Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum

Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum is a Brazilian children's and educational television series, produced and shown by TV Cultura between May 9, 1994 and December 24, 1997, totaling 90 episodes and one more special. It is considered one of the best audiovisual products in the history of Brazilian television.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It is one of the most successful children's program of TV Cultura having scored an average audience of 12 points, the highest of any other TV Cultura educational program, and even reaching peaks of 14 points in reruns.
 * 2) The series was derived from Rá-Tim-Bum, another great children's series produced by TV Cultura in the 90s.
 * 3) The show is inspired by American productions, including Jim Henson's shows like Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.
 * 4) The songs are magnific, especially the show's intro which is considered iconic.
 * 5) It has a very wide variety of interesting characters with unique personalities. Such as:
 * 6) Dr. Abobrinha, a villainous businessman who aims to buy the castle to destroy it and build a 100-story building, often using disguises for each episode to deceive the protagonists.
 * 7) Morgana, a 6000 year old witch who is Nino's good-natured great aunt and has a vast historical knowledge of all her years of life.
 * 8) Penélope, a famous journalist who is friendly with the castle's residents.
 * 9) Etevaldo, a clumsy and naive alien who is a friend of the castle's residents.
 * 10) Caipora, a legend of Brazilian folklore that always appears when someone whistles.
 * 11) Telekid, a man inside a computer who is responsible for answering all of Zequinha's questions.
 * 12) Tibio and Peronio, a pair of mad twin scientists. Tibio being serious and Peronio being goofy.
 * 13) Mau, a monster that pretends to be a bad guy, but in reality is just grumpy and inoffensive.
 * 14) Many of the characters' dialogues and running gags are funny and memorable. For example:
 * 15) The scenes where Dr. Victor gets angry at Nino screaming RAIOS E TROVÔES! (lit. Lightnings and thunders!), while using his magic to provoke a storm.
 * 16) Dr. Abobrinha speaking directly to the viewer "One day this castle will be mine, MINE...", followed by his evil laugh.
 * 17) Telekid appearing and saying "Because yes, is not  answer!".
 * 18) Perônio always losing the chance to be able to do his study on the "flight of the butterflies" by Tibio always prefers to study a more interesting topic.
 * 19) Caipora appearing whenever someone whistles by accident.
 * 20) Teaches the kids many lessons, about history, geography, science, math, and several other themes.
 * 21) The educational moments are wonderfully executed, without feeling tiresome.
 * 22) The series makes a great mix between the acting of actors with puppets.
 * 23) It also presents some good moments in animation, as for example the segments of the castle mouse that are in clay animation.
 * 24) Great sketches, that explore the personality of the secondary characters of the show well and also entertain the audience.
 * 25) Excellent acting by Cássio Scapin, Luciano Amaral, Cinthya Rachel, Freddy Allan, Sérgio Mamberti, Rosi Campos, Pascoal da Conceição, Angela Dippe, Patrícia Gasppar, Wagner Bello, Eduardo Silva, Flávio de Souza, Henrique Stroeter, Marcelo Tas, Fabiana Prado, Theresa Athayde, Dilmah Souza, Ciça Meirelles and Vinícius de Andrade.
 * 26) Excellent puppetry by Álvaro Petersen Jr., Cláudio Chakmati, Fernando Gomes, Luciano Ottani, Theo Werneck, Gérson de Abreu, Marcos Magalhães and João Ferreira.
 * 27) The show became cult, also becoming part of pop culture in Brazil and even generating memes on the internet. Some fans even claim (in an ironic and funny way) that Harry Potter is a rip-off of Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum, since both have some similarities as Dr. Abobrinha and Valdemort being both bald villains and the castle being like a Hogwarts equivalent.
 * 28) It spawned an animated Christmas special in 2021, called "Noite de Natal no Castelo" (although with a different cast), which was narrated by Zezé Motta and was dedicated to Tio Vitor's actor, Sérgio Mamberti, who unfortunately had died in the same year the Christmas special was released.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The special effects have not aged well and sometimes look laughable.
 * 2) Some moments can be considered very dark and scary for some viewers, such as the Big Bad Wolf that appears in the Carnival episode or the episode in which Mau becomes evil.
 * 3) Celeste is sometimes annoying, especially when she complains about being a snake and having no hands.
 * 4) Similar to El Chavo del Ocho on SBT, Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum has had excessive reruns over the years on TV Cultura during the 90s and 2000s.