AustLit

'When fifteen year-old Zac goes camping on Mako Island, he has no idea his every move is being monitored by real-life mermaids Sirena, Nixie and Lyla, whose job it is to ward off trespassers. When he comes into contact with the magical waters of the Moon Pool on the night of a full moon, Zac is given a taste of Mako's powers, waking the next day to discover he has been granted fin-like feet and the power to control water…causing all sorts of trouble for Sirena, Nixie and Lyla.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 10/1/2014)

'Against a new and exciting backdrop of prehistoric beasts and shamanism, a clever and talented 12-year-old boy named Enyo, who is learning to understand the language of animals, reads hidden messages and 'sees' glimpses of the future, will take us on a spectacular journey of fantasy, fun and wild adventure.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 16/8/2012)

Fifteen-year-old Kate and her two younger siblings, Nicholas and Sarah, are accidentally zapped inside Kate's current video-gaming obsession: Pirate Islands, a swashbuckling action-adventure game. Now the children--and the island's existing population of castaway children, led by the fearless Mars--must battle the fearsome Captain Blackheart if they wish to get back to their own world.

The program is structured around the generic conventions of video gaming: the protagonists must find a powerful object (the Golden Idol) in order to exit the game; the islands contain 'power ups', namely a jet-pack and magic boots, that give the protagonists super-human powers; and the location is divided into several distinct environments that the protagonists can explore (Castaway Island, Haunted Island, Plant Island, Main Island, and Secret Island).

The program has never been released on DVD in its entirety, but was cut down and released as two films.

Thirteen-year-old Lauren's life is confusing enough, with her mother remarrying, moving to another country, and introducing Lauren to a new stepfather and little stepbrother. But that's not nearly as confusing as the day two Nelfs (Santa's helpers) jump from his sleigh and into Lauren's life. With Santa's rounds finished for another year, Lauren is stuck with the bickering, meddling siblings until next Christmas. But when only Lauren can see them, her family start to think she's going mad.

Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, Thunderstone follows Noah Daniels who, with his family, lives in the underground colony of North Col, after all life on the surface of the Earth is destroyed by the impact of the Nemesis Comet. Fascinated with the holographic animals that the North Col colonists use to teach their children about the Earth's extinct species, Noah is accidentally transported forward in time, to the colony of Haven. 'Thunderstone' is the name given to the remnants of the Nemesis Comet, which allow Noah to travel through time.

Season one involves Noah's travels through time, in company with Arushka (a nomadic girl from Haven), in an attempt to repopulate the Earth with animals. Season two revolves around Noah's attempts to completely destroy the Nemesis Comet before it strikes the Earth, thereby preventing the apocalypse. Season three involves Noah's experiments in wormhole technology, his plans to set up a space colony, and the attempts of guerillas from the future to assassinate Noah before he can (allegedly) murder his own parents.

Season one has been released in its entirety on DVD, but neither season two nor season three have been made commerically available.

'A fast-paced television drama set within the fascinating environment of a State Coroner's office complex. Each day a team of highly trained professionals deal with the questions of deaths, murders, accidents, suicides, fires, drownings and even the odd natural cause. We see their battles with grieving families, slow or meddling authorities and organized crime, from the initial inquiry through to the courtroom appearances and the Coroner's final verdict and recommendations for trial or reform.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/statecoroner/statecoroner.html). (Sighted: 8/3/2013)

Ocean Girl follows the adventures of Jason and Brett Bates, who move with their mother (a reasearch scientist studying whale song) to an underwater research station near Port Douglas. There, they accidentally meet Neri, a young girl with super-human strength, the ability to breathe underwater, and an affinity for communicating with whales. As the series progresses through four seasons, the Bateses (and the audience) learn more about Neri's arrival on Earth, her home planet, and the ecosystem of their own home planet.

Ocean Girl, one of the earliest productions to come out of Jonathan M. Shiff Productions, is creator Jonathan Shiff's first science-fiction program; his name has subsequently become synonymous with children's science-fiction and fantasy television programs, through such shows as Cybergirl and H2O.

Ocean Girl is ecological science fiction, in that it uses the genre of science fiction to explore the consequences of exploiting Earth's resources. For example, as the program progresses, Dr Dianne Bates (mother of protagonists Jason and Brett) shifts from her early role as cetologist to a more active role as environmental protectionist, in response to the increasing threat of building large underwater constructions in the delicate ecosystem around ORCA. Similarly, season four shows the devastating effects of a 'Red Virus' on the oceans of Neri's home world.

Home and Away is a television serial created by Alan Bateman and produced by the Seven Network. The idea for the series came to Bateman (then head of drama at Seven) after he stopped to buy ice-creams in a small country town in southern NSW. While chatting to some locals, he learned that the town was unhappy about plans to build a home for foster kids from the city. At that time, Channel Seven was still smarting from its decision to let Neighbours go to the Ten Network, where it had become hugely popular, and was looking to create another series to rival its success. Bateman saw in the idea that became Home and Away the potential for plenty of storylines and conflict by having streetwise city kids being relocated to a small regional environment,

In the beginning, the series focused on Pippa and Tom Fletcher, who, being unable to have children of their own, decide to become foster parents. When Tom is retrenched from his city job, the couple buy the rundown Summer Bay Caravan Park and move there with their five foster children. Soon after arriving, they also take in troublesome Bobby Simpson.

The series debuted in January 1988 with an hour-long telemovie. Although this rated well, the series itself took some while to develop an audience. Having learned their lesson from the Neighbours debacle, Network Seven gave its new show time, and its ratings gradually increased. As with Neighbours, the Home and Away series and performers became very popular in the United Kingdom.

Frequently described as an 'Australian western', Five Mile Creek was based on Louis L'Amour's 1982 novel The Cherokee Trail, with the action moved wholesale to Australia.

A co-production between the Seven Network and the Disney Channel, the program, according to Moran in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'revolved around two women, Kate Wallace and the American Maggie Scott, who ran a stage way station at Five Mile Creek in New South Wales.' Moran also notes that it 'was the most expensive series ever filmed in Australia up to that time, costing Disney $12 million for the first two series, although this was still thought to be about half of what it would have cost in Hollywood.'

The series did poorly on Australian television but extremely well on the Disney Channel in the United States. According to Moran,

Five Mile Creek was a kind of stunning confirmation that Lew Grade was right all those years earlier in thinking that the Australian outback could be adapted to the genre demands of the western. Indeed in Five Mile Creek the reciprocal parallels and symmetries between America and Australia are pushed in a deliberate and warmly calculating way. The Australian bush is, as it were, transfigured so that it seems intrisically like part of the Old West.

In contrast to this Australian/American fusion that Moran notes in the program's sensibility, he also notes that it had the Disney Channel's 'cultural/commercial values written all over it.'

A daily television drama series set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough, Neighbours chronicles the lives of the residents of Ramsay Street. The series initially revolved around three families: the Ramsays (at number 24 Ramsay Street), the Robinsons (at number 26), and the Clarkes (at number 28). The scope of the series has since broadened to include new Ramsay Street familes.