My Review of 'Encantadia': Agree or Disagree?
'The Lord of the Rings' Reduced to Local Soap Mush, 31 May 2005
Author: pope_innocentyears (innocentyears@yahoo.co.uk) from Philippines
I have heard in an interview somewhere that the production people of GMA's new fantasy soap opera 'Encantadia' admittedly watched the special features on the DVD release of the recent Blockbuster movie 'The Lord of the Rings' in order to get a grasp on how to create a full production in a high-fantasy setting.
Of course, their 'research' does not go unnoticed: 'Encantadia' is now the most watched show on Philippine TV. The people behind the show seemed to have caught the spirit of the movie it copied: colorful costumes, CGI settings, even the lovable animatronic characters were caught to a sharp T. There's only one problem though: Hello??? Universal storyline that applies to all humankind? Where are you? The producers caught everything from LOTR except the one thing that made it all special to millions worldwide: The solid themes of fellowship, perseverance, and corruption that leads to imminent danger.
Let me deliver a comparison: in LOTR, a simple, almost nobody-homebody proves that even the smallest person can change the course of the future as he goes through the toughest obstacles in his life to save the world.
in Encantadia: a royal family struggles to keep their power amidst the threats of destabilization from other groups. The story does have attempts at the usual 'universal storyline' themes (fairy princess/infant stolen and forced to live poor life, mortal falls in love with immortal, etc), but these petty events don't add up to the big picture. Wait a minute... What is the big picture anyway?? No epic quest, no test of friendship, no test of resolve or integrity, no character exploration; Just a series of soap operatic events. I guess in the end all we have to expect is that the hero royal family wins.
Storyline aside, the show works well anyway. The costumes and masks seemed believable enough. How about the mythology? What makes stories such as this is how this 'alternate world' came to be. Again, Tolkien turns over in his grave: the world of 'Encantadia' seemed to have popped out of nowhere. Unlike LOTR which originated from the creation story 'Ainulindale' from the unforgettable epic book 'The Silmarillion', 'Encantadia' does not provide a mythology which makes the story (like 'Mulawin' before it) unbelievable and a tad uninteresting.
Cheers to the network for creating a top-rater, and jeers to the shortcomings intelligent viewers cannot overlook.
By the way: who ever said intelligent viewers were the market of 'Encantadia'?
Oh, and PS: please visit my other reviews at innocentyears.blogspot.com
Author: pope_innocentyears (innocentyears@yahoo.co.uk) from Philippines
I have heard in an interview somewhere that the production people of GMA's new fantasy soap opera 'Encantadia' admittedly watched the special features on the DVD release of the recent Blockbuster movie 'The Lord of the Rings' in order to get a grasp on how to create a full production in a high-fantasy setting.
Of course, their 'research' does not go unnoticed: 'Encantadia' is now the most watched show on Philippine TV. The people behind the show seemed to have caught the spirit of the movie it copied: colorful costumes, CGI settings, even the lovable animatronic characters were caught to a sharp T. There's only one problem though: Hello??? Universal storyline that applies to all humankind? Where are you? The producers caught everything from LOTR except the one thing that made it all special to millions worldwide: The solid themes of fellowship, perseverance, and corruption that leads to imminent danger.
Let me deliver a comparison: in LOTR, a simple, almost nobody-homebody proves that even the smallest person can change the course of the future as he goes through the toughest obstacles in his life to save the world.
in Encantadia: a royal family struggles to keep their power amidst the threats of destabilization from other groups. The story does have attempts at the usual 'universal storyline' themes (fairy princess/infant stolen and forced to live poor life, mortal falls in love with immortal, etc), but these petty events don't add up to the big picture. Wait a minute... What is the big picture anyway?? No epic quest, no test of friendship, no test of resolve or integrity, no character exploration; Just a series of soap operatic events. I guess in the end all we have to expect is that the hero royal family wins.
Storyline aside, the show works well anyway. The costumes and masks seemed believable enough. How about the mythology? What makes stories such as this is how this 'alternate world' came to be. Again, Tolkien turns over in his grave: the world of 'Encantadia' seemed to have popped out of nowhere. Unlike LOTR which originated from the creation story 'Ainulindale' from the unforgettable epic book 'The Silmarillion', 'Encantadia' does not provide a mythology which makes the story (like 'Mulawin' before it) unbelievable and a tad uninteresting.
Cheers to the network for creating a top-rater, and jeers to the shortcomings intelligent viewers cannot overlook.
By the way: who ever said intelligent viewers were the market of 'Encantadia'?
Oh, and PS: please visit my other reviews at innocentyears.blogspot.com
12:33 PM | Read Entry 
9 Comments:
point taken, south rock. i was just thinking about how 'encantadia' would get criticized for copying LOTR too much.
However, my complaints lie with the fact that the present storyline of encantadia is just not interesting enough for me. I found myself asking the question: So what if they're a royal family? Why should I care about them? 'Encantadia' just doesn't make one love and care about any of the characters.
Yes, the production value is well done. Yes, the costumes are good. Yes the effects are good, but the characters do not touch the heart of the people. The characters all possessed amazing magical powers and they fight with the sword well, but how about the ordinary, powerless people like the rest of us? How can ordinary, powerless people like us triumph against all the trials and tribulations?
This is why there are archetypal characters such as the boy, the princess, the mentor/wizard, the rogue, because these are the characters that represent the masses. Did you ever wonder why Erap won? Where is the Asiong Salonga character in 'Encantadia?'
'Encantadia' does not have that. That's why I said in my review that 'encantadia' is simply a fantasy story reduced to the mind-numbing shallowness of the soap opera. There is no 'big picture'. Just a bunch of minor, meaningless skirmishes and the occassional bickering of sisters nobody really cares about.
Isn't it about sisterhood?
Grrl power like this has never been explored in Philippine TV before. I mean, was there there ever a Danaya before?
But this comment has been recycled for the nth time, LOL.
Anyway, let's wait for the time when Ybarro becomes fit to be a king and the real Lira becomes fit to be queen. (Not that they are going to marry each other.) Social structures are going to be shaken.
of course, encantadia can never be compared to LOTR, who had a genius, 'silent activist' and visionary in its creator tolkien. not counting the years he planned and worked, he also had his experiences on the first war to look upon, his passion for legends and other languages, and his pessimistic view on technology as a whole.
encantadia is first and foremost a teledrama after all. but it still has its merits for me.
- chief one is its being a more interesting alternative to other 'mindless shows'. note that i use 'alternative'.
- the other is, well, because it's fantasy (i'm biased). as long as the realm of another world is there, i'm all up for it. then there's the relationships, destinies and choices. *swoon*
pero hanggang encantadia and mulawin na lang ako.
hi, SR! :)
hello round bottomed scamp!
Well, I agree with South_Rock, you can't please everyone. If Encantadia does not speak to you, well, if it attracts viewers, clearly it must speak to them.
indeed. i should probably blame myself because i'm a big sci-fi-fantasy fan, and i've read almost everything there is about the subject, clearly i found encantadia too shallow for my taste.
The hero doesn't have to be an ordinary person, part of the wonder of fantasy is that the ordinary person can live a life vicariously through another.
no qualms there. it's just that i don't see myself in the shoes of any of the fairy characters, or even in mark herras' character for that matter.
If we expand this so-called criticism, why is King Arthur still a beloved story, when he is royalty and ordained from the very start? Why is Greek mythology interesting, even if it IS about gods and goddesses? Because their dilemmas are real ... people relate to that. The title/royalty issue is secondary.
funny you should mention king arthur and greek mythology, which formed their legend and fame for hundreds and hundreds of years, and compare it to encantadia which is on TV for what? a few months? that's the big difference you see... firstly, these said myths and legends were mostly formed to explain the different phenomena of the world, encantadia was created for profit alone. yes? secondly, the question remains: will 'encantadia' stay on for hundreds and hundreds of years, to be remembered by many people just like the arthurians and the mythologies? NAAAAAH!
Danaya, for example, is a sang'gre, but she is brave, willing to die for her beliefs at the expense of being alienated from her whole family. The viewers love her for that.
danaya zubiri... este! diana zubiri pala is a hot potato, no question about that! i don't care about the character! she's just sizzling!
Perhaps you are prejudging the series, without seeing how it would develop? Besides, how can you talk about the "big picture" when the series is still running? Of course, you cannot expect the "big picture" to reveal itself in the initial run.
perhaps, but have you ever watched a movie wherein you knew it was gonna SUCK only after a few minutes of viewing? and you just can't wait to get out of the theatre, wishing that you have not watched the movie and wasted your eighty pesos at all?
this is the same. i was an avid viewer of the show for the first few weeks... i was waiting for something big, but i was dissapointed. afterwards, i thought the show could not get any worse, so i decided to stop watching because i thought it was a complete waste of electricity. believe me, nothing good is going to come out of 'encantadia' but more soap-operatic revelations and incidents. nothing more. i consider the classic "baby-switching" plot-twist to be too shallow for my tastes. jeeezus! reflections of 'mara clara', anyone? add this to the one-dimensional characters, oooh! my head.
LoTR IS not totally original - the good professor based it on Finnish epics like Beowulf and Kalevala. The characters are archetypes that have been there from the beginning of the world. That doesn't keep it from being the most read book in the world. There is no such thing as PURE fantasy, all stories borrow from one another.
yes, agree. however, if the 'encantadiacs' would 'borrow' from tolkien and all the other myths and legends, wouldn't it be better if they borrowed the 'better' angles? to me, 'encantadia' is just a big excuse to present good costumes and fancy special effects.
Yes, Encantadia may be similar to LoTR in look and feel, but it focuses on a matriarchal culture - one thing that LoTR gets slammed for. Yes, Eowyn is there, but the it almost seems like she is an afterthought. ARwen does nothing in the book but sit around and look pretty. Part of the appeal of Encantadia is the strong female characters, which is a refreshing change from the "api-apihan" of usual telenovela fare.
you've got to be kidding! eowyn killed the witch king, for gosh sakes!
yes, female characters, but you've got to open your eyes! they're all ONE-DIMENSIONAL! no character exploration. it's all: iza calzado=good, sunshine=bad, evil white haired guy=bad, jennylyn=api, but good. good and evil clearly defined, yes... but it leaves none to reflect about after you've switched off the TV.
I'm not saying this series is perfect. I could do without the "love" angle, but yeah, love is a powerful theme, and you must remember that this is on primetime, so it's hard for the screenwriters sometimes to strike a balance between art and the bottomline. But they are doing exceptionally well so far in a highly-competitive environment like TV ... the story is interesting, nothing is what it seems and the characters are consistent and true. So maybe we should give this series even a little bit of a chance, instead of dismissing it as "mind-numbing." It is still better than recycled slop we see in other telenovelas, anyway.
nothing is perfect, not even tolkien. now this i agree upon. compared to the idiotic 'kampanerang kubeta', encantadia is totally light years away. yes, it is a big victory for Philippine TV, hands down.
however, we've got to stop kidding ourselves. no way will this soap opera be remembered after a year. after 'encantadia' has done it's mission, and that is to bring in the ratings and the big bucks, 'encantadia' will be forgotten in the cabinets of GMA and the rest of the country.
ahhh...they should not watch the special features of the LOTR series alone.
there's still the matrix series which pushed the bar so high that it almost became unreacheable and star wars saga which started all these effects thingy.
indeed these special features are worth watching. in fact, to my opinion, i find them more entertaining. while the stories are worth watching, there is always more going on at the back of the cameras.
Hmmmm... nice.
innocent years, i know u had published books na. i dont think me bumibili ng books mo. wag mong isisi sa tao why walang bumibili ng books mo. hindi sila bobo.
And that attack makes you what? An authority in book sales and publishing? Weak attack, boy. Try again. And may I remind you that I am not the subject of this post, which makes this statement all the more meaningless.
ask urself. bka ikaw me mali? walang tumatangkilik sa mga taong me intellectual arrogance.
Ooooooh! Intellectual Arrogance. That's two deep words for you, my friend. Can you define the meaning?
Also, while you're on the dictionary, I would like for you to look for the meaning of 'Igonrance' or 'Ignorant Arrogance' for that matter. You might find your picture.
pinoy soap opera still has a long way to go. lalo na ang fantasy tv. hindi pwede lotr agad. kailangan magsimula ka muna sa cinderella.
Actually, you could've started your post with this paragraph, without the mindless insults you threw at me without making yourself look dumb & silly.
I agree. Everybody has to start somewhere. 'Encantadia' might be the beginning of something beautiful, but this is not enough to uplift the viewing experience of the Filipino. Paulit-ulit ko nalang sinasabi eh: the storyline is dead predictable, firstly. Second, a fantasy setting doesn't mean that you could just make everything happen in your story: four fairies, evil dudes, fantastical creatures caught in the middle. SO THE F**** WHAT??? Who cares about four fairies, fighting with their bare hands when they are clearly the most powerful persons on the world? The answer? They're not four most powerful persons in Encantadia. If I were a Hathor, I would surely want to wage war against wimpy, geeky fairies. Nobody cares about encantadia because the writers are not flexing their brain muscles enough to make the story unforgettable.
That's the problem. Encantadia does not have a mythology. And when I say mythology I meant a creation story: how did the four fairies came to be? Where did the four lands come from? Where did the little people come from? How come there is a separation between fairy dimension and the real world?
The knowledge of an existing history to a fantastical land makes it real; It makes encantadia interesting, and makes fans crave for more. Maniwala ka sakin, pagkatapos ng Encantadia, makakalimutan na ito. Para bang 'One-shot Wonder'.
And the rest of your post is laughable. Learn to use proper punctuations and spell better so that the people in here could understand your pathetic post.
If it is possible for us to attack the critique without attacking any person, then we may as well do it that way.
This is the most intellectually productive blog in the network so far so please, let us not reduce to it a to a flame blog.
Thank you to everyone. :)
Don't worry, South. Di ako pumapatol sa mababang uri. Ang latang walang laman mas maingay, diba?
I posted this message because I thought I could provide a useful critique on the various programs the networks are coming up. And.. handa ako sa mga banat na ganito. I chose to be outspoken, so I should expect other people to be outspoken about me.
But also, tama ka, South. this guy is a below-the-belt hitter. Grabeng baba ng pagkatao. Pards, kung mapipikon ka sa mga simpleng posts na ganito, walang patutunguhan ang buhay mo. Breathe in, and breathe out, please. Relax!
And, I think bringing in Nadine in Darna should be interesting; However, we hope that this is not another ploy to butcher the darna storyline, noh?
Pareng matthew, YOUR LATER POSTS ARE MUCH BETTER TO READ. Buti nalang you chose to be more civilized now than your previous posts. Your more previous posts are a bit offensive... medyo civilized naman tayo dito. Thanks for pointing out your feelings in a more readable manner.
Firstly, I really didn't expect my criticism to generate this much reaction and hatred. Medyo haba ang hair ko! It's like I won a contest or something.
Secondly, hindi ako galit sa encantadia. Like I said, I criticize HARSHLY. Harsh words, dude... but no matter how harsh they are, they still remain words. And, I stand by my words. I have to be an idiot to retract what I've said.
And like I've said, congratulations to GMA for creating this show, because, like you have said, It opens up a whole new slew of opportunities and ideas and I really don't know how ABS will jump back after this barrage.
Now with regards to my opinions, it's all in the criticism. I really think I don't need to defend it anymomre after this.
And I think you should stick around. Parang 'Sugo' ba. for every anti-hero (me) there's a hero (you).
Cheers, brod!
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