Cybergirl
Cybergirl is an Australian children's television series that first screened on Network Ten in Australia. The 26 episode series was created by Jonathan M. Shiff, whose previous series include the BAFTA-award-winning Ocean Girl. Cybergirl has also screened on ABC on 6:00am, Thursday and on other networks outside Australia. In 2007 it aired as Cy-An 6000 on the Kabillion on-demand network but no reason is given for the name change.
| CyberGirl | |
|---|---|
 DVD Cover - Entire Series | |
| Genre | Action-adventure Science fiction Cyberpunk Magical girl Superhero |
| Created by | Jonathan M. Shiff |
| Starring | Ania Stepien Craig Horner Jovita Shaw Septimus Caton Ric Anderson Jennifer Congram Mark Owen-Taylor Christine Amor Lisa Origliasso Jessica Origliasso |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jonathan M. Shiff Kay Ben M'Rad |
| Running time | approx. 21 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Jonathan M. Shiff Productions France Animation |
| Distributor | ZDF Enterprises |
| Release | |
| Original network | Network Ten ABC |
| Original release | 21 July 2001 – 11 January 2002 |
Plot
Cybergirl is a Blue superheroine Human Prototype 6000 living under the secret identity of ordinary teenage girl Ashley Campbell. In reality, she is a "Human Prototype 6000" from a distant planet.
Her powers include super-human strength, super-human speed, and the ability to interface directly with electronic devices and computers; she is also able to physically change her appearance between that of the blue-haired, ethereal-looking Cybergirl and the less conspicuous, mousy-haired Ashley, and can alter her clothing at will.
She was originally known as the Cyber Replicant Human Prototype 6000, the only one of her model to be built. Not only are her powers far and above that of earlier models, she has a much wider emotional scope than her predecessors. She ran away from her planet of origin in order to explore the beings she was modeled after, namely humans.
Two other Evil Red Replicants called Isaac and Xanda are sent after her and their sole mission is to destroy her. She lands on Earth in the fictional city of River City, Australia which is modeled on and filmed in Brisbane. She meets Jackson and Hugh Campbell, who take her in, and she adopts the name Cybergirl as her superheroine identity. Jackson calls her "Cy" and she later uses her powers to make herself look more human; this identity is called Ashley, in which she poses as Jackson's cousin and Hugh's niece. The only other person besides Hugh and Jackson to know her identity is Kat, her friend and neighbour.
She is pursued not only by Xanda and Isaac but also by a powerful software mogul named Rhyss. She is well loved by the populace of River City, however, and she enjoys the approval of Mayor Buxton, whose twin daughters Emerald and Sapphire are big fans of the superheroine. Ironically they snub her, as Ashley, at school.
Cast
- Ania Stepien as Ashley Campbell/Cybergirl
- Craig Horner as Jackson Campbell
- Jovita Lee Shaw as Kat Fontaine
- Mark Owen-Taylor as Hugh Campbell
- Septimus Caton as Rhyss
- Jennifer Congram as Xanda
- Ric Anderson as Isaac
- Peter Mochrie as Rick Fontaine
- Christine Amor as Mayor Buxton
- Winston Cooper as Giorgio
- David Vallon as Romirez
- Jessica Origliasso as Emerald Buxton
- Lisa Origliasso as Sapphire Buxton
- Michelle Atkinson as Anthea
DVD release
Cybergirl was released on DVD on 4 December 2006 as CyberGirl: The Superhero for a New Generation – The Complete Series. The set includes all 26 episodes on 4 DVDs and is Region 0. The release includes making of/behind-the-scenes featurettes created from a period Electronic Press Kit and the packaging makes frequent references to the fact that the series features "before they were famous" appearances by The Veronicas.
See also
External links
- Jonathan M. Shiff Productions - the official website for Jonathan M. Shiff productions, has a Cybergirl section
- Cybergirl on IMDb
- CyberGirl at TV.com
- Cybergirl at the National Film and Sound Archive