The Magic Boomerang (1965–1966) User Reviews

Absorbing kids program for fertile imaginations

[gedhurst · 9/10 · 9 April 2020]

Throw a boomerang and be amazed (if you throw it right) how long it spirals through the air... almost as if time stands still while you're watching it. And what if there really was a magic boomerang which paused time while it was flying? If you are a kid in the Sixties, that is unbelievably cool: think of all the problems you could solve! (problems are always a big part of the kid world).

This great kid's program came from Australia, so already it was exotic (but familiar) to children in Britain (like grey industrial Manchester, where I watched it), but this twist of a 'magic' boomerang really set it apart.

The key to a child's world of imagination is often slight and inconsequential or even unintelligible to adults. I can't remember much of the episodes, but this idea of a time-stopping boomerang has always stayed with me.

Something Else From Down-Under

[screenman · 6/10 · 16 February 2008]

This was another little offering from Oz.

It featured a little boy hero who got hold of a special boomerang. And when he threw it, for the duration of its flight, time stood still for everything and everyone except its thrower.

Inevitably, he got into all sorts of scrapes and adventures, but all he had to do was give his boomerang a good throw and he could work some out-of-the-nick-of-time escape. In one episode, he threw the thing and instead of coming back it got lodged up a tree that was too hard to climb, plunging the world into limbo. I forget how he got out of that one.

I haven't seen or heard of the program since it was screened back in the 1960's, so I guess it's been lost. That's a pity.

Another highly entertaining feature was the wretched Aussie dubbing that plagued their early programs. Sometimes it was difficult to tell which voice belonged to which actor!

Later programs are much improved, but comparatively lacklustre in originality.