Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum

Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaʃˈtɛlu ʁa.tʃĩˈbũ]) was a Brazilian children's program produced and broadcast by TV Cultura and the Network Service of Television. Targeted toward children and youth, and following a teaching approach, the program premiered on May 9 in 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 (Tacus), 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.

Plot

Nino is a 300-year-old boy who lives with his uncle, Dr. Victor, a sorcerer and scientist who is 3,000 years old, and his great-aunt Morgana, a witch who is 6,000 years old. The three live in a castle in the middle of the city of São Paulo. A sorcerer's apprentice, Nino never went to school because of his age. His parents let him live with Victor and Morgana because they needed to travel on an expedition to outer space, taking Nino's two younger brothers. Although he had supernatural and animal friends in the castle, Nino, missing friends like him, decides to make a spell he learned from his uncle Victor, bringing three children who had just left school to the castle. Free of loneliness, Nino receives the visit of the three daily, in addition to special visits of an old friend, the pizza man Bongo, the flamboyant TV reporter Penelope, the folk legend Caipora, and an alien called Etevaldo. To fill the evil side of the story is Dr. Abobrinha (Dr. Zucchini), a real estate speculator who wants to demolish the castle and, in its place, erect a building of a hundred floors.

Main characters

• Nino (Antonino Victorius Stradivarius II): Born on December 11, 1692, in San Vicente, Province of Terra de Vera Cruz. Son of Antonino Quântico Stradivarius II and Ninotchka Astrobaldo Stradivarius (Nino uses the number in the name of his father (II) by honor). Main character, present in all episodes. A boy who is 300 years old, Nino lives with his uncle Victor and his great-aunt Morgana. Not satisfied with the fact that he cannot go to school (after all, no school would accept a student who is three centuries old), Nino uses a spell he learned from his uncle, controlling a ball Zeca was playing with and causing it to fall into his property, thus attracting him and his friends Biba and Pedro to the castle. Since then, the four became close friends. Nino is known for his "reinventions", as he tends to create things that have already been created, but with his own spin to it, such as a "digital photographer lick-lick". His room is under the stairs, in a secret passage behind a bench, where he must push a set of toy soldiers to rotate the passage. Nino's room has many toys and the wallpaper is full of comic pages. Nino's parents don't appear in the program because they are traveling. In 1990 they set off to travel in space for 10 years. In 1994, when the show aired, they had been traveling for four years and finally came back in 2000.
• Dr. Victor (Victor Astrobaldo Stradivarius Victorius): He is Nino's mother's brother (Ninotchka Astrobaldo Stradivarius) and, therefore, his uncle. He is a powerful sorcerer, a friend of machines, animals and children; he is also an incredibly talented inventor who works for a company of unspecified function (most likely a technology firm). Victor acts as a father to Nino and is rigid when the boy is being too stubborn or lazy with his obligations, often making the uncle yell his catchphrase, "Lightning and Thunder!" which he causes. Victor is a few millennia old, which gave him the chance to meet historical figures including a friendship with Leonardo da Vinci.
• Morgana (Morgana Astrobaldo Stradivarius Victorius): Great-aunt of Nino, a powerful sorceress who completed 6000 years in an episode of the series. Morgana lived long, being found in many major events and passages of history and legend. In the "Witchcraft" block of the show, Morgana gave those who attended the program knowledge of the many stories she knew, from mystical tales of mythology to historical events such as the construction of the Great Wall of China or the invention of money. Adelaide, the magpie, is her faithful companion and mascot of the witch. Her room is in the highest tower of the castle. She acts as a mother to Nino and is generally more patient than Victor.
• Zeca: He is the youngest of the class. Zeca is small and very curious, coming to be annoying in many situations. So much so that the slightest sign of something he does not understand, he shoots "Why?" starting a string of "whys" until someone loses his or her temper and shouts "Just because, Zequinha!" or variations of it, bringing the framework of "Why?" to answer the question of the characters in a way that does not involve "just because".
• Biba: She is the oldest in the class and a smart, determined girl. When not making fun of the boys or acting as the more 'responsible' of the group, Biba likes to drop the word and give birth to ideas that generate as much adventures as confusion between the group and the other inhabitants of the castle.
• Pedro: He is the oldest boy in the class and the same age of Biba. Pedro is, as his appearance shows, a little more intellectual than his friends. Always with good ideas for games or to exercise their own creativity, Pedro practically becomes leader of the group in the absence of Nino, being the smartest.

Cast

• Cássio Scapin: Nino
• Sérgio Mamberti: Dr. Victor
• Rosi Campos: Morgana
• Cinthya Rachel: Biba
• Luciano Amaral: Pedro
• Freddy Allan: Zequinha

International Exhibition

Country	Television Channel	Títle	Brazil	TV Cultura	Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum
TV Rá-Tim-Bum
Argentina	Nickelodeon Latinoamérica	Castillo Rá-Tim-Bum
Paraguay
Venezuela
Uruguay
Panama
Mexico
Bolivia
Puerto Rico
Colombia
Honduras
Ecuador
Chile
Costa Rica

References

External links

• (Portuguese) Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum at TV Cultura
• (English) Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum at the Internet Movie Database