Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum


Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum was a Brazilian children's program produced and broadcast by TV Cultura and the Network Service of Television. Targeted toward children and youth, it follows an educational entertainment model, being composed of several segments targeting specific knowledge areas, such as science and history. The program premiered on May 9, 1994 and stopped production in 1997. Partially inspired by the educational program Rá-Tim-Bum, it gave rise to a television franchise, which is part of Island Rá-Tim-Bum. Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum is a creation of the playwright Flavio de Souza and director Cao Hamburger, with scripts Jacob Dionisio, Cláudia Dalla Verde, Anna Muylaert, among others.
Because of its educational nature, the production was part of a partnership between Fiesp and TV Cultura, such as other educational programs for children that the station aired. Fiesp, Sesi and Senai were all educational institutions that appeared in its credits. Although the series was targeted towards children from 3 to 8 years old, it actually had an audience of 3 to 16 year olds.

Plot

Nino is a 300-year-old boy who lives with his uncle, Dr. Victor, who is a 3,000-year old sorcerer and scientist, and his great-aunt Morgana, who is a 6,000-year old witch. The three live in a castle in the middle of the city of São Paulo. Being a sorcerer's apprentice, Nino never got to go to school, in special due to his unusual age for a boy. His parents left him in the foster care of Victor and Morgana, as they needed to travel on an expedition to outer space, taking his two younger siblings with them. Although he has supernatural animal friends in the castle, Nino misses having friends that are like himself, so he decides to cast a spell he learned from his uncle Victor, which ends up bringing three children who had just left school to his castle's doorstep. Free of loneliness, Nino then receives daily visits from the trio, in addition to special visits from other friends, such as the pizza delivery man Bongo, the flamboyant TV reporter Penelope, the folk legend Caipora, and an alien called Etevaldo. Dr. Abobrinha serves as the main villain of the series, who is a real estate speculator who wants to demolish the castle and erect a 100-story tall building in its place.

Main characters