Children of the Dog Star

This children's show was broadcast in the mid 80s when I was about six or seven years old. I swore it was made in the UK but it turns out that it is a New Zealand production and was just broadcast here in the UK.

The 80s produced a slew of children's dramas which were incredibly sinister and creepy,. Not in a bad way you understand, but they had a definite air of tension and foreboding. Other shows like Chocky, Moondial, and The Gemini Factor all had a very hard edged dramatic feel to them and an air of something not being quite right.

Children of The Dog Star is part of that slew, and it is one of the better ones to boot. The show is utterly captivating and mysterious with its sci-fi overtones and atmosphere that something bigger is around.

Children's adventures were popular in the 80s, with big name people like Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante making adventure and sci-fi films which featured kids as the stars. Children of the Dog Star and its contemporary chums is very much in that vein, except for some reason the TV shows just felt that little bit darker.

Fear is a natural part of growing up, and these shows let kids experience fear in a safe and fun way. It's part of what fired my imagination when I was a child, and today's kids shows don't really have that air of sinisterness to them which is a shame.

Children of The Dog Star is a classic, and there is much enjoyment here for children as well as adult sci-fi fans.

I was like four or five when I saw this on TV. Used to try and watch it but sometimes was too scary. Think it was because the music the played when the showed Daisy The Weather Vane and the shape of it was like something that was going to hurt me. Just got it on DVD and still love it Gretchen is like me always wanting to play with mechanical and technical things and sometime felt left out because people I knew didn't understand or didn't like what I liked to do. It was cool how spaceys(video games) were 20c to. I think Children Of the Dog Star is better then what kids are watching to day. Thanks to TVNZ for letting me relive this classic.

I remember every Monday morning the class would be bursting with energy as everyone, guys and girls alike, came rushing back to school after the weekend to discuss the most recent episode of this show. I can still hear the opening music in my head after all these years. What I would do for a copy of this series on DVD. This series started my interest in the space program and even today after so long the star Sirius, blazing away in the night sky, is still one of my all time favourites. Thanks COTDS for starting my passion for the stars and planets. Thanks NASA for the Terrestrial Planet Finder that will take it into the next decade. Currently I am chasing around trying to find copies of this series. If anyone has any copies please let me know as I would like to ad them to my collection. Despite the low ranking. (Why I don't know) this is a great series. Like I said, the entire class was addicted to it and considering the low quality of shows that came out at that time I think the producers did great. No wonder they won a golden globe for it.)

When budding astronomer Gretchen Kierney goes to stay at her uncle's farm for the holidays, she finds herself embroiled in an adventure that began a thousand years ago and which leads all the way to the white dwarf star Sirius B.

Many children of the 80s will vaguely remember a TV serial having something to do with a strange weathervane on top of an old barn and the presence of aliens. This was 'Children Of The Dog Star', tying in Marcel Griaule's interpretation of Dogon mythology, Maori culture, and modern sci-fi storytelling, all of which come together to produce a highly-enjoyable miniseries that uses rural New Zealand as its backdrop. It came to our screens at a time when intelligently-written speculative fiction on children's television was the norm, from 'Chocky' to 'The Tripods' and 'Under The Mountain' - the latter sharing screenwriter Ken Catran and director Chris Bailey, by now practiced hands at the genre. While 'Children Of The Dog Star' differs from these others in not being adapted from a novel, it does take much of its inspiration from Robert K.G Temple's 1976 book, 'The Sirius Mystery', sparking of a period of intense debate over how the Dogon could possibly have known the brightest star in the heavens had a small white dwarf orbiting it without modern astronomical equipment. Could we have been guided by aliens in the past?

While child performers Sarah Dunn, Jeison Wallace and Hamish Bartle did not appear to build a career out of acting, they give a decent first performance here, for which some credit must go to Bailey, already a skilled hand at getting the most out of young newcomers. The production's adult cast ranges from seasoned veterans like Roy Billing and Catherine Wilkin to lesser-known actors like Anzac Wallace, who also has a cameo in the classic sci-fi film 'The Quiet Earth'. The special effects are pre-cgi and of their time, but hold up enough for all but the most demanding of audiences. Matthew Brown provides a memorable theme tune and his incidental music is both fitting and never overused. Perhaps the biggest compliment I could give the production is that I still enjoyed it very much as an adult. While it has '1984' stamped all over it, time has not been especially unkind in the areas that count.

2009 saw 'Children Of The Dog Star' finally make it to DVD. Alas, TVNZ made no effort to clean up their print or produce even the most minimal of extras. I bet Catran and Bailey for example, would have liked to have produced a commentary, and we'd all have enjoyed hearing it. Nonetheless, the serial is finally available, and will hopefully be a nice nostalgia trip for older fans, and better still, entertain a new generation of children.

It is truly, absolutely fascinating to read the other comments for this series, for they say the same, and I can do neither. I have had a weak but clear memory of this show since I saw when I was 9, but no one else has recognized it when I've told about it and I didn't remember the name of the series. Frustation! Until yesterday when I put out a question at a community and a guy answered and told me it was this series. It feels wonderful to know that my weak memory of this wasn't just in my head! I was also completely absorbed by this show. But the only thing I can remember is that mysterious lamp on roof and it scared the hell out of me. :) Anyway, I think my fascination for sci-fi and astronomy started with this show too. It's great to read that other have experienced the same. Aah, that youth... :)