John more loyal to ABS By: Mario E. Bautista   From: People's Journal [October 05, 2008] REPLACING ‘Varga’ in ABS-CBN’s “Komiks Presents” on Saturdays starting October 11 at 6 p.m. is “Tiny Tony,“ another Mars Ravelo opus. The first episode was shown to the press and it stars John Prats in the title role. His parents are Richard Quan and Susan Africa. His dad died of a heart attack on the day Tony was born, overjoyed upon seeing his son. His mom then rears him by herself. He turns out to be a genius who can solve difficult mathematical problems in a jiffy, so he is made a scholar by the owner of a school, Dr. Morgan (Pen Medina). He got his doctorate degree at the age of 22 and Dr. Morgan got him as his research assistant, making Dr. Morgan’s son (Coco Martin) very jealous. While researching on a cure to make cancerous tumors shrink, Dr. Morgan splashed some of the solution on Tony and there’s an explosion. When Tony regains consciousness, he has shrunk to only six inches and this becomes the start of his adventures as a diminutive superhero. “It’s the hardest part I’ve played so far as, in 90 percent of the series, maliit ako and I usually tape by myself on a green screen through chroma special effects,” says John. “I just watch on the TV monitor what my co-actors are doing in a scene at dapat, synchronized talaga ang lahat ng movements namin para maging credible ang dating on screen. Halimbawa, I’m kissing my leading lady, Alex Gonzaga who’s of normal size, I tape by myself at kailangan, tumapat talaga ‘yung lips ko sa mukha niya kundi ire-retake ang buong eksena. Lalong mahirap sa action scenes. Para maabot ko ‘yung mga kalaban who are much bigger than me, I use a jetpack that enables me to fly so I can reach them. Kinukunan ito nang naka-harness ako sa green screen then isinasama through special effects doon sa action scenes, so kailangan, bawat suntok ko, mag-swak na tatama sa kalaban ko.” John admits he earlier planned to move to GMA-7. “But then, ABS is really my home kasi 17 years na ako rito. So when they showed me their plans for me, nauna na ‘yung ‘Your Song’ and now, ‘Tiny Tony’, I decided to stay. Excited talaga ako with ‘Tiny Tony’ as this is my first title role project.”