The Tick

One of the amusing superheroes of the 90s was The Tick. I used to watch it on RPN 9 with my brother (who introduced me to the show), we’d always laugh at this superhero’s antics and depth (yes! he talks about stuff that are somewhat not what you get from the typical superhero). The show was great because it was something different from all the spiderman/woman, batman and superman cartoons proliferating the tv stations back then. In case you guys kinda have no idea what I’m talking about (nooooooo!) or have forgotten who this guy is, watch the video! Its hilarious!

Arthur!

Ok, hold your horses people! I’m pretty sure you know who Arthur is (i.e. if you have cable and all – i channel). This was one of my favorite shows because it just tells you what a kid goes through during his childhood. Fighting with your siblings (and getting along with them!), having friends, fitting in school, raising parents (hehe!), and just dealing with whatever kids deal with! In the show all of the characters were animals, can u guys identify what types of animals were there (without using Google ah!)?

Well, that’s kinda hard. Since I wouldn’t know either. Hehe. But I really loved this show.

TV Rip-offs

Philippine film and television has this odd culture of imitating story lines from the US and applying it to the local setting. Let’s see what rip-offs we can recall: Tanghalan ng Kampeon with Star Search, Tabing Ilog with Dawson’s Creek, and Buttercup with Friends. The best rip-off ever was Anna Karenina.

For the literati, Anna Karenina is the book that cemented Leo Tolstoy’s career as a writer. For us normal people, Annakarenina is the Sunday soap opera popularized by GMA-7 where it is starred by the then “hot” teen triumvirate–Kim delos Santos who plays the role of Nina, Antoinette Taus (sister to Tom Taus aka Cedie) plays the role of Anna, and Sunshine Dizon (best known as Bakekang nowadays) plays Karen.

Of course, riding along with these girls’ rise to stardom are their male counterparts. For six or so years, we’ve seen the development of Antoinette-Dingdong, Sunshine-Polo, and Kim-Dino. If you have a sharp memory you’ll notice that Maui Taylor (pre-surgery) was in this too.

I continued to patronize the show until Love to Love came along. Har, har.

5andUp

This was the show that made my Saturday mornings substantial and interesting. I was able to learn a lot of things that were helpful, not only to the school/academic stuff, but they made the idea of learning cool (probably one of the reasons why I became a nerd. Haha). They featured places, people and new stuff in a manner that was really relate-able to kids, since their anchors were kids. Hmm. I even know a few people who only watch 5andUp because of a certain cutie. Hehe.

Anyhoo, if you wanna get updates on the show and its members, you can find then at this site: http://www.probeprod.com/5andup/about. You can even be a contributor to their site and add articles, that is if they approve of your membership. But if you were and Upper or an Uppie you can easily be a part of the site.

Captain Planet: Pollution 0

One of the “coolest” shows back then for me (I’m a bit of a nerd, so forgive me. Haha.) was Captain Planet. He comes alive through the use of the rings of 5 kids who care about the planet. The rings were given by Gaia, she’s like the mother nature or something (but the name actually came from Greek mythology).

Anyhoo, the contrabidas who, aside from the usual contrabida hulabaloos (stealing/kidnapping/etc), are also somewhat obssessed with ruining the earth (pollution/poaching/etc).

What’s funny though is that, Captain Planet fights the pollution but its also what makes him weak. He needs the help of the 5 kids to save him whenever he gets into contact with pollution. Thinking about it now, the show was actually teaching the kids (that’s us!) that in order to get something done right, people like us need to help too and not just rely on some superhero! Though I don’t think it actually it made any difference, some things (the bad ones pa) are still there. Hmm. Anywaaaay, I really liked the ending song of the show also! Nakaka-LSS din, just like the one from Denver the Last Dinosaur.

Denver The Last Dino!

Hey Guys! Do you remember that dinosaur which plays the guitar?! Haha. I have to say that this show was one of my favorites, just because of the hypnotic song. It was soo catchy and cute that it makes you wanna watch kasi parang “anong kwento nito?“, and also kasi walang ibang okay na show. Hmm. I bet you all remember the song! Do you guys know the whole lyrics?

Every now and then, we find a special friend

Who can ever forget this romantic part of Casper The Movie? It was the most “kilig” part of the movie because this was the time Casper turned into Devon Sawa (who was so cute by the way) and he danced with Kat (played by Christina Ricci. Watch this to reminisce about that cute romantic moment. Love is in the air!

Child Star in the Making

Before being cast for the lead role in “Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa”, Camille began to look for luck in Little Miss Philippines too! Who knew?!

Mighty Mightor

Hi guys! Naaalala nyo pa ba yung cartoon na Mightor? It was one of the shows na pinapanood ko during sundays on RPN 9 (or was it IBC 13?!? not sure, basta isa dun sa dalawa). It basically follows the adventure of an ordinary caveman, Thor, and his pet dinosaur, Og. They transform into superheroes through the use of a club –he raises his club and shouts “Mightor”, and then they change na. Hehe. (Kinda reminds me of Captain Barbel though, pero si Mightor may sidekick!).

Little Miss Philippines

This clip’s not from the nineties, forgive me! But I couldn’t resist posting it here because it showcases Aiza Seguerra during her cutesy-patootsie days before she was able to get a stint at the noontime show, Eat Bulaga. She was able to begin her career in showbusiness by joining in the defunct kiddie pageant called ‘Little Miss Philippines’.

Here’s a confession: I had a silly dream of actually joining in Little Miss Philippines! I went up to my grandmother and asked her if she could accompany me to the audition. Of course she refused…but only because she didn’t know how to get to TAPE Productions!