Tutubi Patrol (2003)

I rarely seen any Philippine-made animation during my elementary days but reminding about this show might think you saw a full-length animation. One of the local animation shows I saw
was Tutubi Patrol. This cartoon series debuted in the year 2003 and produced by Gecko Animation and Top Peg Animation, you may say that you saw a Pinoy-made animation that we can be proud of.

Before the animation series of Tutubi Patrol produced, the show was based on a children book series with the same title back in the year 1994. The book series were created by five members who called themselves as "Patrol team" Those books were black and white and just like any Philippine children books, it's a coloring book. Then before 2003, Gecko Animation picked up the book series and decided to make it as a children animation series. The reason why they planned it animated was they want kids to get attention to children shows in a local way. Also, they claimed that the animation would have the similar style in some American animation companies like Disney and DreamWorks without the help of foreign producers or animators. Animation in the Philippines were very rare to show. They even mixed up with a live-action way back since 1980's. Examples of the early Pinoy animation are "Panday" and "Isko: The Adventures In Animasia".

The animated series of Tutubi Patrol showed in the Philippines and aired in ABC 5 (now TV 5) every Saturday evenings 6:00-6:30 P.M. Debuted in June 2003, Tutubi Patrol tells about two dragonflies and reporters named Tobi (a blue dragonfly) and Yobi (a chubby, yellow dragonfly) roaming around the natural surroundings (from farm to forest, etc.). In every episode, they report some situations from other animals and plants who has situation problems and how did they solve it. Tobi and Yobi are just the observers of other characters focusing in each episode. In the end of every episode, moral lessons came up with.

Judging from the animation style used in Tutubi Patrol, they used a mix of 2D and 3D animation style giving glimpse for the viewers especially children. They even developed better quality class in making local animation style, too. Stories on Tutubi Patrol were based on the children's books did very well in the show and giving some good moral themes for children. It's really good to see the settings and characters in the world of Tutubi Patrol like some sort of a mix of Aesop's Fables. The production of the show was very expensive but later on, it turned out in a mainstream programming on TV.

It's really a hit for seeing this animation show made in the Philippines. I was in 6th grade when I saw this cartoon. It feels refreshing to see a "made in the Philippines" cartoon that I'm starting to get interest in the world of cartoons especially from Philippines. The Tutubi Patrol did contain only a few episodes but it did very well when it comes to history of Philippine animation. Even it got many awards for having a friendly show for younger viewers.One Youtube user uploaded the opening theme of the show to see what Tutubi Patrol got it's quality of animation.

If only the industry in Philippine animation should highly precise like Tutubi Patrol, we have what we got talent when it comes to animation. I don't know if Tutubi Patrol children's books are still available in book stands or the DVD 's (like in the picture above) but seeing this nostalgic cartoon became a part of childhood memories too.