Crash Zone

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Lore & Background

The series follows five Melbourne high school students—Mike Hansen (Nikolai Nikolaeff), Alison "Pi" Renfrey (Cassandra Magrath), Rebecca "Bec" Chan (Frances Wang), Marcello Di Campili (Paul Pantano) and Abraham "Ram" Foley (Damien Bodie)—who all have a strong interest in computers, online gaming and the internet. While playing an online computer game, they each discover a coded message. The message prompts them to follow a series of clues that eventually leads them to a meeting with Alexandra Davis (Nicki Wendt), president of the software company Catalyst. Confessing that she was the author of the messages, Davis reveals to the teenagers that her company is struggling and she would like to hire one of the teens as game testers in order to design games for her company at "The Crash Zone". Davis proposes a competition in which the winner takes the job, and while the competition is fierce, she is impressed by their teamwork and offers them all positions in the company. The one exception is Ram, who she feels is too young, but who is allowed to remain with the teens. As well as the developing friendships with each other and their social lives, the teenagers also discover Virgil (Matt Parkinson), a mysterious artificial intelligence which exists on the internet. The second series has the teenagers returning from their summer vacations to find the financial situation at Catalyst to have become much more serious. Davis has been forced to lay off most of her staff and they may be next. Two new characters are introduced in the second series, 12-year-old Penny Gallagher and her father Matthew Gallagher. Penny Gallagher, who is befriended by Ram, persuades her father to offer Davis a deal to save Catalyst from bankruptcy. Although knowing very little about the video game industry, Matthew Gallagher is a very successful businessman and very quickly turns the company around. However, his changes often results in conflict between him and the staff.

In Their Own Story

The series was the first collaboration with the Australian Children's Television Foundation and the Disney Channel. It proved a very successful show and eventually aired in Canada, Sri Lanka the United Kingdom as well. The series was nominated for several awards including the Australian Film Institute Awards, Prix Jeunesse and the New York Film Festival. It was also given honorable mention at The Chris Awards and was an official selection at the Prix Danube, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival and The Museum of Television and Radio. In 1999, series producer Patricia Edgar was nominated by the Australian Film Institute for "Best Children's Television Drama", specifically its first episode "The Dream Team". Esben Storm was also nominated for "Best Direction in a Television Drama" for directing its first episode. Edgar was again nominated to receive "Best Children's Television Drama", along with Bernadette O'Mahony, for their work on the episode "Skin Deep" in 2001. It was also nominated for Most Outstanding Children's Program at the 2001 and 2002 Logie Awards. A novel based on the series was written by Amanda Midlam and released in 2001.

Reader's Guide

The series ran for 26 episodes across two series: Series One aired in 1999 and Series Two aired in 2001. The main characters include Alison "Pi" Renfrey (Cassandra Magrath), the daughter of a highly popular actor and usually regarded as the richest of the group; Marcello Di Campili (Paul Pantano), of Italian ancestry, who has high hopes of becoming super rich one day; Abraham "Ram" Foley (Damien Bodie), the second youngest but the most creative and technically intelligent; Rebecca "Bec" Chan (Frances Wang), of Chinese descent, often portrayed as an intelligent, highly successful academic student; Mike Hansen (Nikolai Nikolaeff), probably the oldest and the most successful game designer and tester; Alexandra Davis (Nicky Wendt), president of Catalyst; Nigel Hartford (Richard Moss), Alexandra's assistant; Virgil Reality (Matt Parkinson), originally a "Buggy" Artificial intelligence experiment created by Alex when she was working for Sunjim; Penny Gallagher (Heidi Valkenburg), the youngest at twelve, quick and computer savvy; and Matthew Gallagher (Jeremy Stanford), Penny's father and a very successful businessman. The series explores themes of teamwork, friendship, and the early internet and video game industry.

Did You Know?

• The series was the first collaboration between the Australian Children's Television Foundation and the Disney Channel.
• The character Virgil was originally a 'Buggy' Artificial intelligence experiment created by Alex when she was working for Sunjim.
• The series was nominated for Most Outstanding Children's Program at the 2001 and 2002 Logie Awards.
• A novel based on the series was written by Amanda Midlam and released in 2001.
• The series aired in Canada, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom.