Zaido: Pulis pangkalawakan

A desperate attempt to cash in on the Shaider name. Typical Filipino drama fare where casting big names and young fresh female faces is more important than innovation or adding improvements to stories that have been rehashed ad nauseam. Use of CG is great but the props and costumes are of such poor quality that it makes the show look even older than the twenty-plus year old show it is trying to emulate.

You're better off watching reruns of the original Shaider.

Recommended for: fans of Philippine drama and cute actresses. Not Recommended for: everyone else, especially Japanese superhero show fans, and ESPECIALLY not for those who loved the original Shaider show.

Okay, the last time they "adapted" Shaider was Saban and turned him into a VR Trooper. Several years later, we have this show. Not sure how describe it, it tried to be a tokusatsu, but crashed and burned. It's a bad habit with Filipino SciFi Fantasy, I don't if it's a bad habit or something, but remembering back in the 80s-90s there were definitely some cool stuff done, but now, it feels like every SciFi Fantasy has to be some Soap Opera. Not a good combination; its either or. It's okay if there's some drama, which actually helps the push the story forward; but don't make it 80-85% drama. When it comes to this genre, there has to be balance between categories this is where Zaido fails miserably. You're constantly waiting for the action to begin, but it ends up being more Soap Opera than SciFi Fantasy; and when action does occur, its few and far between. Heck, even Saban had somewhat of an honor code when it came to adaptations of the tokusatsu.

Anyway, the intro was funny, whether by accident or on purpose, I'll never know, but I liked it cause it felt funny especially when it came to the theme itself. As for characters, I'm probably one of the small percentage who likes Ulla the Chicken. I don't know, but I felt Jeb of VR Troopers and the Hillhurst Monsters from Beetleborgs, for some reason; though people tell me that he is the equivalent of Masked Rider's Ferbus.

The first thing I've noticed with Zaido is that the director's style is very much different from his previous projects. I commend you Dominic Zapata.

Shaider fans won't completely like the series because of the melodramatic story lines. But because of that melodramatic story lines, the actors and actress' were able to show off their acting skills.

The characters are very much "human", unlike the shallow characters from Zaido - but there's too much character development I think. I especially commend the acting of Lovi Poe for improving so much - she didn't do particularly well in Bakekang until the finale weeks, but now she's very good.

And its also nice to see Raymart Santiago back in prime-time.

In the whole, Zaido is a nice series, Zapata's better series since the phenomenal Mulawin.