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Bro'Town

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Bro'Town is New Zealand's first adult-targeted animated series. It is set amongst New Zealand's growing Pacific Islander community. Bro'Town is regarded by its viewers as New Zealand's answer to The Simpsons (though its visual crassness is reminiscent of other animated series, and the central cast of four young boys invites comparison with South Park) and is based on the performance of the local four-man group The Naked Samoans.

Vale, Valea, Jeff da Maori, Sione and Mack live in the suburb of Morningside (catchphrase: "Morningside 4 Life!"), and attend the local college, St Sylvester’s, where their principal is a Fa’afafine and the PE teacher is legendary ex-All Black Michael Jones.

Produced by New Zealand company Firehorse Films and funded by New Zealand On Air, Bro'Town was made using three animation studios – two in New Zealand and one in India – and involved over 100 staff.

Each episode took up to six months to make and consists of 16,000 drawings, making it a huge undertaking for all involved. Despite the carefully planned nature of animation, the Samoans' performance style often gives the dialogue an improvisational, spontaneous feel. When successful this effect is fresh and funny but at times it renders the dialogue indistinct, with characters stepping on each other's lines.

The show satirises the boys’ culture, with vivid dialogue in the local vernacular, expressing what is like to grow up as a minority culture in Auckland, the largest Polynesian city in the world. Characteristically, the title "Bro'town" appears to be a play on the words Brown and Bro - referring to both their skin colour and slang word for "brother" - and the American record label Motown. Although the setting is contemporary and the satire topical, the humour often reflects a nostalgia for the 1980s period of the Naked Samoans' own boyhood. The series is also scattered with references to New Zealand literature, particularly the novels and short stories of Witi Ihimaera.

The series have a strong religion theme, with most episodes starting with events between God, Jesus Christ and other historical figures, which leads to the theme of the episode and the subsequent events between the boys.

Contents

Characters

The Boys

Vale Pepelo (Oscar Kightly) (Vale loosely translates to Dumb) - brother of Valea Pepelo and has a strong social conscience. Contrary to his given name, Vale is considered the intelligent one of the group, frequently seen carrying a literary classic.

Valea Pepelo (Shimpal Lelisi) (Valea loosely translates to Dumber) - brother of Vale Pepelo, is more interested in girls than his brother Vale. Whenever he sees an attractive one, he does a rendition of the 'schwing!' gesture (pee-yow pew-yow!) Valea's name is an apt description.

Sione Tapili (Mario Gaoa) - Vale and Valea’s best mate and fancies himself as a bit of a ladies' man, while he constantly looks for ways to impress the girl of his dreams, sixth former Mila Jizovich.

Jeff da Maori (David Fane) - Jeff Da Maori lives with his mum and eight dads in a car shell outside the house. He was brought up in the country by his Aunt Queenie (a caricature of Maori leader Dame Whina Cooper) but then moved to the city ‘for better TV reception and "because the thieving colonialists stole our land’". You can never see Jeff without his trusty guitar. He is often portrayed with a horribly runny nose. More than the other boys, Jeff's character is assembled from cliches drawn mostly from Witi Ihimaera stories and Once Were Warriors.

Rodney McCorkenstein-Taifule aka Mack (David Fane) - Mack rounds out the group, a heavyset boy who has definite gay tendencies and a knack for talking his way out of things, but he does stand behind his word eventually! Mack is considered a tough guy by the group, raised in the streets. He actually lives in a posh mansion with a loving mum and dad.

Other Residents of Pepelo Pepelo (David Fane) - Vale & Valea's dad is a benefit bludging, occasional fork-lift driver with a love of beer, pornography and gambling (aka "The Town Drunk"). Pepelo's wife died when the boys were young and they were entrusted to his care. However, his method of child rearing was ignoring them to fend for themselves. He's known to discriminate against other ethnic minorities in Morningside. Pepelo is very similar to the father character in Milburn Place, another comedy production involving Naked Samoans.

Wong (David Fane) - A Chinese student from Hong Kong. He quickly became buds with the Boys after an initiation rite which involved insulting Rakeesh. He once helped the Boys by joining in the St. Sylvester's Rugby team in Get Rucked and bet a million dollars on Honky the Wonderhorse. Wong has a twin brother named White, who exists only to facilitate a pun about being unable to tell White from Wong.

Fong (Mario Gaoa) - Fong appears to be a big menacing Chinese guy who lives in an apartment. In reality, he's a smart Engineering student who seems to be incompetent in a fight.

Constable "Bobby" Bababiba (Mario Gaoa) - A cold and seemingly-emotionless policeman who has been involved with many of the Boys' mishaps as much as he restores Morningside Order. His name may be a reference to the 'bee-baa' sounds made by children impersonating the old style of New Zealand police sirens, one of the many 'childhood nostalgia' touches of bro'Town.

Rakeesh Maadkraklikka (Mario Gaoa) - A disgruntled South Asian (Indian) dairy store owner. He is eager to shoot and zap any potential troublemaker in his store. Pepelo owes a massive debt to Rakeesh's store due to his indulgence and improper spending. Is married to the beautiful Satisha.

Satisha Maadkraklikka - Rakeesh's spouse. She isn't as brash as her husband, but Satisha is just as tough. Twice, so far, Satisha helped The Boys with their problems.

Reverend Minister (Real name unknown) (Vela Manusaute) - Stereotypical minister who heads a Samoan flock in Morningside. He frequently preaches about the local issues in very vivid and exaggerated ways (as was featured in Sione-rella and Touched by a Teacher). He is also quick to drive his flock on mindless angry mob sprees. As a sideline for his church he also sells 'authentic' holy items at high prices (like holy water and sheep-shaped caps). There seems to be an intimate relationship between him and Agnes (or it may be that they're husband and wife, who knows?). Agnes' youngest child has an uncanny resemblance to the minister, including his hairdo - for that matter, so do most of the very young children of his congregation. He is very similar to the Minister character in the recurring sketch Milburn Place, part of the Skitz comedy series in which several Naked Samoans were involved.

Tapili Family

Agnes Tapili (David Fane) - Sione's mom and the Pepelos' neighbour. Deeply religious and physically aggressive, especially to Sione (she refuses to show this side of her in public, though). Despite this, she seems to have intimate relations with the local minister. A caricature of the overbearing Polynesian mother who won't hesitate to humiliate her children.

Sina Tapili - Sione's big sis and Mila's friend. Sina doesn't think kindly of her brother and The Boys. Attends St Cardinal's College for girls, known to the boys of neighbouring St. Sylvester's as 'Car(di)nal Knowledge.'

Motorcycle Boy (Real name unknown) - Agnes' eldest son. A delinquent who is a regular in the local delinquent centre (which Agnes euphemistically calls a "boarding school") and jail.

Samson - Agnes' youngest son.

School Folks and Students

Brother Ken - St. Sylvester's Fa’afafine principal. Is a personal friend of Lucy Lawless and once helped the other boys to make friends with a then-young Mack.

Rex Ruka - Rex is a typical sort of 'jock' or alpha male in St. Sylvester's. He is regularly seen mocking the boys due to their supposed inferiority with Joost by his side. Rex is Sione's rival for Mila's hand.

Joost Van der Van Van - A South African immigrant whose dad Hansje manages the local Zoo. As is expected, he acts as Rex's partner/toady, providing appreciation for his many putdowns (Hilarious!). However, it was revealed in "A Chicken Roll At My Table" that Joost's act was a fake, and only did it because he was discouraged by his grandfather from making friends with colored people (He's still a jerk, though). His name is a nonsense parody of Dutch surnames and means 'of the of of.'

Mila Jizovich - A student of St. Cardinal's and the girl of Sione's dreams. She is best known for helping Lucy Lawless with the birth control presentation in "Sionerella". Her name appears to be a combination of tribute to the actress Milla Jovovich and a somewhat unsavoury joke.

Abo - An Australian Aborigine who studies in St. Sylvester's. Abo is known to celebrate every occasion with a traditional song or dance that he thinks the boys will like unlike the Aussies (which usually takes a very long time). The satirical point of this character is unclear as very few Australian Aborigines live in New Zealand - he is more surreal than satirical.

Ms. Lynn Grey - A teacher who manages The Boys' class at St. Sylvester's. She seems to have an affection for the Maori Man (as is shown in "A Maori at my Table"). A parody of well-meaning liberal Pakeha - she will carefully use Maori vocabulary but immediately follow it with a slightly patronising English explanation. Her name is a reference to the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn.

Figures in Heaven

God (Mario Gaoa) - As himself. As the creator of the universe, God can choose to be anything he wants. Thus he is portrayed as a well-built Pacific Islander on a lavalava. He appears mellow and easy-going, rather than strict and wrathful. God starts each episode in Heaven as if it were a fairytale, usually telling it to Jesus Christ and historical figures like Julius Caesar, Hone Heke, or the Buddha.

Jesus (Shimpal Lelisi) - The Lord's only son. Unlike the past serious and solemn renditions of the Christian divinity, Bro'Town portrays him as young and naive (despite his past mortal life more than 2000 years ago). He generally seems like a somewhat wimpish, emo teenager, who often needs to be gently taught a lesson by his Father.

Other famous residents of Heaven include Mahatma Gandhi, Ernest Rutherford, George Nepia, Bruce Lee, John Lennon, Bob Marley and Princess Diana.

Occasionally long-lost relatives such as Pepelo's wife (Vale & Valea's mother), or Aunt Queenie are featured, appearing in dreams to communicate with the living.

There are also two female angels Angelina and Angelita.

Guest stars

Episode list

Season One (2004)

Season Two (2005)

Trivia

Worldwide Distribution

See also

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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