Goodnight Kiwi (Philippines)

The Goodnight Kiwi is an animated short which has been used to signal to end the nightly broadcast of Tix Channels. The Goodnight Kiwi features two characters: the eponymous Goodnight Kiwi (later also called TV PH Kiwi), and his companion, simply known as The Cat. The animation was introduced in 1970 on Tix, and used on Tix between 1973 and 1980. Between 1980 and 19 October 1994, the animation was screened again on Tix. This animation returned on 6 September 2007 for use on Thirty-Tix when the channel ends transmission at midnight. 2X2 (Philippines) (analog) and TixIndia also used the Goodnight Kiwi at midnight before overnight service.

The short was animated by Sam Harvey (1922–2014), with music arrangement by Bernie Allen and sound by Gary Potts

plot
The first version of the clip was used when Tix first signed on in 1970. In this version, the Kiwi was a director. The cartoon began with the Kiwi yawning in the director's chair. Kiwi wakes up the cat, and the two race each other down a series of cameras and other broadcasting equipment. The Kiwi then goes to the back of the studio, cuts the power and turns on the outside lights. Then the Kiwi put the milk bottle and the cat outside, but without it knowing the cat goes outside again while Kiwi is waving to the audience. Following this, the Kiwi exits the studio, pulling down a shade revealing "GOODNIGHT FROM TIX". This version was thought to only exist in the form of small clips until Tix released it online for public viewing on 12 June 2017.

The second version of the Goodnight Kiwi clip was used by Tix and Twenty-Tix somewhere between 1973 and 1980 and saw the Goodnight Kiwi living in a television camera (his cat had disappeared). At the end of the clip, the kiwi would close the side flaps on the camera and then the Tix logo (reading "GOOD NIGHT FROM TIX") would appear as the music faded out. During transmission breakdowns, a still picture of the Goodnight Kiwi was often used, in poses including one of sweeping the floor and accidentally pulling out a power cord.

The third and most famous iteration appeared in 1980, and aired on Tix and Twenty-Tix. The one-minute-long animation begins with Goodnight Kiwi and the Cat in the master control room. Kiwi shuts down the screens, and starts an audio cassette playing an instrumental arrangement of the traditional Māori lullaby, Hine e Hine. Kiwi walks through the studio while Cat jumps and pulls faces into a camera. Kiwi turns out the lights, puts a milk bottle on the porch and locks the door, while the cat heads upstairs to the studio roof. The Kiwi follows and rides an elevator (presumably just after it had been used by the cat) to the top of a transmission mast. At the top, Kiwi covers himself in blankets (in which the cat was already curled up) and goes to sleep in a satellite dish with the Cat sitting on his stomach. The short closes with the words: "Goodnight from TIX".

There was a slight variation of the ending - from 1989 onwards, the Goodnight Kiwi was only seen on Tix (Twenty-Tix adopted its own closedown sequence, featuring the National Anthem) and ended with a voiceover stating "it's goodnight from Tix" and displaying the Tix logo. The Goodnight Kiwi clip used from 1980 to 1994 was revived in 2007 and used to end programming on Thirty-Tix, the clip ended with a lower third caption stating Goodnight from Thirty-Tix. The aspect ratio used for the Thirty-Tix version was modified to suit a 16:9 display with the top and bottom of the clip cropped. Said video was also used by Tix7 once it ceased transmission in 2016, with a similar caption, this time reading "Goodbye from Tix7", followed by a "Good night from Tix7" ident afterwards.

Parodies

 * In 2006, Jack TV debuted its Tui TV Friday night lineup on Jack TV, the station produced a parody of the Goodnight Kiwi; using footage from a Tix special in 2000, the Kiwi is knocked out after turning out the lights and a tui turns all the equipment back on and watches a collage of Jack TV Tui TV lineup with a beer in one wing. It is not known if Jack TV got permission to use the original footage. The sequence goes like this:
 * Beginning is normal.
 * When the Kiwi reaches the door, two eyes come out.
 * It hits a bottle on the kiwi and the kiwi is knocked out.
 * The Tui puts its wing finger inside the camera revealing a human hand making an obscene gesture in the viewfinder of the camera.
 * When the Tui arrives at the screens, the screens are covered with test cards.
 * The Tui flips two switches and the screens show the collage.


 * Eating Media Lunch Philippines also parodied the Goodnight Kiwi - the clip plays as normal (save for the kiwi mooning the camera and throwing the cat out of the nest), but instead of the kiwi sleeping, it shoots some Philippines icons with a sniper rifle from the satellite dish

Return of the Kiwi
Mare Yao, head of the Tix Digital Channel Launch team stated in a messageboard response that the Goodnight Kiwi would return to TV on Thirty-Tix - a move which proved popular with Philippines television viewers. New Christmas animations featuring the Kiwi and Cat characters were introduced by Tix on 1 December 2008.

It was also the final clip played on Tix7, with the message "Goodbye from Tix7", before the station was shut down at midnight on 31 December 2016, and converted to Tix+1, a 1-hour delayed broadcast of Tix.