'The Stranger' was Australia's first locally-produced science fiction television show and one of the first Australian series to be sold overseas

Algernon_Asimov
2020-02-08T07:26:03Z

ABC's media release: 'The Stranger' was Australia's first locally-produced science fiction television show and one of the first Australian series to be sold overseas. (Ignore the references to 'Doctor Who'; the only connection they have is that they were both science fiction shows made in the mid-1960s. I suspect that show is name-dropped just to get people's interest.)

I've been watching this show. I'm 5 episodes in, which means I'm up to the last episode of the 1st season, with another 6 episodes in the 2nd season (only 12 eps in total).

It's bad but also good (not in the "so bad it's good" way). The production isn't great: the special effects are low-grade, the sets are ordinary, the acting ranges from hammy to wooden, and the writing is clunky. However, despite all that, I find myself hooked. I want to know what's going to happen next. It's an interesting premise: the remnants of an alien species eking out an existence inside a rocket-equipped moon, having left their home planet after an unspecified ecological disaster, to seek out a new home. The plot is good enough to drag me along with it. It also has historical curiosity value.

I doubt it's available outside of Australia, but here's the streaming link. Be warned: it's very slow-paced to start with. The first episode doesn't even mention aliens, and the second episode only has hints.

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