When Naruto Takes Over Sesame Street

Sesame Street is perhaps the most famous children's television show on earth. Most countries have their local versions of it but English-speaking nations just adapt its US version.

But since we're so bilingual here in the PH, we (me and my peers at least) grew up watching two versions - the Tagalog (Batibot) and the original Sesame Street. Batibot had been taken down when the bigger networks put up their own (short-lived) children's shows. But however original they claim it to be, they're all just patterned after Sesame Sreet.

Puppets in the local Sesame Streeet versions actually vary. In our country, we're so lucky Pong Pagong was lent to us by the Sesame Street US. At one point even, everyone was saddened when talks about getting Pong Pagong back to the US version spread around. Luckily, they let the turtle stay in our shores.

I guess the puppet that is originally ours is Kiko Matsing. They perhaps came up with the monkey puppet because of the famous children's story that involves a turtle and a monkey.

Since we grew up knowing the "pagong and matsing" story, seeing Pong and Kiko in Batibot was nothing new anymore. The puppets gave us a sort of connection to the well-loved fable and the values it taught us.

Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing's tandem became a hit. These puppets taught the Filipino kids good values and the importance of friendship and working together. Along with Ate Siena and Kuya Bodjie (spell?), watching Batibot became a part of our weekdays.

In my time, it was aired twice in a day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Perhaps it was aired that way so the school kids in the morning classes could watch it in the afternoon, and those who went to school in the afternoon could watch it in the morning.

Currently, we only have animation/cartoon series as kid shows in the morning. Mothers have no choice but to turn on the tv to Pokemon or Mr. Bean or Naruto to entertain their kids while they do their morning duties. The better offs have options, though, if they have cable tv. Nickelodeon and Disney Channel are of course better alternatives. But what if they don't have cable tv?

Okay, so Pokemon has little moral lessons in its episodes. But unlike Batibot or Sesame Street, Pokemon doesn't teach the ABC's and 123's. And Mr. Bean and Naruto? I like watching Mr. Bean cuz it makes me laugh. But I'm very thankful that we didn't have Mr. Bean on tv when we were growing up. As with regards to Naruto, violence has really no space even in my tv viewing.

In South Africa, Sesame Street (or Takalani Sesame as they call it) is still a big thing. They even came up with a new puppet named Kami (short for the Setswana word “Kamogelo” which means “acceptance”). And why the name? Because Kami is an HIV-positive 5-year-old girl. And she needs acceptance. I guess you already know what happened when this puppet reached Sesame - her neighbors embraced her, and loved her with no prejudice. They listened to Kami as she talked about the challenges she's going through as an HIV-positive individual.

So you see, these children shows can bring hope and awareness to the kids, no matter how young or old they are. Africa is known to have a lot of HIV-positive children and they decided to use Kami to give these kids hope, to at least cheer them up to the thought that hey, there's a puppet who's going through the same ordeal as I am, and I don't have to lose hope.

We can actually use that right now. We may not have as much AIDS cases here but think about a flood-striken-puppet who was left homeless and have nothing to live by, walking aimlessly and reaching Batibot Street. I'm sure Ate Siena or Ate Isay would be very willing to take care of him and be instant family. Wouldn't it give such inspiration not only to the victims of Ondoy but to all of us?

On the other hand, imagine a Naruto-loving-kid hit by the flood in Marikina. What hope could he get from his favorite television show? Aspire to learn the art of water vending?

photo: thefrisky.com