AustLit

'In The Strange Chores, two teenage wannabe warrior heroes Charlie and Pierce and spirited ghost girl Que master the skills they need to replace ageing monster-slayer Old Man Helsing, by doing his supernatural chores. They’re about to get mind-blowingly, toe-curlingly cool and a whole lot stranger than any teenage brain can imagine. Part-paranormal comedy and part-adventure, The Strange Chores draws from much-loved genres to create a multiverse of mind-boggling new stories.'

Source: Screen Australia (https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2017/06-27-the-strange-chores). (Sighted: 22/11/2018)

'In space, no one can hear you open your presents.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'Whale Bay is home to the disaster-prone Thong family and to Australia's least visited tourist attraction, the Giant Thong. But that may be about to change, for all the wrong reasons...

'... because it's also home to Holden Thong, a 12-year-old with a wild imagination and ability to construct amazing gadgets from recycled scrap. Holden's father Trevor is determined to put Whale Bay on the map, any map. Trevor's hare-brained tourist-attracting schemes, combined with Holden's ill-conceived contraptions, ensure Whale Bay is perpetually about to be wiped off the map before it's even on one. Barely tolerating their antics is Holden's sister Narelle, who desperately wants to get out of Whale Bay, and his mother Brenda who just wants things to be normal. Given Holden's best friend, Rerp, is a cane toad in a school uniform, there's little chance of that!'

Source: Red Dog Bites (http://www.reddogbites.com.au/the_flamin_thongs.html). (Sighted: 27/1/2015)

'New ALS Lawyer Drew Ellis is young, black, arrogant, good looking and in need of a decent serving of street credibility on his CV before he moves off on his fast-track to Canberra. As far as he's concerned, Broome and the Kimberley, is just the place to do it. Armed with a largely cushy white upbringing, a sexy car, and a sense of adventure, Drew makes his way to his new home, only to discover he may not know as much as he thought he did.

'His car is derailed by a camel, his arrogance is curtailed by a stint in the cop shop, and his sense of self-worth is slowly eroded by his right hand man - court liaison Sam. For Sam is a proud, complex and angry man. A man who serves his people 24/7 and he has Drew pegged right from day one. If Drew wants to come to the Kimberley to get his 'degree in Aboriginality', then Sam is only too happy to help, to a point.

'The heat, the flies and the intense workload of a sausage-factory court system offer Drew little respite. He may have been able to talk-the-talk when he arrived, but he's finding it increasingly hard to walk-the-walk. Drew fails to understand the nuances of cases, fails to argue to the best of his ability and he doesn't even know enough to stay out of 'women's places'. He's a man with no culture, no country and no language that count in the Kimberley. Still, Drew keeps a brave face on when he speaks to his wife, and tries not to notice that Bella, Clerk of Courts, is a very attractive young Aboriginal woman indeed.

'Eventually finding his feet a little, Drew comes to like and rely on his new-found friends: Peter, the Magistrate; Bella, Clerk of Courts; Ellie, Legal Aid Lawyer; Archie the Journo and his Aboriginal lover, Clarry (Bella's cousin). Even Sam and Drew have their shared moments.

'But when he must defend Debbie Pope against a heavy drug charge, things become more complicated. Drew is sure that Debbie's father-in-law has some undue influence over the woman but Harry Pope is a respected Elder who sits on the bench with Peter. No amount of cajoling can get Debbie to speak out against him. Nor can Drew risk getting Peter's back up any further. Drew loses the fight - and the resulting scene of wrenching Debbie from her children is an emotional one.

'Back in Broome everyone is shell shocked... most of all Drew. His expectations, turned upside down by his first tour of duty, make Drew realise that he has a lot to learn in his new environment and that he's a long way from home.'

Source: SBS Television website, http://www21.sbs.com.au/
Sighted: 19/11/2008

'The Dogstar goes through a microwave radiation anomaly and ends up the size of a tennis ball. It arrives at New Earth where, by a stunning coincidence, it ends up inside the very Robog that belongs to Mark and Greta Clark. As Zeke says, 'Stranger things have happened,' though he can't think what.

'Meanwhile, a damaged Valiant crash-lands on Old Earth and the kids meet up with Ramon Ridley who is still trying to clean up the planet. This is difficult because Bob Santino has been dumping all his toxic waste on Old Earth.'

Source: Media World Pictures website, http://www.mediaworld.com.au/
Sighted: 19/08/2008

Dogstar, an award-winning children's animated series, follows the misfortunes of the inhabitants of a future Earth–and their dogs. According to the production company's website:

'After thousands of years of wars, pollution, undrinkable water and silly

cartoon shows, humans are forced to leave Earth and move everything and

everyone to a new planet: New Earth. But not everything goes to plan

and the Dogstar, a giant space ark containing all of the world's dogs,

becomes lost in space. On New Earth, the evil Bob Santino makes his

fortune selling canine replacement units, Robogs, and plots to ensure

the Dogstar is never found. But the Clark kids desperately miss their

real dog, Hobart, and begin a quest through space to find the Dogstar -

with Santino in hot pursuit'

Source: Media World website, http://www.mediaworld.com.au/ (Sighted: 3/5/2012)

As of 2012, Dogstar runs to 52 episodes, or two seasons of 26 episodes each, both of which were (almost exclusively) written by Doug MacLeod and Philip Dalkin. Series one aired in 2007, and series two will air in 2012.

The first series has been adapted into book form (see note above).

The official Dogstar website is www.dogstar.tv (Sighted: 3/5/2012).

'The Circuit is set in the Kimberley region of North Western Australia. It is a place of two seasons; the wet and the dusty dry. Known for its beauty, vastness and hardship, this region is a land rich in history for its traditional owners, but now sits within the confines of white ownership and white law. This is the home of The Circuit, the Magistrate's Court, which visits far-flung communities several days a month, bringing conveyor-belt justice dealt swiftly and fairly. Working between two worlds and juggling white law with traditional lore, means that justice can be a slippery beast.'

Source: SBS website, http://www.sbs.com.au/
Sighted: 09/07/2007

'In the year 2347, when Old Earth is pronounced uninhabitable, the Clarks load their family dog Hobart onto an intergalactic ark called the Dogstar to be transported to New Earth. Unfortunately, the Dogstar never arrives. All the dogs from old Earth ­ and two confused robot pilots, Zeke and Alice ­ are lost. But the Clark kids (and Gran) are determined to find the Dogstar and bring those dogs home. Robotics entrepreneur Bob Santino is just as determined to stop them.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 12/6/2013)

'Anti-hero Peter Dellasandro and his posse of boys become men in the process of bringing Skase back from Majorca. The forces of good overcome all obstacles to triumph over the bad guys, and a lot of laughs are had on the way.'

Source: Screen Australia.

Nominally a sequel to the highly successful, live-action Ocean Girl, the animated New Adventures of Ocean Girl has an entirely independent location and storyline. Placing Neri back on her watery home planet of Oceania, the program follows her attempts to locate and retrieve one of the four life-giving crystals normally guarded by the Sacred Whales. When one of the crystals was stolen thousands of years earlier by an evil space wizard, the balance of Oceania was upset. Only Neri can restore it.

'A romantic comedy about a vendetta gone wrong. The only thing everyone knows for sure is that they have to beware of Greeks bearing guns.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 18/12/2013)

'Four young men piece together their roles in a murder gone wrong.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 18/12/2013)

Set in the Australian high country and based on the characters created by Elyne Mitchell in her Silver Brumby books, this series follows the adventures of the silver colt Thowra, son of the mighty Yarraman. Thowra is destined to become king of all the wild horses. Intelligent and courageous, Thowra, his friends Storm and Boon Boon, his half brother Arrow, and the bush animals, including Benni the wise kangaroo, have to outwit the Mountain Men who want to capture the wild horses and take away their freedom.

(Source: Australian Screen)

In the unforgiving wilderness of the Australian Alps roams a stallion like no other: the Silver Brumby, revered by all, including his greatest enemy, man. One horseman determines to challenge the might of the horse who, according to legend, could never be tamed.

The fantasy element of this film comes through the strong anthropomorphism in the treatment of the horses and the way in which the story of Thowra and The Man is framed as a fable.