Cirrus@Austlit

As with its predecessors, The Interpretaris and Vega 4, Phoenix Five took its name from the spaceship that was the show's focus: the flagship of Earth Space Control, with a two-man, one-woman team, assisted by their computeroid, Karl. The show had two primary villains. For the first thirteen episodes, the villain was Zodian (the evil scientist of Vega 4, now re-cast and with a newly blue skintone), who sought galactic domination from his base on Zebula 9, with the support of his twin computers, Alpha and Zeta. When Zodian was captured, he was replaced as villain by Platonus, assisted by a computer called Tommy.

Rather than following a single story arc as its predecessors had, Phoenix Five was a series of self-contained stories, allowing the script writers to move freely around the galaxies, and explore whichever crisis the crew happened to come across.

Soourece: Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series and Don Storey's Classic Australian Television (Sighted: 6/10/2011)

Developed by Guy Thayer as a co-production between Artransa Park Studios and Trans Pacific Enterprises, Riptide starred American actor Ty Hardin (former star of the western series Bronco, which ran from 1958 to 1962) as Moss Andrews, an American businessman who travels to Australia after the sudden death of his Australian wife, and works through his bereavement by assisting his father-in-law in operating a charter-boat business, a purpose that is frequently thwarted as he crosses the paths of various villains.

Apart from Hardin, the cast was Australian, including such short-lived roles as medical student Neil Winton, his girlfriend Judy Plenderleith, and Moss's father-in-law Barney Duncan (whose character disappeared when the actor portraying him died during the series' run). (See notes below for more details on Australian guest stars.)

According to Don Storey in Australian Classic Television, the series cost around $70,000 an episode, and made extensive use of expensive props (largely nautical, but also including cars and helicopters). However, the plots were frequently stigmatised as ridiculous: Storey notes that 'These comments are quite valid - the plots in Riptide are ridiculous', but Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, counters that 'it did not deserve these brickbats. It is a reasonably entertaining adventure series in the tradition of Adventures in Paradise'.