KAPITAN BOOM!

Last night I went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner and as usual the TV was on. Most of the time there is some variety show playing, or something that is like the local version of American Idol. This time I noticed something different. I started to notice a lot of special FX in the show they were watching. This got me interested. As the show went on, there appeared a villain in an iron mask. At this point I knew it had to be some kind of superhero show. This was confirmed by the later appearance in show of Kapitan Boom.

The show is shot all digitally, with some minor attempts to film look it, and a lot of the FX which were on screen would probably be considered cheesy by western audiences used to Heroes or Smallville, but I personally thought it was very cool. Maybe it's because I didn't think they would have shows like this at all, or maybe it's just because the hero flies, which I am a sucker for. The flying effects were pretty cool in my book. They certainly don't try to avoid it like the other two shows I mentioned.



Apparently Kapitan Boom is not its own series, but is part of a long running TV series called Komiks Presents, which adapts popular local comics for the small screen. When this show first started, in February 2006, every episode was a different story, adapted from different Filipino comics. By the third season though, the series broke from this pattern and had each season devoted to a single story. The sixth season began the story of Kapitan Boom.

Kapitan Boom was created by Mars Ravelo, who was apparently the number one Filipino comic artist at one time. According to Wikipedia:

Mars Ravelo was born on October 9,1916 when the Philippines was still American Territory. Mars went through a life of hardship and dropped out of high school, vowing to be number one in whatever he did. Mars started out as a cartoonist, then as a writer, and later on as editor -in- chief for two major publications houses and even for several film companies. Ravelo was the highest paid comic writer during his time. He later established his own company, RAR, to give him more elbow room with more obras. Mars Ravelo used to say that he wanted to impart " the highest form of values to the lowest tier of our society with the lowest form of literature"

The guy has a list of published works a mile long. I guess what intrigues me is that he has done what I really want to do. Many of his works have been adapted into TV shows and major motion pictures over the years. He has also written movies himself. Looking at that list makes me realize just how much I really need to devote to my own dream if I really want to be successful at what I do.

During the commercial breaks for Kapitan Boom, they were already advertising what appeared to be another fantasy, superhero show. I guess that might be what they have planned for next season of Komiks.

On a side note, I noticed, each night as I watch Tv and the many commercials therein, that the people you see on TV don't look like the local people I see in the real world. I know that this is true just about anywhere, as even in America, people on the street don't necessarily look like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, but the difference here is quite dramatic. The people on TV are often very light skinned and very asian looking. Many of them could probably blend in on TV in China or Korea. The people on street, though, are usually much darker skinned and many have slightly more African or South American looking facial features.

I have heard and read that Filipinos are obsessed with white skin. This should most certainly not be confused with being obsessed with white people, though, whom they don't seem to hold in very high regard. The very pale Asian look of some Chinese and Japanese seems to be held as an ideal. I even saw a commercial where a woman has a portrait done by an artist and he accurately reproduces her tan lines. Instead of wanting her body evenly tanned, she wants the rest of her skin whitened to match the tan line. She uses the skin scream which was the purpose of the advertisement, then goes back to the artist and has him fix the painting. That wasn't the only commercial for skin whitening cream I saw.