Of fairies & childhood nostalgia

(Editor’s Note: Until end of January 2007, My Favorite Movie will feature only movies shown during a Metro Manila Film Festival from any year. Contributions must not exceed two and a half pages, short bond paper, double-spaced. We don’t return rejected articles. Published ones will be paid accordingly. E-mail your pieces at [email protected].)

Enteng Kabisote: Okay Ka Fairy Ko the Legend was an entry in the 2004 Metro Manila Film Festival. It is a movie based on the series Okay Ka Fairy Ko (which began airing in 1987 and lasted till the early ’90s), the third of the kind actually. The first two were released in 1991 and 1992.

As was the case in the series and the first two movies, Enteng Kabisote, a mere mortal (or in the words of Ina Magenta, a tagalupa), once again finds himself in the midst of a power struggle in the Kingdom of Engkantasya, the domain of the fairies. Since Faye the fairy princess is his wife, his family eventually gets involved too, and he is given the burden of fighting the forces of evil while he tries to keep his family together.

Most of the major characters from the series and the first two movies make a return in this installment, albeit some now played by different actors. Aiza and Vic reprised their roles wonderfully. The very young Benok (whom we remember as Vic incubating as an egg) in the series is grown up now and played by Oyo Sotto. Kristine Hermosa performed well as Faye, while it honestly took a while for viewers of the series to accept G Tongi as Ina Magenta. I guess the jump from Alice Dixson to Kristine simply isn’t as big as the jump from Charito Solis to G. Several new characters were introduced (like Michael V as Kabayo for instance), and I simply can’t help but miss Pipoy (played by Larry Silva in the series), but in the end, it was still the same Okay Ka Fairy Ko, with its eternal theme of good versus evil, and the importance of family.

The effects were surely better than before, but underneath all that it’s still the same wholesome family-oriented show Okay Ka Fairy Ko was known for. It might have put off some viewers who were really looking for something new, but it worked well for me. You see, I’m in my very early twenties, and one of my most vivid memories from childhood was watching Okay Ka Fairy Ko.

I grew up watching Okay Ka Fairy Ko because there was nothing else to watch on TV. It was the early ‘90s. Cable TV was virtually unheard of. Our current cable subscription features over 40 channels. Back then, all we had were channels 2, 4, 7, 9 and 13. Hence, the kids of the era grew up watching the same shows: Eat, Bulaga!, Maskman, Okay Ka Fairy Ko, to mention a few. In high school and even in college, you’d be amazed how seemingly similar your childhood had been with that of your friends, thanks to these shows.

With the advent of Animax, Cartoon Network, Hero TV and a dozen other children-friendly channels, I really doubt my younger siblings would find the same instant connection with their peers when they grow up.

I never did find out what eventually happened to the characters of OK Ka, or how it ended. It was a bit hard to keep track of any show back then due to the recurring brownouts and honestly, I didn’t even bother. I was just a kid. All I knew was that for 30 minutes or so every week, I’d sit in front of TV and be entertained by Vic Sotto, Alice Dixson, Larry Silva and the rest of the gang. I really don’t remember getting sad when it was taken off the air.

I think that we live in an amazing age, entertainment-wise. There are, as I said, the 40-plus channels on cable TV. Thanks to numerous international cable channels we are just a few episodes behind the US in many shows. In some cases we are not behind at all, thanks to satellite technology (as is the case with Studio 23’s Survivor Cook Islands). For those who have missed shows or are too busy to keep up with TV schedules there are the dibidis in Quiapo and Carriedo, though I doubt that the OMB would approve of that.

The tech-savvy viewer need not even depend on these dibidis. With the cheapening of Internet bandwidth, one could easily download episodes of the show off the Internet, with the latest ones being released via BitTorrent just a few hours after their first airing in the US or wherever in the world they originate. We have indeed entered the age of "watch what you want, whenever you want" entertainment. It’s amazing, and I love it.

Sometimes, however, as I look upon the paperwork piled upon my desk and skim through the meetings and deadlines inked upon my organizer, I can’t help but think that years ago I had been happy and entertained too, in spite of the brownouts and there just being five channels on TV.

Back then, taking long afternoon naps and watching shows like OK Ka while eating peanut butter sandwiches might as well have been the very definition of happiness. And that’s when it dawns upon me, that in spite of how seemingly better things are right now, I still miss those days.

I honestly doubt Enteng Kabisote or any of its sequels will ever win the MMFF Best Film Award. But it’s okay. I think it’s really great that more than a decade and a half after the show was first aired, Bossing is still at it, and is as good as ever as a comedian.

It’s amazing that the show, after all these years, is still making children laugh, entertaining them, and at the same time bringing across the messages that no matter what complications arise, good always triumphs over evil in the end, and whatever happens, family always comes first.

On a more personal level, I watched and enjoyed it because for an hour and a half it brought me back to that age where happiness meant long afternoon naps and watching TV while eating peanut butter sandwiches. I liken OK Ka to a childhood friend who had to move away to a different city, and now, years later, is back. To such a friend, one simply can’t help but say "Hey, it’s nice to see you again."

Indeed, it is.