Cirrus@Austlit

After stumbling on a secret super-computer, clumsy pizza delivery boy Scooter transforms himself into Secret Agent X-19, undertaking a double life of international intrigue.

The program draws its inspiration from straightforward spy films, such as the James Bond franchise, as well as their parodic counterparts, such as Get Smart, from which Scooter: Secret Agent draws its comedic tone. Simultaneously, the program makes extensive use of both stuntwork (including wire work) and special effects in order to provide Scooter with a a range of science-fiction gadgets.

'Based on the popular books by Rose Impey, this comedy-drama series features five 12-year-old girls on their quest for identity, individuality, belonging, family, friendship and how to have the most fun while trying to deny the existence of boys.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 3/12/2013)

'In England a recently bereaved widow and her two children discover that they've inherited a property in Australia. With some reluctance they head to Australia to claim their inheritance only to discover that the profitable sheep station they've imagined is in fact a rather out of the way wildlife park full of Australian native animals. What's more it has human occupants as well - a distantly related trio of grandchildren who have been bequeathed lifelong rights to live on the property. As well, there's an Australian born Vietnamese animal handler who's somehow the only one who has real expertise in dealing with native Australian animals.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 23/5/2014)

'Life is never simple for single mum Tori Konrad and her 14-year-old son Jake. Their quiet little horse-riding school just outside the city has suddenly been invaded by teenagers.

'There's Julia, a highly independent 16-year-old from Germany who has come to Outriders to stay with her Aunt Tori and hopefully recover from the trauma of her mother's recent death. Regina (she prefers Reggie) was asked to leave three different schools before her parents jumped at the opportunity of her taking up a working residence at Outriders. Vince is 17, going on 30. He's been in and out of foster homes for as long as he can remember. Before he arrived he'd hardly seen a horse, let alone ridden one. And then there's Shane, a country boy who is now resident stable hand, riding instructor and jack of all trades. He's hard working and uncomplicated, with a big heart and an even bigger sense of humour.

'It's an unlikely crew, but strangely the chemistry seems to work. Each offers something the others admire and slowly a bond between them forms. Reggie's enthusiasm balances Julia's caution. Shane's honesty counters Vince's street smarts. Of course, there's always a few hiccups and a fair bit of horseplay. But when danger threatens or troubles arise, you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of Outriders.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 28/11/2013)

When Rodney and Jessica witness two aliens crash landing on Earth, they undertake to protect them by roping them into joining the world's most unsuccessful children's television program, Kid's Breakfast (nicknamed Pig's Breakfast). Disguised as characters on the program, Grob and Meeba (and their pilot Queegle) are forbidden to reveal their real identities: the media believe them to be eccentric actors who prefer to stay in character (and costume). But the situation is complicated by the fact that the crashed spaceship was a school bus, and Grob and Meeba, although genuine aliens, are also genuine teenagers.

Spellbinder II: Land of the Dragon Lord is something of a sequel to the earlier Spellbinder, also written by Mark Shirrefs and John Thomson. However, the only recurring characters are Spellbinder's antagonist Ashka and her offsider.

In this series, teenager Kathy Morgan is, like Paul in the original series, pulled into a different world: however, where Paul is pulled into an alternative Europe in which the Industrial Revolution never happened, Kathy is pulled into an alternative China (the land of the Dragon Lord), in which the empire is controlled by advanced technology. She finds enemies not only in the land of the Dragon Lord, but also in Ashka's world (the original world of the Spellbinders).

Spellbinder II was the last major collaboration (thus far) between Mark Shirrefs and John Thomson, who had previously collaborated on such important Australian science-fiction and fantasy children's television programs as The Girl from Tomorrow, The Girl from Tomorrow Part II, and Spellbinder.

After a prank at a school camp goes horribly wrong, Sydney schoolboy Paul finds himself transported into a parallel world where the Industrial Revolution never took place and where power is wielded by the Spellbinders, whose power suits allow them to manipulate and create static electricity. Though the Spellbinders are largely benevolent, Paul and Riana (the inhabitant of the Spellbinder world who aids Paul) manage to cross Ashka, an ambitious Spellbinder who craves absolute power.

The series is evenly split between Paul's experiences in Riana's world and Riana's confusion when she crosses over to Paul's world.

Spellbinder was another program to arise from the collaboration of Mark Shirrefs and John Thomson, who had previously worked together on The Girl from Tomorrow, The Girl from Tomorrow Part II, and Mission Top Secret.

When twelve-year-old Jemma accidentally taps into a disused telecommunications satellite, she uses her new network to form a worldwide crime-fighting syndicate.

Mission Top Secret was another production by New Zealand-born television producer Roger Mirams, whose previous contributions to Australian children's television included The Terrific Adventures of the Terrible Ten, The Magic Boomerang, Adventures of the Seaspray, The Lost Islands, Secret Valley, Professor Poopsnagle's Steam Zeppelin, and Runaway Island.

Typically for a Roger Mirams' production, Mission Top Secret focuses on the independence and capability of the child protagonists, with adults limited to the roles of either advisor (Sir Joshua Cranberry) or villain (Neville Savage).

Although the program is listed in certain places (e.g., the Internet Movie Database) as an Australia/Spain/United Kingdom/New Zealand/The Netherlands co-production, the scripts were all by Australian writers, with the exception of the four episodes scripted by French television script-writers Jean-Jacques Gaffie and Benjamin Legrand.

A sequel to The Girl from Tomorrow, The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End begins with Alana returning to her own time with Jenny, who has been badly wounded and needs the advanced medical treatment Alana's people can offer. But with both Silverthorn and Jenny out of their own time, Alana's people begin to fear that their time travel experiments are affecting the course of history. They restore both Silverthorn and Jenny to their own times and return once again to 3000AD--to find it a radioactive wasteland. Alana must trace the cause of the disaster, which leads her to 2500AD and Draco, malevolent controller of GlobeCorp, the company that controls all resources in the polluted, unhappy dystopia that is 2500AD.

Likes its predecessor and the later programs Spellbinder and Spellbinder II: Land of the Dragon Lord, The Girl from Tomorrow II was a collaboration between Mark Shirrefs and John Thomson, although in this case Thomson is only credited with the story and Shirrefs with the actual screenplays.

Alana lives in the year 3000AD, a utopian time in which the citizens' only concern is the ramifications of The Great Disaster that befell the world in 2500AD. While participating in a time travel experiment, Alana is kidnapped by Silverthorn, a criminal from the year 2500AD, whom her tutor has accidentally brought back with her. Escaping from Silverthorn in the year 1990AD, Alana elicits the assistance of local girl Jenny to help her both stop Silverthorn and get back to the time capsule before she is stranded permanently in the past.

The Girl from Tomorrow was an early collaboration between Mark Shirrefs and John Thomson, who had previously both written for the short-lived sit-com Let the Blood Run Free. The pair became significant figures in Australian children's science-fiction and fantasy television: together, they went on to write The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End, Spellbinder, and Spellbinder II: Land of the Dragon Lord.