''Under the Mountain'' is an eight-part television series based on the 1979 novel of the same name written by

Maurice Gee Maurice Gough Gee (born 22 August 1931) is a New Zealand novelist. He is one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and has won numerous awards both in New Zealand an ...

, first transmitted in 1981 and produced by

Television New Zealand , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solom ...

. Many of the minor roles in this series were played by people who were at the time well known performers in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Series overview

Plot

The show focuses on twins Rachel and Theo Matheson. While on school summer holidays in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, they are contacted by a man named Mr. Jones, who had met them briefly eight years earlier. This time, Mr. Jones reveals his true identity and mission. He is an

alien 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 extrater ...

—a member of the mysterious race called The People Who Understand and was sent from another world in a battle against another race of aliens. These latter creatures were a family of slimy, slug-like beasts who could take on human form. Led by the evil Mr. Wilberforce, the slug monsters were now bent on destroying Earth and only the twins' emerging

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

abilities could turn them back. The other major conflict presented by the series is that of Rachel and Theo's emerging abilities. Rachel accepted the truth of their abilities, while Theo was more of a cynic and often challenged Mr. Jones. The psychic abilities in the series increase in effectiveness as the individual grows in trust and acceptance of his or her abilities. In the final episode of the series, the twins are each required to throw a stone and focus their psychic energy into the stone to create a red and blue bridge-like construct that will defeat the Wilberforces. Because Theo's faith in his abilities and his belief in supernatural phenomena in general is lacking, his half of the bridge is insufficient to complete the construct. Mr. Jones uses the last of his life energy to complete the construct and defeat the Wilberforces, and can no longer be with Rachel and Theo as a result.

Episode guide

Location

Filming for the farm & bush scenes in the first episode took place near Silverdale, North of

, at Mt. Pleasant, an historic dairy farm & homestead in Pine Valley Road.

Cast and crew

* Kirsty Wilkinson as Rachel Matheson * Lance Warren as Theo Matheson * Roy Leywood as Mr. Jones * Bill Johnson as Mr. Wilberforce * Bill Ewens as Ricky
* Directed by: Chris Bailey * Produced by: Tom Finlayson * Written by:

* Screenplay by:

Ken Catran Ken Catran (born 16 May 1944) is a children's novelist and television screenwriter from New Zealand. Career Catran is the author of many teen novels, including ''Taken at the Flood'', ''Voyage with Jason'', ''Doomfire on Venus'', ''Space Wolf'', ...

* Music by: Bernie Allen

Broadcast and release

International distribution

* In the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the title is ''Moddermonsters'' (''Mud Monsters'') but also known as ''De Monsterplaneet'' (''The Monster Planet''). * In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, it was shown on '' The Third Eye'' on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

from the early 1980s.

Home video release

All eight episodes have been released on one dual-layer region-free (region 0) DVD in New Zealand. For some reason the video format chosen for the DVD was NTSC, while the original production material would have been produced for PAL transmission as that is the standard in use throughout New Zealand and Australia. This makes the DVD unplayable for people with certain older TV sets unable to display NTSC. Picture quality is described on the DVD cover as "subject to quality of dated production source." Audio is mono, but is of an acceptable quality.

Remake

In 2009 ''Under the Mountain'' was adapted into a New Zealand feature film with cameos by Kirsty Wilkinson and Bill Johnson, directed by

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0202769
Information about the series
1980s New Zealand television series 1980s television miniseries 1981 New Zealand television series debuts 1981 New Zealand television series endings English-language television shows New Zealand children's television series New Zealand science fiction television series New Zealand television miniseries Television shows based on New Zealand novels Television shows filmed in New Zealand Television shows set in Auckland TVNZ original programming Television series about siblings pl:Tajemnica wygasłych wulkanów