Encantadia Fiery Scare

GMA 7’s Encantadia, Nielsen’s #3 rated show for the year 2005’s second quarter, nearly had a fiery mishap last June. Thankfully, no one was hurt in what could have been a costly and dreadful disaster.

The day in question seemed to be riddled with hindrances that tested everybody’s mettle and patience. In particular, it was supposed to be a regular shooting day for the puppet team, of which I was a part of. Furthermore, the puppet team was only scheduled to tape 3 sequences, an unusually small number that created the possibility of what could very well be a very short working day.

The puppet team of four is in charge of the character named Imaw, the Yoda equivalent of GMA 7’s television series Encantadia. It’s probably surprising to learn that 4 people are required to handle a single puppet, but it is the first animatronic puppet in the Philippines; and it called for a combination of technical dexterity and manual creativity, a feat ably handled by our head puppeteer, Mr. Marvin Choa, who appears on the rightmost part of the picture.

The first hindrance came in the form of a sudden breakdown of all audio equipment, grounding the taping to a halt, and back-up equipment had to be sent for from the GMA 7 studios. However, the back-up equipment couldn’t be pulled out immediately because it was being used by other shows for their own tapings. By the time the equipment arrived, a lapse of 8 hours had occurred.

After we shot the first sequence, we waited in the studio for the second sequence to be set up. The sight of smoke wafting from a special light device, which was an estimated 40 feet above, broke our quiet reverie. Then we saw a fiery circular piece of equipment breaking free from its fastening, swinging gently for a few seconds, before falling to the ground. We could only watch in horrified fascination.

At this point, I also realized that nobody knew what to do, for there was no action being taken. And with all the flammable materials inside, the studio could be ablaze in about 7 minutes or less. I signaled the whole puppet team, as well as our production assistant, to exit immediately.

Later on, I learned that after turning off the electricity, the crew attempted to put up a ladder to reach the light. But it almost became a tragedy when the ladder toppled over. Thank goodness, no one was hurt. Unfortunately, the fire extinguishers were not on hand; and the crew had to search for them in hurried confusion. When they were finally found, the crew emptied them onto the fire.

When the fumes cleared, we entered the studio again, and finished the second sequence. One would think that after such a crisis, nothing’s going to happen, but I suddenly remembered that old saying that trouble comes in threes. True enough, at the end of the second sequence, the wire controlling Imaw’s mouth snapped, disabling the puppet entirely, making it impossible to shoot with him.

So we never finished the three sequences, but the good thing about the whole day was it revealed weaknesses within the production that can be improved, saving possible costly delays and even possible loss of human lives in the future.

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