Nickelodeon On TV 5

Last August 9th, ABC 5 (Association Broadcasting Company) changed into TV 5 with additional new shows for their station. TV 5 also adds new cartoons for the kids in their schedules. It's good to hear that TV 5 is a new station for channel 5 but it is still considered as Association Broadcasting Company and the CEO of the station will be the same. Another thing that I found out about this new station aside from having new kid's shows for kids.More kid shows are mostly from Nickelodeon released new Nicktoons for the whole week and also added more schedules for showing these new shows. It is called "Nick on TV 5" after it's previous logo "Nick on ABC" during the time ABC 5 ran.

In the early 2006 before TV 5, ABC 5 introduced their first Nickelodeon shows such as Spongebob Squarepants,Chalkzone,Blues Clues,Dora the Explorer,Hey Arnold!,Global Guts and others that aired every week depending on their schedules. It's a hit for viewers who watch Nickelodeon in ABC 5 ever since the other network station,RPN 9 was the first one to introduce many shows from Nickelodeon.

In "Nick on TV 5" this year aside from new shows, popular Nicktoons today such as Spongebob Squarepants get more schedules mornings and afternoon every week. It's own show's promo, "Spongebob's Birthday Bop" is still fairly active ever since 2006. TV 5 also released new Nickelodeon shows such as Catscratch, Rocko's Modern Life, Drake & Josh and Legends of the Hidden Temple airs via satellite feed from Nickelodeon every Sunday mornings along with another non-Nickelodeon and local children show, Toogs. Other Nicktoons that previously aired during "Nick on ABC" also returned such as Chalkzone, Danny Phantom and Avatar:The Last Airbender. Nick Jr.'s "Dora The Explorer" and "Go,Diego,Go!" are also fairly active in TV 5 and another new Nick. Jr show "Wonder Pet's" airs in Nick on TV 5 every weekday mornings. A new feature about "Nick on TV 5" is that the Tagalog-dubbed version of Spongebob Squarepants, Avatar: The Last Airbender and another new show, Jimmy Neutron: Boys Genius are now available every weekday afternoons from 4:30-6:00 P.M only.

The new network station TV 5 turns out for having such Nicktoon shows ever since RPN 9 introduce Nickelodeon prime time block in the year 2003 to 2005. This is good news for people who wants to watch Nickelodeon shows for free.

Meanwhile, I still clearly remember the old schedule during the time RPN 9 introduced some Nicktoons every week since 2003 to 2005. Note: This is not the same schedule as "Nick on TV 5" have today so don't try to expect looking for these shows on RPN 9. I just only showed you the difference of Nicktoons schedules in the past from present.

Schedules of showing Nicktoons on RPN 9 ( from 2003 to 2005)
10:00-11:00 A.M.- Hey Arnold!
11:00-11:30 A.M.- As Told By Ginger
4:30- 5:00 P.M. - Hey Arnold! (sometimes aired replays)
5:00-5:30 P.M. - The Wild Thornberrys
5:30-6:00 P.M. - Spongebob Squarepants
6:00-6:30 P.M.- Invader Zim!

Dayo (2008): Soon Coming To Theaters This Year

Screen shot's from the upcoming animated movie Dayo....and some spoiler alerts, too.

After a successful Filipino-made animated movie Urduja, another animated movie has planned and produced will premier to cinemas this year. Dayo is the 1st animated movie that uses digital animation due to release in December this year. Produced by CuttingEdge production and directed by Robert Quilao. It was said that the animated movie is chosen to be one of the entries in 2008 Manila Film Festival.

Dayo, features about an 11-year-old kid named Bubuy.The story revolves around Bubuy who has to save his grandparents who were abducted and brought to the strange land called Elementalia, which is home to a host of strange creatures. Bubuy encounters a girl who is manananggal that will help him find his grandparents and save Elementalia.

Hope this one will become successful Filipino-made animation like Urduja.The full trailer of the animation can be watch here. Also, one Youtube user uploaded the "behind the scenes" videos from Cutting Edge Productions here and QTV's The Beat here.

Anime Shows

Banzai!

I'm still bugging myself about the time line and history of anime in the Philippines. I heard the popularity of anime in the Philippines can be traced back in 1970's when early stations such as RPN 9 and GMA Network aired the early anime shows such as Tadao Nagahama's Voltes V and Daimos and others. Both of the networks is the first to show anime in the Philippines. It's really influencing to get being hit with the anime shows in the past.

Although I wasn't born during the 70's or early 80's, the popularity of anime in the Philippines still active starting from the 90's. Let's start with some different Philippine networks. ABS-CBN during the 90's showed some anime shows from Nippon Animation such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Heidi ,Daddy Long Legs, Peter Pan, Princess Sarah and others. GMA did introduce some anime shows from Nippon Animation too such as Charlotte, Marco (3000 Leagues In Search Of Mother), Anne of Green Gables, Bush Baby, Grimm's Fairy Tales,etc. Both of all shows in two networks influenced young viwers in the 90's and all of those shows were purely Tagalog-dubbed. It was a time the anime bacame a hit especially those anime shows were based on Western fairy tales and books.

ABC 5 (now TV 5) introduced some of the anime shows such as the popular Sailor Moon that aired every evenings. The station also showed Time Quest, Yaiba and Go go Mach 5. Many said that the ABC 5 gained high ratings before because of the anime shows. It's a full-throttle of youth for watching those kind of anime shows. ABC changed into TV 5 since August 9 this year and they currently show some new anime series as their primetime block of their network like Yamato Nadashiko:The Wallflower, and Shakugan no Shana.

IBC 13, was said to show many earlier anime shows that were transferred to GMA Network, RPN and ABC 5. Examples are Voltes V,Daimos, Mazinger Z, Ghost Fighter, Super Pig and others. The last anime aired on IBC 13 was Crayon Shin Chan and Cyborg Kuro Chan back in the year 2001. I remembered that the Crayon Shin Chan and Cyborg Kuro Chan aired every weekday evenings.

Meanwhile in RPN 9, the network which first introduced some classic anime shows such as Astroboy, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball series but only aired only short episodes. In the year 2006, when the Cartoon Network series launch to RPN 9 for free, Zoids: Fuzors and Yu-Gi-Oh showed only in English-dubbed.

GMA Network got lots of anime shows that are currently aired and replayed. In the year 2000, they made some scheduled anime shows such as "We Are Anime"- an anime block that aired every afternoon every 4:00-5:00 then in the evenings 7:00-8:00 P.M. This is one of the network stations I started to watch anime. I remembered in "We Are Anime" shows such as Ghost Fighter, Gundam, Doraemon and Mojacko aired every afternoon. They are all dubbed in Tagalog. Then in the evenings they aired Pokemon (English-dubbed), Lupin III, HunterxHunter and Fushigi Yuugi. GMA Network showed anime shows in the midnight such as Cat's Eyes with their local show named TxtTube. Around 2002-2003, the anime block series changed into "My Anime". They aired new anime shows such as Shaman King and Magic Knight Rayearth. The timeslot in the afternoon was still 4:00-5:00 afternoon but they get rid the anime evening schedules because of the rise of GMA Telebabad shows. In "My Anime", viewers can download logos and picture messages via their cellphones and MMS during those years. Then around 2004-2005, the "My Anime" was gone into the block but the schedules were still on that year. Also during those years, popular anime shows from Shonen Jump such as One Piece and Dragon Ball GT premiered in the Philippines. The anime schedules were also available during weekend mornings even today. As of present time, GMA anime shows only aired in weekday and weekend mornings. Pokemon is now in Tagalog-dubbed and continued their series than before. The network even aired other old anime shows as replays,too. GMA's sister network, QTV borrowed some of few anime shows then let them finished.They even picked new anime shows on their own.

Like in GMA, ABS-CBN showed some great classic anime shows aside from Nippon Animation. Classic anime shows such as BTX and Zenki, became popular to the Filipino youth in the past. The station aired also other anime such as Crush Gear, Beyblade,Yakitate! Japan, Naruto and Yu-Gi-Oh. Shojo animes such as Magic Knight Rayearth OVA and Cardcaptor Sakura aired also in the Philippines every weekday afternoons then weekend morning. Not sure about the anime schedules on ABS-CBN today but it seems they only air anime during weekend mornings only. Studio 23 borrowed anime shows from ABS and let them finished the series.

With the rise of anime popularity in the Philippines, ANIMAX and Hero TV are available now in order to view new anime shows. No doubt the young viewers here are much hooked in anime even today. It's a big influence actually. With some local network stations I've mentioned, you can say anime is a big hit and that's the reason you gotta like the Japanese-style cartoons.

Urduja (2008)

So okay, how come am I reviewing a full-length animated movie here? This time I will discuss some of the details about this animation film. I admit I never watch this film before even inside the cinemas but I find them very interesting in the world of animation. Thanks to the Wikipedia entry for Urduja (film), I could get rush on this.

Urduja is a 2008 animated film adapted based on one of the legendary heroine named Urduja who lived in Pangasinan in ancient time. Urduja was a young and beautiful princess who was also a warrior too in their tribe. This film was created by all of the Filipino group animators (without the help of foreigners actually) and voiced by some of the Filipino actors we see on TV today.

If you notice about this movie poster, it's really great for seeing that the characters wear a cultural clothes that were based on ancient Philippine history. You can notice also the scenes including war and love that makes a remarkable entry for the animated film. Last few months ago before the release of this film, I saw on a Youtube how the producers planned and made this film. It's really great to see how did they do the animation and voice casting behind the scenes.
The film uses traditional and digital style in producing this animated film for better look. Mostly animators are experienced because some of them worked in United States. According to the interview, the animators really helped producing the film and they even made some of the old cartoon and animated movie series in the past such as X-Men. With their skills and experiences being animators, the planned animated film did very well. The producers of Urduja uses famous actors that provided the voice of all characters in Urduja. One of the actors, Regine Velasquez made a voice role as Urduja. Based on the interview, she was handpicked by Antonio Tuviera because the producers think Regine would be a perfect role for the warrior princess and has a good voice too, despite she is "Song Bird". Then, Regine said in an interview that her role was "the weirdest yet incredible role" in her all years in career aside from singing. Aside from Regine, Cesar Montano another famous actor played a role as Lim Hang, Eddie Garcia as Lakampati, Jay Manalo as Simakwel, Ruby Rodriguez as Mayumi (notice that her character seemed to be the cartoon version of Ruby), Johnny Delgado as Wang, Michael V. as Kutkut (the rat), Allan K. as Tarsir (tarsier) and other characters as well.

This is the short summary in Wikipedia. Man, I wish I could watch the film alone before. I only watched the film's trailer and I'd say it's really good.

Set in the 13th century, the film is a fictionalized tale of Princess Urduja, legendary warrior princess of Pangasinan.

As the only daughter of Lakanpati, chieftain of the Tawilisi tribe of Central Luzon, Urduja grew up a warrior, able and willing to defend her people from their rival tribe, the Badjaos. Lakanpati's age and failing health give rise to the urgency of finding a man, for the princess to marry, who will lead the tribe as new chieftain.

The man Lakanpati considers most eligible to become Urduja's husband is Simakwel, a Taliwisi warrior whom the princess dislikes. Oblivious of Simakwel's ambitious and scheming ways, Lakanpati tries his best to convince Urduja to marry him. However, Urduja meets Limhang, who lands on the Taliwisi shore as he flees the wrath of the ruthlessly greedy Wang. Urduja immediately falls in love with the stranger Limhang. This worries Lakanpati and drives Simakwel into madness. Afraid of losing both the crown and Urduja, Simakwel does everything to drive Limhang away from his dream. Eventually, Limhang's good deeds and genuine kindness win the respect and trust of the Taliwisi tribe.

Wang soon finds Limhang, who surrenders voluntarily to Wang in assurance that he will not attack Tawilisi. In the end, Wang still orders his men to attack the tribe. Urduja and her people bravely defend the tribe from the forces of Wang. Limhang escapes from his captors and with the aid of the Batyaws sends the invaders running.

Like I said before, I never watched this full-animated series in cinemas nor in the DVD's. This film was released in June 18 this year in SM Mall of Asia, a lot of audience entered the cinemas just to see this Filipino-made animation. Even the famous artists in entertainment TV entered the red carpet premiere of Urduja as well as the voice actors to support the movie. After the release of the film, it became a sucess than it's previous animation series, "Ang Ibong Adarna" (which was an old Filipino-made anmated series in 1997). Urduja got a lot of scenes that fits to young viewers to adults minds . The story got some moral values to about peace and love so does it makes you laugh as well. It was also retold the legendary story of the film based on the film that even some of the teachers assigned his/her students about the moral lesson of the film and making a short summary. With the big effort made by Filipino producers and animators, they deserved their big reward to the Pinoys who want to watch a Pinoy-made animation that they can be proud of.If you wanna know what this animated movie look like, a trailer of Urduja is available in Youtube.You can also see it's music video and song theme performed by Urduja's voice actor Regine Velasquez.

I hope the Animation industry in the Philippines should really continue. Let's think that the Filipino creators did made a lot of effort and time in order to make Pinoys be amazed that they got talents in animation. With the big mark of success of this year's animated film Urduja, a step in the world of Philippine animation remarks including the previous animated films made in the Philippines.

BIDA- Batang Iwas Droga (2003)

(From left to right) Mindo,Victor and Lucy.

Another Pinoy-made animation series comes BIDA or known as "Batang Iwas Droga" aired on NBN 4 Network in 2003. Created by the team of some Filipino animators and sponsored by PAGCOR or Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp., GSIS or Government Service Insurance System and PCSO or Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. BIDA is a 13-episode cartoon series that tells about encouraging youth on how to fight and avoid drugs.

The first animated BIDA series tells about three orphan kids who gained powers in order to fight against drugs. Their names represented based on Philippine archipelago names- Luzon,Visayas, and Mindanao. The first child was named Lucy, who lives in a province of Luzon wears a yellow suit and has abilities similar to gymnastics, Victor-a Visayan child wears a blue suit and has a yoyo as a weapon and last one, Mindo-young boy from Mindanao wears a red suit with arnis as his weapon. Together, with the help of their mentor known as Chairman they defeat criminals who were the suspects of spreading the drugs especially the boss named...I forgot who but it has a name, "Draco" then.

The show BIDA made in the Philippines aired in the year 2003, the same year Tutubi Patrol produced. I'm kinda thinking why the show never became popular but it seems interesting that the show endorsed youth about information about illegal drugs and how to avoid them. BIDA add some anime-style to make even the show good. I remember that this show aired every Saturday mornings. Looking back to it's animation style, it seemed it went bad or sometimes jerky especially when it comes to stop motion and fighting scenes. Another thing was, I remembered in a scene in the final episode that the four characters of Ghost Fighter appeared. It was weird that I even said "Huh?" for seeing that kind of a scene. BIDA also had a mix of digital and traditional art but it didn't work when it comes to viewer's attention. Anime became popular to Pinoys until the show canceled the next year. What good thing about BIDA was that not only they show about how to avoid drugs, they show also an important part when it comes to Pinoy animation.Luckily, a BIDA trailer is available in this video.

As of now, PAGCOR is still sponsoring the BIDA project with it's new characters in comics and mascots. They still planning an action for how to fight illegal drugs for the sake of youth.