''Stepsister from Planet Weird'' is a

Disney Channel Original Movie Many television films have been produced for Disney Channel, an American family-oriented basic cable channel and former premium television channel since its launch on April 18, 1983. Until October 1997, films were released under the banner nam ...

which was released in June 2000. Directed by

Steve Boyum Steve Boyum (born September 4, 1952) is a long-time Hollywood stunt performer, television director, and film director. He has appeared in over 60 films as a stunt performer. He has lived in Malibu, California since 1974. Selected filmography Dir ...

, it stars Courtnee Draper,

Tamara Hope Tamara Lindeman (born November 2, 1984), also known by the name Tamara Hope, is a Canadian actress and musician. Her starring roles include ''Guinevere Jones'' and ''The Nickel Children'', as well as a recurring role on CTV's ''Whistler'' as Le ...

Lance Guest Lance R. Guest (born July 21, 1960) is an American film and television actor, best known for his starring role in 1984's ''The Last Starfighter''. Biography Guest developed a serious interest in acting as a freshman while attending Saratoga H ...

, and

Khrystyne Haje Khrystyne Kamil Haje ( ; born December 21, 1968) is an Americans, American actress. She is known for her role as Simone Foster in the sitcom series ''Head of the Class''. After the series ended in 1991, she continued acting in both television an ...

. Based on the book of the same name by

Francess Lantz Francess Lin Lantz (August 27, 1952 – November 22, 2004) was an American children's librarian turned fiction writer. Early years Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Lantz was raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She initially aspired to become a ro ...

, the plot follows a teenage girl (Draper), who discovers that her mother's fiance (Guest) and her own future stepsister (Hope), are actually strange

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

from another planet hiding out on Earth.

Plot

Megan Larson is an ordinary 14-year-old girl. Her

workaholic A workaholic is a person who works compulsively. A workaholic experiences an inability to limit the amount of time they spend on work despite negative consequences such as damage to their relationships or health. There is no generally accepted ...

father Fred and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

mother Kathy are divorced, and Megan longs for them to get back together as much as she longs for her little brother Trevor to be less annoying. But the thing she wants the most is for popular boy Cutter to be her boyfriend, so her dearest wish is to be in with the popular group. Things begin to get out of control when her mother meets Cosmo Cola, a nice but very strange man. He has a pretty and intelligent daughter named Ariel who is even weirder than her dad. Ariel hides under her father's car when the wind blows because she is afraid of wind, talks in a sophisticated manner, wears many layers to 'protect her essence' and cannot ride a bicycle, even with

training wheels Training wheels (or stabilisers in British English and Hiberno-English) are an additional wheel or wheels mounted parallel to the rear wheel of a bicycle that assist learners until they have developed a usable sense of balance on the bicycle. Ty ...

and a

football helmet The football helmet is a piece of protective equipment used mainly in gridiron football, although a structural variation has occasional use in Australian rules football. It consists of a hard plastic shell with thick padding on the inside, a f ...

. Mostly she complains that she hates the town where they live and wants to return to her hometown in

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

to be with her boyfriend Fanul. Worst of all for Megan, the kids at school think that the way Ariel behaves is 'cool and revolutionary'. Her teachers believe her mannerisms are poetic, and she even gets to sit at the popular table on her first day, which attracts Cutter's attention. What Megan does not realize is that Ariel and her father are

from Planet Zircalon. Because Ariel's father was a

freedom fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

on their home planet, they escaped to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

, leaving behind their home, Ariel's mother who perished in the escape, and Ariel's boyfriend Fanul who is the son of the tyrannical emperor S'Vad. On her home planet, every citizen is a gaseous bubble that floats carelessly, so Ariel is very uncomfortable with the solid objects of Earth. She hates everything on Earth: her name, the way the wind blows, food, the solid objects and the people. "Every time I look at this horrid vehicle; the rubbery flesh, the flat face, the ghastly yellow hair that grows out of this hideous skull, I can only think I am grotesque." Ariel and Megan become enemies despite Megan's mother's engagement to Ariel's father. As Ariel and Megan realize that they both want to break up their parents, they agree on a temporary alliance to achieve their common goal. However, none of their plans work out. After a while, Megan begins to suspect something especially unusual is occurring and discovers that Ariel and Cosmo are aliens. Fanul and S'Vad arrive to take Ariel and Cosmo home to Zircalon, but Fanul turns on his father after Megan, Ariel, and Cutter convince him of the benefits of freedom. As Ariel's race is vulnerable to wind, she, Megan, Cutter, Fanul, and Trevor are able to defeat S'Vad with a

leaf blower A leaf blower, commonly known as a blower, is a device that propels air out of a nozzle to move debris such as leaves and grass cuttings. Leaf blowers are powered by electric or gasoline motors. Gasoline models have traditionally been two-strok ...

and

hairdryer A hair dryer, hairdryer or blow dryer is an electromechanical device that blows ambient or hot air over damp hair to speed the evaporation of water to dry the hair. Blow dryers enable better control over the shape and style of hair, by accelerat ...

s. After S'Vad is defeated, Cosmo marries Kathy, Megan and Fanul develop feelings for each other while Ariel and Cutter do the same, and Ariel and Megan become best friends. Fanul plans to return home and take over as ruler after the death of his father, but also plans to make changes to the way things are run and to grant the people freedom. Fanul promises to return to Earth occasionally to visit Megan. Megan and Ariel realize that even though they are from different worlds they are a lot alike.

Cast

* Courtnee Draper as Megan Larson, Kathy's daughter and Ariel's future stepsister *

as Ariel Cola, Cosmo's daughter and Megan's future stepsister *

as Cosmo Cola, Kathy's fiance and Ariel's father *

as Kathy Larson, Megan's mother and Cosmo's fiance *

Vanessa Lee Chester Vanessa Lee Chester (born July 2, 1984) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actor in the films ''A Little Princess'' (1995) and ''Harriet the Spy'' (1996), before her breakthrough role in Steven Spielberg's '' The Lost World: ...

as Michelle "Mikey", Megan's best friend * Cecelia Specht as Serena Soo, Heather Hartman's best friend * Myles Jeffrey as Trevor Larson, Megan's annoying little brother *

Lauren Maltby Lauren may be a given name or surname.The name's meaning may be "laurel tree", "sweet of honor", or "wisdom". It is derived from the French name Laurence, a feminine version of Laurent, which is in turn derived from the Roman surname Laurentius. ...

as Heather Hartman, a popular girl in Megan's school *

Tiriel Mora Tiriel Mora (born 19 October 1958) is an Australian television and film actor. Early life He is a son of the late Melbourne artist Mirka Mora and Georges Mora, German-born Australian entrepreneur, art dealer, patron, connoisseur and restaur ...

as Fooop, S'Vad's doppelganger * Henry Feagins as Fanul, Ariel's boyfriend, but later becomes Megan's eventual boyfriend * Tiriel Mora as S'Vad, a tyrannical emperor of Planet Zircalon and main antagonist * Tom Wright as Cutter Colburne, a popular boy whom Megan has a crush on

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stepsister From Planet Weird Disney Channel Original Movie films 2000 television films 2000 films Films shot in Australia American science fiction comedy films American teen comedy films Films about extraterrestrial life Films about shapeshifting Films based on American novels American science fiction television films Films with screenplays by Chris Matheson (screenwriter) American comedy television films Films directed by Steve Boyum 2000s American films