Darna (ABS-CBN, 2022)

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five_red
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
Creating a part for Kira isn't a bad thing, it's just that it didn't seem to go anywhere.
They had a gap in the schedule after season one ended. their main villain is supposedly dead, and Valentina is a slow burn story line, so they needed someone new to fill the gap while the Borgo and Extra plots were on hold. It also allows the production to explain why there won't be any new Extras created in season two -- because Luna completed her mission to find all the outstanding green rocks and take them back to Marte.

Now that Jane is our of action due to illness, there's a chance Luna will make a return in later episodes to lighten the superheroics load until the show's star is recovered.
And as for "lock-in taping", I googled the term, and all the articles about it that came up referred to Asian television from either the Philippines or China. It seems to have been instituted (or accelerated?) in response to Covid. I wonder if that's a societal practice that people in that region have a certain tolerance for, as long as it's not taken too far? (e.g. with the current China situation)
Lots of dramas and sport did it during Covid. The English Premier League was only restarted because each team was quarantined away from family/friends in a hotel and tested before they trained or played each other. The CW shows in Vancouver did a similar thing, with a closed production bubble and quarantine delays when people entered the bubble. The only difference is that The Philippines, without priority access to vaccines like Western countries, stayed in lock down for longer.


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According to the Google translate of the ramblings on at least one popular Darna Facebook group, the show has started to run repeat episodes. This is perhaps because Jane De Leon is sick with dengue and a unitary tract infection, and they don't want to shorten the delay between filming and broadcast. The former complaint is a viral infection, and the latter a bacterial infection. Both are treatable, and are rarely serious or life threatening, but they are both pretty uncomfortable.

If anyone know better, let us know.

I'm sure we all wish Jane the best, and a speedy return to her superheroic duties.

(Now would be a good time to bring Luna back, to lighten the load. Just saying...)

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Episode 81

Yes, they definitely ran a "season recap" as most of Episode 81, followed by a scene of Extras attacking a community gathering which I don't remember ever watching before (was it new? or rerun? maybe you can answer, Red5.)

The situation with that scene is a little weird because in the beginning, you can clearly see SEVEN Extras in prison uniforms striding into the plaza.
But then, only THREE of them (Human Urchin, Telekinesis Guy, and Silent Shocker) launch an attack, and they are opposed by Darna and Luna.
Again I don't remember watching this before. Plus, suddenly "They Fly Now"! (all three extras are flying in the air while battling)

The three extras do get captured, but I have a question about that: if they have such powers, why do they allow themselves to be captured? I didn't see the cops using any "power dampeners" on them? And just as glaringly, what happened to the other four? I think this is a filming mistake by the series.

Episode 82

This is just a rerun of Episode 80. The main plot, again, is Dr Ibarra turning himself into an extra, battling Darna and losing his life.

Jane's illness:

Dengue and UTI? This sounds very serious. I hope Jane pulls through quickly. Contracting such diseases sounds very tropical. I guess even famous actors are not immune from them in the Philippines. I'm surprised they were so open about what she was suffering from - I can't imagine Hollywood actors announcing what illnesses they have to the public. Again, we hope the best for Jane for a quick recovery!
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FYI: episode 83 is a brand new episode.

There may be further recap episodes in the near future, but I suspect they'll be spaced out so they don't go too long without a fresh episode. We'll see...

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Yup, EP83 and 84 are new. And there's plenty of Jane in them, so either they were taped earlier, or she's back and doing alright?

There's not much to say, and I won't be around for a couple days to see EP85, so here goes:

EP83

The only thing important that happens is that Noah gets into a bad motorcycle accident. His dad injects him with the green stuff, and he becomes an Extra (and is healed).

EP84

We find out that Noah has fire powers. But apparently, so does Andre! Are they running out of ideas for powers?
Anyway, Noah is now an evil Extra so he's super mad at his father, and will take it out on him in EP85 probably. He burns a bunch of stuff.
Richard saves Andre from a mishap he caused in his apartment testing out his powers.

Meanwhile, Valentina attacks and sucks dry yet another innocent victim, but this time, someone captures it on social media, causing the
entire Ambulance Rescue squad to lose their lunch watching it. You've got to wonder if they are running out of people walking by themselves
at night in Nueva Esperanza.

Darna goes out looking for Valentina in the air. And that's it.
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We haven't had a video for a while, so here's the feature length battle from episode 80.



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Thanks for these!
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Much missed. And terrific as always! :thumbup:
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EP85 was somewhat of a lackluster conclusion to the week as not a lot happens other than soap-opera stuff until the last few minutes. You can probably skip it.

In the final ten minutes, we see Noah succumbing to his 'fiery' rage and attacking Brian. They mostly have a fistfight (very little fire power is used by Noah - not sure how he restrains himself if he hates Brian so much) and Noah's on the losing end.

Then, immediately after Noah leaves the scene, a band of masked criminal thugs kidnap Brian and Narda into a van, and that's the cliffhanger.
Which wouldn't be a bad end to the week, because you can anticipate some nice peril coming, except for....


EP86 (Definitely worth watching for the peril and the cosplay)

...I don't think we ever found out who kidnapped them! Instead of holding them for ransom or outright killing them, the kidnappers quite irrationally
hang Brian and Narda from their wrists dangling from a tall cliff, with a bomb strapped around Brian's neck. The kidnappers are nowhere to be seen - they don't check on the pair to make sure they're dead, and nobody has a security camera on them, either. Doesn't make much sense.

Apparently, the kidnappers meant to kill the pair, but Brian wakes up two minutes before the bomb goes off. That allows enough time for Narda
to swing over and wrap her legs around Brian (I think this is meant to be suggestive). He unties her hands, but then the rope breaks, and they
both fall to what is surely their doom. Except somehow in the few seconds that they are plummeting to the ground, Narda manages to grab her stone, swallow it and transform into Darna, then she even has time to fly down and catch Brian before he hits the ground. Highly unlikely by the laws of physics.

But anyway, the jig is up, and she has revealed herself to Brian as Darna! They kiss and it's all lovey-dovey after that. A bunch of flashback clips take up time, and then there's a green-screen scene with Darna holding Brian while they're flying in the 'air'. Then they're strolling in a park eating food (people are always eating and drinking a lot in this series) on a date. In that scene, Jane looks very hot in a bright red dress with spaghetti straps.

Noah loses his temper again, and burns the face of a skateboard kid. Thus, Darna rushes to the scene (too late to find Noah) and discovers that Noah is an Extra with fire powers. What's irrational in this scene is that the skateboard kid obviously has severe life-threatening burns all over his face, and yet instead of being whisked away in an ambulance, he stands there on the street giving witness testimony to the cops!

One other great scene from this episode is when Regina goes to an art museum and sees sculpture pieces by the famous Filipino artist Jef Albea* (a real artist in our universe!). As part of the exhibit, two cosplayers come out and portray Darna and Valentina having a brief battle which the cosplay Valentina loses. Of course, that doesn't make Regina happy that she is depicted as a loser. But what I noticed is the two cosplayer actresses are wearing the EXACT SAME outfits that Jane and Janella wear. Not a simulated cosplay version but the actual wardrobe! Apparently they just couldn't afford any other costuming expenses.

So, now there are something like SEVEN people who know the secret identity of Darna: Brian, Richard, Dr Villalobos, Claudio, Luna, Grandma and Ding. This ain't no Superman and Lois!

*As an aside, I looked up Jef Albea, who does mini-sculptures of celebrities, and found an article about how $60,000 worth of his art was stolen from hotel storage in Paris. The hotel managers treated him poorly regarding that, like it was his fault even though they made the grievous error. Then he found out that a hotel employee who only makes $800 a month was the thief. He knew she could never pay him back, so he dropped the matter, and just took the $60,000 loss. Interesting story!
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
EP85 was somewhat of a lackluster conclusion to the week as not a lot happens other than soap-opera stuff until the last few minutes. You can probably skip it.
Episode 85 was probably intended to be episode 83, until two recap episodes were inserted. If so, then 87 was the intended weekend cliffhanger. This is why I'm wondering if there'll be more recaps to try to move the episodes back in sync with how they were intended to run across five days.


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EP 87

You don't have to watch this one, if you can go with this brief summary:

Noah and Andre discover each other's Extra powers while sitting around a swimming pool griping about their situations.

Ding finally puts the pieces together regarding Valentina's victim killing spree, and proposes to Narda that Regina might be Valentina.

Darna stalks Regina from the air, looking for evidence of her identity as Valentina, but winds up coming across Regina
saving the life of a little girl. That pretty much throws her off the scent.

All the major players ("corrupt men") in Nueva Esperanza get invited to a Charity Ball.
Many of them are enemies of the police department or Brian Robles.
Regina plots to wipe out all of these criminals at one go.
You just know there's going to be trouble at that Ball!

EP88

A can't miss episode, but not just because of the Ball itself.

It's because they've made these two actresses look the absolute hottest they've ever looked on this show.

When Narda steps out of her room to meet Brian, there's a long reveal scene where we see her gorgeous legs, her long gown, her ample and perfectly shaped cleavage, and then her beautiful face. We're easily talking Lynda Carter-level beauty here. In fact, she's so beautiful that it's going to be hard to believe that the people at the Ball don't connect her with Darna (I'm sure some of the attendees have seen Darna's face before). I'm not sure how that secret identity will work at this point.

Meanwhile, Regina literally kills her transgender makeup artist for making her look like a "clown". That's not very politically correct, but she's not supposed to be. After finishing her makeup and wardrobe by herself, Regina steps out of the limousine as a complete knockout: gorgeous hair,
lovely face, plunging neckline in a black gown. We see it from every angle over the next few minutes.

We also get a few minutes of Narda and Brian striding along the red carpet and across the ballroom, and then they see Valentina across the room.
The tension is palpable but is quickly defused by vapid compliments.

Then, Regina ducks into the empty women's bathroom, and starts her villainess monologue about destroying all the criminals in the city, looking ravishing while doing it. A very sexy transformation ensues, and then her snakes depart to do their dirty work. Back to Regina she goes.

The Mayor makes a keynote speech at the Ball, and meanwhile, Noah and Andre get ready to crash the event by burning a hole through the security barrier. This is all a setup for the next episode, but don't miss this lead-in. It's got all the makings of a great 80s movie!

EP89

Andre's explosion turns off all the electricity at the Ball, and then Noah sets fires all over the room, sending everyone into a panic.

Regina is trapped behind a wall of fire in the middle of giving her speech onstage. Darna comes to her rescue, but her pride doesn't allow her to
be rescued by the heroine she hates so much. (Admittedly, all she to do to keep her secret was to be flown out of danger.)
Growing angry at Darna, she transforms into Valentina in front of the whole community!

Then the battle ensues. This fight is very hot, with scenes such as the one below. One wonders why they can't do this in the DC and Marvel
shows - just not politically correct, I guess.

There's a lot of talking and arguing between the two characters. I don't have translation while watching, but I'm sure it has something to do with grudges and their different methods of administering justice. Regina screams "You ruined my life!" Then they grapple in mid-air (Valentina hanging from the ceiling by her snakes).

Meanwhile, Brian and the police catch Noah and Andre on the balcony, jeering at all of the chaos they've caused. They launch fire and explosions at the police and make a run for it.

Darna spins around at super-speed and puts out the fires, while Valentina escapes in the confusion. Borgo and Xandra/Ishna (in a super-hot tight dress that unfortunately we only glimpse for a second) also gaze down at the carnage, then they shape-shift and escape in the elevator as Rex and a waiter.

The Mayor steps between Robles and his quarry, giving time for Noah to create another wall of fire and escape. Rex rides away with Regina in his limo, assuring her that she is safe with him (Borgo). Meanwhile, Regina's reveal as Valentina goes out on the TV news.

Instead of chasing after either Noah & Andre, or Valentina, or both, Narda and Brian have some kind of long talk with the Mayor right outside of his car. Not sure what that was all about, but I would assume that the Mayor was proclaiming some sort of all-out hunt for the culprits. Then Brian takes Narda home. Why aren't the both of them out searching for the Extras? With Narda transformed as Darna? All the action and tension seems to peter out here.

Epilogue: Rex takes Regina to some kind of hideout. (She still doesn't know he's Borgo. Boy, is she gonna be pissed!) He staves off a possible attack from her by proclaiming her to be a "beautiful and powerful monster".

Obviously, you've got to see this entire episode. It's just a shame that the action didn't continue straight into the following night.
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So, Brian finally knows who Narda really is, Darna finally knows who Regina really is, and Noah is finally out of the picture as a potential love interest for anyone... seems like all the loose ends are starting to be tidied up. The only major story line that isn't moving forward is Brian bringing to justice the true murderer of his father.

Season one ran for 13 weeks. Season two has been running for 5 now. Most of the secret identity shenanigans have been swept away in just a few episodes -- all the key players now know the truth about their allies and enemies. Presumably we still have another 8 weeks to go. Looks like we might be in for quite an exciting ride towards the finale.


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(Darna still presumably has 8 weeks to run. That's 40 episodes. That's as many as four tens. And that's awesome.)
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five_red wrote:
1 year ago
. Most of the secret identity shenanigans have been swept away in just a few episodes -- all the key players now know the truth about their allies and enemies. Presumably we still have another 8 weeks to go. Looks like we might be in for quite an exciting ride towards the finale.
(Darna still presumably has 8 weeks to run. That's 40 episodes. That's as many as four tens. And that's awesome.)
Heh heh, Borgo and Xandra stole 40 cakes from the Charity Ball! :)

But seriously, besides all the loose ends we also have the continued existence of Borgo and Xandra in their secret spaceship base in the woods
which somehow nobody has found yet. Ultimately, will Darna ever get around to dealing with the malevolent alien presence in her backyard, and will Luna return to help her?

As for the secret identities being swept away, that is quite a bit of a problem.
Regina can't show her face anywhere (unless Borgo places a mass forgetting spell on the town or something).
Darna's family and friends are all in mortal danger - they could be threatened by Borgo, Valentina, Extras or even gang members, and she would have to keep rescuing them as hostages, etc.
Not to mention the danger that both Brian and Mayor Zaldy are in, from both Valentina and Noah with his sidekick Andre.

Eight weeks seems like an awful long time to stretch all of that tension and danger out- I mean, is everyone somehow just going to go back to living their normal humdrum soap-opera lives after this? Guess we'll see.

OK let's finish out the week with EP 90:

Some interesting stuff happens in this episode, but overall it's very low key with little action.
I think Red 5 is right about the repeat episodes throwing off the rhythm of the show, since EP89 was obviously meant to be the week's finale,
and this one is just a slow burn, probably meant to be a Monday installment.

I have some questions about lackluster police work, and not a whole lot of fear of being attacked.

- Narda is in her house. With her grandma, and in her bed. She's still at work at the company that Regina owns.
She's not at all afraid that Valentina knows where she lives and works and will come after her?
She also talks to Ali while she's at work. Why isn't Ali in custody as an accomplice? Surely the police would want to question his association'
with Valentina, being that he is her personal assistant and valet?

-Meanwhile, Rex is also sitting cozy in his business office. Wouldn't the police also want to question him about Valentina's possible whereabouts?
We see clearly that she is hiding out in some kind of home that Rex has: there are family photos of him and Regina on the shelf.
I don't really see any investigations going on, despite the horrible disaster of the night before!!

- Noah and Andre are celebrating in their 'hideout'. Xandra finds them, and seems to be recruiting them to Borgo's cause. Doesn't that mean that Mayor Zaldy and the police force should be able to find Noah & Andre easily, too, and make them pay for their crimes? Or does Zaldy want Noah's misdeeds swept under the rug?

-Finally, Narda gets a call from Regina and meets her at a location on a grassy hill. But she doesn't call the police to come along and capture Regina. What does she think she'll be able to do to deter Regina from evil? (Turns out, not much)

It's just a bit weird that there are no police, no detectives, and no superheroes going directly after these criminals to capture them.
In this series, it seems like after every complicated and destructive action sequence, there's some sort of collective amnesia or apathy
in Nueva Esperanza where nobody wants to do anything to enforce consequences for evil actions.

All the 'sexy' in this episode is Janella, pretty much:
a) There is a dream sequence where Janella is wearing the Darna costume, but it's all in green instead of red. She's imagining herself as Darna.
There's a camera pan shot over her whole body. It looks fantastic.
b) Then, at about the 11:00 mark, there's a scene where Regina emerges out of the bathtub (presumably in the hideaway where Rex stashed her?)
soaking wet and naked. We then see her walk across the room naked, and she looks in the mirror, transforming to Valentina. Sexy!

This episode is watchable enough, as long as you ignore the glaring plot problems I mentioned above. Have a great weekend!
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
But seriously, besides all the loose ends we also have the continued existence of Borgo and Xandra in their secret spaceship base in the woods
which somehow nobody has found yet. Ultimately, will Darna ever get around to dealing with the malevolent alien presence in her backyard, and will Luna return to help her?
Kira Balinger is still posting stuff about Luna to her social media, so perhaps she's still connected to the show. Besides, they have to give Richard a close to his story, and my guess is he'll go off to travel the stars with Luna.

I said all the secret identity stuff was gone, but I was forgetting that Regina still doesn't know Narda is Darna. I'm guessing they'll keep that in reserve for the penultimate week. Plus Regina still doesn't know Borgo killed her father.
Eight weeks seems like an awful long time to stretch all of that tension and danger out- I mean, is everyone somehow just going to go back to living their normal humdrum soap-opera lives after this? Guess we'll see.
My guess is there's going to be a lot of stuff about whether Narda/Darna can save Regina from the curse of Valentina. Of course we all know it will fail. Possibly the show will tease us with the possibility that Regina can be saved, but then she'll discover the truth about her father and get pushed over the edge just in time for the season finale.


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Looks like the cat's out the bag for Regina. Or perhaps that should be the snake..?




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The extended action scenes here feel much richer than the very brief scenes from the Supergirl series. Wish they were close captioned. Be nice to know how good the verbal sparring is. Thanks for sharing.
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Week 16 starts out weird and very slow. There's no Darna in costume in these two episodes.

EP 91:

I have some questions:

- Why would Valentina leave Narda lying there on the hill injured, instead of just trying to kill her?
- How can Valentina sneak in and out of her own apartment with police guarding it?
- Didn't Noah and Andre commit a bunch of crimes at the Ball? Robles knows about them. Why are they still hanging out at Noah's fancy pool -
wouldn't the police be looking for them there?
- I'm starting to wonder what the purpose is of the five individuals who inhabit the restaurant across the street from the Custodio residence.
They always talk about what's going on but they're rarely if ever active participants in the action. Is it common for telenovelas to have "Greek
choruses" with comedy relief like this? Why do they think it's a good idea budget-wise to pay five actors to do almost nothing?
- Why was it a good idea for Borgo to reveal himself to the journalist? If the journalist is not going to sit on that story, it will totally
freak out the citizens of Nueva Esperanza to know that they are being conquered by an alien general from outer space.

You can pretty much skip EP91 and go to...

EP92:

Again, no Darna, but the best scenes involve more Valentina in her sexy costume.
"Rex" gives her a pep talk: "you are destined for greatness."
Then she selects her evil hideout location, and lounges sexily on an old chair which serves as the "throne" of her new snake kingdom.
(I guess we'll be seeing her a lot there in the future). Ali continues to stand around in the general vicinity of Regina, looking nervous.

Meanwhile, Narda and all the paramedics make an appeal to save the "Vanguardia Foundation." I have a couple questions about that.
It's an ambulance service, right? So it's not funded by the government or university institutions? It exists entirely on the charity of the
Vanguardia Foundation? Glad there's not one like that where I live.
Plus, now that Regina Vanguardia is a known mass murderer, why wouldn't the Foundation want to change its name to get out from
under that bad publicity? There's no mention of this.

Enjoy the Christmas week coming up!
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
- Why would Valentina leave Narda lying there on the hill injured, instead of just trying to kill her?

< snipped >

- I'm starting to wonder what the purpose is of the five individuals who inhabit the restaurant across the street from the Custodio residence. They always talk about what's going on but they're rarely if ever active participants in the action. Is it common for telenovelas to have "Greek choruses" with comedy relief like this? Why do they think it's a good idea budget-wise to pay five actors to do almost nothing?
I think the idea is that Regina, even in her Valentina form, still has feelings of friendship towards Narda. For those who've been following with English subs, Regina and the larger snakes sometimes have squabbles about Narda -- the snakes sometimes try to goad Regina into killing Narda but Regina (thus far) argues back.

The Greek chorus may possibly be there for the benefit of casual viewers, who need someone to fill in plot details. I'm not sure, but a lot of their scenes seem to involve watching the tv and arguing about's happening, in a way that is no doubt calculated to help new or infrequent viewers to get up to speed with the relevant plot. They seem to serve no other useful purpose.

Btw, talking of the Greek chorus, did anyone spot Joj Agpangan's twin sister, Jai, in the cafe a couple of weeks back? She was stood at the counter, side on, facing Maya (aka her sister Joj) and didn't speak, but I'm fairly certain from the few glimpses we got of her face that it was Joj's near-identical twin Jai.
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Just an observation about recent weeks: it seems like they are filming using more diverse locations. The street backdrops we see in recent episodes don't seem to be the same-ol'-same-ol' back-lot sets from the studio compound. Likely these newer episodes were filming when some Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and the crew could finally venue outside their protective bubble sometimes.

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DrDominator9 wrote:
1 year ago
The extended action scenes here feel much richer than the very brief scenes from the Supergirl series. Wish they were close captioned. Be nice to know how good the verbal sparring is. Thanks for sharing.
Had to wait for the English subs versions to be available in a way I could download.

*** Abridged subs version ***

Note: I'll delete this clip after a few days, so watch it ASAP.



...SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES...

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Thanks for posting this.
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Wow thanks!!
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EP93-

So. Much. Food!
We already know that in pretty much every episode somebody's going to be eating some kind of meal.
I was getting hungry just looking at the buffet spread at that Vanguardia Foundation employee party!

Sad scene with Ali packing up all of Regina's law books in her office, as Valentina shows up to threaten him for "betraying" her. She's really off the edge now - so much so, that she goes to rescue a female victim from three male attackers, and then after killing the men, she also kills the girl for being scared and not being thankful that Valentina saved her (at least that's what I think happened, I heard her say "selamat"). Then Valentina goes back to her hidden lair to cackle on her throne and gaze into a mirror. It's pretty damn sexy - one of the hottest villainesses onscreen since Maleficent and Hela. Her gradual transformation back to Regina is hot, too - she even remarks to herself "I'm so pretty". It's one of those "mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all" moments. She doesn't change back all the way - Regina now has very heavy eye-makeup and scales on her face. Kind of an acknowledgement that she's completely a villainess now, not pretending anymore. "I get to decide who gets to live!" She shouts on a social media post.

Meanwhile, there's a weird fight between Hergis/Claudio and Madame Victoria/Borgo. Not sure what the point was of that.

Darna's in costume for about 30 seconds right at the end, standing with the police at the crime scene (no action).

So, if you didn't want to specifically see the Valentina segments, you can skip this episode entirely and move along to....

EP94-

..where Valentina is announced as having killed three members of the Invicto Gang who deal in illegal organ trading.

Narda is now suspecting that Madame Victoria is Borgo, and tells Brian. Meanwhile, Borgo/Rex practices with a sword on the ship.
Why would Borgo need to use a sword if he has advanced alien laser blast weapons? I don't know.
But the next thing you know, Borgo has invited Noah, Andre *and* the reporter onto his spaceship for an evil plot.
Is it wise for Borgo to reveal the location of his secret spaceship to so many humans? Couldn't he meet with them in disguise somewhere?

Next, Rex (Borgo) is in his house with Regina, telling her that she should "hunt more" because she doesn't know how powerful she can get.
Janella looks really good in that scene in a tight pair of spandex pants as she slinks out the window (not changing to Valentina).

Apparently, the evil plot is to invade the Extra Facility, and Noah/Andre end up in a firefight with the facility guards.
Dr, Villalobos shows that he's an expert at staring intently at different colored formula in test tubes :)

But here's why you should watch this episode - it ends with an interesting NEW KIND OF PERIL.
Darna arrives to save two guards from being attacked by a host of Valentina's snake minions.
But as Darna kicks and punches the snakes, VALENTINA FEELS THE PAIN and starts writhing on the ground in agony. It's short, but great!
Maybe someone will pick up this concept for a peril video - it's never been done before. Hire Serpenta of Heroineburgh! :) :)

EP95-

...the plot continues with Valentina writhing on the ground a bit more, then getting up slowly while in pain. It's very hot in that tight costume.
She escapes! (not sure why Darna doesn't go after her, but that seems to be a recurring issue)

Noah and Andre invade the facility. There's no turning back morally for either of them - they're killing guards as they go.
When they get to the lab where they're supposed to steal the Extra Formula for Borgo, they encounter Villalobos, who
suddenly has mad fighting skills for a moment (the old man does a backflip!).

Brian arrives and goes after Noah, while Andre escapes with the formulas. All the while, the police are shooting randomly, not afraid at all
that they'll hit someone innocent with their bullets.
Brian's in trouble with Noah's flames all around him (apparently Noah is able to deflect bullets by melting them instantly? What?)
when Darna shows up. She is of course impervious to flames, and knocks out Noah quickly.

Other than that fight, Jane stays in the Darna costume for two conversation scenes with the police and with Brian.
Hey, the longer we get to see her in that costume, the better.

Things end up the week with Sigfried the Reporter taking the first injection of Extra Fluid which Andre brings back to the Borgo ship.
He writhes around a bit in pain while the serum takes effect, and then displays a new power: generating force fields made out of hexagons
(he basically has the power of Adobe AfterFX!!).

That's it for this week. Darna wishes you #MerryXtra with her hashtag for EP95, but I'll call it MERRY XTRA-MAS!
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EP96-

Skip this one. It's a slow Monday episode.
You just need to know these things:
- Brian has decided to propose to Narda/Darna and he has a ring.
- Darna visits Noah who is imprisoned in the facility, but it doesn't end up being productive. I'm not sure what they talk about - maybe Red5 can enlighten us on that. At least we get to see the costume for a bit.
- The Mayor has one more vial of the Extra serum in his private safe.
-Right at the end, Valentina decides to attack another one of her criminal targets - an insurance fraud perpetrator named Silena Gastambide.

EP97-

Definitely watch this.
At the beginning of the episode, Valentina goes nuts attacking not just Silena but all of her bodyguards (apparently she employs a small army).
This is where they really start defining Valentina's powers willy-nilly, as she is somehow able to stop a veritable hailstorm of bullets using her
various snake heads. Not sure how that works.

Then later on, there's another appearance of Valentina when she attacks some gang members. However, they are expecting her, and they
lob a grenade of yellow gas against her, which makes her choke. I wish this peril had lasted a bit longer, but Darna had to arrive and ruin it.
Instead of taking advantage of Valentina's weak state and taking her in for capture, Darna blows away the gas, and then plays 'bracelets
and bullets' with the gang members. Not only that, but when Valentina tries to kill the gang members, she saves them by battling her snake
extensions. So which is it, Darna - are you on the side of the gang, or the snake woman? Because it doesn't look like you caught either of them.

Other things in the episode include Brian asking Grandma for her blessing on Narda/Darna's hand in marriage - I think she gives it.
Then Valentina makes a *third* appearance (she is busy, isn't she?) spying on Brian to find that he has the ring and is going to propose.
She returns home (in Regina's sexy tight pants and boots) and takes a shit-fit until her Dad/Borgo calms her down a bit.
At this point, Regina has snake scales and blue color on her face all the time - she's certainly no longer a normal human. Looks hot, though.

Noah uses that old "I'm in pain" ruse, and escapes from the Facility prison. Apparently he now has super strength, as he tosses the guards
around like ragdolls.

EP98

Food. They are eating again at Darna's house, with Brian as the guest.

Darna goes to see the mayor about Noah's breakout. I think this is the first time she's been in the mayor's office?
We do get some really beautiful closeups of Jane in that scene.

Valentina watches in the shadows as Brian gives Darna a hug. She resolves to make sure he doesn't get happiness with Narda.
She goes hunting for Brian and invades his apartment but she doesn't find him there.
Valentina then finds Brian and Narda having dinner outside in a romantic setting, and he's just about to pop the question
when Narda gets a call from Ding: Tricia has been kidnapped! Narda runs away to the rescue.
So, being that Brian is now alone, you'd think that would be the perfect time for Valentina to swoop down and kill him
But she doesn't do anything. This doesn't make sense.

Like a total idiot, instead of just waiting for Darna to get there, Ding tries to rescue Tricia all by himself.
And of course, he also gets caught by the thugs. Darna will come to the rescue, I suppose.....
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I've now watched the English subs version. ..
shevek wrote:
1 year ago
Sad scene with Ali packing up all of Regina's law books in her office, as Valentina shows up to threaten him for "betraying" her. She's really off the edge now - so much so, that she goes to rescue a female victim from three male attackers, and then after killing the men, she also kills the girl for being scared and not being thankful that Valentina saved her (at least that's what I think happened,
To paraphrase what Valentina says... "I saved your life, but you're not grateful, you just see me as a monster..."

This is part of the internal conflict of the character that has run since episode one. Regina wants to be loved and respected, but she always feels like she's falling short. Her father goads her that she's a failure. Darna steals her thunder as a humanitarian. So she has become this bitter twisted monster -- if people won't respect her as Regina then they will fear her as Valentina.
Meanwhile, there's a weird fight between Hergis/Claudio and Madame Victoria/Borgo. Not sure what the point was of that.
The fight was to round off a subplot that pushes the main plot forward. Claudio is now able to confirm that Madame Victoria is indeed one of Borgo's disguises, which has two consequences: (a) Borgo cannot use that identity again without Darna and the gang knowing who he/she is; and (b) Ding and Narda are able to start researching into Victoria's connections to organised crime and get a better idea of what Borgo's big plan might be. There's an entire scene with Ding in Narda's bedroom whether the two question why Borgo adopted that particular disguise, why he/she was the chief funder of Regina's foundation, and why he/she is now trying to shut the foundation down.

The second consequence is that Borgo now knows that Hergis is still alive, and likely working with Darna. For this reason Hergis/Claudio decides to go into exile so that Borgo doesn't trace him to Narda and the other members of Team Darna.
Valentina watches in the shadows as Brian gives Darna a hug. She resolves to make sure he doesn't get happiness with Narda.
I haven't watched the English subs of this episode yet, but the folks on FB were claiming that Valentina thinks that Brian is two-timing Narda with Darna. And this just feeds into Valentina's warped sense of justice, that Brian must die for disrespecting Narda.

Borgo had originally intended to kill Narda (in the lamest cliffhanger get-out ever), because Narda was trying to save Regina from being a monster. But then he realised the suppressed feelings Regina has for Narda can be exploited to drive her even more crazy. I don't think Borgo planned on Brian accidentally giving him a hand, however.

Btw, what are the odds that the final ever episode will be Brian and Narda's wedding..?

R5
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Don't make her angry. You wouldn't like her when she's angry.

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Good clarifications, Red5. Sometimes it's a challenge watching these without the subtitles.

EP99

Must see!

Lots of great action, successful crimefighting, and superheroine combat in this one.

Darna quickly rescues Ding and Tricia. Tricia is rather grateful, giving Ding a few hugs and crying his arms. Go get it, Ding!

Corrupt cop Pineda gets a text which (translated) says. "Take out Tiago (Santiago Olivera, the corrupt businessman who kidnapped the kids). Robles can't be allowed to sing. On the orders of Mr. X."

In this manner, Pineda plays his hand, killing Santiago and then trying to off Robles. Brian's quick on this feet, though, and this results in a gunfight
throughout the warehouse complex.

Meanwhile, both Darna and Valentina arrive to take out Tiago's army of thugs, each in their own way. Valentina gets into it with Darna, complaining about the corruption of the city (this is a recurring theme, and I think it basically reflects the politics of the Philippines overall).

A great Darna vs Valentina physical battle ensues. Darna tosses Valentina into some crates. Darna tries to fly into Valentina to punch her out, but Valentina uses her snake agility to flip out of the way. Valentina tries to crush Darna with the snakes but Darna is too strong to remain contained. They roll around on the floor a bit, but then Valentina pushes Darna off. Darna then sees an opportunity to restrain Valentina using some chains she has found in the warehouse. Here in the photo you can see Valentina bound in chains (unfortunately there's not much of a solid front view of this peril - maybe Red5 can find it). I think here, the show made a mistake in editing, because you can actually see the actress (Janella) standing in place, and *waiting* for Jane to put the chains around her at super speed. I don't think they intended to have it seem like that??
valentina in chains.jpg
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Anyway, with Valentina captured, you'd think that'd be the end of it, as Darna goes off to fight and tie up some more of Tiago's remaining thugs. Good crimefighting work, but when the cops approach Valentina to try to arrest her, they watch as four of her snakes literally bite the chains apart! This seems to be kind of a problem in this series with both characters' powers not being well-defined to the point that they can conveniently get out of tight spots. The Darna version of this inconsistency is that in the previous episode, Darna deflects bullets by creating shields with her bracelets, but in EP99, the thugs just shoot directly at her body and the bullets bounce off anyway. So, WHICH IS IT?

Something else I'm wondering about: Red5 said above that there seemed to be no need for Borgo to assume the Victoria identity again. Yet in this episode, not only does Borgo appear as Victoria, but she also gets very excited about a shipment of machine guns that the Mayor provided her. Tell me this: why would an alien general who has a spaceship, super strength, and the ability to shapeshift need to depend on mere Earthly weaponry?

EP100

Such a milestone and congratulations to the producers of this series! Despite the occasional plot flaws and incongruities.

It's a Christmas episode! There's no intro this time. Instead, it's a happy village Christmas celebration in Nueva Esperanza,
as the family and friends take a holiday group selfie. Why they would release a Christmas episode on December 30, I don't know.
darna in exclesis deo.jpg
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But this whole consists mostly of the restaurant friends recalling the various exploits of Darna since the story began, with lots of flashback footage
to take up time. They see Darna flying through the sky, and there are even Christmas fireworks in the sky in the shape of the Darna logo.
So Darna is essentially the "reason for the season".

Nothing else happens, so you can basically skip this. You'll need to wait until next week to find out exactly who the mysterious "Mr. X" is,
and what happens next with the Darna / Valentina rivalry. At this point, the foes seem so evenly matched with their vaguely-defined superpowers
that it's hard to see who will take the advantage and how they'll get it. Probably something about appealing to Regina's shreds of remaining humanity, or something like that?

We'll see. And hoping for that Narda/Brian wedding, to be sure! (Brian lost the ring in the warehouse).
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
It's a Christmas episode! There's no intro this time. Instead, it's a happy village Christmas celebration in Nueva Esperanza,
as the family and friends take a holiday group selfie. Why they would release a Christmas episode on December 30, I don't know.
Christians, look away now...
Spoiler
Christian holidays are largely commandeered from holidays of other faiths. As Christianity spread throughout the world it stole and adapted annual celebrations that already existed. So in Europe there was a Pagan celebration to mark the winter solstice, when the nights stop getting longer and the start getting shorter -- this became Christmas. Various religions (notably Pagan ones) had holidays themed around new life, flowers blooming, crops growing, etc. -- this became Easter. Which is why Christian churches that trace their history back to Europe have a mishmash of Christian and Pagan symbolism in these holidays.

Of course, when the Winter solstice happens depends upon which hemisphere of the Earth you live in. Likewise different regions of the world had different preexisting celebrations when Christianity landed on their shores. The upshot of all this is that different holidays were adopted by different sects of Christianity in different parts of the world. We think of 25th December as being Christmas Day universally around the world, but this isn't the case. In Ukraine for example some Orthodox Christians take the 7th January as Christmas Day (although because the orthodox church is associated with Russia, this year many have switched to 25th December.)

The Philippines is a Catholic country, thanks to Spain, but it had its own local traditions before the Spanish Catholics arrived, and so its Christianity has been adapted to fit those traditions. 25th December is not a public holiday in the Philippines, I believe, but 30th December is Rizal Day, hence 30th is a red letter day in the Filipino calendar. As in other parts of the world. Christianity did not impose a new set if celebrations and holidays onto the Philippines, it just co-opted and Christian-ised existing local traditions and holidays.

(Btw, nobody seems to think that Jesus -- if he existed -- was born in December. A lot of Bible scholars have suggested that the nativity story fits best with him being born, as he died, at Easter.)

R5
Damselbinder

five_red wrote:
1 year ago
shevek wrote:
1 year ago
It's a Christmas episode! There's no intro this time. Instead, it's a happy village Christmas celebration in Nueva Esperanza,
as the family and friends take a holiday group selfie. Why they would release a Christmas episode on December 30, I don't know.
Christians, look away now...
Spoiler
Christian holidays are largely commandeered from holidays of other faiths. As Christianity spread throughout the world it stole and adapted annual celebrations that already existed. So in Europe there was a Pagan celebration to mark the winter solstice, when the nights stop getting longer and the start getting shorter -- this became Christmas. Various religions (notably Pagan ones) had holidays themed around new life, flowers blooming, crops growing, etc. -- this became Easter. Which is why Christian churches that trace their history back to Europe have a mishmash of Christian and Pagan symbolism in these holidays.

Of course, when the Winter solstice happens depends upon which hemisphere of the Earth you live in. Likewise different regions of the world had different preexisting celebrations when Christianity landed on their shores. The upshot of all this is that different holidays were adopted by different sects of Christianity in different parts of the world. We think of 25th December as being Christmas Day universally around the world, but this isn't the case. In Ukraine for example some Orthodox Christians take the 7th January as Christmas Day (although because the orthodox church is associated with Russia, this year many have switched to 25th December.)

The Philippines is a Catholic country, thanks to Spain, but it had its own local traditions before the Spanish Catholics arrived, and so its Christianity has been adapted to fit those traditions. 25th December is not a public holiday in the Philippines, I believe, but 30th December is Rizal Day, hence 30th is a red letter day in the Filipino calendar. As in other parts of the world. Christianity did not impose a new set if celebrations and holidays onto the Philippines, it just co-opted and Christian-ised existing local traditions and holidays.

(Btw, nobody seems to think that Jesus -- if he existed -- was born in December. A lot of Bible scholars have suggested that the nativity story fits best with him being born, as he died, at Easter.)

R5
There is vanishingly little doubt that Jesus existed. He is confirmed by a multiplicity of non-Christian authors, most relevantly Josephus. Even Tacitus, speaking contemptuously about Christianity, talks about Jesus without the slightest suggestion that he was invented. I would be surprised if you could find more than a tiny fraction of serious historians of antiquity who would seriously dispute Jesus' historicity.

Now, that doesn't mean that anything else Christians say about him is true, but he is as likely to have existed as, say, Archimedes.
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Damselbinder wrote:
1 year ago
There is vanishingly little doubt that Jesus existed. He is confirmed by a multiplicity of non-Christian authors, most relevantly Josephus.
(EDIT: Forgot to note, I think we largely agree...)

The most detailed Josephus reference in Testimonium Flavianum is generally considered by scholars to be a later addition by well intentioned Christian scribes. (And yes, I had to Google the book name, because there's no way I could remember a name like that!) :laugh: I think even many Christian scholars acknowledge this because the reference looks shoehorned in (creating an overly long run-on passage) and doesn't quite seem to fit the prose style used by Josephus. That doesn't make its content wrong, it just means that it wasn't written by Josephus at the time. There's other Josephus references that are more certain, Two short sentences in Antiquities, the first referring to James as a brother of Jesus, and another a few sentences later mentioning that King Agrippa took the high priesthood from Ananus and gave it to the said figure Jesus. (Yep, had to Google whose names too!) These are considered to be less likely to be hacked about because they seem to contradict the Bible account -- and the thinking is that if Christians had tampered with them they would have harmonised the passages with the Bible.

You have similar problems with other Jesus references by other authors. The original copies have been lost and all we have is hand written copies of copies of copies, each of which is likely to have been 'edited' in some way. That said, Bart Erhman seems to have the most sensible view on the matter. Although each reference to Jesus has its own problems -- which Christ Mythicists like to point to -- when taken as a whole we have to ask what are the odds that we'd get several independent references (as flawed as they may be individually) to someone who never existed in any way, shape, or form..? Erhman concludes -- as most historians apparently do -- that Jesus is likely based on someone real, but the truth of that person's story has been lost to the mists of time thanks to the imperfections of how manuscripts were copied. Good natured scribes, tweaking the narrative and filling in missing bits to make the new copy more perfect than the original, based on their own certainties.

Anyway, this is not the place for a debate of this type, and I'm far from an expert. If my original message made out that I was a mythicist them I apologise -- I was just throwing a nod to the fact that some are more sceptical than others, not trying to make a cheap point. Historians acknowledge that the evidence for Jesus isn't rock solid, but they point out that a lot of the evidence for other people in ancient history (including many kings and queens) is far from solid. Some of the Egyptian pharaohs are only known because of a single scant reference on a wall, We don't doubt their existence. And besides, Robin Lane-Fox's closing argument in The Unauthorised Version is true (a very readable book about the history of The Bible as a text) -- ultimately it doesn't matter whether or not The Bible is real history; what matters is the message and the effect it has on people.


R5
Damselbinder

five_red wrote:
1 year ago
Damselbinder wrote:
1 year ago
There is vanishingly little doubt that Jesus existed. He is confirmed by a multiplicity of non-Christian authors, most relevantly Josephus.
(EDIT: Forgot to note, I think we largely agree...)

The most detailed Josephus reference in Testimonium Flavianum is generally considered by scholars to be a later addition by well intentioned Christian scribes. (And yes, I had to Google the book name, because there's no way I could remember a name like that!) :laugh: I think even many Christian scholars acknowledge this because the reference looks shoehorned in (creating an overly long run-on passage) and doesn't quite seem to fit the prose style used by Josephus. That doesn't make its content wrong, it just means that it wasn't written by Josephus at the time. There's other Josephus references that are more certain, Two short sentences in Antiquities, the first referring to James as a brother of Jesus, and another a few sentences later mentioning that King Agrippa took the high priesthood from Ananus and gave it to the said figure Jesus. (Yep, had to Google whose names too!) These are considered to be less likely to be hacked about because they seem to contradict the Bible account -- and the thinking is that if Christians had tampered with them they would have harmonised the passages with the Bible.

You have similar problems with other Jesus references by other authors. The original copies have been lost and all we have is hand written copies of copies of copies, each of which is likely to have been 'edited' in some way. That said, Bart Erhman seems to have the most sensible view on the matter. Although each reference to Jesus has its own problems -- which Christ Mythicists like to point to -- when taken as a whole we have to ask what are the odds that we'd get several independent references (as flawed as they may be individually) to someone who never existed in any way, shape, or form..? Erhman concludes -- as most historians apparently do -- that Jesus is likely based on someone real, but the truth of that person's story has been lost to the mists of time thanks to the imperfections of how manuscripts were copied. Good natured scribes, tweaking the narrative and filling in missing bits to make the new copy more perfect than the original, based on their own certainties.

Anyway, this is not the place for a debate of this type, and I'm far from an expert. If my original message made out that I was a mythicist them I apologise -- I was just throwing a nod to the fact that some are more sceptical than others, not trying to make a cheap point. Historians acknowledge that the evidence for Jesus isn't rock solid, but they point out that a lot of the evidence for other people in ancient history (including many kings and queens) is far from solid. Some of the Egyptian pharaohs are only known because of a single scant reference on a wall, We don't doubt their existence. And besides, Robin Lane-Fox's closing argument in The Unauthorised Version is true (a very readable book about the history of The Bible as a text) -- ultimately it doesn't matter whether or not The Bible is real history; what matters is the message and the effect it has on people.


R5
That was a very long-winded way to say

"yes."
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QUESTION TO ALL

I have a question... (and it has nothing to do with Christmas or Jesus.)

Earlier I posted two near identical clips of Darna/Valentina's fight at the Gala, the first without English subs and the second with. Checking the stats, I see that the second video strongly outperformed the first. Seems like you like English subs.

I can get clean copies of Darna episodes (no logos or subs) usually within 12 hours of broadcast (24 hours tops on weekends), thanks to some superheroine fans who have access to Pinoy streaming services. The English subs versions I have to wait for anything up to 10 days for a certain site (which shall remain nameless) to upload.

Q: Doing forward ... assuming a clip has a non-trivial amount of dialogue, would you rather wait a week or so for the subs version, or do you want the clean version shortly after broadcast (so you can see what shevek is talking about in his episode reports)..?

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Clean version! I'm in it for the action and don't care about the dialogue.
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Red 5, thanks so much for the detailed explanation of why the Darna Christmas episode was aired on December 30!

TLDR: December 25 isn't much of an official holiday in the Philippines, and it pales in comparison with respect given to Rizal Day on December 30,
which commemorates the martyrdom of Dr Jose Rizal in 1898 and all victims of Spanish colonial rule, which was apparently rather brutal - the Pinoy actually like American culture much more in comparison, I would guess, even though their personal names and place names often reflect Spanish background. Since there are official public holiday celebrations on Dec 30 for Rizal Day, that's the best day to air a Darna holiday episode.

As for which version you should post, I think most here would be in favor of the clean version, since 1) it would come out faster and 2) the action, with the costumes and powers, are the most important part of the show. Correct me if I'm making out-of-turn assumptions, but I don't think that many people here are super invested in the scenes where they're re-hashing elements of the plot around plates of food (the Filipino counterpart to the CW's "Talking about Feelings in Hallways"). We can get the gist of the plot in Tagalog, because the action is so over-the-top and not based on subtle nuance.

Happy Darna New Year everyone! Maligayang bagong taon!
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Looks like this show will be ending in 3 weeks. :(
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Then we'd better get everything out of it that we can!

Episode 101

Good for some more Darna vs Valentina action. Definitely watch this!

Round 2 and 3 of this current battle.
The girls get physical in the warehouse.
Someone thought it was a great idea to get a one-second turnaround of both actresses' gluteus maximus - bless this cameraman's heart!
one second of gratuitousness.jpg
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Meanwhile the traitor Pineda is chasing Brian around the property. Eventually Pineda shoots Brian point blank multiple times in his Kevlar
vest. You see the bullet holes, but none of the bullets penetrate somehow. Brian falls backwards over a wall, and is caught by Darna.

Darna takes Brian to the ground to check his wounds, but Valentina attacks again for Round 3. Valentina grabs Brian with her snakes but
Darna pulls him free. Then Valentina grabs Darna with her snakes (squeezing and struggling peril) but Darna breaks free again. Finally
Darna attacks Valentina with a head-on punch, wounding her. Then Darna gets back to tending to Brian and the EMTs arrive.

Ali picks up a wounded Valentina, and they hide out from a flying Darna in the truck. She changes back to snake-faced Regina, and Ali
tells her "look at me" three times to make her pay attention and forget her rage against Darna. He drives her to the snake hideout where he
pleads with her not to go back out, to rest and heal before another attack. Ali is totally smitten with her beautiful evil.

What else happens? Well, this is the first time we see Rex's body wearing Borgo's costume. I wonder if they lost or forgot the Borgo makeup for this episode? And it looks like Pineda gets shot by the Syndicate enforcer so that might be the end of his story arc.

Also, Darna visits Brian's apartment..he is shirtless and she is in full costume, and no, they don't kiss or anything. She's just there to help him figure out the connection between Borgo and the Syndicate (Invicto), and the identity of the mysterious "Mr. X".

Episode 102

Brian and Ernie check out the crime scene and notice the enforcer's footprints. This is the first time in this series I've heard the word "forensics."
Finally, some decent police work.

I think Darna, Ding and Villalobos put their heads together and figure out that Mr. X must be Borgo. Boy are they in for a surprise.

Ding and Patricia see a van pull up on the side of the road and they watch the Syndicate enforcer get out. Ding notices that his shoes
look like the footprints from the crime scene, and takes a photo of the enforcer. They are in full view, and yet the enforcer doesn't see them do this?

Darna flies overhead and notices Ali on the road. Fully aware that Ali is Regina's helper, why doesn't she pick up Ali and force him to tell her where Valentina is? Even Superman does things like that to get people to talk. But she just flies away?

Turns out Pineda isn't dead yet - he was taken blindfolded to the Syndicate HQ, supposedly because they don't want him to talk to the police,
and is being held prisoner in the building's basement.

Back at home, Narda holds the glowing stone in her hand, and looks like she's about to swallow it - we think we're going to get a complete transformation, but alas, it doesn't happen.

Nonetheless, Brian and Darna are in touch by earpiece radio, and they track the Syndicate to their lair by following the van. Then the mysterious Mr. X steps out of the car, and it turns out to be......MAYOR ZALDY! Yup, he's the head of the mob.

Then the producers use the opportunity to have Darna recall all of the times that she stopped the Syndicate, which allow them to save money and roll a bunch of older episode footage.

Meanwhile, Mayor Zaldy is inside, where he is apparently holding four powerful Syndicate bosses hostage in front of a full dinner table, and they plead for their lives before he kills them. Seems a bit showy, but I guess it's supposed to demonstrate how evil he is.

Darna does her sexy thing and fights the Syndicate thugs as their bullets bounce off her. Meanwhile Brian enters the Syndicate lair by another route, knocking out some guards. Darna gets upstairs to where the Mayor is, and she shouts "Mayor!" as many more bullets bounce off her gorgeous body. The Mayor retreats with his bodyguards, and that where it ends.

This episode has more of a detective and shoot-em-up feel to it instead of superheroics, but there's plenty of Darna to be seen, so check it out.
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shevek wrote:
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Then we'd better get everything out of it that we can!
I guess the show is not as successful as the producers had hoped (unfortunately for us). The series Darna replaced lasted more than 5 years on air daily.
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brdiy wrote:
1 year ago
shevek wrote:
1 year ago
Then we'd better get everything out of it that we can!
I guess the show is not as successful as the producers had hoped (unfortunately for us). The series Darna replaced lasted more than 5 years on air daily.
Are you sure?

2005 Darna series lasted 170 episodes. 2009 Darna series went 140 episodes. This one is going, what, 130? The runs are all about the same.

Also, Snake Diversity!

The Biodiversity Conservation Society of the Philippines applauded ABS-CBN's take on the snake-haired supervillainess, Valentina. It has said to have showcased different kinds of “snake morphospecies”, in which two of Valentina's snakes resembles the Philippine Pit Viper and the Samar Cobra. Further adding: “While we don’t entirely approve of the common association between snakes and villainy in stories, this new Valentina’s snake-do nicely mirrors the rich diversity of snakes (about 140 species) that we have in the country.”

So, approximately one episode for each snake seems to be the rule.
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^you misunderstand. The show I was referring to was "Ang Probinsyano", a totally different genre from Dana, though. From what I read, the new show will star the same actor.
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brdiy wrote:
1 year ago
^you misunderstand. The show I was referring to was "Ang Probinsyano", a totally different genre from Dana, though. From what I read, the new show will star the same actor.
But that show was the longest running non-anthology show in Pinoy tv history, according to Wikipedia. What's the usual episode count for dramas of this type?


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Yeah, I was kinda hoping that it would last long enough for us to see more of her (sexy female) rogues gallery. I.e. I read that the villain Djangga had what amounts to Darna's kryptonite. I have no clue how that worked and would have loved to see it. Other than Valentina, the rest of the villains have been very bland and from a peril standpoint, there was definitely more in the prior TV iterations.
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^^ with (apparently) only 3 more weeks to go the lack of heroine peril has been my biggest complaint. Never have I felt Darna was in any real danger nor did she physically or mentally struggled against her opponents. I know it's a family friendly show but the CW Supergirl had so much heroine peril and beatdowns I almost believed it was written by someone from here. The past Darna movies (1991 and 1994) and tv-shows (2005) also had their fair share of peril. But this time they wanted to portray Darna as the perfect heroine for kids; which made her less relatable in her Darna form. It needed some raunchy fights with Darna clearly being outmatched. Also no kryptonite moment.
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EP 103 - "Powerful Matters"

Kind of a middling episode. On the one hand, there's plenty of Darna in costume. But the one exciting scene is just when Mayor Zaldy injects himself with the Extra serum after he is cornered by Darna and all of his henchmen defeated. Zaldy "Hulks out" to about 20 feet tall, but instead of pressing his advantage (he can literally bat away Darna with one hand) by advancing and crushing the cops, he simply throws a bunch of debris at them and stomps away. **Why don't they go after him?** Instead, we see an off-camera shrinking of his shadow, and then he slinks away in ripped clothing. Later in the episode he contemplates what he'll do next, which gives them a chance to run some previous Noah fire-hands footage.

Meanwhile, Brian has captured Pineda (who is taken to the hospital after being shot) but has also found out that Uncle Ernie had some kind of involvement in his father death. As a result, he doesn't want to work with Ernie in the field anymore. Brian meets with Darna, and there's a nice hug but no kiss. And over at Regina's lair, all that happens is that she slaps Ali in the face for being too protective of her. He is such a simp.

Probably just watch this for the Zaldy Hulkout, so you're not confused as to why he's suddenly an Extra.
And by the way, with Zaldy becoming an Extra, civil society has pretty much broken down in Nueva Esperanza: I mean, *both* of its richest citizens are General Borgo; the mayor and his son are supervillains; so is the big social influencer/lawyer; and there is corruption in the police dept. It seems like the only crowd left which is normal are the restaurant folks and the hospital team. It seems like kind of a commentary on the Philippines that you can't trust authority, not even every sexy costumed woman. And it's gonna get worse....

Well, at least they fight in the hallways, instead of just talking about their feelings in them.

EP 104 - Deleted City

Regina goes over the edge here. She broadcasts citywide to everyone warning them that she was right about Mayor Zaldy and that she will punish corruption: "I will be your judge and I will be your executioner. I will decide who will live and who will die!" (I recognized the word "mabuhay" which means "live" or "alive) I am coming!" And then she transforms live on the stream, because why not. The people of Nueva Esperanza rush around closing their windows and locking up their stores and houses against the coming of Valentina.

The reporter brings Borgo's Super Extra serum to the hospital and Pineda takes it. (Why is there no guard on Pineda? Are all the cops out hunting for Valentina?) Then they take off in a car with Noah and Andre to meet Borgo and sexy Xandra. Pineda, who has suddenly grown a neatly trimmed beard when he was clean-shaven a few moments ago (???) discovers that he has telekinesis - his first effort is lifting a heavy trash bag so there is a little joke "Is that what my power is? To control trash?"

Vice Mayor Felizardo "Feli" Gizmundo takes over as mayor and gives a public speech. Valentina, in full costume, sends snakes amongst the crowd, and they scatter in fear. I guess she's got at least 140 species to choose from, so she can attack about that many people at once? Darna shows up and steps on all the snakes at super-speed. Valentina feels the pain of the snakes (why does she have that weakness, yet continues to send her snakes out?).

Then we see something really reckless: the police enter and there's about a dozen of them shooting at snakes on the floor. There's no regard whatsoever for the crowd which is around. Brian finds a police officer who is foaming at the mouth from a snakebite (this is the first direct injury from floor snakes in the whole series, I think!!) but the other cops keep shooting at close range all around him. Then there are a half-dozen EMTs on the scene, and the cops are *still* shooting snakes all around them, too! Seems really dangerous - why not cordon off the area first and make sure all civilians are safe? Maybe throw some gas bombs in to pacify the snakes instead of using live rounds?

Valentina confronts Darna outside the hall ("we meet again" for what, the sixth or seventh time?). Darna keeps trying to talk Regina down, but it doesn't work. They struggle against each other in the air (Valentina's hanging from something, but it's not clear what) both using their super strength - apparently at this point, Valentina's strength might be the equal of Darna's! Valentina does the dance of death with Darna, punching and kicking and snaking, until once again Darna is snared in her coils. Darna breaks free (again! she always does) and knocks Valentina down (again!).

Meanwhile, instead of shooting at Valentina, the cops are shooting at the snakes. I'm wondering, is Valentina also bulletproof like Darna? If not, why not take her down with a couple of well-placed shots instead of firing wildly? They almost can't miss! But they don't do that. Instead, Valentina creates yet another distraction by making sure a couple of fleeing bystanders in a van get bitten. So Brian and Darna have to stop to help them,
and Valentina gets away (again!).

Regina flees back to her lair, and returns to her snake-girl form. She continues to feel pain and gets weaker as Darna stomps on and punches snakes nearby. How the hell is Valentina going to try to win if this keeps happening? I don't know, but Janella walks away looking hot.

Catch this one! It repeats many of the themes we've already seen, but at least there is a solid fight scene.

Episode 105 - Borgo With an Army

The episode begins with Claudio overhearing a conversation about Regina in a restaurant. My question is: why are people still eating out in public if Valentina is still on the loose? It's been only one day and they already forgot about the danger? Meanwhile Regina proves this true by proclaiming to Ali, "I want Darna to feel so bad that she can't save everyone." Meanwhile, Brian attends the funeral of the cop who died of snakebite and listens to his grieving wife and daughter, and then sits in a restaurant with his friend toasting the life of the dead cop. Still, everyone's out in public despite the dangers of both Valentina and Zaldy-Hulk being on the loose.

Then suddenly, there's a break for an extended preview of something that "continues on to the new phase" (I translated that from Tagalog).
They show 360-degree showcases of a whole army of supervillains:
- Pineda in some kind of slimy cyborg costume-
-Siegfried the reporter in a black costume with lots of yellow trim
- a white-haired short woman (whom I think is Maisha) in a tight and sexy revealing brown costume with very nice cleavage. Wow!
- a long-haired man with eye beams of destruction (not sure who he is - Red 5, do you know?)
- Andre in a dark gray outfit showcasing his power of explosions
- Xandra in a shapely golden warrior Amazon style outfit (this actress always looks hot in everything)
- Noah in a tight grey veined costume shooting fire
- Zaldy in a muscular costume with raised veinage all over it
They are "Super Strong", "Super Dangerous", and "Super Lupet" (whatever that means - Google couldn't translate it).
Believe the hype for Borgo's Army of Super Soldiers!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:
Zaldy skulks around a bit, which gives them a chance to recycle old footage about him.
Richard looks concerned, which gives them a chance to recycle old Andre footage.
Zaldy's assistant Maisha goes to Madame Victoria to get some help, only to find out that she is Borgo. So of course Borgo recruits both Maisha and Zaldy into his forces.
Meanwhile, Narda meets with Ali. Why she just can't follow him back to Regina, while flying overhead as Darna, I don't know.

Back at the ship, Borgo collects his army, and uses a symbolic logo to create 'uniforms' (as he calls them) for his Super Soldiers.
The uniforms appear, one by one, on eight black plastic mannequins in front of his recruits. Not sure why he needed that extra step instead of just having the suits form directly on his minions? Maybe they just need a bit of psyching up. Anyway, Pineda is a smart mouth and makes a joke about whether the suits are "environmentally friendly & recyclable". Do not annoy Borgo with 1990s humor, Pineda! :)

Alright, can't wait til next week to see all of these villains attack. Especially Dawn Chang/Maisha in that tight revealing costume - I wonder what her power will be? See her closeup below:
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brdiy
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago

They are "Super Strong", "Super Dangerous", and "Super Lupet" (whatever that means - Google couldn't translate it).
While lupet/lupit literally translates to "cruel", the best translation best on how it is used is "badass", so it's super badass in this case. :D
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Apparently, Darna just started airing on free TV in Indonesia this week.

Interestingly, they blurred out some of the parts.

Image

Image

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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).

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. Our actress Jess B (Serpenta) is from Indonesia (she is from a rare Christian tribe in Sulawesi) and she has told me a lot about the country. For example, there are only seven official religions allowed (there used to be only six, as established by brutal dictator Suharto in 1965, but more recently they added indigenous paganism as the 7th). You literally have to register as one of those religions on your ID card (the way the Soviets used to register a required ethnicity), and all of those religions (except maybe paganism) in their Indonesian forms have conservative underpinnings.

So, my point is, it's not surprising that one of the things almost every authority agrees with in Indonesia is that the TV has to blur out Darna's sexy parts.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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..?


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There have been a few good fight scenes so far (and many thanks for posting videos of them), but all this repetitive snake stomping and terrible effects is discouraging. This show had a ton of promise but it's being squandered. Hopefully there will be some great stuff soon.
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Ernie wrote:
1 year ago
There have been a few good fight scenes so far (and many thanks for posting videos of them), but all this repetitive snake stomping and terrible effects is discouraging. This show had a ton of promise but it's being squandered. Hopefully there will be some great stuff soon.
DID it? It's a daily Soap Opera? How much superhero fighting and heavy duty SFX were you expecting? If the answer is 'any' then your expectations were waaaaaay to high.

I'm personally just a little sad that they can't like... get in touch with someone whose got loads of production money in one of the countries where movies and tv series like this get greenlighted with the budgets and stuff they need so that Darna could get like... an ACTUAL outing and some worldwide exposure that would get her more in the limelight. She's one of the more recognizable satellite heroines in our Superheroine ort cloud but she's kind of locked away out there when all we getting is a crappy Soap Opera like this.

It's a damn shame... and I wouldn't argue with you at all that Darna's potential has been squandered........................... but I pretty much firmly believe the show here likely did absolutely as much as it could considering their budget and production scheduling.
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Yeah, R5, I'm also up to EP 105, I just haven't seen the Super Soldier episodes from this past week yet. I'll try to catch up on them before Sunday.

That's pretty weird that they're willing to show the Darna show in Indonesia, yet they censor it so heavily that you can't see *any* of her when she transforms. I'll ask Jessica if she knows anything about such censorship.

But as far as Wonder Woman in Indonesia - yes, they showed it, and it made $8.6 million. Wonder Woman 2017 was shown throughout most of South Asia and Southeast Asia with no problem, even in Bangladesh. The one holdout seems to be Malaysia, they may have not shown it there. But I don't think it's because of the costume - it's because Gal Gadot is Israeli and there was a boycott. The only Middle Eastern countries which legally showed WW were Egypt, Turkey and United Arab Emirates (according to IMDB).
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