Escape from Jupiter

Escape from Jupiter is an Australian children's science fiction drama broadcast on ABC between 26 November 1994 and 11 March 1995. It consists of 13 episodes and focuses on a small group of children living on Jupiter’s moon Io. After a volcanic eruption on Io, the surviving colonists must abandon the moon and attempt to reach Earth. They repurpose an abandoned space station orbiting Io into a basic spacecraft and embark on the journey, encountering various adventures and forming close bonds along the way. The series was followed by Return to Jupiter.

The main character is teenager Michael Faraday, who has spent his entire life in space and never visited Earth. He lives on Io with his father, who works as a local space tug pilot, ferrying people and equipment between the moon and an orbiting spacecraft. The mining colony is mostly adult, but a few families are present. Michael’s best friend is Kingston, son of the colony’s medical officer. Also living on Io are Jarrod and Anna, children of a miner named Carl. Michael and Jarrod are rivals: Jarrod relies on physical strength, while Michael is the intellectual. The colony is run by an administrator named Duffy, a company man. An older, aloof expert, Professor Jacob Ingasole, studies the mining operations and their effects; his earlier prediction of a comet destroying the colony was dismissed as foolish, but his latest work on the mines and lava flow is taken more seriously. Despite the danger, deep drilling continues. A group of company scientists arrives, including Kumiko and her seismologist parents. Kumiko, who has rarely left Earth, finds Io unfamiliar and carries her computer throughout the journey.

The story begins with the older teens sneaking into the mines, which are off-limits. Michael and Jarrod take Kumiko into the mines to show off, while Kingston and Anna cover for them. The automated mining system hits a lava pocket, causing an explosion that destroys the rig and triggers tunnel collapses. The three trapped children find a disused miners’ shelter and, with lava and sulfur blocking the main shaft, climb up a ventilation shaft. Meanwhile, Kingston and Anna, who were in the Jupiter bar, watch the adults study maps to locate the children. Kingston deduces the trio would take a subsidiary tunnel, and both groups meet as the children emerge from the ventilation shaft.