ROBIN PADILLA'S TOTOY BATO IS STONED
Totoy Bato is one of my favorite Carlo J Caparas comics characters.
I only managed to read few parts of the novels ( it was hard to find a copy until now) but I watched its movie versions which starred FPJ. I remember watching it as a kid in a seedy moviehouse (which showed two old films at a price of one) near our house where intermittent shouts of Balut! and Yosi! interrupted your pleasurable viewing experience. Yes, balut and cigarette vendors were allowed inside that movie house. My mother wanted to kill me when she learned that I entered that moviehouse. “’Buti’t ‘di kayo nabiktima ng gumagalang mga bakla ro’n!” she scolded me.
When I heard that Robin Padilla was going to play Totoy Bato in TV, I vowed that I’d be watching it. I have always been a fan of boxing and anything related to it. And i have always liked Robin as an actor. But something disappointing happened on my way to watching its first few episodes, the other persons in our house preferred watching DVDs at night. And in our house, majority always wins. Dahil hindi ko na naumpisahan, tinamad na ‘kong panoorin ang Totoy Bato.
In its last few days, I’d overhear some tambays in our place talking about it. “Pare, grabe naman ‘yong Totoy Bato, basura! Iniinsulto ‘yong katalinuhan nating mga manonood!” I heard a pedicab driver with an astonishing IQ of negative 8 declaring.
“Oo nga, ginagawa tayong mga bobo!” another Mensa-candidate tambay concurred.
My curiousity got piqued so one day, when I had lots of free time (which was always the case), I searched Robin Padilla’s Totoy Bato in the Internet and discovered that people really were ridiculing and mocking this TV show for the bizarre and weird turns its story took, others were already discrediting it as the worst teleserye ever created.
Totoy Bato, a character in a teleserye which was supposed to be about boxing, was everything but a boxer, they said. Totoy was a farmer, a rebel, he was a modern Jesus Christ (like Jesus, he died and was resurrected), he was Brad Pitt’s Achilles, he was Denzel Washington’s John Q, he was Bruce Willis’ Unbreakable and he had an encounter with the stone where King Arthur pulled his legendary Excalibur sword. Yes, Totoy Bato allegedly shamelessly ripped all these films off. In YouTube, you can find Totoy Bato clips wherein Robin is totally ripping John Q off (talagang tinagalog lang niya ang mga dialogue ni Denzel Washington sa pelikula). It reminded me of a Robin Padilla film, Mistah, kung saan tinagalog naman niya ang mga dialogue ni Marlon Brando sa pelikulang Apocalypse Now.
This just cemented the fact that Philippine tv and movie industry love to rip off Hollywood/foreign movies and TV shows. But instead of improving it, they'd often make it laughable.
I only managed to read few parts of the novels ( it was hard to find a copy until now) but I watched its movie versions which starred FPJ. I remember watching it as a kid in a seedy moviehouse (which showed two old films at a price of one) near our house where intermittent shouts of Balut! and Yosi! interrupted your pleasurable viewing experience. Yes, balut and cigarette vendors were allowed inside that movie house. My mother wanted to kill me when she learned that I entered that moviehouse. “’Buti’t ‘di kayo nabiktima ng gumagalang mga bakla ro’n!” she scolded me.
When I heard that Robin Padilla was going to play Totoy Bato in TV, I vowed that I’d be watching it. I have always been a fan of boxing and anything related to it. And i have always liked Robin as an actor. But something disappointing happened on my way to watching its first few episodes, the other persons in our house preferred watching DVDs at night. And in our house, majority always wins. Dahil hindi ko na naumpisahan, tinamad na ‘kong panoorin ang Totoy Bato.
In its last few days, I’d overhear some tambays in our place talking about it. “Pare, grabe naman ‘yong Totoy Bato, basura! Iniinsulto ‘yong katalinuhan nating mga manonood!” I heard a pedicab driver with an astonishing IQ of negative 8 declaring.
“Oo nga, ginagawa tayong mga bobo!” another Mensa-candidate tambay concurred.
My curiousity got piqued so one day, when I had lots of free time (which was always the case), I searched Robin Padilla’s Totoy Bato in the Internet and discovered that people really were ridiculing and mocking this TV show for the bizarre and weird turns its story took, others were already discrediting it as the worst teleserye ever created.
Totoy Bato, a character in a teleserye which was supposed to be about boxing, was everything but a boxer, they said. Totoy was a farmer, a rebel, he was a modern Jesus Christ (like Jesus, he died and was resurrected), he was Brad Pitt’s Achilles, he was Denzel Washington’s John Q, he was Bruce Willis’ Unbreakable and he had an encounter with the stone where King Arthur pulled his legendary Excalibur sword. Yes, Totoy Bato allegedly shamelessly ripped all these films off. In YouTube, you can find Totoy Bato clips wherein Robin is totally ripping John Q off (talagang tinagalog lang niya ang mga dialogue ni Denzel Washington sa pelikula). It reminded me of a Robin Padilla film, Mistah, kung saan tinagalog naman niya ang mga dialogue ni Marlon Brando sa pelikulang Apocalypse Now.
This just cemented the fact that Philippine tv and movie industry love to rip off Hollywood/foreign movies and TV shows. But instead of improving it, they'd often make it laughable.
Few days ago, while I was reading the newspaper, looking for news about PGMA’s boob job, I stumbled upon this showbiz article wherein the headwriter of Totoy Bato was bashing Robin Padilla and the show. The following is an excerpt from the article:
"Truth be told, TB (Totoy Bato) is a a very frustrating show for me. Sa scripts namin, only wk 1, 2, 3, 4 and wk 6 ang nagawa nang buong-buo na di pinakialaman. The rest were all Robin's. Siya din ang nagsusulat, nagdidirek, nag-e-e-dit, nasusunod sa lahat. We have scripts pero 10 percent lang ang sinusunod niya. 90 percent were his. So most of the time, pag nanonood ako, di ko alam ang nangyayari sa kwento, pati scenes, di ko kilala (maski production, walang magawa dahil alam nilang magwawala si RP(Robin Padilla) pag di siya sinunod). Kaya di ko alam ang ending tonight. Hindi namin alam lahat! Si RP lang ang nakaka-alam and his own crew (yes, may sarili siyang crew: may sarili siyang director na di ko alam kung saan niya napulot, cameraman etc--no, hindi sila part o empleyado ng gma) Kaya pag grainy ang napapanood nyo, at pabago-bago ang volume, at madilim: in short, parang high school production, sila gumawa nun. Oo, TB ang first indie soap hahahaha. Indie ganda!).
Management cannot do anything also dahil palaging nagbabanta itong magwa-walk out sa show pag di siya sinunod. I can understand them, nakontrol ni Robin ang kwento in such a way, na pag mawala siya, di na tatayo ang show. In fairness, mautak siya.This, i am promising to myself: I will not work with him anymore. I hope my station will not get his services anymore. Isa siyang megalomaniac actor. Gusto niya siya lang ang bida. Gusto niya siya lang ang magaling. Hence, ang isang soap, na sa tingin ko, ay maganda nung simula, pagdating sa gitna hanggang dulo, ang pangit-pangit-pangit na!"
This is probably the first time where a headwriter can be read badmouthing her own show and its stars. When I was still moonlighting as a writer in ABS-CBN, I had the chance to meet with Robin and he struck me as someone who had utmost respect for the writers. We were in the process of creating an action teleserye for him then, our creative team, after months of whacking our brains brainstorming, was ready to start writing the scripts when, shockingly, we heard the news that he’d be moving to GMA 7 to do a movie and a teleserye. Our own teleserye went pfft and I went back to doing laundry and construction works for a living.
Dinurog ni Robin Padilla si Totoy Bato.
This is probably the first time where a headwriter can be read badmouthing her own show and its stars. When I was still moonlighting as a writer in ABS-CBN, I had the chance to meet with Robin and he struck me as someone who had utmost respect for the writers. We were in the process of creating an action teleserye for him then, our creative team, after months of whacking our brains brainstorming, was ready to start writing the scripts when, shockingly, we heard the news that he’d be moving to GMA 7 to do a movie and a teleserye. Our own teleserye went pfft and I went back to doing laundry and construction works for a living.
Dinurog ni Robin Padilla si Totoy Bato.
Comments
Ay, magta-trasikel driver na rin nga lang ako.
'Yan ang serbisyong totoo. He he.
Nagboksing si Totoy Bato pero hindi ito tinutukan which I think was a blunder on the part of the creative team dahil mainit sa tao ngayon ang boksing.