Article in Today Newspaper dated 15 Dec 2008
A new TV drama series called Fighting Spiders premieres on Tuesday, 14 April 2009 at 8.30pm on Mediacorp Channel 5. Thereafter, the show is telecast every Tuesday at the same time:
"Set in post 60’s Singapore, in rustic kampongs, and the colorful chaotic streets of Chinatown, FIGHTING SPIDERS is a coming of age, adventure, story of three boys – Soon Lee (Edwin Goh), Charlie (Liang Shijie Jason) and Peter (Frederick Fielding), whose friendship is tested when they go to Malaysia on a quest to find and return with the King Spider, so as to challenge their nemesis, and bully, Ah Huat."
In case you think that the show is all about the 3 boys, you are mistaken. Relatively new and pretty actresses Rebecca Lim and Ezann Lee also star in the show.
Above: Rebecca Lim
Below: Ezann Lee
If you visit the show's official website, you will find a section called Relive the 1960s which contains pages describing life in the 1960s - the hangouts, the fashion, the food and snacks, the movies and the music.
Another section named Games Played in the 60s has pages describing chapteh, fighting kites, five stones, hopscotch, zero point, fighting fish and of course fighting spiders.
In fact, the website contains so much Singapore nostalgia in the 1960s that it looks like a mini yesterday.sg. It is little wonder too - the show's scriptwriter, Mr Andrew Ngin consulted yours truly in June last year on a number of topics including fighting spiders. Andrew even got Chuck Hio, a childhood friend of Chun See, to volunteer 2 hours of his time to be the 3 young actors' "spider consultant".
It remains to be seen if Fighting Spiders would be as successful a series as The Little Nonya.
Do remember to catch the show.
Earlier posts on spiders:
1. Fighting Spiders - dated 27 Jun 2008;
2. Fighting Spiders (2) - dated 21 Aug 2008;
3. Caught a Spider - dated 28 Aug 2008; and
4. Recluse Spider Bite... Or Was It? - 31 Aug 2008.
Posts
15 comments:
I think Chuck was the right person for the job.
They have lots of trailer/adverts in the tv lately. But are my eyes playing tricks? I thot I saw an 'angmoh' kid? Who ever heard of angmoh kids catching spiders.
It did ring a bell when I saw the trailer on TV!!!
I mean... I read with interest on the subject on Bro Victor's blog...
Anyway, if any of Elders, Seniors and Fellow Victorians are not subscribed to the new OVA blog, please do so.
The link is
http://blog.ova.org.sg/
regards
zan
ps
i'm pretty sure, this show will be a hit!!!
Thanks to Chun See and Chuck for the help.
Yes, there is an Ang Moh kid in the show. Oh, so Ang Moh kids never caught any spiders in those days? I didn't know that and I bet Andrew didn't know either. :p
Victorian1978, thanks for the link. It's good to read about Victorian news in the blog.
i apologize for any misrepresentations of the sixties in the show. Big thanks to chuck for his help in catching spiders and his 60's wisdom. honestly, even if the series doesnt do as well as lillte nonya, i am still proud of the show. it was a gruelling shoot. And the angmoh kid doesn't really catch spiders in the show, he befriends the two boys, and the show subsequently tracks the friendship of these three boys. in fact, the angmoh kid had to be taught how to catch.
its terribly difficult to find locations to shoot the show. Singapore has so few forest land now. And we didnt have the budget to shoot this in better overseas locations, something which i hope will be rectified in future seasons. I really hope you guys will enjoy the show. Pan chan pan chan lah. A fellow victorian wrote fighting spiders, don't forget! hehe
Hi Andrew, I agree that viewers should judge only after they have seen the show. I believe you have put in a lot of effort in writing the script for the show.
I agree that re-viewers should judge only after viewing the show. But potential viewers tend to form their opinions very quickly based on trailers and glimpses here and there.
its the nature of all artistic work meant for an audience. I will have to brace myself for all the eventual feedback, good or bad. haha. it is however ALWAYS a learning experience. I tried to instill the essence of camadarie, and the feelings i had regarding friendship, as well as the giddy silly feelings that one has upon beholding one's first love - set in the context of the sixties - i hope i succeeded at least in that. again, i am so grateful for all the help i got from the blogs here. i managed to write in a rubber seed into an episode! look out for credits at end, chuck - you're my wise spider consultant
I wish you will get good feedback about the show, Andrew. But you have to be realistic. No matter how good the show is, some Singaporeans will still find something to criticise. It is in their nature.
Jeanette Aw in The Little Nonya is a case in point.
don't i know it about the uniquely singaporean nature to find something to criticize. haha. But its okay lah. Its all part of the learning process. lincoln said it best, right? you cant please all the people all of the time.
Hi! I really enjoy watching fighting spiders, and its really interesting!
Can I ask what are the songs being played on the show? Especially for episode 5.
Thanks, and I think fighting spiders is really good!
thanks for the kind words, oliver! the songs are taken from a music library. the one in episode five, was from mediacorp audio/music department library. however i am no familiar with the name of it.
hope u keep watching do spread the love!
Hi Olivia, so sorry I don't know the answer to your question about what songs were played on the show, especially in Episode 5. I have sent an email to Andrew, the show's scriptwriter. I hope he will answer you here soon.
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