Victor Magtanggol Completes Mission This Friday

“’Victor Magtanggol’ has completed its full intended run.“

This is exactly what GMA Vice President for Drama Productions Redgie Magno told Pep about the fate of ‘Victor Magtanggol’, the primetime action/fantasy series starring Alden Richards. The series will officially bow down after its 80th episode on Friday, but while ‘Victor Magtanggol’ had a decent run, it still failed to deliver.

‘Victor Magtanggol’ first premiered on July 30, 2018, but before the series even began, it was littered with controversy over its supposed similarities with Marvel’s Thor. Much like ‘Alyas Robin Hood’, ‘Victor Magtanggol’ failed to escape the wrath of the critics for allegedly plagiarizing another Marvel character.

In response, GMA executives defended the series saying that it was inspired from millenia-old Norse mythology. Still, a negative light had been cast on ‘Victor Magtanggol’, no matter what the executives say.

As expected, GMA placed ‘Victor Magtanggol’ opposite ‘Ang Probinsyano’, and the results did not look good for the former from the get-go. Much like the previous nine opponents that took on ‘Ang Probinsyano’, ‘Victor Magtanggol’ fell victim to Cardo Dalisay’s (Coco Martin) onslaught, losing by around 30% in most of its episodes.

Not even the supposed star power of Alden Richards helped ‘Victor Magtanggol’. In many ways, the series seemed to have taken a hit in Alden’s popularity, and it did not help that it went up against Coco Martin, by far the most popular star in primetime right now.

In Alden’s defense, he was still satisfied with how ‘Victor Magtanggol’ turned out. Not even its shortcomings prevented Alden from being thankful to the producers for giving him a project that expands his range of skill and physical will.

Still, it would have helped Alden if ‘Victor Magtanggol’ enjoyed a few wins. But regardless, it was worth a try.

On Friday, ‘Victor Magtanggol’ will take its last ride. Unfortunately for GMA, the series will only be remembered as yet another addition to ‘Ang Probinsyano”s list of victims.

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Alyas Robin Hood to Premiere Monday Despite Continuous Criticisms

There will be an ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ after all.

The upcoming GMA fantasy action series will see the light of day starting this Monday. This despite the many criticisms that the show faced, particularly its similarities to the American series ‘Arrow’.

But for ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ lead star Dingdong Dantes, he remains confident with the new project despite the negative reviews of it. He, like Suzette Doctolero and Redgie Magno before him, also defended ‘Alyas Robin Hood’, claiming that it is based on the legend of Robin Hood.

The story of ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ involves the character of Pepe (Dingdong) who was arrested for the alleged murder of his father Jose (Christopher de Leon). After surviving a violent prison break, he assumes the Alyas Robin Hood persona in order to find the real culprit while at the same time redeeming himself.

‘Alyas Robin Hood’ will also star Andrea Torres and Megan Young as Pepe’s confidant and love interest, respectively. As mentioned earlier, Christopher de Leon will have a special role as Pepe’s father.

The rest of the supporting cast includes Ms. Cherie Gil, Sid Lucero, Ms. Jaclyn Jose, Paolo Contis, Gary Estrada, Dennis Padilla, John Feir, Tanya Gomez, Gio Alvarez, Lindsay de Vera, Dave Bornea, Caprice Cayetano, Rey ‘PJ’ Abellana and Ces Quesada. The series will be directed by Dominic Zapata.

With so many criticisms surrounding ‘Alyas Robin Hood’, they might have a hard time attracting viewers early on. Although their opponent, the JaDine-starred ‘Till I Met You’, is struggling of late, the negative publicity that affected ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ could give the latter an opportunity to regain some of their viewers.

Still, it will be interesting to see what kind of story ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ will turn out to be. For the viewers who have tuned in to ‘Arrow’ and criticized ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ the first time around, it’s best for them to watch the latter and see for themselves.

‘Alyas Robin Hood’ airs weeknights after ‘Encantadia’ on GMA Telebabad.

Alyas Robin Hood a PR Disaster or Blessing in Disguise for GMA

An upcoming GMA fantaserye is in the headlines for both the right and wrong reasons.

When a trailer for ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ was released earlier this week, it quickly became a trending topic on social media and on various international news outlets. But instead of praises from netizens, a lot of criticisms were thrown into the mix, most of which were claims of being a ripoff of the American action series ‘Arrow’.

In fact, ‘Arrow’ lead actor Stephen Amell even shared the said teaser, which featured a ‘shocked’ emoji. Poor Dingdong Dantes.

Amid the criticisms surrounding ‘Alyas Robin Hood’, the show’s consultant Suzette Doctolero has this to say regarding its comparisons to ‘Arrow’.

LionhearTV then clarified that the poster was fan-made and not an official photo of GMA Network. In fact, some of the images used on the fan art were past photos of GMA artists and not publicity photos for ‘Alyas Robin Hood’.

Doctolero further explained that Robin Hood is an inspiration to many similar literary works, adding that every super hero in general was derived from master plots. She then pointed out that no one holds a copyright to Robin Hood (see post below).

Finally, GMA Entertainment vice president for drama Redgie Magno issued her own statement on the matter.

“Ang Alyas Robin Hood ay malayo sa plot ng Arrow. Ito ay kuwento ng isang lower-middle class lawyer na mapagbibintangan ng isang krimeng hindi niya ginawa. Sa kanyang paghahanap sa katotohanan, may mga matutulungan din siyang nangangailangan.”

“Robin Hood has had different reincarnations or versions in different countries. In Russia, there’s the short novel on Alexander Pushkin whose Robin Hood character went by the name Black Eagle. In Brazil, there’s the real life Limpaio, a true-life Robin Hood whose life is now a biography. In Japan, a Kabuki adaptation of Robin Hood was successfully mounted with the character of Nezumikozo as the name of the legendary hero. This is to name only a few. What we are now seeing here is a modern version of Robin Hood, an adaptation of a universal figure made inspirational and relevant to the Filipino audience.”

The teaser for ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ only ran for 15 seconds. In essence, the teaser was a mere hint of what is to come.

Let’s face it, it is unfair to compare ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ to ‘Arrow’ considering that the storyline of the series is yet to be revealed. Thus, the negative reaction to the former is not justified.

However, it is clear that Philippine television has a lot of flaws. The teleseryes, in particular, continue to use recycled storylines, and most intelligent viewers would be better off watching weekly American series instead.

It remains to be seen if ‘Alyas Robin Hood’ will be an epic disaster or an unexpected winner. Right now, though, viewers will have to wait for its premiere and see for themselves.