Princess Sarah (TV series)

Princess Sarah
Sharlene San Pedro as Princess Sarah
Genre	Drama, Fantasy, Comedy,
Created by	Frances Hodgson Burnett
Directed by	Don Cuaresma Nuel Naval
Starring	Sharlene San Pedro Albert Martinez Sheryl Cruz Sophia Baars
Opening theme	Ngiti Ka Lang
Composer(s)	Christian Martinez
Country of origin	Philippines
Original language(s)	Filipino, English
No. of episodes	30
Production
Executive producer(s)	Kylie Manalo
Running time	30-45 minutes
Release
Original network	ABS-CBN
Picture format	480i SDTV
Original release	November 12, 2007 – December 21, 2007

Princess Sarah is a 2007 Philippine television series based on the 1985 Japanese anime series of the same title, produced by Nippon Animation and based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel A Little Princess. It is topbilled by Sharlene San Pedro as Sarah Crewe.^[1] The series was aired on ABS-CBN's Primetime Bida evening block and worldwide on The Filipino Channel from November 12, 2007 to December 21, 2007, replacing Kokey.

The series was shot in Camp John Hay in Baguio City and the Coconut Palace in Manila. Unlike the 1995 Filipino film and the Japanese anime series it was based from, which in turn was based on Burnett's original novel, the Teleserye adaptation took even more creative liberties from the original story, with Ram Dass being depicted as a female sorceress, Lavinia as Miss Minchin's daughter, and fantasy elements being introduced in the story.

Plot

Sarah Crewe studies in a boarding school for rich girls. Although motherless, Sarah is rich in love showered by her father, Captain Cristopher Crewe. But one day her father has to leave for an expedition and is lost and presumed dead.

The sufferings of Sarah begin, as she was reduced to poverty and was forced to live a life as a servant in Miss Minchin's seminary.

Cast and characters

Main characters

• Sharlene San Pedro as Sarah Crewe
• Albert Martinez as Capt. Cristopher Crewe - The father of Sarah. Envied by other pirates for his discovered treasure map, he will soon be placed in a situation between life and death matters.
• Sheryl Cruz as Miss Maria Minchin - The owner and headmistress of the boarding school where Sarah stays. Miss Minchin has the strongest personality in the house, and she is blinded by the shine of richness; She was later revealed to be Lavinia's biological mother
• Ai-Ai de las Alas as Rama Dass (a female character of Ram Dass) - A native woman who often visits the city. In her tribe, she has high reputations and later will come to Captain Crewe's side for help. Ram Dass is the male character in the original story.
• Candy Pangilinan as Miss Amelia Minchin - The kind hearted sister of the cruel Miss Minchin. Her sister often bullies her, but at the end of the story, Amelia will make a stand against her dominating sister.
• Diether Ocampo as Master Brandon Crissford - One of the friends of Captain Crewe. Brandon lives next door to the boarding school where Sarah works as a maid.
• Sophia Baars as Lavinia Minchin Herbert - Sarah's rival on the school. She does everything to make Sarah's life as miserable as possible. As the series progress, secrets about her family will be revealed and her manners will be justified.
• Carlos Agassi as Phillip Burrose - Deviant to the original story, the series' main villain crown was shifted to Mr. Burrows - "a play on the character Mr. Barrow of the original one". He will held Captain Crewe captive for a long time for the latter to surrender a map the former failed to retrieve during their expedition. He will blackmail the boarding school headmistress for the sake of money. In connection, Miss Minchin's character serves as a bit humorous and lighter form of a villain.

Students

• Noemi Oineza as Lottie Legh - The cry baby of the group.
• Khaycee Aboloc as Ermengarde St. John - Sarah's bestfriend.
• Divine Loraine Penaflor as Gertrude - Lavinia's friend that will help her on the way to getting rid of Sarah's reputation.
• Bianca Pulmano as Jessie - Also one of Lavinia's friends that will help Lavinia on her way to getting rid of Sarah's reputation.
• Angel Sy as Eidelweiss - Former student of the dormitory and now the school ghost. She befriended Sarah and Becky and will be a great help to the two in times of distress, set aside when it comes to Miss Minchin.

Other characters

• Eunice Lagusad as Becky - One of the maids in the boarding school. Becky becomes friends with Sarah while she is still wealthy and continues to support her after she is relegated to the attic.
• Irish Fullerton as Miss Viola - The music teacher of the girls.
• Jaime Fabregas as Monsieur Dufarge - The French teacher. (also Jaime Fabregas is one of the original cast in a movie version "Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa" who played Mr. James as a chef in a dormitory)
• Melissa Ricks as Mariette - One of the maids in the boarding school, and the sister of Picolino. She will fall in love with Paul.
• Matt Evans as Paul - Peter's eldest brother.
• Lui Villaruz as Picolino - The resident chef of the boarding school, who is secretly in love with Amelia.
• Bubbles Paraiso as Kalela - Brandon's partner.
• Julio Pisk as Peter
• Helga Krapf as Antoinette - Another maid in the boarding school. She openly seduces Paul in front of Mariette to gain attention and often diverts her frustrations at the young maids - Sarah and Becky as well as the bullied students Lottie and Ermengarde.
• France Bonnin as Matilda
• Lou Veloso as Captain Seaweed
• Lauren Novero as Orion
• Andrew Muhlach as Graham
• Precious Lara Quigaman - A cameo role as Sarah's mother where she was seen briefly in a lullaby scene and in Sarah's locket.

Animal characters

• Nehru - Doyle Llagas. A little monkey that belongs to Rama Dass and is very playful. (Surya is the name of monkey in the anime version and also in Philippine movie version.)
• Jump - Sarah's own horse given by her father. He is made of good nature and lived a happy life with Peter attending to him, until he had to leave one day.
• Mr. Chester - Chesster Tomboc. A cat that was brought by Peter to the school.
• Pedro - An iguana that was brought by Sarah to the street.
• Carl - A snake that was brought by Peter to the mall.
• Izzy - A polar bear that lives in Pasig City.
• Nebo - An owl that lives in Malabon Zoo. He also appeared on Kulilits.
• John - A lion that lives in Malabon Zoo. He also appeared on the Lucky Me Noodles commercials.
• Romeo - A tiger that belongs to Peter and is very ugly. Romeo's voice actor is Nash Aguas.
• Reno - A turtle that lives in Palawan.
• Julalay - An elephant that lives in Africa. Julalay's voice actor is Basty Alcances.
• Chris - A zebra that lives in Africa. Chris' voice actor is JJ Zamora.

Reception

Princess Sarah replaced Kokey in its timeslot and was expected to follow its success. The pilot episode garnered a 27.1% ratings according to AGB Nielsen in Mega Manila. It ran for only a month during the Christmas season; the finale ratings were low, only able to reach a total of 22% ratings. The highest rating was 28.5% while the lowest was 20.6%.

See also

• List of programs broadcast by ABS-CBN
• List of shows previously aired by ABS-CBN
• List of telenovelas of ABS-CBN

References

1. Garcia, Rose (10 November 2007). "Child actress Sharlene San Pedro gives life to "Princess Sarah"". Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved 5 March 2014.

External links

• Princess Sarah at the Internet Movie Database
• Princess Sarah at Telebisyon.net