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SKY TRACKERS

LINKS MUSIC CHARACTERS ABOUT THE SHOW EPISODE GUIDE
and BOOKS

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DVD

Sky Trackers Complete Series(PAL format)


Sky Trackers - Telemovie(PAL format)

ABOUT THE SHOW

Nikki, Mike and Maggie live with their families next to the huge space dishes of the space tracking station in the Australian outback. They sometimes have adventures or make discoveries related to space, and they grow up and learn from their relationship with their families.

It's a high quality, science-based series with a mix of drama, science, action fun and romance. This show has been created by The Australian Children's Television Foundation, and won following awards:

        

Australian Film Institute - Australia (1994)
Skating the Dish - Winner, Best Children's Television Drama
Sky Trackers - Winner, AFI Young Actors Award (presented to Zbych Trofimiuk for his character 'Mike')

5th Cairo International Film Festival for Children - Egypt (1994)
Winner, Golden Cairo for Television Programs

Australian Teachers of Media - Australia (1995)
Winner, Best Children's Television Series

This program is a TV series. A telemovie version has been made, too. Books and videos were released. The video tape for education is available for order on the ACTF's web site.

CHARACTERS

Nikki Colbert is thirteen. She loves science and her dream is to be the first person on Mars. She is clever and good at science.

Mike Masters is fourteen and he thinks science sucks. Mike's mother was killed in a plane accident and he lives with his father Tony who is a famous astrophysicist. He likes horses and playing the guitar.

Maggie Colbert is nine years old. She is a little sister of Nikki. She likes Mike very much.

Marie Colbert is Nikki and Maggie's mother. She is a senior CSIRO scientist at Kaputa.

Tony Masters is Mike's father. He is a famous astrophysicist. The relationship between his son is not going well.

EPISODE GUIDE

This guide does not describe the end of each stories except a few episodes to avoid spoiling your pleasure.

1. Skating the Dish
Tony and his son Mike arrive at the space tracking station. When they arrive, Tony starts working immediately. Mike knows the dish doesn't move for a while and plans to skate on it.

2. Meteor Rights
Susan, who studies meteors, arrives at the Wright foundation. They know a meteorite has hit the earth and search for it. When it is found, there is an argument between three of Nikki's schoolmates and the guy who owns the land where the meteorite fell, who claims it is his.

3. The Beast
Mike finds a horse he likes and tries to ride it. But it becomes unruly and Mike falls off the horse. Tony says it's dangerous and doesn't allow Mike to buy it. Mike believes that the horse is scared by something but Tony doesn't believe it. With Nikki's Help, Mike tries to find out what is wrong with it.

4. Tell Someone Who Cares
Tony invites Mike to go on a camping trip but Mike declines his invitation and Tony goes alone. It is only for a day but, 24 hours later Tony still hasn't come back. Mike steals a car and starts to look for him with Nikki and Maggie.

5. The Big Skip
Maggie gives Mike a Valentine's card but Mike thinks it is from Nikki and gives a bouquet to the latter. Maggie finds out; she becomes very angry and shuts herself up in the tree house. Maggie suddenly hears an SOS from a boy while she is in the tree house but no one believes it. Nikki actually hears it and tries to find him.

6. Goddess of the Dawn
Mike tries to kiss Nikki but it doesn't go well. A student arrives at the Wright foundation to study sun lights. She tells them that they will be able to see an aurora borealis in Kaputar very soon. The kids decide to observe it.

7. Dead Ducks
Maggie finds a dead duck by the lake. During an autopsy, Marie finds gold dust inside the duck. It seems to confirm the fact that the legend of a hidden treasure at the bottom of the lake may be true. Mike, Nikki and Maggie go to the lake to search for it but they find only bottles.

8. Is There Life on Earth?
Shane arrives at the Wright foundation. Mike doesn't like the fact that Nikki is interested in his research and plays a trick on them, so that Nikki and Shane mistake a fake signal from space for a real one.

9. Letting Go
Maggie picks up a teddy bear by the lake. It is the teddy Mike's mother had when her airplane crashed 8 years ago. At the time people couldn't find the airplane. Mike tells Tony to search the lake, but he disagrees because it's very dangerous.

10. To Tell or Not to Tell
Mike knows that his father has been chosen for the NASA's next space shuttle mission. Nikki is working on a project about Mars but a new Wright foundation student is doing the same research. Nikki moves her data to her computer and shreds her notes to prevent them from being stolen. The student is at a deadlock in her research and she breaks into Nikki's house to steal her data while Nikki and her family have gone away to see Maggie playing a witch in her school play.

11. Kiss the Sky
Recently, Marie has been worried about Nikki and Mike dating at night. Nikki wants a 3D software and gathers money from people. Nikki teaches Lynne how to use a word processor and borrows a wonder bra from her.

12. Can't Buy Me Love
Marie's old boyfriend visits her to recommend her to resign from her job at Kaputar and join the research team of a laboratory in Sydney. Marie accepts it but Nikki strongly disagrees with it because she doesn't want to leave Kaputar.

13. Rocket to Me
Nikki designs a rocket which has a recovery system for the interschool rocket-building competition. Brad makes a real miniature rocket and shows it to the class. His rocket is chosen over Nikki's to represent the school in the competition. Mike finds out that Brad is beaten by his dad.

14. Aliens
Nikki and Mike meet at night, and Maggie, who is spying on them, sees a spark in the dark sky. They think it as an UFO but they can't tell their parents about it because they must keep the date secret. But Maggie blurts it. Maggie sees Giles acting strangely and thinks he is an alien.

15. Trees a Crowd
Timothy arrives at the Wright foundation. The authorities say that they are going to cut the tree which is used for the tree house to build a new building. Maggie and Timothy start an action to prevent it.

16. Ice Balls
It's the day of the farewell party for Tony, who is going to the US for the space shuttle mission. Nikki thinks she found a comet but she needs confirmation. On the next day, Mike finds out that his classmates know about his relationship with Nikki, and he has a fight with her.

17. Long Distance Call
Tony calls Mike before the launching but he can't talk properly and is launched into space. While the line between the Endeavor and Kaputar is working, Tony speaks with everyone but Mike is not there. A problem occurs, which may cause the shuttle to explode. Mike now wants to talk with Tony but they loose the connection.

18. Star Time
Tony comes back. There is a TV producer from the US with him. She wants Tony to be the host of her program. But if he accepts her offer, he must go to the US with Mike.

19. Secrets
Simon, who believes in intuition, arrives at the Wright foundation. He, Mike and Nikki find a Aboriginal cave but it is going to be destroyed by the construction of a new highway. They take action to prevent it.

20. The Wish Star
Maggie seems to find a star but it disappears. Nikki and Maggie's father Robert arrives from France and he tries to convince the girls to go back to live with him in France.

21. Origins
Nikki tries to hack into the National Science Data Bank but she is surprised by Marie and strictly forbidden to go on with her attempt. Clare arrives at the Wright foundation. She recently found out that her parents are in fact her foster parents. She wants to know her real mother and she searches for her with Nikki and Mike. Nikki and Maggie, who have watched all this happen, make a decision about their relationship with their parents.

22. Penguin Point
The Colbert family and the Masters family go on a trip. Nikki, Mike and Maggie find an oil soaked penguin. Meanwhile, Marie and Tony seem to be getting close.

23. The Black Prince
Mike envies Nikki, who is accepted into the Space Camp. He thinks of an incredible thing to travel into space before her. While doing research about wallabies, Maggie finds a rare cicada called a 'Black Prince' but suddenly an eagle grabs it from her hands. Maggie realizes she is afraid of the eagle and worries about the wallaby.

24. Wow
Nikki is making a video about the investigation of ET's. She interviews Tony who has been researching into ET's for 15 years. But Tony realizes that his long research has led to no results. He wants to give it all up but one night he locates a signal from space, and he is amazed by it. Tony proposes to Marie.

25. Precious Days
Jake arrives at the Wright foundation on the day of Tony and Marie's wedding. He has the idea to transmit his living energy through the dish. Mike and Nikki know it and try to prevent him from taking action. Marie and Tony are constantly busy with their work, and they cannot start their wedding.

26. Do or Die
Since Nikki is going to a Space Camp in Melbourne, Marie and Tony decide to spend their honeymoon in this city and leave for Melbourne with the whole family. Maggie claims that Dieter Brummer, a famous actor, is staying at the hotel, but nobody believes her. In the meantime, Nikki has been worried about her motion sickness, while Mike has managed to get enrolled in the camp by pretending to be a boy who is absent, much to Nikki's dislike. However, Nikki and Mike end up being partners and must now face the ultimate test: the shuttle simulator.

LINKS

  • ACTF's SKY TRACKERS Page - On this page you can see some images and an episode guide. Teaching Resources are also available.
  • GLC - GLC is probably the only one channel that airs SKY TRACKERS in Japan. Here is their SKY TRACKERS introduction page.

IMAGES, VIDEOS, and MUSIC

You can watch and listen to some images, videos, and music such as theme at The Petra Yared Website.

BOOKS

A paperback is published from Puffin Books and Penguin Books. ISBN is 0-14-037105-2. It's based on the script of the television series but some parts such as episode title are different. It has 20 episodes in 257 pages.


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