Tweenage Dora the Explorer (aka Dora the Streetwalker)

The original Dora

She speaks both Spanish and English, has a best friend monkey, a bag and a map on her side and also loves adventures. Yup, she's Dora from Dora the Explorer one of the current Nick Jr.'s show. But what if the creators of the show and Nickelodeon decided to make Dora as a teenager? We bet we're gonna be surprised if we found out the image you see below:

Dora in her tweenage makeover

If you have a Nickelodeon network on your cables or free-TV's out there and watched many episodes of Dora the Explorer, you'll get mixed reactions about that picture. According to the Wikipedia article about the show especially to the article from Google here, Mattel and Nickelodeon announced that Dora will have a tweenage makeover and also attends middle school. The new look will reveal sometime around fall this year but the image (like you see above) revealed to the public last March 16th. After revealing the image, many parents made mixed complaints about the plans that both Mattel and Nickelodeon made but soothes down for a moment. The reason why Dora turned into grown-up because Dora suppose to be a "role model" for young girls not being a "fashionista". The issue is still misunderstood by complaining parents and they demanded as a request that Dora should be the same 6-year-old girl like on TV.

It is unknown whether tweenage Dora will be appear in a TV sequel after Dora the Explorer (not the spin-off like Go! Diego! Go! which featured her cousin Diego). In the meantime, merchandises will sell first but unknown it will be ever reach in the Philippines. To me, the new look of Dora seems not a bad idea because of her Latina look but I prefer she should wear pants and T-shirt for more adventurous look. Honestly, aside from T-shirts and pants I would rather feel discourage to Nickelodeon who pushes some of their popular cartoon characters beyond far for just of their business - not the viewer's demand. We don't have to worry because tweenage Dora is still Dora we knew before who teach bilingual languages, encounter many friends and gets many adventures. I'm not sure what Boots looks like when he grows-up too *shrugs*.

Matanglawin TV Series

It was Sunday morning while I took a break from reviewing for upcoming exam, I changed the channel on our TV and later seen a show that looks interesting. Matanglawin the show's title aired every Sunday mornings at 11:00 on ABS-CBN. The show hosted by the trivia king of Umagang Kay Ganda Kim Atienza and features about the facts about nature, traveling and their mysteries in the Philippines at the same time. As the title suggest, Kuya Kim's take on the vantage point of a Philippine eagle (Mapanuri, Mapagmatyag, Mapangahas) and he also faces breathtaking challenges such as entering deep caves or climbing mountain rocks.

I'm not much a Kapamilya fan but I really interested that show because it's really educational for everyone even for children. The stunts of every challenges Kuya Kim take doesn't have any stuntmen and instead personally done by himself. Besides, ABS-CBN did fit the schedule for airing Matanglawin as every viewer's routine. Matanglawin is a recommended show for everyone especially who wants to relax in Sundays. One Youtube user uploaded the opening billboard of Matanglawin here.

Don't forget to check out their official website in Multiply here. Also, check them out in ABS-CBN's official website here.

Gokusen 3 Soon Air This Month

GMA Network's title card of Gokusen season 1 and 2.

Kozueko Morimoto's Gokusen made finally into live-action series since 2002. Gokusen tells about Kumiko Yamaguchi (nicknamed "Yakumi"), the granddaughter of a Yakuza boss and teacher of all-boys private high school. At first, Yakumi's students are mischievous but thanks to Yakumi's hard-work in academics and life lessons they both hang-up together when it comes to solving school and life problems.

A much awaited new season of Gokusen will finally air again on GMA this month. The season 3 of Gokusen which originally aired last year on Japan is finally picked up by GMA and decided to air it soon. A teaser commercial of Gokusen 3 was shown from GMA last March 1, 2009. According to the teaser, the new season will air on March 23rd this year and we in the Philippines is the first country will watch that show. Let's hope GMA Network never bails this plan for airing the show.

Oh wait, this is not actually the first time I post about J-Dorama or teen program.

Handheld Games, Anyone?

Handheld games that I bought in stores or downloaded over few years. For Game Boy Advanced and DS only.














More coming soon....

Batibot (1984-2002)

Some of my college teachers mentioned what they remember what they watched when they're youth. One of the things I heard them before was the first line of the song: "Pagmulat ng mata, langit nakatawa sa Batibot, sa Batibot...". What they mean is that they're favorite classic childhood show Batibot. Many adults who catch up this show remember that show even for teenagers who were born in 90's.

Before the existence of PSP, computer games and a bunch of violent anime shows, many Filipino kids during mid-80's started to watch Batibot. Batibot was first aired around 1984 and created by Sesame Workshop (the company who also created Sesame Street!) and Philippine Children's Television Foundation Inc. (PCTVF). In 1989, the two companies broke and PCTVF made allegibly the rights of making a Filipino educational show. Originally, Batibot is the Filipino version of Sesame Street.

Batibot made through a success thanks to it's great educational content and phrases even though it moved in four local networks. Even the characters and muppets of the show like Pong Pagong, Kiko Matsing, Manang Bola, Kuya Bodgie and Ate Sienna are known to many even today. Sadly around late 90's Batibot starting to decline because of the rise of foreign cable networks like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. The biggest factor about losing the show was losing Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing on TV. Although, PCTVF staff created another Batibot-oriented educational show Batang Batibot and Koko Kwik Kwak (featuring Koko Kwik Kwak as a mascot), the original Batibot is the best show aired. They also made reruns of the original in the same year although they're forced to cease another network. In 2002, Batibot was canceled on TV.

Sadly, if you watch many episodes of Batibot and know the main characters you would really compare to teenagers today who watch anime like Naruto and Death Note, or playing computer games of today like DOTA and Grand Chase. It would be bit dissapointing and get a nostalgia of missing Batibot. Unlike in Sesame Street which still active on air, Batibot was canceled because of (maybe) lack of government support who maintains education and TV networks (MTRCB?).

In 2007, GMA Network's "Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho" once featured a 10-minute segment about Batibot including the known characters and reunion of Batibot hosts for the first time after 20 years. Fans and viewers of old Batibot would love that to see them!



If you and we really miss the old Batibot classics, there's few Batibot clips found in Youtube. Best of all, who could never forget the opening theme and it's lyrics?


Would it be fascinating to see a great educational show you watched returned in TV including the old Sesame Street episodes?