I watched all twenty-six episodes of
Spellbinder over the past few days.
Spellbinder was an Australian/Polish kids' show that aired in 1995. A teenage boy gets caught in a bit of an electromagnetic mix-up and winds up in another world which, while supposedly being the same place and time, is radically different from his own. He eventually finds that the Spellbinders - "magicians" who rule the world - simply use basic electric/magnetic equipment to control the people.
Over time he learns why the two worlds are so different, helps change things and finds his way home - only to learn that the "primitive" world he just escaped from can be pretty darned menacing.
The acting was fantastic, and the main actor is... terribly attractive. (Zbych Trofimiuk now teaches at Monash University - I am tempted to go there just to be in one of his classes!) The show also guest-starred quite a few people who went on to do other things - Joel Edgerton played Anakin Skywalker's uncle in the Star Wars prequels; Jenny Hardy went on to host The Big Breakfast... it even had Peter Sumner, from another Australian show beginning with "sp" that I love:
Spyforce, from the 1970s!
The main villain is actually quite menacing for a kids' show (you'd never have someone that evil now) and the kid characters do a lot that would be frowned on in kids' shows today - blatant wagging and lying; heck, in the last episode two kids knowingly do something that could KILL the bad guy! That all does, however, make them seem more heroic; they face certain severe consequences just to do the right thing, where kids' shows these days would limit you to doing your best to help without doing anything "wrong" yourself. (Wagging school to save a friend's life? NEVER!)
The plot was really well-crafted and scientifically sound - with the exception of a few events in the last few episodes, it is all theoretically possible. (The last few episodes lack a little in more than the science department, sadly.)
The only problem with the show is that it is so perfect and so complete that it leaves little to exploit for fanfiction, spin-offs, etc. That said, I am tempted to create a thorough guide to the show for people who are interested.
It ranks right up with
Super Sentai as probably my favourite TV series so far. It's pretty much perfect. I saw quite a few episodes when it first aired, but not the whole series - I hunted for it for years but couldn't remember the title, until it re-aired on TV last year.
Great stuff. You can get it on DVD (but it is hard to find) but I would urge EVERYONE to see it. It is just that good.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
amused
annoyed
blah