both get beaten as become too repititive.
This Darna has never been in any peril except a couple of punches that never actually hurt her. The whole show feels pretty inconsequential; where are the major character deaths ? Why does every fight ends up being very short and with the villain fleeing without Darna chasing after them ? The 5-10 Valentina fights all seem copy pasted from each other.
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The previous Darna series had better peril scenes than the current show so far. Maybe in the last week they'll get it right. You can download all these images in the link below.

https://www103.zippyshare.com/v/DiceNwdY/file.html


Mod Edit <I was unable to move this post to a new thread so have deleted the pics. >
<Korda if you wish to post 5-6 representative pics that's fine but please do not bombard the thread with dozens of very similar photos>
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Sweet Jesus! Whilst I appreciate the validity of some representative pics from the earlier film for the purposes of comparison and discussion I have removed these posts .

By all means add a few from the 2009 series if you wish to highlight your points but A FEW PLEASE
How strange are the ways of the gods ...........and how cruel.

I am here to help one and all enjoy this site, so if you have any questions or feel you are being trolled please contact me (Hit the 'CONTACT' little speech bubble below my Avatar).
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Speculation on Facebook is, based on latest preview videos, that Luna is to make a comeback.

That said, Facebook said that the series would end after 120 episodes, yet we seem to be ramping the action up and adding more and more characters with only five episodes left, so I'm wondering how accurate that may be.

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ABS-CBN staff (according to bio!) are posting on social media that 25th January is the last day of taping for Darna. The series will end in February.


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Further update: one person in Indonesia is claiming that ANTV (the Indonesian broadcaster that started airing Darna a couple of weeks ago) has stopped airing the show. First it was moved from 7:30pm to 10pm, and now the latest episode wasn't shown, leading to speculation that the show has been pulled.

EDIT: According to the Darna ANTV Facebook group, the show has been switching to 2am... which is effectively cancellation. According to comments by Darna fans, Indonesia used to be pretty open minded and shows like Krystala ran on Indonesian tv in the mid 2000's, but that changed after 2010 when religious groups started to demand more censorship. Many have questioned why ANTV bothered to show Darna in the first place given the nature of the show.


R5
Last edited by five_red 1 year ago, edited 1 time in total.
brdiy
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If the screenshots of the show I've seen are true, where the whole body of Darna is blurred out, I am not surprised. I was actually more surprised that they actually aired it there in the first place.
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I feel like the show has been "Supergirled". There hasn't been a good fight scene featuring Darna against a villain since the forest battle with Borgo. When you center a program around a superhero and then refuse to show that superhero battling villains, you lose the audience. I know the show is structured as a soap opera. I don't expect a big fight scene every episode. But the history of Darna, both movie and television versions, featured good fights. This program had a few in the first half of its run. But something happened. Something changed. Word came down from somewhere - tone down the peril.

Another thing - that really good fight with Borgo where he dominated most of the battle - why no sound from Darna? At one point he's spinning her head side to side with powerful blows, but we don't hear a peep from her. Grrr.

After waiting for years for this show to air, and despite a pretty good costume and a really good actress playing Darna, I'm pretty disappointed.
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brdiy wrote:
1 year ago
If the screenshots of the show I've seen are true, where the whole body of Darna is blurred out, I am not surprised. I was actually more surprised that they actually aired it there in the first place.
The ANTV episodes are up at Vidio, which is an Indonesian streaming service used by several of their tv stations. Here's one example, you can fast forward to 27:00 from the end to see an example of the blurring. And it isn't just Darna; some of the other characters have been blurred too, example (4:00.)


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Episode 116:

I guess you should watch this, but skip through the flashback parts (which are about 30% of the episode).

Mad about Narda "killing" her father, Valentina has a tantrum at her house. Then she moves to the hideout, all the while consoled and simped by her worshipper, Ali. She sleeps on a bed of a giant python (that's new!) while Ali watches over her.

Meanwhile, Narda teaches the whole village self defense with stick fighting. I think (if I'm not mistaken) Ding and others also help by spreading salt
around the houses to deter the snakes?

Suddenly, Borgo has a lab on his ship (I don't think we've seen that before). With the help of Xandra in her sexy golden costume, he extracts some blood from Pineda, and the other heroes I assume (there are six blood vials). Then he places all the blood vials in a centrifuge and it starts spinning. Personally I'm amazed that the show budget sprang for a centrifuge. Maybe he'll create new Super Soliders out of the vials? We'll see.

At the end of the episode, there's suddenly a Nueva Esperanza Cosplay Festival, hosted by an MC dandy with a pink shirt. There are two cosplayer actresses dressed up as Darna and Valentina simulating a battle while a crowd cheers them on. (The Darna cosplay is wearing the *exact* Darna uniform, so it's possible she just borrowed it from Jane's wardrobe for the day.) They look hot in their fake fight. Nobody else in the crowd is cosplaying anything at all, so how exactly is it a "cosplay festival" as opposed to just a stage play?

Then, of course, Valentina shows up to teach these pretenders a lesson. End of episode. At least it's better than some of the ones from last week.

------------------------

Episode 117:

Yes, watch this one - stakes are finally ramping up a bit.

Valentina bites the pink-shirted MC and kills him. Then she forces the cosplayers to fight again, except she tells the Valentina cosplayer, "This time you win." It's one of the more bizarre villainous actions I've seen in any TV show. Valentina literally directs a live-action peril scene to show Darna vicariously losing a battle! The crowd claps and then breathes a collective sigh of relief as Valentina departs, killing nobody else.

Still think this is just a soap opera, eh? (Well, sure, it still is.)

Narda goes on television to instruct the village how to ward off the snakes with sulfur and ammonia (I guess that's what the salts were from the previous episode.)

Next, we're back on Borgo's ship, where there's a brief scene of Hergis still in jail with his beaten-up face. Xandra is still in her sexy costume in the lab, and she's injecting the Mayor with the serum while the other Super Soldiers look on. His face turns green, so it looks he's powering up.

General Diaz briefly has a meeting with his officers about the situation in Nueva Esperanza, while Dr Villalobos does some science of his own.
Meanwhile, Xandra, still in her hot costume, brings food to Hergis in jail. It looks like he's planning an escape.

Valentina surveys the village, only to find that she is warded off by the sulfur and ammonia fumes. That's an easy fix: she just puts on a gas mask, and then her snakes resume the attacks, while the villagers try to beat them with sticks. Valentina descends from the roof to the ground using all four snake limbs (very Doc Ock!), and then she directly attacks Narda. She takes Narda's sticks away and starts beating Narda with her own sticks!
You wanted some peril, so here it is (too bad she's not in costume, though). Narda is beaten to the ground and it seems like Valentina is about to bite her.

Tune in tomorrow, because it's several episodes since we've actually seen Jane in the Darna costume.

------------------------------

Episode 118:

The introduction literally repeats the entire battle I just mentioned above, to kill some time.

Narda is about be dragged towards Valentina by her snakes, when Ding tosses a Molotov, which explodes above Valentina, showering her with the sulfur salts. It doesn't slow Valentina down that much. Then all of the villagers join in, surrounding Narda and Ding within their ranks, and showing solidarity against the villainess. They throw rocks of the yellow salt at her (you can see it all over the ground - obviously they had to do this in one take) and they start beating the snakes frantically with their sticks.

Then, a mysterious man in a biohazard suit and a gas mask arrives, and starts spraying Valentina with a large amount of gray gas, which makes her choke and repels her, forcing her to retreat from the village. Who is this savior? He removes his mask, and it's none other than... Doctor Villalobos!
He has concocted this repulsion gas in his lab (I think?). The villagers all cheer for him. So, it was that easy to defeat a supervillainess with strength and lethal venom? OK then.

Some short segments: Ernie's sister (?) whom we saw earlier has a rifle strapped to her back - it's the first evidence we've seen of a civilian owning a gun in the show (I don't know what the gun ownership laws are like there, but we've only seen criminals and cops use them up til now).
Valentina is in pain, recovering in the woods and shouting "I will kill them all" when Borgo shows up to meet her.
Hergis tries to figure out the digital combination lock to his prison cell. Xandra interrupts his efforts, still in her tight costume.

Valentina tells Borgo his vengeance against Darna will have to wait, because she wants to get back at Narda and the villagers first.
Then there's a terrible camera cut where we suddenly see her in her hideout. Her costume is covered with red spots (bloody burns from the gas, I would assume) and the snakes are helping her to heal by pulling the red spots off (I guess that would be called picking at your scabs).

General Diaz then marches into the facility with his forces, telling Dr Villalobos that "this is a maximum security prison". Time for some martial law.

Yet another episode where we barely see Darna at all (except for a couple of brief footage flashbacks).

-------------------------------------

Episode 119:

A surprising scene: Brian seems to be reconciling with Ernie, and he drives Brian to see Narda.
They talk, and it seems productive like he's realizing he can still join the fight without his badge.
Then (for some reason, I don't know) Darna flies through the air a bit, giving us a chance to see more flashback footage.

Something new: Regina is in her lair, transformed as Valentina, but she is not wearing her costume - just a black skintight catsuit and high-heeled boots. She sees Cora (one of her main snakes) crawling away, and asks where she is going. Suddenly, Valentina's eyes turn black and she convulses, as she has a vision through a snake's eyes. She then says to Cora, "You have given me a new power [presumably that of seeing through the eyes of snakes?] and for that, you shall be my new emissary." The other four snake personalities are not too happy about that. But I'm happy about Regina's sexy black alternate costume. Are you?
regina alternate costume.jpg
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General Diaz shows up in the village and takes Tricia away to the facility (does he realize she has powers?). Ding isn't too happy about that. Valentina sees this from afar using her new "Cora power", and Janella stands up in that tight new black costume, proclaiming "Now it's time for me to get to work." She looks confident and majestically evil as she strides away. A few minutes later, in her Valentina getup, she confronts Ding.

Meanwhile, the Super Soldiers look ready to commit their first criminal action: Detonator and Blazer land in the village, traveling there inside Force Field's flying force bubble. The villagers flee in terror from these costumed evildoers. Nearby, Valentina is strangulating Ding with one of her snake arms, and looks about to bite him, when Narda shows up. "I'm going to kill him in front of you," she gloats to Narda. "Make sure you watch closely. Just like you killed my father in front of me!" Darna has no choice but to transform in front of Regina in order to save Ding..will she do it???

Yes, she will! (Not sure why this wasn't a cliffhanger to the final episode of the week???) Incredible sexiness is achieved as Regina watches Narda transform into Darna right before her eyes. Valentina looks shocked, which gives us a chance to review a couple minutes of footage from previous episodes where Regina should have *realized* that Narda is Darna, but didn't. In fact, she's so shocked that she lets go of Ding, and turns back into Regina without any snakeface remaining.

Meanwhile, Darna is checking on Ding to make sure he's alright, and driving away any residual snakes. This gives a chance for a great lingering shot of Jane's gorgeous bare back and perfect posterior in that shiny costume. Here it is.
Darna's perfect posterior.jpg
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Seems as if Valentina was only the appetizer and not the main course, as Regina is knocked aside by a blast from Detonator and gored by a tree branch (really? that was a bit abrupt, with no build-up). The three Super Soldiers stride into view, with Blazer hurling fire at Darna, while Regina seems to be dying. Here's where the redemption probably takes place, as well as the beginning of Darna's final confrontations with Borgo's army of villains.

Worth watching for all the story development (finally!!). I'll post the Friday episode here when it comes out tomorrow.
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Ernie wrote:
1 year ago
I feel like the show has been "Supergirled". There hasn't been a good fight scene featuring Darna against a villain since the forest battle with Borgo. When you center a program around a superhero and then refuse to show that superhero battling villains, you lose the audience. I know the show is structured as a soap opera. I don't expect a big fight scene every episode. But the history of Darna, both movie and television versions, featured good fights. This program had a few in the first half of its run. But something happened. Something changed. Word came down from somewhere - tone down the peril.

Another thing - that really good fight with Borgo where he dominated most of the battle - why no sound from Darna? At one point he's spinning her head side to side with powerful blows, but we don't hear a peep from her. Grrr.

After waiting for years for this show to air, and despite a pretty good costume and a really good actress playing Darna, I'm pretty disappointed.
Yes the first Borgo fight was the best and only real peril we saw during all those episodes. But 2 things bugged me a lot : the opening credits intertwined with the fight and like you said Darna didn't make any sound to getting punched which makes it seems like the punches didn't really hurt her. It would be great if someone could add some peril sounds for Darna while she gets punched around by Borgo.
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I wish the 2005 version came out on (HD) DVD. While the story may be no better, at least it had more peril for our superheroine. And Angel did look fantastic as well. Unfortunately for us, Angel Locsin transferring to the rival network killed any chance of that ever happening.
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
At the end of the episode, there's suddenly a Nueva Esperanza Cosplay Festival, hosted by an MC dandy with a pink shirt. There are two cosplayer actresses dressed up as Darna and Valentina simulating a battle while a crowd cheers them on. (The Darna cosplay is wearing the *exact* Darna uniform, so it's possible she just borrowed it from Jane's wardrobe for the day.)
That was Jay Cayabyab as Darna and Ralph Joseph Plan as Valentina, two drag artists who cosplay as the Darna characters and others. You'll find their cosplays posted on FB Darna groups. They seem to be well connected with the production, and at least one of them (if I recall) attended the show's launch party dressed in character.


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brdiy wrote:
1 year ago
I wish the 2005 version came out on (HD) DVD. While the story may be no better, at least it had more peril for our superheroine. And Angel did look fantastic as well. Unfortunately for us, Angel Locsin transferring to the rival network killed any chance of that ever happening.
Okay, first, the 2005 wasn't shot in HD. So the best you can hope for is 4:3 ratio SD. (Indeed this is what we should hope for, as if they release the episodes in any other format then they've messed about with them -- like they did with Krystala when they cropped the 4:3 image into 16:9 widescreen, which led to some awkward framing.) And second, given the number of episodes (170), a DVD release is unlikely. What is more likely is a streaming box set, or a run on cable tv, assuming that GMA has the rights to release it to those platforms.

As of a couple of weeks ago GMA has a new free-to-air channel called Pinoy Hits that shows its back catalogue of shows. So far it has been romance and kids shows, but hopefully eventually they will screen Darna 2005, or (if we're very very lucky) Super Klenk(!) :laugh:


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five_red wrote:
1 year ago
shevek wrote:
1 year ago
At the end of the episode, there's suddenly a Nueva Esperanza Cosplay Festival, hosted by an MC dandy with a pink shirt. There are two cosplayer actresses dressed up as Darna and Valentina simulating a battle while a crowd cheers them on. (The Darna cosplay is wearing the *exact* Darna uniform, so it's possible she just borrowed it from Jane's wardrobe for the day.)
That was Jay Cayabyab as Darna and Ralph Joseph Plan as Valentina, two drag artists who cosplay as the Darna characters and others. You'll find their cosplays posted on FB Darna groups. They seem to be well connected with the production, and at least one of them (if I recall) attended the show's launch party dressed in character.

R5
Wow. Didn't notice it before because I didn't look closely, but the cosplay Darna didn't have *any* cleavage. The cosplay Valentina seems to be wearing a prosthesis. Other than that, these two drag artists had no telltale signs so they were very successful in their performance. (see their photo below)

I have two questions about this, though:

1) Jay Cayabyab's Facebook mentions something about a "comeback". Does that mean that either of them had already portrayed those characters *before* in this series? For example, was Ralph (drag Darna) involved in the "Darna vs Borgo-Darna" fight, where one of them definitely was a stunt actor whose face was never seen?

2) Jay also mentions something about "gays make a comeback". There were at least three gay characters in Episode 119 alone. In previous episodes of this series, there were also occasionally other gay characters who appeared (such as the makeup artist who was killed). Other than Jay's posts, is there any evidence of "pride" expressed about these characters appearing in the series, or any evidence in general of a sizeable gay fanbase for Darna, the way there is for Wonder Woman?

In the Philippines, gay rights are further along than in most countries of Southeast Asia, but there is an ongoing struggle for legal things like civil union and anti-discrimination. However, except for the obvious emphasis on government corruption (which I would assume mirrors real-life in that country) thankfully the producers of Darna keep socio-politics out of their shows. So, does the mass viewing audience simply take these gay characters in stride?

Ralph and Jay as Darna and Valentina.
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
I have two questions about this, though:

1) Jay Cayabyab's Facebook mentions something about a "comeback". Does that mean that either of them had already portrayed those characters *before* in this series? For example, was Ralph (drag Darna) involved in the "Darna vs Borgo-Darna" fight, where one of them definitely was a stunt actor whose face was never seen?
I assume that was a reference to them being in two episodes. The message you're referring to was posted after their first episode, I think.

The costume is Jay's own rather than one of Jane's hand-me-downs, I'm pretty certain. Here's a pic I did from a few months ago showing Jay in costume:
Darna20_02.jpg
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In the Philippines, gay rights are further along than in most countries of Southeast Asia, but there is an ongoing struggle for legal things like civil union and anti-discrimination. However, except for the obvious emphasis on government corruption (which I would assume mirrors real-life in that country) thankfully the producers of Darna keep socio-politics out of their shows. So, does the mass viewing audience simply take these gay characters in stride?
The Philippines is a very Catholic country, so the attitudes towards certain things, like abortion, homosexuality, and contraception, are likely to be heavily influenced by the church. However... there's always been a debate as to whether religious people actually truly believe their religion. Certainly some absolutely do, but unless they live in a country were the religion is strictly enforced, the majority of believers tend to cherry pick what doctrines they follow based on what is convenient, while at the same time claiming to be 100% pious. So Catholics say they are against birth control, but anonymous surveys I believe have shown that 90%+ have used it at one time or another. Evangelicals may say they are in favour of piety, modesty, and morality, but if an aggressive, loud-mouthed, morally dubious, serial divorcee comes along and promises them political power then they're happy to jump onboard.

The most religious state in America: Utah. The state with the most Google searches for porn: Utah again, apparently. (And the most busy time of the week for porn searches is apparently right after everyone comes back from church having had that week's sins forgiven.) Victorian England was supposed to be a place of extreme modesty and sexual restraint, yet it is also the era when prostitution flourished, music halls are full of bawdy songs sung by drag acts, the number of pubs exploded, and children attended pantomimes in which men dressed as women acted in the most outrageously camp way.

So I'm guessing The Philippines likewise has a schizophrenic attitude towards drag queens, in the same way buttoned-up Victorian England did towards pantomime dames. There's the moral rules everyone pretends to follow, and then there's the one's they actually follow when God isn't looking. I wouldn't mind betting if you asked Filipinos their views on homosexuality in a public forum, the answers you'd get would be very different to if you asked them via an anonymous survey. And no doubt everyone has post-hoc excuses to explain away the cognitive dissonance.

I'm guessing a show like Darna may feature blatantly gay characters, and the audience is fine with that, so long as the show doesn't acknowledge that they are gay. In the same centuries-old tradition as the effeminate mummy's boy characters that crop up repeatedly in British comedy, most recently in 1970s sitcoms (Are You Being Served, It AIn't 'Alf Hot Mum, Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em) and the Carry On films. They can be as camp and as effeminate as you like, so long as you don't challenge the audience's cognitive dissonance by actually explicitly saying they are gay.


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They are gonna wrap up the series in 2 weeks ? The whole show was very slow and now that it actually starts to become a superheroine show with fights they are gonna rush it in 2 weeks ? She has like 12 villains to defeat. I am already expecting her to defeat them all very easily because they need to wrap up all the storylines.
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They took their sweet time getting to the actual superhero stuff that the audience just gave up on it. :(
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
However, except for the obvious emphasis on government corruption (which I would assume mirrors real-life in that country) thankfully the producers of Darna keep socio-politics out of their shows.
Believe it or not, this is probably the most "political" iteration of Darna I've seen. The whole story with Darna not wanting to kill the Extras and instead trying to reform them. That Darna and Brian ends up going against the bumbling mayor wanting to kill all Extras was a not-so-subtle jab at the former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte who once proclaimed that drug addicts are too far gone deserve to be liquidated, and was even seen as encouraging the police to conduct extra judicial killings. Note that it was under this president where the same network airing Darna, ended up losing their franchise to operate in the Philippines.

Not as in your face as the CW does it, of course. :D
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I have to be honest, it would be really fun to meet the Drag queen cosplaying as Darna.....could get interesting!!!
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Episode 120:

So, do you remember how Darna was checking on Ding to make sure he was alright from Valentina's attack (he is)
and then Force Field, Detonator and Blazer show up, accidently causing Regina to be gored?

Well..the three Soldiers snatch up the gravely wounded Regina (in her tight black outfit), and Darna can't get to her
because Force Field blocks her way (she can't punch through it). But instead of trying to follow them back to their
home base, she takes Ding home! Why she never goes after villains, I don't know.

Meanwhile, Ali comes out of the woodwork, crying desperately to the Soldiers (I mean, he is really bawling) to let him see Regina.
So they pick him up and take him with them to their base, where Regina is lying unconscious on a table in their 'lab'
with all of the Super Soldiers surrounding her. I have a feeling that Ali will be joining the Super Soldiers soon!

Darna (in costume) then meets with Villalobos, Richard, and Brian about the plight of Valentina.
Detonator returns to the village and blows up a building (now they're showing him using little green globes as his grenades).
Don't know why he's doing this (just to cause mayhem?) but he kills or injures a bunch of people and gets Darna's attention.
Meanwhile, Xandra walks by a couple of shipping containers and randomly fights some gang members (Invictus?). Not sure what's up with that.
Darna catches and punches a couple of the green globes that Detonator tosses high in the air as a distraction, and he gets away.
Xandra finds out that these aren't gang members: they're actually more Borgo-style shapeshifters from Planet Marte. When did they get to Earth?

Darna talks with Richard, as he is treating some of the wounded from Detonator's attack.
It looks like the Planet Marte shapeshifters have arrived to check up on Borgo - not sure of the details (I don't have the translation).
And then suddenly, just like that- Luna is back! We see her lying unconscious and bloody in a shack, possibly attacked by the new Marteans,
She is a bloody mess in her costume (unfortunate, since it's a cute outfit) and she's locked inside the shack and can't break out.
That gives the program a chance to run some Luna flashback clips where she's training with Narda.
Luna monologues for a bit and goes through some agony in the shack.

Then we return to Borgo's base where he's got more vials of the Extra serum to inject. He puts one in Regina's IV to help revive her,
and then gives the other to Ali, who promptly injects himself to get his revenge on Darna.
What powers will Ali receive? Well, his eyes start to burn (see photo below) so maybe he will be shooting laser beams from his eyes.
We'll find out next week. Not a whole lot of time to wrap this up, yet they keep creating more and more villains for Darna to vanquish.

U Mad, Bro? Cry More.
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Long story short, the newly arrived Marteans tell Xandra they're looking for Borgo because they have a hostage for him (Luna).
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This show has been such a disappointment on the superheroine side of things (apart of the costume). It's like they realized they had no worthy foe for Darna throughout the whole run so they just throw all those weak villains together to make it feel like Darna is in actual danger and call it a day. And she is going to deal with all of them in a rushed final 8 episodes with help of her sidekicks.

Previous Darna shows had better villains; better peril and better fights despite being 2 decades older



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Supergirl763 wrote:
1 year ago
This show has been such a disappointment on the superheroine side of things (apart of the costume). It's like they realized they had no worthy foe for Darna throughout the whole run so they just throw all those weak villains together to make it feel like Darna is in actual danger and call it a day. And she is going to deal with all of them in a rushed final 8 episodes with help of her sidekicks.
I think the show had to be made within the Covid restrictions of The Philippines, which meant that it was difficult to have actors come and go on a regular basis. I know they had a closed studio campus, and the cast and crew had to stay in a bubble for long periods, then go into quarantine before before joining/re-joining from the outside world. The first season was pretty much entirely shot on the studio backlot, with only a handful of location shoots outside (like the shopping mall.) This is totally different to how previous series (Darna '05, Darna '09, Krystala, Super Ma'am, etc. etc.) have been shot, where their outdoor scene are almost entirely real locations.

So there wasn't ever likely to be a large cast of villains. The plan from the start was to probably have Borgo throughout, then utilise the regular cast as much as possible.

It is a shame they didn't get creative, by planning to have some actors play two roles hiding behind monster makeup and costumes. But there you go.


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five_red wrote:
1 year ago
Supergirl763 wrote:
1 year ago
This show has been such a disappointment on the superheroine side of things (apart of the costume). It's like they realized they had no worthy foe for Darna throughout the whole run so they just throw all those weak villains together to make it feel like Darna is in actual danger and call it a day. And she is going to deal with all of them in a rushed final 8 episodes with help of her sidekicks.
I think the show had to be made within the Covid restrictions of The Philippines, which meant that it was difficult to have actors come and go on a regular basis. I know they had a closed studio campus, and the cast and crew had to stay in a bubble for long periods, then go into quarantine before before joining/re-joining from the outside world. The first season was pretty much entirely shot on the studio backlot, with only a handful of location shoots outside (like the shopping mall.) This is totally different to how previous series (Darna '05, Darna '09, Krystala, Super Ma'am, etc. etc.) have been shot, where their outdoor scene are almost entirely real locations.

So there wasn't ever likely to be a large cast of villains. The plan from the start was to probably have Borgo throughout, then utilise the regular cast as much as possible.

It is a shame they didn't get creative, by planning to have some actors play two roles hiding behind monster makeup and costumes. But there you go.


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Interesting

I don't want to spoil as I don't know far into the episodes you are but even during the very final episodes of the series they suddenly start to give attention to another character than Darna for the superhero stuff. I swear this show is beyond frustrating lol.
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Episode 121

So, yes, Ali takes the serum and we'll see what powers he gets.

The newly arrived Marteans shoot down Luna's spaceship and that's how they took her captive.
It's interesting that her spaceship looked pretty much like a primitive rocket from a Golden Age comic book.
Didn't anyone tell the production team that spaceships have been significantly upgraded since the days of Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

General Diaz says on a broadcast that "the government represents the people". But then the chyron in his news broadcast says "General Diaz imposes heavier laws as a burden on Nueva Esperanza" (my best Tagalog translation). So, he's talking out of both sides of his mouth, which is probably a commentary on Filipino politics. Good one! Meanwhile, Trisha looks fearful that she'll be caught up in the dragnet for Extras.

Back to Borgo's hideout: the Super Soldiers counter against Diaz with a broadcast featuring the Mayor (Giant Man) speaking for the four dudes
with superpowers, as well as his faithful sexy assistant Maisha (looking great in her costume). They throw down a challenge against Darna.

Too bad we don't see Narda transform. But Narda rushes to the scene where some fires are burning, and she is confronted by General Diaz and
an army with guns. She puts her hands up to show she's not going to fight him, then takes off. Not sure what the purpose of that scene was - no fight or anything. Then she goes to the restaurant. None of the villagers there know she's Darna.

Noah and Andre (Blazer and Detonator) start blowing up the village again, and draw Darna out. She puts out an electrical fire on the telephone wires, then drags some villagers to safety. A third villain, Ali, then shows up to join the fight - as we predicted, he has heat vision, but he's also grown long hair for some reason, and wears a black costume. Finally, 'Brian' joins the fray, shooting an arrow from an energy bow (is it really Brian? Borgo, observing the fray, seems to think so) at Darna. This results in probably the longest soap-opera stare-off to date in the series - everybody does the "soap opera look" against other for a couple minutes! Awkward five-way stand off.

Darna takes to the sky, and Ali keeps attacking her with his heat vision, but she dodges it successfully. On the ground, Noah and Andre keep attacking
Brian, but he keeps rolling out of the way and dodging their attacks.

From his vantage point in Borgo's hideout, Mayor Zaldy watches his son Noah turn into blue fire and burn up, right before their eyes. I imagine this is the first indication that the Extra serum is unstable and will eventually destroy those who use it. Anyway, Force Field shows up and spirits away the other villains while taking Brian prisoner, while Darna examines the pile of ashes that used to be Noah.

Not the best fights, really, but at least you get to see a good amount of Darna.

---------------------------------

Episode 122

Mayor Zaldy can't be too mad about what happened to his son - I mean, he was the one who injected Noah with the serum in the first place.

Hergis tries to escape his cell, but he gets the beatdown from Xandra (sexy costume) and one of the new Marteans. But Luna is there (all bloodied from her captivity) and she defeats the one Martean. Then Hergis and Luna team up to defeat Xandra, leaving her and the Martean locked up in the cell.

The Soldiers drag Brian back to Borgo's headquarters, but he pulls a surprise move. Apparently, Brian's Extra power (we see in flashbacks that he got it from Dr Villalobos at the Facility, and that he showed his powers to Ernie) is to create red-colored energy weapons - first he had a bow, and now he has two guns. But he gives up the guns and shakes hands with Borgo. Is he a villain now? Well, Brian emerges from whatever costume closet Borgo has, and he's got an impressive intro, and probably the best-designed costume of all the male soldiers, with lots of red and gold elements. Is this somehow a counterpart to Darna's colors? We'll see. I think the actor's female fans will be very pleased with his quite handsome attire.

Meanwhile, Hergis and Luna are trying to escape the perimeter of Borgo's prison area, but they run up against an impenetrable energy fence. So they grab a shovel and pick and try to dig their way out from under the fence. Brian practices shooting his arrows, and finds out that Force Field has surrounded Borgo's hideout with an energy dome. Xandra and her Martean buddy are hot on the trail of Hergis and Luna.

Darna takes to the skies, and that's all we see of her in this episode. At the end, Force Field traps Brian inside a....force field.

Not much Darna, but worth it for the Brian sequences with his powers.

---------------------------------

Episode 123

Force Field takes some pleasure out of trapping Brian, but apparently Borgo has more faith in Brian. Borgo tells all the other Super Soldiers that Brian will join their mission. Seems a little naive on his part? I mean, are Pineda or the Mayor buying this, given that they are not exactly fans of Brian?

Hergis and Luna escape, and make it all the way to the Doctor's place, where they are greeted by Darna and Ding.
Xandra (sexy costume) and the Martean are worried about the escape of Hergis and Luna, and Brian overhears their conversation.
(Brian also has a flashback to a scene where he is kissing Darna on a hilltop. This is definitely the first Brian/Darna kiss in the series!)
Brian then proceeds to give the Martean a beatdown (with a red energy 'nightstick'??) on behalf of Borgo, which keeps Xandra in her place.

Darna takes off into the sky, and lands in a building which is Borgo's hideout. There's a nice long plastic couch to which they give a considerable cameo - not sure why. Darna returns to report to her friend group that she doesn't see Borgo or the Soldiers. Meanwhile, Richard is very happy to see Luna; he's got such a crush!

Borgo and the Soliders return to their base. Brian has words with most of them one by one - he seems to be into belittling them in order to get them to accept him as a leader? Meanwhile, we see a few of the Soldiers causing some trouble: Maisha goes to an army checkpoint and gets a whole crowd of people to dance along while she puppeteers them; Pineda pulls some trash out of the nearby lake (what's that going to do?); Detonator blows a few things up in the village. To prove he's a "villain" like them, Brian pretends to shoot his energy arrow at some villagers, but when Detonator looks away, he fires it at the ground instead. But he can't pretend forever - the Soldiers force him into firing his deadly arrow at a couple of the villager women, and he's about to do it when...the episode ends....

Not a whole lot going on in this episode - you could probably just skip to the next one unless you want to see some bits of Darna.

--------------------------

Episode 124

Why do these two women just stand there? If they see a superpowered villain about to fire an energy weapon at them, shouldn't they be running away as fast as they can? And the one woman has a gun which she even cocked into firing position in the previous episode - why wouldn't she shoot the villains with it?

Anyway, Brian is saved from making this decision when Darna lands between him and the would-be victims. She looks mad *and* gorgeous!
Then she runs at super speed to get all the civilians in the vicinity out of harm's way. She makes sure the two women are alright, then
lands them amongst the villagers, who are happy to see her. They're not so happy, though, to hear that Brian is now an Extra.

Back at Borgo's lair, Borgo himself doesn't seem so sure of Brian's villainous loyalty. Brian himself tries to sneak into Borgo's private chamber
and is caught by Borgo and the Soldiers. They chase after him and engage him in battle in a field. Detonator deals him a knockout blow, and then they drag Brian back to the lair unconscious. They chain him up and torture him in a jail cell (not sure why Borgo doesn't retrieve the costume first? Those threads don't come cheap, even for a Martean General). Ali burns him with heat vision - not sure why that doesn't leave a hole in Brian's chest, but whatever.

Then, the sexiest part comes when Xandra steps in to manhandle him. She beats him and throatlifts him, and this is hot. The closest the show has gotten to a peril video. Yeah, I know most of you prefer it when the heroine is the victim, and I don't disagree, but this is a nice peril scene if you consider "femdom". You wouldn't get aroused by a beautiful villainess in a tight costume lifting you up against a wall? As Balki Bartokomous was wont to say, don't be ridiculous - of course you would.

Worth a look for sure. Friday's episode over the weekend.
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The preview for the final week is what the show should have always been. Shame it took so long and will only last a week.
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago

From his vantage point in Borgo's hideout, Mayor Zaldy watches his son Noah turn into blue fire and burn up, right before their eyes. I imagine this is the first indication that the Extra serum is unstable and will eventually destroy those who use it. Anyway, Force Field shows up and spirits away the other villains while taking Brian prisoner, while Darna examines the pile of ashes that used to be Noah.

---------------------------
Wasn't Noah killed by a wayward "fireball" from Andre? I'm gonna have to check out that scene again. Word was, the actor playing Noah was killed off because he had other commitments and can't shoot further scenes arising from scheduling conflicts due to delays when Jane de Leon got sick.

In other news, apparently, Valentina just got a costume upgrade. :ohmg:
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You can see the plan they had from the start with some of the villain characters. Regina was a tragic figure who is manipulated and lied to by the man she thinks is her father, is too proud to accept the help of those who care for her, rejects the help of the only genuine friend she has, and ultimately becomes a monster. Noah is a bad boy who wants to turn good, tries but fails to escape the shadow of his corrupt father, and ultimately turns bad when the woman he loves rejects him. The other characters are all manipulative, corrupt, or angry at life, so they jump at the chance to gain super powers. The seeds for the final few weeks were planted early on, and slowly watered. So 10 out of 10 for planning -- but the problem was that the stories the series used to keep the narrative going while the 130 episode arc was unwinding were often uninspired and repetitive.


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brdiy
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five_red wrote:
1 year ago
You can see the plan they had from the start with some of the villain characters. Regina was a tragic figure who is manipulated and lied to by the man she thinks is her father, is too proud to accept the help of those who care for her, rejects the help of the only genuine friend she has, and ultimately becomes a monster. Noah is a bad boy who wants to turn good, tries but fails to escape the shadow of his corrupt father, and ultimately turns bad when the woman he loves rejects him. The other characters are all manipulative, corrupt, or angry at life, so they jump at the chance to gain super powers. The seeds for the final few weeks were planted early on, and slowly watered. So 10 out of 10 for planning -- but the problem was that the stories the series used to keep the narrative going while the 130 episode arc was unwinding were often uninspired and repetitive.


R5
The story was likely written for a movie, which was the original plan, then was just adapted to a daily show, which probably explains why the villain was stretched to the max.
Check out my superheroine-related short stories here:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/brdiy/works
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shevek
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Episode 125:

HOT TRANSFORMATION! (You know I like those)

Valentina has been placed in some kind of vat of healing liquid. She arises out of it, naked, with *no pupils* in her eyes (that's interesting - I'm pretty sure snakes have pupils?), her hair wet and glistening. We see her legs step out of the vat, and as the camera slowly and sexily pans up, her legs start to glow with the power of the Extra serum, and the new shiny green costume materializes on her body, glistening and tightening around her as it forms. Gorgeous! Brdiy is right, this is the kind of stuff we should have been seeing all along.

valentina new costume.jpg
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They repeat the Xandra throatlift of Brian again, and then the new Valentina strides into view, pretty much looking like she does in the above post - she's in the tight green bodysuit with the cleavage, the snake hair, no pupils, and a reddish 'mask' around her face, with some high green boots. I wouldn't say it's better or worse than the previous costume - it's just different, and a nice change of pace. Brian (who's still wearing his villain costume) sees the new Valentina walk by the window, and is quite alarmed.

Valentina joins a meeting that Basura and Detonator are having with Borgo, going over some sort of evil plan. Outside, Force Field is putting a force dome over the entire city (I've seen this TV series, it was called Under the Dome) presumably to trap Darna inside. The orange light from the dome
turns all the scenes orange for a few minutes: the villagers getting nervous, and Darna meeting with her friends at the Doctor's place. Everyone watches on TV as Borgo delivers his ultimatum live, with all the Super Soldiers standing behind him in support, as well as that one Martean guy.
That scene also looks orange. Valentina's not in the shot, so maybe he's keeping her under wraps as a surprise.
borgo and the super soldiers.jpg
borgo and the super soldiers.jpg (103.85 KiB) Viewed 11926 times
Darna (in her lovely costume) and Luna (in her civilian attire) watch the live broadcast with their friends. The new anchorman on the TV station says (translation from Tagalog) "borgo threatened to destroy the town of nueva esperanza and kill the people if darna did not give what he demanded".
Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought it was but it's nice to have Google Translate.

Then the TV anchorman lists the names of the Super Soliders again: Evil Titan, Blazer, Pied Piper, Detonator, Force Field Reporter, Basura-Man, Deathglare (Ali), then Valentina and Borgo. I'm wondering - doesn't this scare the living shit out of the populace..not just that there's a whole bunch of supervillains in their midst, but also that there's an alien conqueror?

Darna and Luna have a little heart-to-heart talk about how they're ready for action. Meanwhile, Brian has some kind of knife in his boot which allows him to cut his bonds loose. Out in the village, where everything still looks orange, Basura-Man, Detonator and Deathglare are making trouble blowing things up, and advancing on the fearful villagers. Trisha teleports Ding to get him out of harm's way. General Diaz sees her using her powers, but he commends her for her actions. Darna catches a tree trunk (or telephone pole?) that was falling because of Detonator's explosions. She swings the pole like the mighty superwoman she is, smacking down both Detonator and Basura (Deathglare ducks out of the way because he's smart).

The villagers run away, as she battles Deathglare - she's too speedy for his beams to hit her. She knocks him for a loop, and then two snakes rise up on either side, signaling that Valentina has joined the fray. Valentina leaps sexily off the rooftop, and she and Darna stare each other down. Probably the best end of the week episode from this show in quite a while. Everything is still orange the whole time.

Looks like there's going to be plenty of battles, explosions and destruction coming up next week in the Final Five!
Supergirl763
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Today's episode is a must watch. Darna finally completely dominated; humiliated and knocked out by the upgraded Valentina
modal
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R5: Any chance of a clip from this?
Mamooche24
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Supergirl763 wrote:
1 year ago
Today's episode is a must watch. Darna finally completely dominated; humiliated and knocked out by the upgraded Valentina
Any more details you can provide? I saw from the YouTube clips today she’s getting bitten by a snake and entwined in its grip but it cuts away before she passes out.
Supergirl763
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Mamooche24 wrote:
1 year ago
Supergirl763 wrote:
1 year ago
Today's episode is a must watch. Darna finally completely dominated; humiliated and knocked out by the upgraded Valentina
Any more details you can provide? I saw from the YouTube clips today she’s getting bitten by a snake and entwined in its grip but it cuts away before she passes out.
That's the end of the episode. The preview for tomorrow shows her K.O. and getting brought to Borgo and tortured on some device.
But today's whole episode is basically Darna getting her ass kicked. She gets beaten by Valentina with some heavy belly and face punches; Brian has to save her and gets killed instead. Darna goes into rage mode and you'd think she'd easily beat Valentina after his death but Valentina still easily overpowers her and bites her in the leg and neck making Darna scream.
Mamooche24
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Supergirl763 wrote:
1 year ago
Mamooche24 wrote:
1 year ago
Supergirl763 wrote:
1 year ago
Today's episode is a must watch. Darna finally completely dominated; humiliated and knocked out by the upgraded Valentina
Any more details you can provide? I saw from the YouTube clips today she’s getting bitten by a snake and entwined in its grip but it cuts away before she passes out.
That's the end of the episode. The preview for tomorrow shows her K.O. and getting brought to Borgo and tortured on some device.
But today's whole episode is basically Darna getting her ass kicked. She gets beaten by Valentina with some heavy belly and face punches; Brian has to save her and gets killed instead. Darna goes into rage mode and you'd think she'd easily beat Valentina after his death but Valentina still easily overpowers her and bites her in the leg and neck making Darna scream.
Oh, wow. So just to clarify: she was conscious at the end of todays episode? And the preview shows her unconscious body on the ground and carried in some way?
Supergirl763
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Mamooche24 wrote:
1 year ago
Supergirl763 wrote:
1 year ago
Mamooche24 wrote:
1 year ago
Supergirl763 wrote:
1 year ago
Today's episode is a must watch. Darna finally completely dominated; humiliated and knocked out by the upgraded Valentina
Any more details you can provide? I saw from the YouTube clips today she’s getting bitten by a snake and entwined in its grip but it cuts away before she passes out.
That's the end of the episode. The preview for tomorrow shows her K.O. and getting brought to Borgo and tortured on some device.
But today's whole episode is basically Darna getting her ass kicked. She gets beaten by Valentina with some heavy belly and face punches; Brian has to save her and gets killed instead. Darna goes into rage mode and you'd think she'd easily beat Valentina after his death but Valentina still easily overpowers her and bites her in the leg and neck making Darna scream.
Oh, wow. So just to clarify: she was conscious at the end of todays episode? And the preview shows her unconscious body on the ground and carried in some way?
Yes

Image
shzam
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You can always watch the latest eps on youtube with a simple VPN.

Otherwise they have the highlights on their channel available internationally.

(end of this one has some great peril as mentioned)

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I know the ABS-CBN highlights are on YouTube and that full episodes are available on I Want TFC, but I haven't seen full episodes posted on YouTube (except for individual ones by individual uploaders). I'm in the U.S. –- do you have to use a VPN to see the full episodes available on YouTube?
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shevek
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Episode 126

All the powers, all the feels. So much sexy bombastic action. Best episode yet with probably more to come like this. Don't miss it!

Two questions, though:
1) How are the villagers and her friends all watching the battle on TV? I don't see any cameras. And the battle moved between three different areas, and invisible cameras followed them somehow? Seems a bit too convenient as a plot device for everyone in the village to be monitoring the battle, yet none of them are rushing in to help. Some of them (like Hergis) don't even look concerned enough.
2) When Brian was bitten, why didn't Darna leave the scene of the battle immediately and rush him to the hospital? I mean, it's nice that we get a very emotional death for the character, but the action keeps freezing to give time for the characters to look at each other. I guess that's just how the telenovela style works?

Sa huling apat nagabi (for the last four nights)
ang pagkawala ng isang kakampi (the loss of an ally)
pagmumlan ng matinding laban (cause a great fight)

Looks like she will be taken back to Borgo's HQ and tortured. But yes, at the end of EP126, she is still conscious. Probably the snakebite to her neck is the thing that will knock her out.
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