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Nowhere Boys

The boys are back with powers that must be controlled, in ABC3's most excellent adventure.

2014-11-15_2243Felix, Andy, Jake and Sam have been found.

Those Nowhere Boys are back in the real world, and have morphed into a teen version of The Fantastic Four.

Having spent much of their first season lost during a high school expedition, the ‘Bremin Four’ are back in their fringe community and have become instant celebrities. They even have to front their very own rock-star Press Conference. But what the media haven’t become wise to is that our heroes were lost in an alternate universe, where jeopardy, magic and CGI are twice as deadly as they are in this one.

Now they are back with their very own super-powers based around fire, earth, air and water. Having been thrown together and forced to bond, the four polar opposites must now harness the force within them, Clark Kent or Luke Skywalker-style. Get ready for plenty of ‘whoa, dude’ moments.

ABC3’s series again relies on the commitment of its central troupe, four young and spirited actors Douggie Baldwin, Joel Lok, Matt Testro and Rahart Adams (previously credited as Rahart Sadiqzai).

The series asks much of them: a sense of wonderment, comedy, action and emotion, but they deliver at every turn. In this regard Nowhere Boys has become an excellent vehicle for their developing acting range -some have already chalked up US roles and the series has a swag of awards and nominations.

For the audience -including for males so often overlooked in this genre- those qualities ensure an entertaining ride that never speaks down to them. Creator Tony Ayres loads a second season with youthful dilemmas in what could have easily ended with a single season storyline.

Underneath its paranormal elements are themes of friendship, individuality and self-esteem. Loveable losers don’t always get the girl, but there are other ways to triumph, persevering through misadventures.

Amongst the adult cast are Michala Banas, Victoria Thane, Libby Tanner, Damien Richardson, Heidi Arena and Nicole Nabout.

There’s a nice ‘village’ backdrop in this city-meets-bush location that cleverly hints at a supernatural forest whilst easily working for international audiences. The tell-tale eucalyptus trees ensure it never apologises for being Australian.

As evidence of the show’s strong credentials the Matchbox Pictures series has attracted Rachel Griffiths for her first TV directing role this season, and ABC will simulcast the premiere as a ‘multiplatform event’ across ABC, ABC3 and iview.

Australia has a fine track record in Live action children’s drama and Nowhere Boys continues the tradition as the best since Dance Academy.

Episode 1 6pm Sunday, November 23 ABC / ABC3 / iview.
Episode 2 6:30pm on ABC3

3 Responses

  1. We’ve always done well making these types of genre shows for younger audiences, shows like Spellbinder, Round the Twist, Thunderstone and many, many others (showing my age with that sentence). Its shame we don’t attempt these types of shows for adults.

  2. Looking forward to this season of Nowhere Boys, I really enjoyed the first season, I actually think it is up there with the 1995 TV series Spellbinder (co-produced between Australia and Poland):

    “A group of teenagers go on a school camp in the Blue Mountains in Australia. While at the camp, Paul Reynolds accidentally goes into a parallel universe. This other world is inhabited by a more hierarchic and technologically different society, ruled by a group of people known as Spellbinders.”

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