Fortunately for kids of today, there’s a remastered version of the 1996 film. The 90s gang will be relieved as a more crisp and beautifully rendered fantasy adventure flick has been made.

There is a lot of memes and social media posts about how great the 80s and 90s were.

Children who grew up in those era often see those times as the best as the Internet was not yet widely and publicly consumed. Video games were only starting to break into the market. And MTV was only born in 1983 with the world premiere of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video.

Kids those days were not seen sitting and standing in one corner, glued to a rectangular, blinking object in front of their faces. Instead, many were seen outside, playing with their fellow youth, latching on to a branch of a tree or swimming at the sapa or river or gleefully chasing each other in a game of tumbang preso or agawan base.

Such was the life. And come 4:30 in the afternoon, they would be home to catch the kid-friendly shows on TV which often consisted of anime, cartoons and, a kid-and-teen-oriented show that beckoned them to sing its opening billboard.

“Do Wah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Do. 4:30 na. Ang TV na,” would be heard sang across the neighborhood.

It’s time for them to settle down and sit and watch and laugh with the gags of the youth crew of Ang TV.

“ANG TV” alums Camille Prats and Patrick Garcia attended the premiere of the remastered and restored version of their 1996 film.

Think of the show as the progenitor of Goin’ Bulilit but instead of Bugoy Cariño, Kathryn Bernardo, Julia Montes, Nash Aguas, Sharlene San Pedro, et al, the kids who headlined Ang TV are today’s Titos and Titas of Manila.

Before Camille Prats, Angelica Panganiban, Paolo Contis, Patrick Garcia and Jolina Magdangal became who they are today, they were the kids and teens making gags for their fellow children.

The show became so famous that it even went on to be a movie with the same cast and more and which featured their misadventures in the warped tale of Ibong Adarna.

Fortunately for kids of today, there’s a remastered version of the 1996 film. The 90s gang will be relieved as a more crisp and beautifully rendered fantasy adventure flick has been made. Its remastering is largely due to the efforts of ABS-CBN Film Restoration, which started in 2012. It is targeting to finish restoring 185 films by the end of this year.

From 20 to 26 September, some of the restored films are being shown at Powerplant Cinemas in Makati City.

Some of the cast attended its screening including Camille Prats who revealed that she kept the shoes she used in the movie.

“It’s not often that we see movies like this today. The film has an important lesson about friendship. We (characters) worked together as friends so we can give the Ibong Adarna to Angelica’s (Panganiban) grandmother and cure her illness,” the former child star said.

Her co-star Patrick Garcia described the film’s value.

“It’s a special moment for me and my family because my kids would be able to watch me in a movie for the first time. It’s a clean, wholesome, and fun comedy that can be appreciated by any generation,” he shared.

This author caught up with ABS-CBN Film Restoration head Leo Katigbak at last month’s Tertulia held at Casa de Memoria in Parañaque City.

He spilled the beans about his department’s efforts to restore more marquee and classic titles as part of the celebration of 100 year of Philippine cinema.

“We’re working with FDCP (Film Development Council of the Philippines) for a lot of the festivals and for other exposures. But ABS-CBN, because of our advocacy projects, we’re having a lot of tie-ups, showcasing a lot of movies. We’re partnering with Ayala, Rockwell, with micro-cinemas like Cinema Centenario. So we will have themes and what not. Even our handle in iTunes will be related to the century of Philippine cinema. So it makes it easier to promote.

“That’s why I am telling that while we’re dealing with old materials, we’re not averse to using technology to help it further. So if we can put or do it with a higher technological platforms, we will do that,” he shared.

Titles that they are working on include Bulaklak ng City Jail, Misteryo sa Tuwa, Mga Bilanggong Birhen among the marquee classics and popular titles like Bad Bananas sa Puting Tabing and Tisoy, which is an Ishmael Bernal movie.

The 90s and years prior saw the creation of quality films that went beyond the cursory hugot and kilig flicks. It was a time when movie magic was not as advanced and easy to make yet titles like the Ang TV movie and another Star Cinema flick, Magic Temple, were thoughtfully made.

There was daring to do movies with such scale, that frankly, are nowhere to be found these days.