P A N D A Y 1 0 1
Below is an email sent to Alamat mailing list by Elsa Bibat, answering queries about PANDAY, the komiks and movie character.
I was surprised that someone actually knew all these things about the character... even more surprised that it seems like her family knew such interesting pieces of information.
Enjoy!
====================
Being part of the "Panday" fanatics of the family, I can probably supply most of the answers to the question. First of all, the sword was not a sword! It was a simple dagger made from metal from the flaming meteor as prophesied in the "Aklat na Itim". Following the intstructions as deciphered by Tatang, Flavio, "Ang Panday" of the title crafts a blade to fight the oppression of Lizardo(shades of Buckaroo Banzai twenty years before the film was made!!^_^).
It had all these weird properties: it would hum a particular vibration when drawn or in the presence of evil, it radiated a light that could destroy evil creatures and can become a mighty blade. My cousin insists that the balaraw was intelligent and capable of independent thought as hinted by the various instances of the balaraw tugging Flavio's hand in a particular direction or how it warns him several times. Flavio's swordsmanship, a fact never explained in the series, he attributed to the balaraw's powers. Kinda like Elric's Stormbringer, except it's nice. ^_^
The adventures took place on a vaguely Luzon-like pseudo-Spanish setting. My cousin posits that Flavio's original town is in the equivalent of Batangas and his journey to Lizardo's castle takes him through the Sierra Madres-equivalent and ending with Vigan and the infamous "Puting Desierto". Consequent movies take him to the Pangasinan-equivalent and the Laguna-equivalent. It is also hinted that the Panday world is an alternate universe thing or a self-contained world like the Land of the Four Gods in the anime Fushigi Yuugi, as hinted by an obscure little prelude to the second movie. Because of this I have have often been tempted to write the Panday Mythos into the Cthulhu Mythos as the world of Panday seems to be more like a Dreamlands-like vision of a pseudo-Philippines.
Anyway, all of this is from the original Panday trilogy which we consider canon. All the movies that followed were all crap, especially when the aliens invaded, something that is almost as sickening with "Darna Vs. The Planet Women" or something like that, and that disgusting Aquino & Estrada Panday flick. The only sequel that we felt true to the Panday name was "Dugo ng Panday", that nice little Bong Revilla flick that my cousin raves about as "Filipino fantasy cinema's benchmark" along with the Zuma series. Bong Revilla gives his best performance in the film, which is however not saying much since his action flicks are ... urgghhh. Plus I got to see Leo Martinez be the serious Wise Old Man of the Panday Mythos. ^_^
Ang Panday Ng Balaraw, Ang Batang Pilyo, Ang Matandang May Alam: the modern Filipino epic travellers on their way to defeat the vaguely Castillian Evil Overlord. Eh... I have been listening too much to my cousin.
"Panday, Panday, Pandaaa-aaay!!!"
- that horrible cartoon themesong for the animated series.
P.S. It should be noted that the Panday Mythos is still one of the most resonant images in Filipino Pop Culture, along with several other FPJ inspired images such as the Last Honest Cop, The Faithful Friend and the Avenger of the Oppressed. An update to the Panday Mythos would most likely either be a stirring success or a humongous failure. Though that will most likely not come anytime soon, since FPJ still has rights to it since he wrote it (yes, the man with sideburns can write!), and the last time I checked he didn't want an update.
Below is an email sent to Alamat mailing list by Elsa Bibat, answering queries about PANDAY, the komiks and movie character.
I was surprised that someone actually knew all these things about the character... even more surprised that it seems like her family knew such interesting pieces of information.
Enjoy!
====================
Being part of the "Panday" fanatics of the family, I can probably supply most of the answers to the question. First of all, the sword was not a sword! It was a simple dagger made from metal from the flaming meteor as prophesied in the "Aklat na Itim". Following the intstructions as deciphered by Tatang, Flavio, "Ang Panday" of the title crafts a blade to fight the oppression of Lizardo(shades of Buckaroo Banzai twenty years before the film was made!!^_^).
It had all these weird properties: it would hum a particular vibration when drawn or in the presence of evil, it radiated a light that could destroy evil creatures and can become a mighty blade. My cousin insists that the balaraw was intelligent and capable of independent thought as hinted by the various instances of the balaraw tugging Flavio's hand in a particular direction or how it warns him several times. Flavio's swordsmanship, a fact never explained in the series, he attributed to the balaraw's powers. Kinda like Elric's Stormbringer, except it's nice. ^_^
The adventures took place on a vaguely Luzon-like pseudo-Spanish setting. My cousin posits that Flavio's original town is in the equivalent of Batangas and his journey to Lizardo's castle takes him through the Sierra Madres-equivalent and ending with Vigan and the infamous "Puting Desierto". Consequent movies take him to the Pangasinan-equivalent and the Laguna-equivalent. It is also hinted that the Panday world is an alternate universe thing or a self-contained world like the Land of the Four Gods in the anime Fushigi Yuugi, as hinted by an obscure little prelude to the second movie. Because of this I have have often been tempted to write the Panday Mythos into the Cthulhu Mythos as the world of Panday seems to be more like a Dreamlands-like vision of a pseudo-Philippines.
Anyway, all of this is from the original Panday trilogy which we consider canon. All the movies that followed were all crap, especially when the aliens invaded, something that is almost as sickening with "Darna Vs. The Planet Women" or something like that, and that disgusting Aquino & Estrada Panday flick. The only sequel that we felt true to the Panday name was "Dugo ng Panday", that nice little Bong Revilla flick that my cousin raves about as "Filipino fantasy cinema's benchmark" along with the Zuma series. Bong Revilla gives his best performance in the film, which is however not saying much since his action flicks are ... urgghhh. Plus I got to see Leo Martinez be the serious Wise Old Man of the Panday Mythos. ^_^
Ang Panday Ng Balaraw, Ang Batang Pilyo, Ang Matandang May Alam: the modern Filipino epic travellers on their way to defeat the vaguely Castillian Evil Overlord. Eh... I have been listening too much to my cousin.
"Panday, Panday, Pandaaa-aaay!!!"
- that horrible cartoon themesong for the animated series.
P.S. It should be noted that the Panday Mythos is still one of the most resonant images in Filipino Pop Culture, along with several other FPJ inspired images such as the Last Honest Cop, The Faithful Friend and the Avenger of the Oppressed. An update to the Panday Mythos would most likely either be a stirring success or a humongous failure. Though that will most likely not come anytime soon, since FPJ still has rights to it since he wrote it (yes, the man with sideburns can write!), and the last time I checked he didn't want an update.