Alien cat learns Filipino values in animated series ‘Heneral Tuna’
Every cat owner knows that cats are supreme feline overlords secretly plotting to take over Earth.
A new animated series starring an extraterrestrial blue cat aims to teach Filipino values and culture to young audiences and the young-at-heart in a modern and engaging way.
Meet Heneral Tuna, the renowned hero of Planet Mingming tasked to take over Planet Earth. The devious alien cat accidentally crash-lands in the Philippines and decides to use the opportunity to observe the “Earthlings” in preparation for their planned invasion.
While a group of human beings nurses him back to health, what Heneral Tuna learns inspires him and eventually skews his intentions of conquering the planet.
The Philippine-made animated series is all set to launch on Oct. 15 via Filipino livestreaming platform, Kumu, and will also be released on popular social media networks like YouTube and Tiktok.
Heneral Tuna comes from Rocketsheep Studio, the Pinoy indie studio behind the 2016 live-action animated film Saving Sally and 2020 adult animated film Hayop Ka!, both of which are currently streaming on Netflix.
The kid-friendly digital series, which initially consists of seven episodes, was commissioned by the the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for their Filipino Values Program. NCCA partnered with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and Kumu to bring Heneral Tuna to online audiences around the world.
The episodes, which have a three-minute runtime each, are mainly written and voiced in Filipino with English subtitles for the benefit of global viewers.
At the helm of the series is director Avid Liongoren, who worked with a crew of talented writers and artists such as Rob Cham, Charlene Sawit-Esguerra, and comic artist Kevin Raymundo of Tarantadong Kalbo fame to develop the concept, with Carlo Vergara of graphic novel Zsazsa Zaturnnah serving as scriptwriter.
Manny Angeles, co-producer and writer of Hayop Ka!, lends his voice to the titular grizzled kitty character.
PhilSTAR L!fe had the chance to hear directly from NCCA officials, the creative team, and watch the pilot episode of the series ahead of its public launch next week.
NCCA’s first foray into animation
"The reason why we are utilizing powerful forms of art such as animation, short films, or even teleseryes, is because it's important for us to communicate the values contained in our programs in a subtle yet effective manner," said Marichu Tellano, deputy executive director of the NCCA.
NCCA's various projects using modern media include primers on Filipino values, short film festivals, and a teleserye called Project Destination, which all aim to educate the public about Filipino values. However, Heneral Tuna is their first project involving animation.
Arvin Villalon, lead researcher of the Filipino Values Program explained that the series focused on seven out of 20 core Filipino values which their team zeroed in for their relevance to the pandemic times.
The challenge for the creative team was to tackle Filipino values like love for family and the community, health and wellness, the value of resilience, and more, in a creative and engaging animated format.
In the first episode screened for media, Heneral Tuna appreciates how earthlings care for each other as a family compared to his home planet, where young ones are left to fend for themselves and the elderly are neglected.
“Rocketsheep was highly recommended, kasi gusto nga namin yung hindi hard-sell yung values,” Villalon said.
NCCA said that based on their previous work, they knew Rocketsheep Studio could deliver an “out-of-the box” approach that would be entertaining, touching, and memorable and woudn’t come off as too preachy to turn off viewers, especially the youth.
Rocketsheep's inspiration for ‘Heneral Tuna’
“When we first got the project, I was very worried because it was commissioned by a government agency. Government agency equals very institutional, very boring, very rigid. But I was surprised that the reason we were picked is because they wanted the opposite of all that and that was cool,” Liongoren told media during the virtual event.
The director said the team knew they needed an interesting lead character and their team came up with various concepts to introduce Filipino values in animated form.
“One was a young child adventurer who traveled in time. That was meant to be a young Rizal who fast-forwarded to the future and learned all about the Philippines. Another concept was a robot an old scientist built who had to learn how to be human. Another one was a high school of tikbalangs and manananggals who had to learn what it was like to be a FIlipino and stop eating them,” he said.
But what got everyone on the same page and inspired the final character of Heneral Tuna was a YouTube video of a cat talking about his day and how miserable he was with humans.
“That was all we needed. A diary of a grumpy cat,” said Liongoren.
Having just finished the long-form film Hayop Ka! The Nimfa Dimaano Story, which features an anthropomorphic feline in a love triangle with a mongrel dog boyfriend and wealthy business dog, the creative team said they developed “cat expertise” and had already adjusted to the new normal way of working, which made it easier to tackle the commissioned project.
Vergara, known for creating the comic book character Zsazsa Zaturnnah, shared that writing mostly in Filipino, writing for kids, and fitting a story into a very short format, initially put pressure on him, but he took it on as a new challenge.
“I also wanted the writing to have something more for people who are much older. In recent years, the trend in animation is that it’s for as big an audience as possible. I was thinking of the audience na kahit kailangan pambata ito, kahit papaano ma-appreciate din ng someone who’s much older while watching it,” said Vergara.
Why focus on a cat character to engage the target audience?
“Since the series is about learning, wala ng mas curious pa sa cat. Dog characters tend to be perpetually happy and that doesn’t make for much drama,” explained Liongoren.
Vergara agrees that having a cat for the lead character was appropriate for the project because of the innate “strangeness” of a cat’s behavior, which was amusing and seemed to prove that they're capable of deep internal monolgues.
In crafting the character, the team decided that the alien cat was "entertaining and silly enough to watch" at the same time could still teach viewers a thing or two. It also helps that cats happen to be very popular on social media.
State of the Philippine animation industry
According to Liongoren, while the animation industry in the Philippines has been around for decades, it’s mostly been for outsourced work of foreign productions and titles.
“Yung mga projects na ganito, it's special because it’s Filipino animators making animation for the Philippines. Buong history ng Philippine animation, ever since the ’70s, it's mostly just doing work for foreign companies and doing work for foreign characters... which is a great source of income and employment for a lot of animators, pero we're at the very beginning of making our own stuff," said Liongoren.
"In 100 years of Philippine cinema, we've had less than 10 feature films na animated and wala pang three sa animated na series. We have an old animation industry, but our original animation scene is just starting now, and we're all here for it," he added.
Excited to watch more Philippine-made animation productions in the future? Be sure to support Heneral Tuna the animated series at the FDCP Channel and Kumu starting Oct. 15, 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
Hello, mga Earthlings! ? Ilang tulog na lang, October 15 na!
— Heneral Tuna (@HeneralTuna_PH) September 26, 2021
Sa wakas at lubos niyo na akong makikilala. Hindi na kasi ako makapaghintay. Gusto ko na ring tuparin ang aking napakahalagang misyon. Muwahaha! pic.twitter.com/Kq8rzHpySV
Learn more about Heneral Tuna and follow his journey on Planet Earth via Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok.
