Though I have been concentrating on Aussie-made TV for young adults in the 90s, there were some decent shows to come from other countries in the same era.  Made from 1989 through to 1993, The Press Gang gave many of us an edgy and humorous look at how the English view their teens.
“Originally aired on ABC TV, Press Gang was a BAFTA Award-winning series chronicling the world of youth newspaper the Junior Gazette, run by high school students in the fictional city of Norbridge.”

Lynda Day (played by Julia Sawalha) is a rather stressed editor and chief, and is begrudgingly backed up by bad boy, Spike (Dexter Fletcher). Paul Reynolds played the consummate sleaze bag, Collin Mathews, that you just can’t help feeling somewhat sorry for.

The writing credits go to Steven Moffat, based on an idea by Bill Moffat. It was filmed on location in Uxbridge and Hayes in England.

This series, besides getting the giggles with fast-paced wit and stereotypical character types, really took a swipe at the way teens were seen as being useless and lazy. The characters worked hard to get that newspaper on the shelves,  learning along the way about what makes a good news story and when to draw the line.

They tackled some really hard issues, from terrorism to teen suicide, drug addiction, and adultery, interpersonal relationships at work and a little bit about love along the way.

Here’s a clip from Season 1…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpaZcBoj-qY

and the complete series is available on DVD.

This really was a huge step towards treating teens as intelligent members of society. It was prior to the time when ‘youth’ started being used as a derogatory term to describe young delinquents. For so many in this decade the motto for the Junior Gazette really did describe the show: “A voice for today’s youth.”

We all know strange things have been going on with vampires recently. Authors and filmmakers have been twisting mythology, setting new rules and boundaries for the most fabulous of all monsters. Vamps seem to take on all sorts of different guises – the ones who can walk around just like you or me in the sunshine, don’t have any hassles at all with crossing moving water and might even dine out on garlic bread with their pizza. Some have fangs, some don’t; others wear crucifixes as a fashion statement. But the common link is blood. Drinking it, that is. Other than that, it seems writers can do whatever they want with the once feared and gruesome bloodsucker… but should they?

American author, Richelle Mead has delved a little deeper into the basic vampire myth, drawing from Romanian Folklore; it’s this that makes her Vampire Academy series that bit different to everything else out there right now.

The series contains six books, with Vampire Academy being the first. It’s there we meet Rose Hathaway, who narrates the series, and her best friend Vasilisa (Lissa) Dragomir. Rose is a Dhampir, a vampire/human hybrid. Dhampirs have enhanced strength, suffer none of the weaknesses of actual vampires (heck, they don’t even need to drink blood) and quite often, serve as bodyguards – called guardians – to the real vamps. Those real vampires fall into two groups, which is where the Romanian Folklore kicks in.

There’s the Moroi and the Strigoi. Moroi are actually living, breathing creatures and while they need blood, they never kill to obtain it. In fact, there’s always lots of willing humans or Dhampirs ready and willing to bend a neck and get a quick endorphin rush in return. Sunlight doesn’t kill Moroi, but it does weaken them, and while their strength and senses are heightened compared to humans, they still die natural deaths. Moroi also each possess an ‘element’ of magic. Typically, this is either  Earth, Fire or Water. But occasionally, a Spirit user pops up amongst the Moroi – and this causes all sorts of problems for both the users themselves, those around them, and those who want to capture and use the Spirit user’s unique gift.

Then there’s the Strigoi. These guys are your typical bad-arse vampires, of the undead variety. They’re evil and they’re bloodthirsty and can be killed by all the usual methods – sunlight, decapitation, stake through the heart (as long as it’s pure silver) and fire. Moroi and Dhampirs can and are turned throughout the series into Strigoi – whether it be by force, or occasionally, by choice.

In book one, we learn that Rose is not only Lissa’s best friend, but once she’s finished her training at St Vladimir’s, wants nothing more than to be Lissa’s guardian for life. Lissa is the last member remaining member of the Dragomir bloodline, a Moroi royal family. The two girls share an unusual one-way psychic bond which enables Rose to be able to see through Lissa’s eyes and read her mind. It gives the reader an interesting insight – although all the books in Vampire Academy are told from Rose’s point of view, sometimes we get a sneak peak at what’s going on with Lissa. And sometimes – that information is a little hot and heavy.

Yes, both the girls have love interests. Lissa with the dark and handsome Christian; a fellow royal Moroi. Rose’s love interest is not so straight forward, and the backdrop of the entire series. She falls for Dimitri, a world famous guardian, stronger, more lethal and feared by the Strigoi than any other Dhampir. He also happens to be Rose’s instructor and teacher. Yep, you guessed it – even in a world of vampires, this is a big no-no.

Rose, Dimitri, Lissa and a whole gang of supporting characters (some of whom are going on to ‘Bloodlines’, Mead’s next series) become entangled in all manner of sticky situations throughout the six books. There’s love, lust, loss and heartache entwined with plenty of action for our kick-arse heroine. Rose is a strong protagonist, a girl who grows into a woman with strong values and is willing to fight and kill for what she believes in, no matter how high the cost to her own heart.

So should authors like Richelle Mead play with vampire lore and rewrite the myth? Well, yeah. Everything old becomes new again… right? I think this series works most of the time. It can be a little repetitive and sometimes feels formulated, but on a whole I think those who can’t get enough of the modern day vampire and like a bit of lovin’ with their bloodsuckers will enjoy Mead’s spin on an old folktale.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Bk 1 – Vampire Academy, ISBN – 978-1-59514-174-3

Bk 2 – Frostbite, ISBN – 978-1-59514-175-0

Bk 3 – Shadow Kiss, ISBN – 978-1-59514-197-2

Bk 4 – Blood Promise, ISBN – 978-1-921518-29-4

Bk 5 – Spirit Bound, ISBN – 978-1-921518-86-7

Bk 6 – Last Sacrifice, ISBN – 978-1-921518-90-4

Heartbreak High httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O1NqPAEcsA

was the single most controversial and the longest running  kids program to grace our TV screens. It was successful because it dared to cover things most parents would never dream of talking to their kids about. The full cast and crew for season 1 can be found here.

The show was a spin-off of the movie from 1993 The Heartbreak Kid in which teacher Christina Papadopoulous (Claudia Karvan) and student Nick Polides (Alex Dimitriades) fall in love. The first season follows Nick and his classmates in their final years of high school. As the series continued the new batch of students take over from the graduates from the previous seasons.

We get to see Rebecca Smart again and quite a few other faces you’ll recognise from more current TV shows. Probably the most striking face would be that of Callan Mulvey, who now is a crime fighter on the Aussie made cop show Rush.

When a show can be that controversial and still manage to get 7 seasons aired, you know we had a quality program. Working, teen suicide, drug abuse, homelessness, pregnancy, racism, shoplifting, and romance all thrown in on top of the daily struggle to achieve in school and maintain some semblance of a social life.

The series was recently replayed on ABC 3, right from the beginning. I don’t think they played all 7 seasons but it was great to see the Heartly High kids back on my screen for a while.

They just do not make TV like this anymore. Political correctness has gotten in the way of the brilliant teaching aid that is the television medium. This golden era of Aussie-made programs is missed greatly by those who had the pleasure to live through it. We now cringe at the insipid and pointless plotlines of shows in recent years. We need to get back to basics and bring forth a second golden era of intelligently written, Aussie-made TV for Young Adults.

Hello there my readers! I have returned to bring you the cold hard reality of High Def: The Blu-Ray drive is not enough! If you truly want to experience the full power of HD you need complete the set with a nice HD TV. A few years ago these babies were worth an arm and a leg, but now they’ve replaced the ol’ tube that’s been with us since the age of the dinosaurs.

Now you’d think that if you go to the electronics store to check them out, they’re all the same, just different sizes. WRONG! The huge diversity of models means that there’s plenty of features to choose from including the very way the TV works! So check this out:

LCD TVs or Liquid Crystal Display sets are generally longer lasting and are the most common. Because of this, they’re the cheapest types available.

Plasma TVs work differently and are slightly bulkier. However the colors they display are much richer and defined, and the black is very close to actual black (like when you turn it off). Unfortunately, these babies are a little more fragile and they get hot. Add to this a higher price tag and you get a wonderful but dying technology that will soon disappear from the store room. If you are lucky enough to grab one, don’t let it go!

The list of brands of Hi Def TV sets is almost endless. Beware that the brands that sound too weird (meaning that you haven’t seen around much) are usually of poorer quality from the mainstream. Personally, I recommend anything from Sony, Vizio, Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba. Did I also mention that these sets will work if you hook them up to the computer? Yep, they do!

Be sure that to really enjoy that Blu Ray copy you just rented or bought, you have to get one that displays 1080p. This is the highest resolution on distributed media, and I assure you the investment is definitely worth it.

My little baby is a modest 23” Samsung 1080p tv/monitor. It’s served me well, and because of Samsung’s legendary reliability, you can bet that it’ll be around in a few years. You can see it here.

As I’ve told you before, be sure to check everything out when you go TV shopping! If you got questions, post a reply below or write on my twitter feed!

I would like to introduce you to a series that was shot from 1994 right through until 1997.

Ocean Girl

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScsPLZRIExQ&feature=related

brought environmental concerns to the forefront of our minds. It was directed by Mark Defriest, Colin Budds, Brendan Maher, Judith John-Story. The writing credits go to Peter Hepworth, Niel Luxmoore, David Phillips, Michael Joshua, Judith Colquhoun, Alison Nisselle, Jenny Sharp, Lois Booton, Helen MacWhirter, Graham Hartley, Everett De Roche, Colin Budds and Jonathan M. Shiff, and it was shot in both North Queensland and Victoria.

IMDB usually has a synopsis on the  program, but I guess because the series went for so long it is a little hard to pin down to a 10-line summary. I’ll try.

Neri, (a girl who can talk to whales and lives alone in paradise) is discovered by the teenage son of a marine scientist, Jason, and his little brother, Brett. They become fast friends and together they overcome many issues surrounding conservation, pollution, illegal whaling, and keeping Neri secret.

Casting was brilliant for this program. Jeffrey Walker who you may know better as Bronson from Round the Twist, and Kerry Armstrong from SeaChange, as well as Lauren Hewett from the second season of Spellbinder, combined to create a solid foundation for the new ecologically aware series.

The mid-nineties had us concerned with saving the earth. Reduce, reuse, recycle was becoming the catchcry of the under 20’s and Ocean Girl came in at the perfect time. The twist in the tail that made this series a little more sci fi was the hinting that Neri wasn’t quite ‘human’; but you’ll have to find that out for yourself.

I’ll continue on with my nostalgia in future instalments. Hope you don’t mind.