Stormworld

Stormworld is an Australian-Canadian television drama series aired on the Nine Network in 2009 in Australia and first aired on Space March 2009[2] in Canada with a repeat broadcast in August 2009.

Stormworld
GenreScience fiction-Drama
Created byJohn Goldsmith
Paul Barron
Written byRobert Greenberg
Alex Burrows, David Ogilvie, Bryan McQueen-Mason and others
Directed byMark DeFriest
Ted McQueen-Mason
StarringAndrew Jenkins[1]
Calum Worthy
Valentina Barron
Lim Kay Tong
Theme music composerTim Count
Keith VanGeyzel
Country of originAustralia
Canada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producersPaul Barron
Shawn Williamson
ProducersPaul Barron
Stephen Hegyes
Production locationsWestern Australia, Australia
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
CinematographySimon Akkerman
EditorsEdward McQueen-Mason
Bryan McQueen-Mason
Camera setupNigel Tomkinson
Rusty Geller
Running time26 minutes
Production companiesBrightlight Pictures
Great Western Entertainment
Release
Original networkNine Network
CTV Television Network
Space
Original release18 March (2009-03-18) –
9 September 2009 (2009-09-09)

The show follows two boys, Jason (Andrew Jenkins) and Lee (Calum Worthy), after they are transported to an alien world (Stormworld) with three suns, through a vortex while on a boat trip that started in Vancouver, Canada. The boys receive help from Flees (Valentina Barron) a seasoned veteran of living on Stormworld who has a special boat named Stormrider. The boys, as new arrivals or "access crashers" as the local inhabitants call them, find shelter at The Settlement.

Stormworld is the destination for people and objects from many different worlds. Transport to Stormworld happens when a vortex is created between Stormworld and another world by large beetle-like insects. The surface of Stormworld is a salt water ocean with many islands that have a generally hot climate. Fresh water is a scarce resource that is central to the survival of all inhabitants. This leads to everyone constantly searching for fresh water, including the fabled Great Water. Trade and barter of the objects brought through the vortices operate as the basis of the inhabitants' economy.

People

There are three principal groups of inhabitants on Stormworld: The Settlement, the Arkoddians and the Drogue. Conflict between the groups happens regularly on the show.

The Settlement

The Settlement is a constitutionally-based society with democratic principles. The Settlement is located at the Sighing Peaks on an island. It was founded by Werrolda who wrote its constitution. When Jason and Lee arrive Werrolda is the leader. High on a hill not far from the Settlement is a beacon that flashes a bright light at regular intervals to attract other "access crashers" after arriving in a Vortex.

Arkoddians

The Arkoddians are a tightly hierarchical society run by the patriarchs. They live on an island a significant distance away from the Settlement. Each Arkoddian requires more water per day than a human. Some of the Arkoddians are armed with lazbolts. Unlike most of the other people on Stormworld, the Arkoddians appear to have arrived as a group on a large boat.

The Drogue

The Drogue are a small band of thugs that prey on the Settlement and collect objects from the vortices. They are equipped with flybikes that are armed with energy cannons.

The Abiders

The Abiders were a race of people who occupied Stormworld sometime ago. They placed the sighing peaks in order to create a map, and presumably were the creators of the portal that leads off the planet.

Stormworld geography

Stormworld has geography that is very different from Earth. The first major difference easily noticed are the three suns: a yellow sun, a blue sun and a red sun. The three suns have a strong effect on the geography, flora and fauna of the planet. Because of the increased solar radiation, Stormworld is a very hot planet. This heat means there is a severe lack of fresh water available for the inhabitants. Water rationing and conservation is everyone's first concern. The lack of water also means fewer plants or animals are available as food sources.

There are indigenous plants and animals to Stormworld that the people use for food, although a significant amount of the food is brought to Stormworld through the vortices. The members of The Settlement augment their collected food with a garden though it is not large. The Arkoddians maintain a diet that is strictly focused on a type of seaweed. The Drogue just take food from everyone else, or what they can gather from vortices.

Each day on Stormworld lasts 30 hours.

When the red sun is the only sun in the sky, the Blood Kelp in the ocean becomes carnivorous. The Blood Kelp will crawl onto boats and coastal shores to devour people. Once the yellow sun rises, the Blood Kelp retreats back into the ocean.

There are several natural phenomena that are dangerous to everyone: vortices, winders, twisters and mystals.

Vortices

Vortices create a connection from Stormworld to other planets, then draw people and objects to Stormworld. It is dangerous to be near a vortex on Stormworld because the objects come through with great force. Each vortex is started on Stormworld by the swarming of large beetle-like insects that are about 20 cm by 10 cm in size. When the insects disperse, the Vortex ends. Vortices typically last a few minutes as they move with the swarm. The swarming of the insects happens after they have been excited by mystals.

Winders

Winders look like horizontal lightning that can flow over the land. Each winder is composed of several electric threads. They are very deadly, but the Arkoddians have learned to handle them with grounding rods. Winders are attracted to mental activity. The origin of the winders is revealed at the end of season one.

Twisters

Twisters appear as small, fast moving tornadoes that move over land. One or several can appear at the same time. A twister is composed of air so extremely dry that all water is removed from any person it makes contact with. People become completely dehydrated so quickly their bodies turn to dust.

Mystals

Mystals appear as sparkling banks of slow moving fog. They are highly charged with energy. Contact with a mystal leads to mental debilitation, or worse, death. Mystals cannot affect someone underwater.

Equipment
  • Cougar – the boat that Jason and Lee arrive with. The boat is quickly stolen from them by the Drogue.
  • Stormrider – the special boat currently owned and captained by Flees. She and her father built the boat from parts of the airplane they arrived in, plus some additional materials scavenged. Stormrider is unique because it can also submerge itself like a submarine. Piloting this craft is difficult in part because of the various scavenged materials used.
  • Valigant – the boat Khelioz uses. It seems to be powered by collecting electromagnetic energy, and appears to function in much the same way as the Settlement's beacon.
  • Lazbolts – the weapons of the Arkoddians. The lazbolts shoot bolts of energy that are lethal. They look like spears with large shells on the ends. While deadly they are also seen to be inaccurate.
  • Flybikes – the flying motorcycle-like crafts used by the Drogue to raid for water, food and materials. They are equipped with weapons called Stun Bolts that can both stun and kill people. The Stun Bolts are very accurate.

Characters

There is a large cast of characters for Stormworld[3] with most of the action centering on Jason, Lee, Flees, Ogee and Khelioz across all of the episodes.

  • Jason (Andrew Jenkins) – an athletic, high-energy, positive person who has strong leadership qualities. Lee is his best friend, also from earth and arrived on Stormworld at the same time. Jason is the pilot of the boat named Cougar. In the final episode he decides to stay behind with Flees and Ogee, and become leader of The Settlement.
  • Lee (Calum Worthy) – an intelligent, savvy and logical individual with a strong scientific mind. He arrived on Stormworld with his best friend, Jason. Lee wants very much to return to Earth, which he does in episode 26.
  • Flees (Valentina Barron) – arrived 7 years ago with her father, an engineer, after their small aircraft was drawn through a vortex from Earth. Flees' father disappeared four years after their arrival on Stormworld when he went out kayaking. Now 15 years old, she has continued an ongoing search to find her missing father for the past 3 years. Her searching has provided her with an excellent knowledge of geography of Stormworld. Luce regards Flees as an older sister.
  • Khelioz (Lim Kay Tong) – also known as The Navigator. On his home world (Maren) Khelioz was a fisherman. On Stormworld he is a trader with a small sailing vessel who is trying to collect information to learn where the portal is for people to return to their home planets. His methods are often viewed as being sneaky or self-serving.
  • Ogee (Andrew Kavadas)– is alien that appears as a large glowing ball. On his home planet of Apotheosia, which has a lower gravity than Stormworld his normal form is much larger. Ogee is a very intelligent being but he has limited mobility on Stormworld and relies chiefly on Flees for transportation. He is very talkative and more than willing to display his mental prowess.
  • Werrolda (Michelle Fornasier) – the leader and founder of The Settlement. On her home world she was a teacher in a strong caste society. Before coming to Stormworld she had ideas about different types of order for society and implemented them once she arrived on Stormworld. Werrolda founded The Settlement at the Sighing Peaks because she believes they were created by The Abiders.
  • Luce (Chelsea Jones) – a young, strong-minded girl of The Settlement. She arrived on Stormworld very young and has been raised by Werrolda.
  • Makyn (Kazimir Sas) – a crafty and devious person who has manipulated circumstances to his advantage. He has become Werrolda's deputy for The Settlement. He arrived from his home world of Waxon as the third son of a politically powerful family. In the last episode he is pushed through the portal, but because he was holding a lazbolt, he is instead sent to Arkoddia. This displacement causes the destruction of the portal.
  • Hintor (Steve Turner) – a pragmatic but unimaginative member of The Settlement. He believes that Werrolda's flexibility with the constitution and open-door policy for new "access crashers" places the community at risk. He is the first to challenge Werrolda's leadership.
  • Gundril (Amanda Woodhams) – a young woman from the planet Lefar who resides alone on one of the smaller, remote islands that Flees calls Luce Island.
  • Chagcis (Kingsley Judd)
  • Toff (Craig Hyde-Smith) – a young boy in The Settlement. He is the Keeper of the Beacon.
  • Lhinrade (Bryn Coldrick)
  • Horimir (Keagan Kang)
  • Llargh (Clarence Ryan)
  • Gol Hati (Lilanthi Weddikkara) – the leader of the Drogue. She arrived from her home world of Caramei along with the other members of the Drogue plus their technologically advanced flybikes. She is a hard leader who regards all other people as inferior.
  • Gar Lindi (Kelly Paterniti) – a member of the Drogue.
  • Tor Sulta (Lucy Cooke) – a member of the Drogue. She challenged Gol Hati's leadership, was defeated in Gol Hati's test, and left to perish.
  • Tam Valda (Farren Wood) – a member of the Drogue.
  • Pol Dougla (Sian Ewers) – a member of the Drogue.
  • Vassler (Adam Sollis) – a young Arkoddian born on Stormworld. He is outspoken for an Arkoddian and a more flexible thinker than most Arkoddians. He becomes friends with Jason, Lee, Flees and Ogee.
  • Voss (George Shevtsov) – the patriarch leader of the Arkoddians. He is a very strict, dogmatic person accustomed to power and very resistant to change. He has a strong bias against non-Arkoddians.
  • Mephanny (Anna Bauert) – an Arkoddian arranged to marry Voss in the future. Initially she adheres very strongly to the Arkoddian way, but becomes more open-minded as the series progresses.
  • Callaghan (David Smyth) – an "access crasher" rescued from the severe desert conditions of the island interior by Jason and Lee. He was injured by a Mystal leaving him mentally damaged.
  • Dressler (Murray Dowsett) – Vassler's father.
  • Apssed (Nick Simpson-Deeks) – Voss' hot-headed protege.
  • Dephra (Angelique Malcolm) – Vassler's mother.
  • Jorssen (Kym Bidstrup)
  • Kessel (Vito de Francesco)
  • Hilss (Jeremy Levi)

Episodes

Stormworld consists of 26 episodes[4]

  1. "Three Sun Day"
  2. "The Settlement"
  3. "Barter, Barter Everywhere"
  4. "Callaghan"
  5. "Salvage Rights"
  6. "Out of the Frying Pan"
  7. "Bouncing Ball"
  8. "Escape from New Arkoddia"
  9. "Family Ties"
  10. "Changing Tides"
  11. "Farmer Flees"
  12. "Family First"
  13. "The Race Is On"
  14. "Luce Island"
  15. "Deep Down"
  16. "Fire and Flight"
  17. "The Old Order Changes"
  18. "Raising the Cougar"
  19. "A Hot Bath"
  20. "A Handful of Sand"
  21. "Lord of the Flybikes"
  22. "Twists and Turns"
  23. "Liberation Day"
  24. "The Great Water"
  25. "Long Way Home"
  26. "Homeward Bound"

International syndication
Country TV Networks
Australia Nine Network, ABC3
Canada Space
Israel Arutz HaYeladim
Kenya Kenya Television Network
Croatia HRT
Brazil HBO Family
Bulgaria BNT 1

References
  1. http://www.andrewjenkinsactor.com/space/tags/stormworld
  2. "Stormworld premieres March 18". TV, eh? What's up in Canadian Television. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  3. "Australian Television: Stormworld". Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  4. "Stormworld (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)". epguides.com. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
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