Mysterious Island (1995)
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Mysterious Island (1995)
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| Episodes: | 22 |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Country: | New Zealand, Canada |
| Seasons: | 1 |
| Seasons Breakdown: | (1) 22 |
| Category: | Lost Worlds |
| Colour: | Yes |
| Format: | Series-Serial |
| Company: | Atlantis Films, Tasman Film & Television Ltd. |
| Creator: | Based on The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne |
| Run Time (mins): | 45 |
| Language: | English |
| Type of Show: | Live Action |
| Status: | Ended |
| Broadcaster: | Family Channel |
| First Aired: | |
| Last Aired: | |
Summary
Mysterious Island is a television adaptation of Jules Verne’s 1875 novel L’Île mystérieuse. The series follows six prisoners of war during the American Civil War who escape from a Confederate prison camp by commandeering a hot‑air balloon. Their improvised flight carries them halfway across the world before they crash‑land on a hostile island in the Pacific Ocean. The castaways consist of Captain Cyrus Harding, a Union Army officer and engineer; Jack Pencroft; his wife Joanna; their teenage son Herbert; Gideon Spilett, a journalist; and Neb, Captain Harding’s devoted servant.
Several alterations were made to Verne’s original composition of characters. In the novel, only five individuals escape in the balloon, and Joanna Pencroft does not appear. Herbert Pencroft is adapted from Herbert Brown, who in the novel is not Jack’s son but a young friend. Verne’s Cyrus Harding is likewise renamed from Cyrus Smith. Once settled on the island, the castaways confront numerous dangers, including natural hazards such as earthquakes and poisonous fruit, as well as external threats from pirates and local primitive inhabitants.
The greatest danger arises from Captain Nemo, best known from Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Nemo resides unseen within his submarine, the Nautilus, observing the castaways’ movements and overhearing much of their conversation. In this adaptation, Nemo is responsible for the group’s arrival on the island, having shot down their balloon to obtain subjects for a series of experiments on human behaviour. The castaways gradually become aware of an unseen presence that occasionally assists them, referring to this figure as the Phantom.
As they establish themselves on the island, the group attempts to uncover the Phantom’s identity. In Verne’s novel, Nemo does not conduct experiments on the castaways; instead, he aids them discreetly while concealing his existence. At the conclusion of the original narrative, Nemo reveals himself, dies shortly thereafter, and provides the castaways with the means to return home.
Cast
Captain Cyrus Harding ALAN SCARFE, Jack Pencroft C DAVID JOHNSON (ep 1-8) , Joanna Pencroft COLETTE STEVENSON, Gideon Spilett STEPHEN LOVETT, Herbert Pencroft GORDON MICHEAL WOOLVETT, Ned Brown ANDY MARSHALL (ep 1-6) , Captain Nemo JOHN BACH, FRANK WHITTEN, KEVIN J. WILSON.
Tags: Lost Worlds, New Zealand, Canada, 1995, English
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