Batibot x The Helium Club = Bratibot

MANILA, Philippines - When it comes to TV, remakes are in — from British sci-fi darling Doctor Who to teen drama 90210, to crime procedural Hawaii Five-O. Driven in equal part by novelty and nostalgia, rebooted series have slowly but surely infiltrated our TV screens.

This December, Philippine TV will see the relaunch of Batibot and The Helium Club — the first is a beloved and classic children’s show, while the second is a highly polarizing reality show that first made waves on the web.

Batibot: New and improved for the A.D.D.-addled

Batibot is quite possibly the best children’s show the Philippines has ever had. Certainly it is the most iconic — Batibot is to the Philippines what Sesame Street is to America. In fact, the beloved show debuted in 1984 under the name Sesame!, and was positioned to be the Philippine version of Sesame Street. However, the show later carved out its own identity as Batibot: a distinctly Pinoy educational show presented entirely in the Filipino language, or what we now call “straight” Filipino.

Getting smart: Kapitan Basa, Manang Bola, perlas na bilog, Ningning and Gingging are part of the resuscitated Batibot. Photos by SHAIRA LUNA

“I want Batibot to be a Pinoy visual feast — a place where kids can enjoy artwork and places that are truly theirs,” says executive producer Feny de los Angeles-Bautista. Known to most as Teacher Feny, she worked on the series’ first run as research and curriculum director. She stresses that exposing children to Filipino culture is important, adding “It helps them stand on solid ground as Pinoys.”

Aside from featuring Filipino stories and music, Batibot taught kids reading skills and healthy eating, and featured black light theater, muppets and live action features. The all-around show grew to be very popular and received a Gawad CCP Award for being one of the Ten Best Television programs in the Philippines.

It’s been eight years since Batibot went off the air, and some of us who grew up with Koko Kwik-Kwak with his propeller hat, Manang Bola, Kuya Bodjie and Ate Sienna (not to mention a host of other much-loved characters) are now parents themselves. The world has changed, and with it, the demands of the audience. Those who followed the show will remember that the reason Batibot was taken off air was because it became overwhelmed by the competition from flashy cartoons and foreign programs.

With its re-launch on TV5 — itself a fresh, new incarnation of the third oldest Philippine television network ABC — scheduled for December, Batibot is gearing up for the challenge of adapting to the needs of a new generation.

“For example, Koko is going to be introduced as an animated character but will also appear in costume for the live shows,” shares Teacher Feny. “That’s new, and it’s because kids today live in a multimedia world. They move between the real world and the virtual world. Batibot will be part of both worlds.”

Getting real: Aleks Pierson, Bryan Braza, and Fenelle Victoria—three of the four cast members who’ll be learning the hard way on the new Helium Club.

With a blend of new techniques, trademark charm, and an unmistakably Pinoy feel, Batibot is all set to become children’s favorite playmate once more.

YOUNG STAR: What sets Batibot apart from other children’s shows?

TEACHER FENY: Batibot has always sought to be a playmate rather than a teacher who teaches down to the child. Batibot is more of a companion. We’re educational without being didactic. Everything’s about play and interaction and being beside the child rather than talking down to him or her. Batibot has always been rooted in a very deep respect for the child.

What do you want kids to learn from Batibot?

One of the developments of urban lifestyles that kids have to adjust to is a faster pace of life, and they need some kind of sturdiness to help them navigate conflicts — things that are difficult to understand but come their way anyway because of media and developments in their country. The world’s a smaller place, but there’s a need to understand more about it. Batibot can help develop that sense of resilience: while the world can also be troubling, there are some good things I can hold on to. Kids can think “There are people who care about me, I belong to a community, I have my friends and family and there is good in the world.”

High learning: Kapitan Basa and Bryan Brava

If you bring up children to see the world as reality but also have something positive for them to hold on to, that prepares them for the world’s challenges. That’s what Batibot wants to do.

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The new Batibot pilots on November 27 (Saturday), at 8:30 a.m.

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THE HELIUM CLUB: Once web-bound with lots of air, now meaty enough for cable TV

Few shows have been reviled the way The Helium Club was. When it debuted as a web series in 2009, the reactions ranged from disapproving to downright incendiary. The show’s trailer, which billed party kids as members of the social elite — specifically, “Youth powerhouse… that will change the face of Manila” — was especially controversial due to the fact that nobody seemed to know who these supposed powerhouses were.

Show creator Quinito Villarosa is aware of the shortcomings of his show’s first run. “We just made it for a school project, and the billing and copywriting weren’t carefully thought out… We were all over the place, having all these goals without hitting any. We’re no longer bara-bara. We’re carefully planning everything. We’ve also got a more grounded and prepared cast. That was the problem last time — they couldn’t take the heat. Which was understandable, considering a lot happened to them. But this time, I think the cast knows exactly what they’re getting into because they’ve seen the pressure that the former cast was under. So I’d say they’re more prepared. This time we’re keeping it simple.”

Girls who’ve got ball: Manang Bola and Aleks Pierson

Rather than revolving around an established group of friends, the reboot is a social experiment. “It’s simple,” says Quinito. “We put together four people for 13 weeks and watch them travel around the country and take the drama with them.”

Armed with this renewed self-awareness, along with new cast members and better production quality, Quinito and co-producer Mike Oreta hope to turn over a new leaf in The Helium Club’s history. Set to air on cable network Channel V, the reboot is taking what Quinito calls a “non-socialite, non-showbiz” approach.

Though getting picked up by Channel V meant bigger funding and better production, Mike stresses that The Helium Club’s improvement is “not just about the technical side. It’s the cast as well.”

The new cast members are Fenelle Victoria, Bryan Braza, Aleks Pierson and Mosh Reyes. And while the show has abandoned the “powerhouse” tagline, the new cast certainly seems interesting enough to carry the title if they wished to do so.

For example, DLSU grad Fenelle and UP Diliman student Aleks both have their own online stores; the latter is also a DJ who used to be part of the Philippine Figure Skating Team. Bryan is very much a dude’s dude who likes women and drives around in sports cars, yet bypasses the stereotype by liking to cook and majoring in culinary arts at Enderun Colleges. Meanwhile, Mosh is a “fierce,” openly gay information design major from Ateneo.

Crazy little party girls: Ningning, Gingging, and Fenelle Victoria

Quinito and Mike point out that gay characters are often treated as comic relief on Philippine TV, and hope that The Helium Club’s sensitive and respectful portrayal of Mosh will open viewers’ eyes to the importance of the issue.

The Helium Club is still positioned to be fun, fresh and full of teenage drama, but take that sensitivity as an indication of how much the production has grown in one year, and it isn’t hard to imagine that there will be great things ahead for The Helium Club.

As Quinito puts it, “Even the worst things can turn into something good.”

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Sans Mosh, the new cast was present for an exclusive interview with Young Star. Here’s what they have to say about stereotypes, The Hills and proving people wrong.

YOUNG STAR: TV audiences tend to see things in black and white. Is there an effort on your part to break out of the vacuous party kid stereotype?

ALEKS: I’ve always been stereotyped — people think I’m a bitch just because I’m white. But then I don’t think I feel the need to break out when I know it’s their perceptions that are wrong.

FENELLE: You can’t set out trying to prove every single person wrong. As far as I’m concerned, those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. I know who I am and my friends know who I am, and that’s enough for me.

BRYAN: We don’t want to define ourselves because that only limits who you are. We know the stereotypes, but there’s more to us than what people think.

What do you guys think of other reality shows, like The Hills?

FENELLE: I think it’s pretentious.

BRYAN: I don’t watch it.

ALEKS: The Helium Club is so different from The Hills. You can tell (The Hills) is scripted. They look too good — nobody looks like that 24/7 without a stylist.

Are you saying you’re going to look bad?

ALEKS: We’re going to look real.

Can you promise viewers that the Helium Club will be better this time around?

QUINITO: Absolutely. It’s DraManila at its finest.

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Catch the Helium Club’s premiere on Channel V in December. For updates on the show, check the Helium Club’s Facebook page by searching for “An all-new Helium Club in Full HD” or follow @theheliumclub on Twitter.