Children of the Dog Star

Wow! I've finally found a mention of this program on the internet! I thought I was the only person who knew about it!

Anyway, I first saw this program when I was about four years old so that would make it about 1983 or so. I remember being transfixed with it but then many other children's programs did the same to me at that age.

Quite a few years later, I caught it again and got the last few episodes on tape. That was 1990 and it was still just as good then.

So without giving too much of the plot away, this is a series that managed to mix astronomy, alien contact and real world issues together while making it easy for children to follow. Add some extremely creepy music and events and you're in for a fun escaping ride.

I'm a student filmmaker at the moment and this program has done more to influence my style of film making than any other. The scene where Gretchen's character with the Daisy Rod walks into the old civil defence bunker is proof of this. The blinding light may be a bit of a cliche but hey, it works and works well.

If you can find the tapes, buy it. The 70's fashions aren't brightly coloured monstrosities so this show has aged extremely well and the science is still current.

Being a kiwi (before moving to OZ) and therefore growing up in New Zealand I distinctly remember when this first screened. I was around 10 at the time and was really absorbed by it. There were 6 episodes in the series if I remember correctly. Think I rated this series slightly above the other NZ Science Fiction series I remember as a kid (Under the Mountain) which was created in 1981 if memory serves me. Amazing I found it on the web! I wish I could remember more about it. The daisy wheel pressed tin star is a prominent memory as does uncovering the "spaceship" in a forest of some sort. I believe it was filmed in New Zealand although I couldn't tell you where (North Island I imagine). Being a child of course you are easily influenced and like so many other things in life - revisiting such material would no doubt leave a very different impression upon me. Damn rational thinking, age and wisdom! I can't recall much of the special effects but being over 20 years old now and filmed in little old New Zealand as a children's feature on probably a minuscule budget would probably have not aged this well. Wish I could find a copy somewhere and revisit some lost innocence.

I saw this show back in 87 at the tender age of 11 and was hooked from the beginning to the end. Okay so the effects are laughable by todays standard but this liitle low budget show had the one thing that almost all since have lacked, a good story and if you have that all else is forgivable.

The score was amazing and the plot gripped like a vice. Its a shame that there have been no repeats of this show for at least ten years, I would love to sit and watch it again. I won't give too much of the story away for the people who never got to see the last episode(s) but needless to say it was very, very cool!

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.

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... :)