The Lost Islands

The Lost Islands is an Australian television series which first aired in Australia on Network Ten.[1] It later screened around the world, including the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Greece (and various other parts of Europe), as well as Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Canada and the United States.

This article is about the 1976 television series. For the 2008 film, see Lost Islands (film).

The Lost Islands
Main title screen
StarringTony Hughes
Jane Vallis
Robert Edgington
Amanda Ma
Chris Benaud
Margaret Nelson
Rodney Bell
Ric Hutton
Ron Haddrick
Ron Blanchard
Wallas Eaton
Willie Fennell
Cornelia Frances
Frank Gallacher
Michael Howard
Don Pascoe
Country of originAustralia
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26
Production
Running time26 x 30 minute episodes
Production company(s)Paramount Television
Network 10
DistributorCBS Television Distribution (syndication)
Release
Original networkThe 0-10 Network
Original release1 January –
1 December 1976

Plot

A hurricane nearly sinks the United World, a sailing ship holding 40 teenagers from all around the world. Most of them flee the ship in lifeboats, but the evacuating children are not counted, and five are left behind. The storm blows the battered ship across a reef into the lagoon of an uncharted island.

The island, Tambu, is ruled by a supposedly 200-year-old immortal tyrant called "Q", who came to the island on one of several ships originally bound for New Holland. In the centre of the island is a valley in which the descendants of the original ship still live, in the manner of an 18th-century colonial community. Adjacent to Tambu is a smaller island, Malo, which is a barren wasteland. It is noteworthy because of a lagoon where prisoners are forced to dive for a "blue weed" which, according to the people of Tambu, is refined into a powder which the Q uses to extend his life.

The five children befriend a local family, the Quinns, who help them remain hidden on the island in a swamp avoided by locals because it is, according to local myth, inhabited by the ghosts of the dead. Most of the episode storylines pit the children against the Q, who fears their knowledge of the outside world is a threat to his dominion of Tambu.

Production history

Unlike most Australian television series of the time, which were either entirely produced by a TV network, or a TV network in association with a local production company, The Lost Islands was a co-production between the Australian Ten Network and a US studio, Paramount.

Three early episodes were edited together to make a 35mm feature film released in Australia in December 1975.[2]

Reception

Cult status In Israel

The series was aired constantly in Israel during summer vacations in the 1970s and 1980s on what was then the country's only television channel, helping it reach cult status among the Israeli generation which grew up at those times.[3]

Cast

Protagonists
  • Tony Hughes as Tony, an Australian and orphan.
  • Jane Vallis as Anna, a German.
  • Robert Edgington as David, an American.
  • Amanda Ma as Su Yin, a Chinese.
  • Chris Benaud as Mark, a British.

The People of Tambu/The "Q-People"
  • Margaret Nelson as Helen Margaret Quinn.
  • Rodney Bell as Aaron James Quinn, Helen's younger brother.
  • Michael Howard as Jason Quinn, Helen's older brother.
  • Ron Haddrick as The Q, the tyrant of Tambu.
  • Ric Hutton as Rufus Quad, Q's prime minister.
  • Willie Fennell as Jeremiah Quizzle, a friend of the Quinns and Q's personal servant.
  • Cornelia Frances as Elizabeth Quinn, Helen's mother.
  • Don Pascoe as Adam Quinn, Helen's father.
  • Frank Gallacher and Ron Blanchard as Quig and Quell, Quad's henchmen.
  • Harry Lawrence as the Hermit, an escaped prisoner from Malo and a former friend of Adam Quinn.
  • Harold Hopkins as Thomas Quick, one of Q's guards who befriends the children after Su Yin saves his life.
  • Wallas Eaton as school headmaster Quilter.
  • Kent Strickland as Quimby, the village brat.
  • Dianne Berryman as Bess, the Q's ward who befriends Tony.

Modern World people
  • Peter Adams as Jimmy Williams, a pilot who was stranded on Tambu when his plane crashed in episode 8.
  • Peter Sumner as Christian Dobler, a German sailor and school teacher who is stranded on Tambu in episode 16.
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References
  1. http://www.australiantelevision.net/the_lost_islands/
  2. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 296
  3. http://www.23tv.co.il/413-he/Tachi.aspx - Israeli Educational Television site (Hebrew, retrieved 19.4.2015)
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