It’s been 15 years since the Taiwanese show Meteor Garden aired in the Philippines, but fans continue to love anything related to the show — including parodies.
So it’s not a surprise that this video parody of the series directed and edited by filmmaker Emman Nimedez has taken the internet by storm since it was posted on Wednesday.
Shot at the University of the Philippines Diliman, the parody comes complete with the official Meteor Garden theme song and stars Nimedez as the bad boy who made a million hearts flutter, Dao Ming Si (aka Asi).
Rounding off the cast are Monique Dimaiwat as Asi’s love interest, Shan Cai and Rickzon Digos, Ronn Ogot, and Darlniel Caraballe as the other members of Asi’s gang, the F4 (or E4, as they are called in the parody).
Meteor Garden was a massive hit in the Philippines when it first aired on local TV network ABS-CBN in 2003.
Nimedez’s Facebook video has gone viral, getting more than 208,000 views and more than 5,600 shares as of today. He also posted it on YouTube where it now has close to 31,000 views.
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive — a far cry from the massive amount of online protests that television network GMA received when it announced that it was going to produce a Filipino version of Boys Over Flowers — the Korean version of Meteor Garden.
Wrote Jaya Belle Serrano in Filipino and English: “I thought it was the real thing. It looked so good it gave me goosebumps. I watched it several times. It’s a yes for me!”
Andie Matulac thought the parody was of “high quality.”
Gloria Nicole Dizon thought the cinematography was top notch.
One user who goes by the name Mei Zuo (That’s the name of a Meteor Garden character) even tagged fellow fake profiles of other characters.
“All right! This is so cool. Hey guys, is this okay with you — Dao Ming Si, Hua Ze Lei, Ximen, and hardworking virgin Shan Cai, what can you say?” he wrote.
Karl Beredo said the “Emman [Nimedez] Epidemia (sic) is real. Hahahhaa btw, that’s good epidemia (sic).”
Nimedez, who has his own YouTube channel which has more than 205,000 subscribers, has also starred in videos parodying Korean dramas Goblin and Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo.
Coconuts Media has contacted Nimedez, who calls himself the “National Oppa” (Korean for older brother/honey), for an interview but he has yet to reply as of this writing.
