Along with soap operas like "Neighbours" and "Home Away", Australia has exported a number of television show to the UK. Among them was this science fiction TV show about a girl from the far-flung future lost in the present, the present being 1990, when the show was made. For a kids TV show, it's downright sophisticated and superbly structured with engaging central characters.
Alana (Katherine Cullen) is a young girl living in a peaceful Australia in the year 3000. Her guardian, Tulista (Helen Jones) takes part in an experiment to return to the year 2500, to discover the causes of the Great Disaster, a worldwide apocalypse that nearly wiped out mankind. Tulista succeeds in travelling back in time, yet returns in hostage to Silverthorn (John Howard), an unscrupulous criminal who kidnaps Alana in the time capsule which lands in the year 1990. Alana escapes from the capsule and is taken in by a kindly shopkeeper Irene (Helen O'Connor) and her two children; rebellious Jenny (Melissa Marshal) and precocious kid genius Petey (James Marshall Findlay). With the aid of a friendly schoolteacher Mr Rooney (Andrew Clarke), the gang try to find a way to reclaim the time capsule from Silverthorn and return to the future...
The series benefits from superb writing which sketches the characters neatly and structures each episode well, ending each time on a terrific cliffhanger that leaves you begging for more. Although the series has the usual plot holes and paradoxes that one encounters in time travel stories, none of this hurts the show at all. There is the occasional ropey performance or unconvincing fight scene, but the show can easily be enjoyed by adults and kids alike. As a twenty-six year old now, I had as much fun watching it now as I did as a young boy.
Asides from the writing, there are some good performances from Katherine Cullen as Alana, who engages audience sympathy with the character without ever being overly mawkish. She works best in tandem with Melissa Marshal's more streetwise Jenny, and the two seem to balance each other out whenever they're on screen. John Howard, no relation to the Australian Prime Minister of the same name, makes a great villain being both nasty and charismatic.
Although the show is Region 0 and not available on DVD in the UK, it can be viewed online on Youtube, along with it's sequel show "Tomorrow's End".
Alana (Katherine Cullen) is a young girl living in a peaceful Australia in the year 3000. Her guardian, Tulista (Helen Jones) takes part in an experiment to return to the year 2500, to discover the causes of the Great Disaster, a worldwide apocalypse that nearly wiped out mankind. Tulista succeeds in travelling back in time, yet returns in hostage to Silverthorn (John Howard), an unscrupulous criminal who kidnaps Alana in the time capsule which lands in the year 1990. Alana escapes from the capsule and is taken in by a kindly shopkeeper Irene (Helen O'Connor) and her two children; rebellious Jenny (Melissa Marshal) and precocious kid genius Petey (James Marshall Findlay). With the aid of a friendly schoolteacher Mr Rooney (Andrew Clarke), the gang try to find a way to reclaim the time capsule from Silverthorn and return to the future...
The series benefits from superb writing which sketches the characters neatly and structures each episode well, ending each time on a terrific cliffhanger that leaves you begging for more. Although the series has the usual plot holes and paradoxes that one encounters in time travel stories, none of this hurts the show at all. There is the occasional ropey performance or unconvincing fight scene, but the show can easily be enjoyed by adults and kids alike. As a twenty-six year old now, I had as much fun watching it now as I did as a young boy.
Asides from the writing, there are some good performances from Katherine Cullen as Alana, who engages audience sympathy with the character without ever being overly mawkish. She works best in tandem with Melissa Marshal's more streetwise Jenny, and the two seem to balance each other out whenever they're on screen. John Howard, no relation to the Australian Prime Minister of the same name, makes a great villain being both nasty and charismatic.
Although the show is Region 0 and not available on DVD in the UK, it can be viewed online on Youtube, along with it's sequel show "Tomorrow's End".