Arrow turned out to be a huge hit for The CW, launching a small empire of comic shows on American TV. Star Stephen Amell donned a green hood, picked up a bow, and hit the streets to fight crime as billionaire playboy/archer vigilante Oliver Queen. Now, it looks like a Filipino network is aiming to recreate some of the success of Arrow. The trailer for Alyas Robin Hood looks an awful lot like a trailer for Arrow, and Stephen Amell isn't above poking fun at it. Check out his Facebook post about Alyas Robin Hood:
To his credit, Stephen Amell didn't get carried away with laughing at the Filipino knockoff of Arrow. Amell hasn't always been the most tactful celebrity on social media, and Alyas Robin Hood seems to have enough similarities to his show that it could have been easy for him to really rip into the trailer. Some of the commenters on his Facebook post certainly aren't being shy about criticizing it. The blushing face emoji was a gentle way to poke fun without getting himself into social media trouble again. Given how closely the promo for Alyas Robin Hood resembles Arrow, I wouldn't have blamed him if he showed less restraint. It's pretty funny:
Alyas Robin Hood stars Dingdong Dantes as the Robin Hood-esque vigilante, and Filipino viewers will be able to catch his debut in the role on September 19. For those who have never caught an episode of Arrow, it could seem like a pretty original series. For those who have seen more than a few minutes of Arrow, however, it might be hard to overlook the similarities. Long before the Emerald Archer of Star City was known as the Green Arrow, he was called "the Hood."
Technically, the name referred to the hood that he wore when he hit the streets to battle bad guys, but he was compared to Robin Hood from almost the very beginning. Detective Lance was the first to do it, and that was in the first episode of the series. Even if the first trailer for Alyas Robin Hood was far more different from Arrow than it turned out, comparisons would be inevitable. Take a look at a trailer for Arrow Season 1 to see some of the similarities for yourself:
Of course, there are some important differences between how The CW chose to promote Arrow back in Season 1 and how the Filipino network GMA is choosing to promote Alyas Robin Hood. Dingdong Dantes isn't shirtless even once in the trailer, and Stephen Amell was frequently shirtless in the early Arrow ads. Although the vigilante suits are nearly identical, Dantes doesn't seem to be wearing a mask or even the greasepaint that Oliver used once upon a time to obscure his identity. Is it still pretty clearly a hilarious knockoff of the early elements of Arrow? Sure. But it could be a fun show. Who knows? Maybe another version of The Flash will be the next superhero show to hit the Filipino airwaves.
Only time will tell if Alyas Robin Hood will be as much a success in the Philippines as Arrow was in the U.S. Arrow returns to the small screen for Season 5 on Wednesday, October 5 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. Check out our breakdown of what we know so far about Arrow Season 5, and don't forget to take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule to see when your other favorites will be back in the near future.
