Spirits (TV series)

Spirits is a popular television program that was released by ABS-CBN. It aired from December 13, 2004 to May 6, 2005. It was also aired on Wednesdays at 9:45pm on Jeepney TV. It is about eight kids who find out one day that they have special abilities that normal humans don't have. They received their powers when a strange epidemic hit their hometown. The kids' names are Red, Lloyd, Maya, Liz, Jessie, Thor, Nato, and Gabby.

Intended to be a prequel to director Chito Roño's Spirit Warriors films, Spirits is hailed to be the first-ever Philippine teleserye to combine teen adventure with supernatural themes. It is also Roño's television debut, even though he is already a big name in film directing.^[1]

The Epidemic

One day, the kids' hometown was hit by an unknown supernatural epidemic. The strange thing about it was that the sickness only affected kids. About a week after the sickness hit, almost every toddler and kid in town was affected. The town hospital was full of kids. One night, the evening sky started to change colors. It started to look like a mix of pink, red, and purple. A few hours after the sky changed, a pregnant lady was taken to the hospital. What she did not know is that the baby that she was carrying was an alien. An unknown man did know about the alien, and he went to the hospital to kill it which meant that he would have to kill the lady too. The man entered the emergency room. but he was too late. The alien was born and just as he entered the room, the alien released a bright light in the hospital and it killed almost all the children that were in the hospital. The only ones who survived were the eight kids and the adults.

Mortals, Immortal and Elementals

The story tells that the world was composed by three different groups. Mortal, Immortals, Elementals.

Mortals

Mortals were the group of simple people. Some have powers.

List of Mortals in the Story:

• Red (Rayver Cruz) - the group’s de facto leader, and the first of the teens to consider banding together to figure out why there are so many “gifted” kids in town. He and six of his friends, who are the most powerful of the "gifted" kids, form the Camera Club. He possesses the power of telekinesis and eventually, later in the series, gained the ability to levitate.
• Gabby (Maja Salvador) - the school’s classic overachiever whose sunny ways ensure she is liked by everyone she meets. She is the object of Red's and Lloyd's affections and spends much of the series torn between them. She does not possess any powers.
• Lloyd (John Wayne Sace) - who can see the dead as clearly as the living. In the latter part of the series, as part of the characters' power "upgrades", he is able to project a corporeal double of himself, and later of others.
• Nato (Jiro Manio) - the descendant of a long line of healers who now struggles with his gift of speaking with enchanted creatures usually duwendes (dwarves). He gains the power of the third eye which enables him to see through illusions. He also gains the power of a gatekeeper and is able to jump between different realms.
• Liz (Serena Dalrymple) - a mind-reader who eventually realizes that the “curse” for reading other people’s thoughts is really a gift. Her power eventually grows, enabling her to control minds.
• Thor (Mico Aytona) - the easy-go-lucky class clown who joins the Camera Club for his own not-quite-honest reasons. Though lacking any power, he has helped his friends through many of their adventures and is also ready to help when needed.
• Maya (Michelle Madrigal) - Maya is an empath, a psychic who can sense, understand and absorb another person’s emotions and can see the past of anything or anyone through her touch even if that other person is not in the same room. Maya's powers later improve and she is able to project feelings through her hands, which she has used to inadvertently cause boils to appear on someone's skin.
• Jessie (Joseph Bitangcol) - A more dangerous power lies within resident rebel Jessie, who is Lloyd's cousin, who finds out he can start fires with just his mind. As part of the characters' power "upgrade," he is able to control and manipulate fire
• Kuya Dong (Jhong Hilario) - the school's resident maintenance man and Nato's uncle. He is the only one who knows about Brita and her true plan. He hopes to stop her on his own in order to protect the kids and prevent Brita's rise to power.

Immortals

Immortal were creatures that can't die.

• Taga-sundo (Death) - The most hated being in the Engkanto's world. He is the series' first villain after he abducted Gabby while in their homeworld. But towards the end of the series, he became an ally because he was forced by Prinsipe Dumala in order to end the chaos that is happening.
• Hinagpis (Pain) (Glenda Garcia) - Taga-sundo's Sister. If Pain and Death touched each other, One of them is going to die.
• Taga-Bantay (The Protector) (Lito Pimentel) - The one who protects the three enchanted stones that completes the reborn of the darkness.
• Taga-tala (The Prophet) (Joji Isla) - An old hermit-like adviser to Prinsipe Dumala that writes every certain event of the history. He holds the key to finding out how to defeat the First Evil.

Elementals

Elementals are those who are supernatural and enchanted creatures.

• Prinsipe Dumala (Danilo Barrios) - The prince of Engkantos, He disguised as a human because he likes Gabby. But later he became an ally throughout the last episode and helped the kids in order to stop the greatest threat that is to yet to come.
• Bakshi - An elf friend of Nato and Dong and Mang Jose, Dong and Nato's Father told him to look after them.
• Sola (Kristine Jaca) - A disguiser. She disguised as Gabby while Gabby was still with the Taga-sundo, so that the people won't worry about Gabby.

Mga Taong Araw - Red and Lloyd meet them when they were travelling to save Gabby in the World of Elementals. Taong Araws works and give fun to Prinsipe Dumala.

• Bughaw (Janus Del Prado) - A taong araw who is the eldest of the siblings, who dislikes Red and Lloyd when they entered their troupe.
• Luntian (Ronaliza Cheng) - A taong araw who is the youngest of the siblings, she helped Red and Lloyd when they were still in the troupe.
• Kahel - A taong araw who is the middle of the siblings, in the first place he hates Red and Lloyd while in their troupe, but later on appreciates them because of an injury that Red and Lloyd saved Luntian in the spear attack in the field.

Mga Diwata (Fairies) - They helped Red, Lloyd and Jessie to go to the World of Elementals.

• Diwatang Tubig (Cherry Lou) - Fairy of water.
• Diwatang Apoy (Jenny Miller) - Fairy of fire.
• Diwatang Hangin (Assunta De Rossi ) - Fairy of Air
• Diwatang Lupa - Fairy of Land

Mga Mangkukulam (Witches)

• Brita/ Lupe (Lotlot de Leon) - Lloyd's mother and Jessie's aunt and the series' antagonist. She is dead as the series starts, but still regularly talks to Lloyd. He hopes to use Lloyd to do her bidding. Though motherly at first, her true goal is to finish what she started: to collect the "gifted" kids in town and sacrifice them in order to gain more power and to live.
• Leader of Mangkukulams (Bella Flores) - Brita's Aunt and Leads the group of mangkukulams.

Other Characters

• Ricky Davao - Red's Dad
• Sandy Andolong as Paz - Red's Mom
• Marjorie Barretto as Marita - Gabby's Mom
• Cris Villanueva - Liz'z Dad
• Ilonah Jean - Maya's Mom
• Allyson Lualhati - Lloyd's Ghost friend
• Miles Ocampo as Grace - Gabby's Sister
• Efren Reyes, Jr. - Police Chief Jaime - Jessie's step-dad
• Rica Peralejo
• Helga Krapf
• Diego Castro as Harvey
• Blair Arellano
• Glaiza de Castro as Pinky
• Minnie Aguilar
• Dexter Doria - School Principal
• Nash Aguas as Young Red

Trivia

• The show was re-aired on Studio 23 in 2005 and on the Kapamilya Channel in 2007.

Soundtrack

• The official theme song of the TV series was You'll Be Safe Here performed by Rivermaya.

Reception

The drama received mixed reviews from TV viewers and critics. Its highest rating was 37.4%, the lowest was 20.5% and an average of 24.9% in the Mega Manila ratings as the Nationwide ratings were still occasional and not yet available daily.

See also

• List of shows previously aired by ABS-CBN
• Spirit Warriors
• Spirit Warriors: The Shortcut

References