Captain Barbell (TV series)

Captain Barbell
Genre Telefantasya: action, drama, fantasy, romance, sci-fi
Created by Mars Ravelo
GMA Entertainment TV Group
Developed by Don Michael Perez
Starring Richard Gutierrez
Richard Gomez
Snooky Serna
Patrick Garcia
Camille Prats
Rhian Denise Ramos
Ricky Davao
Jackie Lou Blanco
Gloria Sevilla
Paolo Bediones
Angel Aquino
JC de Vera
Ryan Yllana
Sunshine Dizon
Opening theme "Nandito Lang Ako"
sung by Shamrock
"Sana" (love theme)
sung by Shamrock
Country of origin Philippines
No. of episodes 165 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Helen Rose Sese
Running time 45 minutes
Release
Original network GMA Network
Original release May 29, 2006 (2006-05-29) – January 12, 2007 (2007-01-12)
Chronology
Related shows Captain Barbell (2011)
External links
Website

Captain Barbell is a superhero drama television series based on a character of the same name created by Mars Ravelo. It was aired on Philippine television by GMA Network during weeknights on its primetime block. The series premiered on May 29, 2006, and last aired on January 12, 2007. It also aired worldwide, with a three-week delay on GMA Pinoy TV.[1]

Richard Gutierrez plays the superhero, Captain Barbell and his alter ego, Teng. His archnemesis Viel Villian, is played by Richard Gomez.

Year 2011, show returned to Philippine TV as the sequel of the 2006 series, Captain Barbell.

Production

Pre-production

Captain Barbell first appeared in the series finale of Darna. He wore the usual hero's spandex costume with the big CB logo on his chest. However, neither the actor's face was shown nor was he credited, since the producers had not decided yet who will take the role. It was intentionally done to drum beat the promotions for the upcoming series.

Different actors were considered, and several others voiced out their interest on the role. Even Richard Gutierrez wasn't sure it will be him, so after wrapping up Sugo, he went for a month-long vacation. GMA Network made its final announcement on April 11, 2006.

Richard Gomez specifically requested his role because he wants to play a dark character which he finds more challenging.

Several negotiations and concessions were made between the Ravelos and the producers team. Rita Ravelo wants the story to stay as much as possible to her father's original character. The production team on the other hand, wanted to make the series more updated and entertaining to present viewers.

Production team

This is the second pinoy superhero created by Mars Ravelo which was made into TV series by GMA Network, the first being the successful Darna series.

Dominic Zapata was hired to direct the series, and this was his fourth time to helm a telefantasya for the network. He was the director of Mulawin, Darna and Sugo. Mike Tuviera was also hired to be his assistant director.

Local TV ratings

According to AGB Nielsen Philippines, Captain Barbell's pilot episode on May 29, 2006 garnered a 37.5% rating. The series got its first 40's ratings of 41.2% the following night on its second episode. Its final episode got a rating of 35.4%. But before the finale. After 3 months from its pilot episode, its ratings began to plummet, decline and flip flop, but still it is victorious in its finale ratings in 'Mega Manila Area TV Ratings Data' conducted by AGB Nielsen Philippines.

The show consistently tops the ratings against its rival show on the same time slot.

Overview

Barbell, Barbanium & Askobar

The General and The Villains

Captain Barbell's Origin

Captain Barbell's Abilities

Captain Barbell's Suit

Miles Teves, a renowned Filipino-American costume maker in Hollywood. Teves constructed the Batman, Robocop and Superman costume. It was Dominic Zapata who suggested to the producers to have the costume made by Teves.

Captain Barbell's Enemies

Captain Barbell's Filming Locations

Cast

Main characters

Supervillain/Ally characters

NOTE: This list is in order of appearance as villain(v) or ally(a), and not as per first screen appearance.

Other characters

Synopsis

Plot

Captain Barbell begins in the year 2106, a futuristic time when Philippines is the center of world's research in human cloning, genetics and robotics.

A young boy named Arell, together with his mother Mrs. B, are forced by his father Captain B to ride the time machine to escape from the soldiers of the General.

The General is the mysterious, rich and powerful owner of Live Corporation, which is the pioneer in the well-advanced human cloning and mutation that created an army of superhuman beings for his evil schemes, which Captain B opposes. Only Captain B can fight the General because of his extraordinary strength using barbanium.

Unknown to them, the General sends Commander X, the powerful cyborg, to destroy the barbanium with askobar.

The time machine's destination is 1992. However, upon crash landing, Arell and his mother are separated. Arell is found in a burning wreck by a loving and elderly couple, Lolo Aloy and Lola Melay.

Lolo Aloy and Lola Melay gives him a new name—Potenciano a.k.a. Teng. The couple became his grandparents, and whose children Sandra and Cesar becomes his foster parents. Teng grows up frail, poor and constantly longing for the love and care of his parents who ignore him. Worse, Teng is maltreated by Clarisse, the daughter of Sandra and Cesar.

Teng would grow up with an ugly pockmark on one side of his otherwise very handsome face—and painfully aware that he is merely an adopted child with a completely unknown background. Because of these incidents, Teng finds comfort in the company of his friends Kit, Bobby and Lola Melay.

The paths of Teng and his childhood friend Leah cross once again. This time, Teng realizes that he is in love with this young lady who comes from a rich family. But things turn out difficult for Teng to confess his love for Leah because the young lady has an arrogant boyfriend.

He also meets and becomes friends with Levi, the son of the richest man in the town named Viel, who is against their friendship. Unknown to Teng, it is Viel who is responsible for the death of Lolo Aloy.

One night, the group of Jared, Leah’s boyfriend, gangs up on Teng and leaves him beaten in a junkyard. Teng then discovers the powerful barbell. This barbell is the key to Teng’s destiny in becoming the most powerful Pinoy superhero known as Captain Barbell![3]

Finale

The powerful General (Viel Villian) from the future having exhausted most of his forces and getting impatient to kill Captain Barbell travelled back in time along with Commander X and some cyborg forces to kill Teng before he finds the Barbanium plate. By doing so, Levi will not be killed by Captain Barbell and he finally defeat his arch nemesis once and for all. He dropped by the Villian Mansion, made his past self catatonic, and reveals his plans to Levi.

Meanwhile, the death of Captain B (Paolo Bediones) at the hands of Commander X lead Mrs. B (Angel Aquino) and Boris (JC De Vera) to use their time machine to go back to the future where Captain B is still alive. They find him and they travelled back in time to meet the still innocent Teng. The Barbell family then recounts to Teng the adventures of Captain Barbell and the women in his life.

Now, Teng must find a way to acquire the barbell plate as soon as possible and to stop the General. With enough knowledge of the future, he could also change his destiny and save the death of his Lolo Aloy. Indeed, he successfully saved his Lolo Aloy but his Lola Melay died as a trade off from a new unseen event at the hands of Commander X.

Like the Barbell family, the General recounts the future to Levi to get him to trust him and make him Super Levi this time early. General then kidnapped Kit and Leah to make Captain Barbell choose who he will save between the two. He saved both of them but again at the cost of Boris' life crushed by the hands of the giant robot Automaton C piloted by Super Levi. Mrs. B was also kidnapped to make Teng surrender his Barbanium plate and be killed by Super Levi. The shattering revelation by Mrs. B that Teng is General's son from the future averted Teng's death but lead to the General's death.

Teng by this time realized and confessed his love for Kit but after that confession, Super Levi again piloted the Automaton C and took Kit. She died to get Teng his Barbanium plate. A furious Captain Barbell defeated Super Levi and Automaton C. All the deaths in the past forced Teng to return to the future with his family to take his time off just as the catatonic past Viel Villian awakens.

3 Years Later...

An Automaton C appeared out of nowhere and captured Leah. As Leah screams helplessly, Captain Barbell appears and saved her. Then he left telling her that he still needs to save Metro Manila with a big smile in his face.

Weekly Episode Guide

Soundtrack

There is no definitive soundtrack, but the following songs have been played for the series.

List Captain Barbell Movies

Captain Barbell has made several excursions onto the big screen. Here is a chronological list of the previous film incarnations of Captain Barbell:

See also

References

  1. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=338563
  2. Vibas, Danny "GMA 7 goes big time for ‘Barbell’ " Archived November 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine., manilatimes.net, March 26, 2006. Accessed last March 3, 2007.
  3. "Superhero flick starts on May 29" Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine., mindanaotimes.com.ph, n.d. Accessed last March 1, 2007.
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